Eldorado Read Online Free Page B

said Leung, holding up Danny’s photograph. “I’ll just tack it up over there with the others.” He walked over to a large white-board that Richard hadn’t noticed before. It was plastered with so many photographs that barely any white space showed. Looking closely Richard could see that they were all of children. Leung picked out a tiny open patch in the center, taped Danny’s photograph over it and scrawled a short note underneath, then returned to his desk.
    “We’ll get to him when we can,” he said bluntly.
    Richard stomped out the station doors and down the front steps, kicking up dust as he went. He pictured a thirteen year-old Danny in the hospital room standing over the shrouded body of their dead mother. For a fraction of a second an image flooded into Richard’s mind – the path to their back garden – he jammed his eyes shut and stumbled away in a daze.
     
    “Don’t be too hard on the cops,” said Jim Keller as he sat at Richard’s dining room table later that day. Keller had made one of his rare visits to town. He claimed he needed supplies, but Richard suspected the real reason.
    “They’re not lying when they tell you they’re swamped,” Keller said. “I can believe that one missing teenage boy wouldn’t be high on their priority list.”
    “Zonk would never come home without Danny,” said Richard. “You know that as well as I do.”
    “Yeah, I know,” said Keller, shaking his head. “I hate to say it, but I could have told you what would happen with the cops. Forget them – they’re a lost cause.”
    “What?” Richard’s jaw dropped open.
    “Don’t you remember what happened with your Mum and Dad?” Keller said, “Did they ever arrest anybody?”
    “Well, no…”
    “Forget the cops,” said Keller. “Look – you’re a good guy, Richard, but you’ve spent most of your life with your nose buried in a book – you’re out of touch. Take my word for it – you’ll grow old and die waiting for the cops to find Danny.”
    Richard shuddered and tilted sideways as if he was about to faint.
    “You okay?” said Keller.
    “Yeah, I’m okay.”
    Keller leaned forward with his hands on the table. “I don’t think you’re on top of how much worse things have gotten in the past few years. Big cities like Vancouver were built with the idea that there would always be cheap oil. The oil’s gone, or at least it’s so expensive it might as well be gone. The old ways of doing things don’t work anymore – it’s as simple as that.
    “Cops, firemen, ambulance attendants – they need fuel to operate like everybody else. It’s a different world now – one where you can’t depend on anybody else to help you, and that includes the cops.”
    Richard hung his head. Finally he looked up and said, “There’s something else I haven’t told you.”
    Keller raised an eyebrow.
    “I didn’t mention it before because I was hoping that Danny would show up,” said Richard. “I didn’t want to worry you. I talked to one of his friends from school, a kid named Matt Foster. He tells me that Danny has been going to Surrey.”
    “Shit,” said Keller under his breath.
    “Jim, I know you spent a lot of time on the road…”
    “Yeah,” said Keller, “I did my share of riding the rails – me and plenty of others.”
    “Be honest. What are Danny’s chances out there?”
    Keller didn’t speak – just stared blankly at the table top. After a few seconds he said, “We better start looking ourselves. I’ve still got connections with people on the road. I can find out if anyone’s seen Danny or heard about him.”
     
    After Keller had left, Richard tossed Danny’s room. He flipped through the pages of all the books on the bookshelves, rifled through all the dresser drawers, and checked the pockets of all Danny’s clothes. He found nothing. He was about to give up when it occurred to him to try under the mattress of the bed…

 
     
     
     
     
     
    The Mystery