“Mrs. Fargo, that’s not how it works. I’m afraid you have some misunderstandings about the system,” the chief said in a condescending tone.
Remi fought to control her temper at Fleming’s brusque dismissal. “Really? You’re the police chief. People have been filing reports. But somehow I’m confused when I ask you how many have been filed?”
Sam knew Remi was simmering and that it was only a matter of time before she’d explode in the face of obdurate stupidity. He quickly moved to intercede, heading off a potential disaster.
“What my wife means to say is, surely there’s a record of any open missing persons cases, isn’t there?” Sam tried.
“Oh, well, put that way, of course there is.” Fleming stared at them with dead eyes.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Sam said. “Our question is, how many are still open after five years?”
“Oh, I understand your question perfectly. I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to disclose that.”
“Why not?” Remi snapped, her color rising.
“Because it’s police business, ma’am, and you’re not a member of the force.”
“Why is it confidential?” Sam asked, his color rising as well.
“Because it is,” Fleming said as though that explained everything.
“Wait. We’re members of the public you serve and we’re asking a direct question and you can’t answer it?” Remi fumed.
“It’s not that I can’t answer it,” Fleming corrected. “I won’t answer it. To be precise, I’m choosing not to.” Fleming held up a hand to counter any objection. “And before you start protesting, let me clari
fy something you seem confused about. I don’t serve you. You’re visitors here, guests to the island. You aren’t citizens and you don’t pay my salary and I don’t have to answer any of your questions, especially when they’re framed in such an insulting manner. So I’d reconsider your tone. I agreed to see you to humor Carol Vanya, but I didn’t agree to be interrogated by you or to entertain rude demands.”
Sam could practically hear the safety flip off Remi’s detonation button and he quickly interceded. “Officer Fleming—”
“It’s Chief Fleming.”
“Chief Fleming. We’re looking into a troubling trend here of missing children. Surely you don’t mind helping us?”
“Mr. Fargo, let me make my position clear. The number of missing persons reports filed with this department will remain confidential unless you get a court order requiring me to divulge it, which is unlikely given that you’re not an islander.” He frowned and looked at the clock on the wall. “Now, is there anything else?”
“Don’t you care about missing children?” Remi demanded in a low voice.
“Deeply. What I don’t care about is two privileged foreigners showing up in my office, telling me what I have to disclose to them because they’ve appointed themselves special investigators. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other demands on my time. Thank you for dropping in and good luck with your research.”
Remi was seething as they descended the steps from police headquarters and Sam knew better than to say anything. They walked the block and a half to the hotel, and Remi had calmed down somewhat by the time they reached the room.
“I can’t believe nobody’s worried about a rash of disappearances,” Remi fumed, her temper stoked by Fleming’s lack of interest. “If my kids vanished, you can bet I’d raise holy hell.”
“True, but you saw the chief’s attitude. I got the impression he didn’t like us much.”
“It’s infuriating. There’s a cave full of dead kids and these idiots don’t care.”
“Well, we’re the only ones that know about that right now, so we have information they don’t. I have a feeling that attitude will change in a hurry once we break the news.”
“It’s their job to have the right attitude now.”
“I agree. But there’s nothing we can do about it.” Sam studied Remi, who was holding her tablet, a satellite image of the waterfall area on the screen. “Since that didn’t go anywhere, what’s the word on the caves?”
Remi had been looking for alternatives to parking at the village and traversing the ground to the waterfall from there.
“I think I’ve found an old logging road that ends about a half mile from the waterfall. If it’s still passable, it should cut hours off the hike.”
“That’s great news. I’ve been worried about how Leonid is going to make it. For all his bluster, he’s only human and his leg took quite a beating.”