Dark. Rainy. Cold. I thought this was some kind of bad dream. But nope, I  am just arriving at work around noon , soaking wet, and terribly surprised.I just stood in the doorway  into my office drenched and staring  in complete awe. I only missed a week of work and my office looked like a few tornados just passed by. There were papers crumpled and some not even used and some that were just laying there just as lonely as I was. Soaking wet, I reached in the dingy bag to grab a napkin or two not realizing that they were wet, too.
         “Today is not my day,” I said aloud.
           The head detective walked into my office heavily and smirked as if he just wanted to wring my neck.
           “ Detective Marty today is not your lucky day! But, over thirty calls have been answered and they were all something to do with your missing child case.”
           “ Im sor--”
           “ No sorries detective, get your job done or not only parents will be missing their children but you will be missing your job!”  He shouted like I was unable to hear him.
           I flinched at his loud rumbling voice like a scared puppy. He chuckled and walked away. I grabbed the case file, opening it like it was a magic spellbook, completely  ready for anything that came out.  The file read:
      On the date of 9-29-2010 over 127 children have gone missing on the corner of Main St. and Charleston Dr. We have not yet identified the kidnapper. We have had a background check done on the ice cream man near the location. He is all clean.
      Case Due: As soon as possible.
     The file looked as if were handwritten by a 12 year old boy. I thought to myself that what if I interrogated the ice cream man to see if he knows anything? I grabbed my jacket without even hesitating to look back and  I went to investigate.
        As I arrived the young round gentleman was putting his ice cream cart away. I ran out up and down the streets to catch up with him.
         “ Hello sir, how are you on this fine evening? I asked totally out of breath.
         “I’m doing just fine! Now leave me alone the ice cream shop is closed.”
       “ Sir I understand you are frustrated by the fact of whatever happened to you but I’m just trying  to be friendly,” By then I was so dizzy and scared I almost fainted.
  “ Look kid my time is money so let me get to wherever it is I need to be.”
    I reached in my pocket to grab my badge to show him my authority but it wasn’t there. I had left the badge on my office desk  in the dingy bag. 
“ What’s the matter kid? Why are you gonna pay me?” He said a little happier.
          Finally I realized that the spare silver detective badge was in my coat. I reached into the inner pocket and pulled out the badge. Shocked , the man had tried running but didn’t get very far until he needed a break. I slowly walked over to the man taking my precious time.
    “ Sir you can be under the arrest for resisting a cop.”
    “ Kid you’re not a genius at all because you are a detective,” He chuckled and would not stop.
     “ Ok you forget I said that and I forget you ran. Deal?”
      “ Alright kid deal. Now what’s the big problem why you come look for me?”
    “ There are some missing children upon the street in which your shop is on.”
“ Yeah I know my youngest daughter was the first to go missing and no one has done a single thing about it.”
“ Look I’m sorry Sir but there are people  trying to help you and many others find their precious loved ones,” I said unsure but trying to let him know that everything was going to be alright. I let the sobbing man go and walked back to my car. As I was walking, I saw two suspicious men holding a map and chattering about what was going to happen next. I tried to sneak closer without them noticing me. Unfortunately today still wasn’t my day. My allergies kicked me in the behind as I was standing next to a bunch of tall sunflowers.
      “Achooooo!”  I sneezed so loud I think all the groundhogs popped up. Anyway as I was saying, the men heard my terribly loud sneeze and spotted me. Seconds later they ran. Faster. Faster. Even faster. Then I just gave up. I felt like everything I have trained for was a waste of my time. If I couldn’t catch suspicious guys how am I ever supposed to find the actual criminal who kidnapped all of the young children? I took a deep breath and tried not to cry. Walking down the street with my head down I could feel all the immature kids throwing bits of rock at me. When I finally got tired of it I turned the street where my car was parked. Gone. Vanished. Never to be seen again.
          “I swear it was here!” I shouted quietly to myself. I started to shed tears and  as I looked up to wipe them I saw the two men in my peripheral vision. This time I was ready. I ran. They ran. Everyone ran. Panting and out of breath, I stopped and cuffed both of the runaways. I had no time for it was almost dark. I was so excited that I accomplished not even the half of the first step but I had done something. On my way to the station, I had asked the men simple questions about themselves and where they were from. No answer. They spoke in French all the way to the station. They begged and pleaded to not be put in jail for they both have kids that they need to take care of.  I put both of the men in separate rooms  so I could question them.
        “ So, first off what is your name?” I began the interrogation like I knew what I was doing.
        “ Frances DePaul.” His accent was just perfect and  I knew that I could not pronounce it that way.
         “ And Mr. France-”
          “Franceees” He said irritated
          “ Ok Mr. Franceees do you happen to know anything about the little children going missing?”
          “ No sir,”  he started sweating and moving around alot .
         “ Okay and have you had any children go missing?”
         “ No sir I have not. My children are safe and sound at home with my wife.”
         “ Last question, Mr. Frances-
          “Franceees you have to roll your “e” or else it is an American lady name!”
            I panicked at the next question I was going to ask.
          “Okay Sir, I was just going to ask you if you knew anyone who has the missing children?” There was a long pause after I asked the question. All you could hear was the scratching of my pen and the big ole’ owl we didn’t even have. It must have been imaginary but I have no idea.
       “ Sir are you okay can you please answer the question for me?” Mr. Frances was flinchy and started sweating even more than he already was.
       “ Detective or officer whatever you are, do I look like the person who would do such a thing?”
       “ Looks can be deceiving but  I never judge a book by it’s cover.” I threw those words out of my mouth like it was nothing.
       “ To answer your question, no I do not know anyone who would have taken the children.”
         “ Okay follow me this way.” I took him to the front office and as he was walking  he dropped a paper from his back pocket. I opened it up and it was a map of how to attract children and where they can be found. Putting the paper away quickly, I took the other man in the back room to investigate.This was going to be easy.
     “Take a seat,” I said calmly.
     The man stuttered and said “ Ok Sir.”
      “ Tell me Mr. have you seen any---”
      “ Yes! I have and I’m really tired of hiding everything!” He said with a shaking in his voice.
      “ Okay, now tell me who took the children.”
      “ We did. We were having parents say that they had difficulties parenting their children. They were always asking  us how we got our children to be so disciplined. So we started taking the children and putting them in a camp we made ourselves.”
      “ Okay so where are they now?” I had tried to be so proffesional at this point I couldn’t stop smiling.
      “ They are in a camp toward the end of South Main Street. On the left hand side.”
      “ Okay. Thank  your for your time Sir.” I started to get up but he kept the conversation going.
      “ Detective these children are well taken care of.  We feed them 3 times a day, give them showers and they go to school. Please don’t ruin what we have started”
      I had no idea what to say next but I got up and queued him to follow me. In my head I was thinking of helping them get their shop legal but unfortunately since they kidnapped children they have to do a minimum one year in jail. I stopped thinking and called the policemen to come get the two gentlemen.
       “ Where are they?” One of the three policemen said looking around.
       “ Here!” I shouted from across the room. I let the two policemen take the gentlemen and without any sorrow I left the place myself.
On my way to work the next day, I stopped by the camp and had seen the policemen calling children’s parents and sending them home. I wasn’t sure what to do about the men wanting to keep their camp but since they both have at least one year in jail there was nothing I could do. Minutes later, I walked into work feeling super confident only to realize I had a million more cases to finish. This was only the first.