Vanished in the Dunes by Allan Retzky Page B

area. There is only an inning to go and he wants to watch the whole game. In the summer he never knows how manyLittle League games he’ll get to. You never stop being on the job even when you’re off the clock.
    The next morning Detective Wisdom sits at his desk, yawns, and reaches for the Starbuck’s iced cappuccino. It’s Thursday, a late-June Thursday, and every Thursday he promises himself a stop at the East Hampton Starbuck’s even though it’s a bit out of the way. He’s already savored the last few crumbs of the bran muffin. He flips open his notebook and rereads his neat printed summary of what he needs to do that day. For the moment he ignores the files that lie on the corner of his desk regarding detailed follow-up of police-related activities; a break-in and robbery at an expensive house in East Hampton, a possible hate crime assault of a local Hispanic landscaper in the Springs, and a fight outside a bar in Montauk in the early morning of the past Saturday. Things will be getting worse. The season has just begun. There will be fights, robberies, even the rare possibility of a murder. There will likely be more overtime, although he would prefer there wasn’t. He’s already missed two of his son’s Little League games.
    He closes the pad and sighs. Something gnaws at him. The missing woman from New York. He hasn’t made any progress. Then a small kernel of an idea grows. He picks up the phone and dials the extension of the department’s tech specialist.
    After two rings, Ray Baxter picks up.
    â€œRay. Peter Wisdom. Can you please clarify something for me? If someone used a two or three-year-old Verizon wireless cell phone six weeks ago, can you still tell me where the call was made from? Sorry, but we don’t have the phone. I’d rather ask you first than depend on Verizon. I’ll talk to them when we know more.” Wisdom fills in more of the details and leaves the rest to the resident techie.
    Ray calls back the next morning.
    â€œSorry it took so long, but I wanted to check something with theFeds before getting back. You were right to ask. The technology changes so fast these days that something new could turn up tomorrow. Anyway, the story is this: If the woman’s phone was a few years old, it probably didn’t have one of the new embedded chips. If she did, the new tracking systems would enable Verizon to pinpoint the source of the call to within fifty feet or less. Assuming she didn’t have the chip, and the call was made a few months ago, the best they could do would be to determine that the call was transmitted through a local tower. In this case it was probably in Amagansett.”
    â€œRemind me. Where’s the tower?” asks Wisdom, oblivious to his admission that he didn’t remember exactly where, although he’d knew about the construction several years before.
    Ray gives the location. It’s a quasi-industrial area away from the larger summer homes. The rich don’t want a tall radio tower in their backyard.
    â€œWhat’s the area range that it covers?” asks Wisdom.
    â€œThat’s the problem,” said Ray. “It’s a pretty big area. Look at it as a pie shape with a diameter of two to three miles. Around here that especially covers a lot of space with water views. You did say the call came from a house with water views, didn’t you?”
    Wisdom sighs and breathes faint curses into the receiver. Ray doesn’t need to repeat the question.
    â€œAs long as the Feds aren’t involved there’s not usually a problem and city hasn’t suggested calling them in as yet. Nor should we or County. So far there’s absolutely no hint of a kidnapping. Damn!”
    Chief Ferris manages to get all but the last few words out before a drop of yolk from his fried egg breakfast sandwich leaks onto his shirt. He looks down, wets his handkerchief with a daub from his tongue, and blots