here?â
Mom gave him the newspaper article. âRemember I brought you some concerns about the Riggins family? You might find this interesting.â
âAll right,â he said after reading it. âIâll agree itâs strange to find a family with the same names.â
Mom took a deep breath. âCaptain, you know I spend a lot of time trying to learn about detective work.â
It might have been my imagination, but I thought I saw Captain Briscoe fight the twitch of a smile. âYes,â he said, âI do know that.â
âIâve learned that thereâs something people can do to change their identities,â Mom said. âIâm sure you know about it. They look for people about the same age who have died. They send away for the deadpersonâs birth certificate and use it to apply for a driverâs license, credit cards...a new identity. No one ever cross-checks against death certificates.â
âYes,â Captain Briscoe admitted, âI know of that happening. But thisââ
âIs a whole family,â Mom said. âIf the father and mother and son were born about the same time as those killed in the accident, think of how easy it would be to give a whole family a new identity from the dead peopleâs birth certificates. Especially if the family lived so far across the country from Roaring River that no one would recognize their names and connect them to the people who died in the car accident.â
âHow did you connect them?â Captain Briscoe asked.
I explained.
âI donât know,â he said. âThis is so farfetched. And the Charlie Riggins we know is a respectable businessperson. There are probably thousands of Charlie Rigginses across the country.â
âBut how many with a wife named Louise and a son named Caleb?â Mom asked.
âGood point,â he said. âBut why would they go to this trouble?â
âI bet we could answer that if we knew who they were before they changed identities,â Mom said. âMaybe Charlie was a drug dealer. Or a wanted murderer. Or...â
Momâs eyes were beginning to have that excited mystery shine.
âHold on, hold on, hold on,â Captain Briscoe said. âYou have to be very careful about what you say. If youâre wrong and rumors get started, Charlie Riggins could sue you for slander.â
As he thought, Captain Briscoe rolled the article into a tube and tapped it with his right hand against the palm of his left hand.
âThis is what Iâll do,â he said. âIâll photocopy this article. First thing tomorrowâwhen the records offices are openâIâll make some phone calls to look into this.â
He shot a warning glance at Mom. âRemember, you keep this to yourself.Last thing I need is for the department to know that Iâm actually involving myself in one of your crazy mysteries.â
âThank you, Captain,â Mom said.
âBut...,â I said.
They both looked at me.
âIf Mr. Riggins is some kind of criminal,â I said, âtomorrow might be too late. Caleb has been gone a day already.â
âI donât think we need to worry,â Captain Briscoe said after a few moments of thought. âAt this point, Riggins doesnât know weâre checking into his background. Say this does turn out to be something. Nothing will go wrong as long as Charlie Riggins thinks he is safe.â
He directed his frown at me. âWhich means you can now leave this in police hands.â
He cleared his throat. âRight, Matt?â
âUm, yes, sir,â I said. âAbsolutely right.â
As if Iâd ever do anything crazy like my mom would.
chapter seventeen
In the darkness, a
Tyrannosaurus rex
roared as it charged toward me. I hardly noticed. Iâd sat there for half of the movie that night, and I couldnât even remember eating my popcorn.
Who were Charlie,
John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer
Liesel Schwarz
Elise Marion
C. Alexander London
Abhilash Gaur
Shirley Walker
Connie Brockway
Black Inc.
Al Sharpton