The Milk Carton Murders 13

Set Up:
The girls all went missing in the month of April, the same month the Friends of Foster Families had their annual northeastern awards banquet. Dave tries to remember what was going on in Lamont during 1985 and '86 when the other two girls went missing. He was getting ready to leave for college but there is one other thing of importance that happened in the late 80s--the disappearance of a Lamont Weekly Times reporter, where Dave now works. Dave is in Sheriff Clayton Nazzaro’s office along with Investigator Pepper Black.

“We already have some of our investigators working on that,” said Clayton, “looking to see if there were any marital squabbles involving children, any child molestation charges, and property trespassing reports—things along those lines in that time range, especially the month of April.”

“I can see that helping with Rachael from Cuba, New York and possibly the girl from Albany, but what about the girl from Pennsylvania?” asked Pepper. “Unless one parent abducted the child and moved in around here somewhere.”

“I checked our microfilm archives by the way,” Dave offered. “Here are some copies on Rachael McKenzie’s abduction, but nothing on the other two. Inky Dalton covered Rachael McKenzie’s case rather closely.”

“Who's Inky Dalton?” Pepper asked.

“Ignatius Dalton, our only unsolved murder—technically missing person, I should say,” said Clayton. “He was an old coot, but a hell of a reporter huh, Dave?”

***

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone.

*** 

BLURB:

When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.

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The Milk Carton Murders 12

Set up:

The remains of the three girls have been identified through dental records at the Center for Missing Children including Samantha Briggs, the girl Dave knew as Sally when he was a kid. Dave (our MC and small town reporter) and investigator Pepper Black notice the dates on the 20 year old milk carton pieces were all on Sundays at the beginning of April. Last week Margret tells  Randy (newspaper’s layout guy) and Dave that his parents are getting an award for their service the Friends of Foster Families program. 

Words in italics is the voice in Dave’s head.

***

“It's pretty cool,” Randy said, feeding off Margaret’s energy, “big dinner, black tie, the big wigs come, good PR and all, and your dad will get a kick out of getting a picture with all of them. My dad has his hanging in his den I think."

"Can't wait," Dave answered, with a forced smile.

            I don’t know, Davy, I’m thinking they’ll just skip the photo op and get right to the hanging part, most likely by that black tie.

Dave could feel the migraine spreading from his temples. “And when is this supposed to be?"

            "The northeastern district award is given every April," answered Margaret, “and this year they’re hosting it in our county.”

***

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone.

*** 

BLURB:

When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.

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The Milk Carton Murders 11

SETUP: We’re jumping ahead a little. We’ll get back to the clues on the milk cartons later. Dave wonders if his dad is responsible for the killing of three little girls 20 years earlier that were recently dislodged from the bank of Wiscoy Creek. Dave’s Mom and Dad (Hal) were foster parents when he was a kid. Dave is in the office of the Lamont Weekly Times when Margret, the society page reporter; rushes in with exciting news that she’s just busting at the seams to tell. So of course Dave asks,” what?”

Text below in italics is the voice inside Dave’s head. 

 

"I just got the skinny that your dad is getting an award from the Friends of Foster Families for all the wonderful work he did over the years in the foster care program," Margaret said, beaming, "and the Rotary's hosting it."

Dave missed his mouth with his mug as he stumbled backward coming close to spilling his coffee all over his shirt. "Shit!” He checked his front while he held his mug away from himself.

"I know, right? I was surprised too."

No Margaret, he really means, oh shit! An award for all Hal’s good deeds—how’s that for irony, Davy?

"Well,” said Dave, as he sat his mug on his desk and tried to compose himself, "I bet he'll be just thrilled about it."

"That's what I thought," Margaret said, "your mom too―posthumous of course."

"Well, that's just ... swell," said Dave.

*** 

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone.

*** 

BLURB:

When three small coffins are unearthed near the Wiscoy Creek during a routine dredging operation, it’s the last thing DAVE ROBERTSON, of the Lamont Weekly Times, expected. Pinned to the skeleton’s clothing are pictures from milk cartons of missing girls.

Dave is stunned to find that one of the girls is Sally―a foster child his parents had cared for through the Friends of Foster Families (FFF) program. Cold case files reveal the girls disappeared over 20 years ago. Knowing his house was the last place he saw Sally alive, he can’t help but suspect his dad.

How can he write the biggest story of his career if his father turns out to be the killer? If the voice in his head would shut up and let him remember, he might figure it out before he loses his mind and his dad is charged with murder.

Full blurb and snippet recap here.

Read More

The Milk Carton Murders 10

Sorry for the two week delay. I was involved with Camp NaNoWriMo and Blogging A-Z, and it was hard to keep up with.

We last left off two weeks ago (MCM 09) With Dave Robertson (reporter for the Lamont Weekly Times) and Investigator Pepper Black looking over old photos of missing children on milk carton pieces from the 1980s. Dave's mom and dad were foster parents to one of the victims and his dad also worked at the dairy in the printing department. To the best of Dave's knowledge, Pepper doesn't know these two facts yet. Pepper showed Dave copies of the three carton pieces from the remains they found in comparison to one from the Milk Carton Campaign. Dave notices the ones printed at Wiscoy Dairy (local milk plant) have a different font than the ones from the actual center. We now pick up with that conversation.

Pepper flipped the carton pieces back around to look. "Damn, you're right---I wasn't even talking about that either; I was talking about the dates."

"I see it," said Dave. "Our three all went missing the beginning of April, different years, but close in days; the 3rd, the 7th, and the 8th." He wondered if they were all the same day of the week.

"Now I'm more curious about the fonts," Pepper said.

Dave vaguely remembered his dad being away during Easter vacation. "I think the dates are significant."

***

You can read the synopsis for the Milk Carton Murders and catch up here if you'd like.

If you'd like to read one of Pepper's adventures previous to this one, I did a whole story on this blog for the Blogging A-Z Challenge and Camp NaNoWriMo in the month of April. You can check it out on the recap page here.

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone.

 

Read More