RED SKATE CHAPTER TWELVE

By the following Thursday, everyone all over the city was on the lookout for Alex Barker. Charlie and I had sent the warning to the television news, the radio and the newspapers. Everyone was now terrified of being out alone at night, and we were getting phone calls every day to say that they had seen Barker in a certain, but it always turned out to be a false alarm.
On the next Thursday, we got another phone call, this time though, we were sure we'd nailed him.
The woman who called, she had a teenage about fourteen, who had gone out to a party on Wednesday night, and she had promised to be home by midnight. But it was now two o clock Thursday afternoon, and her daughter wasn't home yet, and she was terribly worried. I asked her where the party took place, and then I thanked her and said we'd get on it right away.
"who was that?" What's happened?" Charlie asked, as I put the phone down.
"Mrs Vander, on Undrin Street. Her daughter, Debbie, went to a party last night, and hasn't yet come home."
"Oh."
"I think we've finally found Barker."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go. We need to go to the place where the party was held."
"Yes. I asked Mrs Vander, and she said it was held at 26 Beckerson Close."
"Okay, well, we need to get there, and ask the occupents when they last saw this girl.

We got to Beckerson Close in twenty minutes. We rang the doorbell, and it was answered by a lad of eighteen, who looked as he'd just stepped off the set of some gangster movie.
"Yes?" He looked nervous.
"Did you hold a party here last night?"
"Yes."
"Do you know if a teenage girl named debbie Vanders came to your party?"
A look of pure horror crossed his face. "Oh shit!" He exclaimed. "Did her mother send you. Look, she was going to call last night, but by the time I said she could stay, it was going on one." A new look, as though he remembered something. "But she went ages ago!"
"Do you have any idea where she was heading?" Asked Charlie.
"Yeah. She went home. Hasn't she arrived yet?"
"Do you really think we'd be here if she came home?" I scrutinised.
"Uh, yeah, I suppose not..." He now looked embarrassed.
"Right. Well. Thank you for your time."
He shut the door in our faces, and we headed back to the car.
"Well, we need to go to Mrs Vanders' house and see whether or not Debbie arrived home yet," said Charlie.
The Vanders only lived just down the street from 26 Beckerson close, in 67 Alcold Street; by the time we found it, there was already a police car outside.
"There! They found her! And her mother's rang the police to say so!" I was relieved.
I ran up and knocked on the door. A blonde, pretty policewoman answered.
"Are you Sally Griffin?"
"Yes."
"And Charlie Packer?"
"Yes," said Charlie, coming up beside me.
"Good. We need you." The policewoman practically pulled us inside, and shut the door.
"I'm Sergeant Pondi, we're here investigating a rape allege, and seeing as you're the one who warned everyone about that Barker character, we feel you should get involved."
She led us into the kitchen, where two people were sitting. One was Mrs Vandees, and the other was Debbie, her daughter. I was shocked to see Debbie was crying.
"Now, Debbie," said Sergeant Pondi, kindly. "Please tell Miss Griffin and Mr Packer exactly what happened last night."
Mrs Vanders sighed. I recognised that sort of sigh. It was the sigh of someone who'd been made to tell a certain story over and over again.
"Hasn't my daughter told you enough?"
"Please Mrs Vanders, we would like these two top investigators involved. We believe Alex Barker may be involved, and these two may help us."
Debbie sniffed, and cleared her throat.
"I went to the party that Jason Rickle was holding at his house. Jason Rickle only lived down the street so I thought that I'd have no problem getting home on my own. But by the time Jason's party ended, it was midnight, and, with all the scare about Alex Barker, I didn't want to head out on my own. I tried calling my mum on my mobile, but I'd ran out of credit, so then I tried Jason's phone, but it was broken. Jason's mum couldn't give me a lift home, because Jason'd dad was at work, and they'd only had the one car. So Jason's mum offered to let me stay the night. The next morning, I set out the next morning to get home. It was light, so I didn't feel scared being on my own. As I crossed the road and headed towards the three houses that seperated Beckerson Close and alcold Street, this man jumped out at me from behind a large tree. He was really tall and thin, like a rake. He was wearing a hooded top with the hood up, so I couldn't see his face properly. He grabbed my wrist, and told me he'd been watching me for a while, and he really liked me. He told me to be quiet while he got on with things. He unzipped his fly and pushed me to the ground. He landed on top me and started inserting his whatdoyoucallit -" She shuddereed, as if saying the word disgusted her - "inside me. I was so scared that he was going to kill me if I resisted, that I just lay there, quiet. Then, after he finished, he stood up, zipped his fly back, winked at me, thanked me for my time, and just walked off. as if he'd only unzipped his fly to go to the toilet. I was so ashamed of what had happened, that I just lay there for a while, crying. I didn't come home for ages." She took a deep breath. "I was so sure that someone would have seen, but we were blocked from view of the houses by the large tree."
I was shocked. This definitely sounded like the doings of Alex Barker. We had to catch the nutter before he did decided to come back and kill Debbie, just for the Hell of it.
I put my arms round Debbie. 2Listen, Debbie. Don't worry, we'll protect you. We're doing the best we can to catch the fucker who did this to you."
"What do you mean, 'doing the best you can'?" Said Mrs Vanders. "You haven't started yet."
I straightened up. "I believe that Alex Barker may be involved with this."
"What are you saying? That some notorious rapist raped my daughter?"
I looked at Charlie to see what he thought. He nodded. "Yes," I answered.
"well? what are you waiting for? Get out therre and find him! what if he comes back? He'll probably murder my darling in her bed!"
Debbie burst into tears.
"Oh, Debbie, I'm so sorry," her mother looked upset. "I didn't mean to. Of course he won't kill you. I won't let him."
"We won't either," said Charlie. "We are going to do our best to catch him..."

Find out what happens next in Chapter Thirteen...