Case Journal 173: Gale Song's Foalnapping, june sixth, 1002CE
Sunny Song's son, Gale Song has gone missing! He disappeared two days ago on his way to school in the Canterlot Upper Residential District. Authorities have labeled it as a runaway as no witnesses have come forth. An Amber Bulletin has been issued but Sunny is unconvinced that it will be enough. She's approached Sleuth and Sons with the case. She wants us to find her son, or barring that, find the pony responsible for his disappearance.
I spoke with Sunny Song today in the Manehatten's Best restaurant downstairs from the office. She was a wreck and I could smell cheap liquor on her breath. Maybe it's nothing. Anyway. She swears up and down that the kid isn't a runaway. She wants me to track him down. It a tall order. With most of my cases, the pony I'm tracking leaves a paper trail, a parade of eyewitnesses and such. Not so with foals.
Checked out the School. Teacher, miss White Board says Gale never showed up for school. Did some poking around. Nothing terribly interesting came up except a Power Ponies comic in Gale's desk. Not exactly uncommon for a kid to have a comic book, but on the inside cover, there's what looks like a note from the kid's Dad. Says “happy Ninth Birthday son, -Dad”. Strange that Sunny didn't mention a dad.
Visited Sunny Song at her home. #6 Red Row. Low rent housing. Subsidized by the crown for castle staff. She was reluctant to let me in. Easy to see why. Place was a pit. Empty booze bottles all over. Sunny positively reeked of the stuff. I asked her about the Father. She was very shifty about him. I'll need to look into that. They separated a few years before. She forbade him from seeing Gale. Turns out that the Comic is just a couple weeks old. Gale turned nine just recently. Kept the comic to myself and didn't press for a name. I could find out easy enough through other means. On my way out, spotted an eviction notice on the table.
Went to Booksmart's Book Store down the way from the office. Turns out my guess was on the money. The comic was actually bought there. Booksmart gave me a list of every transaction for that particular issue. I can only hope our mystery stallion signed the receipt.
I'm out of leads. Short of going door to door and asking ponies if they are or knew the foalnapper, I got nothing. Looks like I'm going to have to get serious with Sunny.
The Interrogation... Didn't go well. I did get the Husband's name though. Cloud Cover. A Cloudsdale native pegasus. After I got that, I pushed a bit too hard and sunny pushed back... with her hoof... in my muzzle. I think I chipped a tooth. She apologized after and begged me to stay on the case. I didn't plan on leaving.
Checked the Public records for Cloud Cover. Looks like he was a Loaner Weather Cheif. Canterlot borrowed him for a year while they trained up a replacement for Wind Runner, the previous one who retired eight years ago. He never retook his post in Cloudsdale. I can only assume it was to take care of Sunny and Gale. Looks like he moved to Lower Canterlot.
After a bit of poking around, found his house down in LowC. Wasn't home. Hasn’t been for a few days at least, according to his neighbors. They kept pretty tight lipped for the most part, but I did hear from the Elderly couple across the hall that he was going to see his son. He's in Upper Canterlot then. The general opinion of the guy is he's a Saint. From what I've seen, I have to agree. Just a father trying to be part of his son's life.
Trail went cold again. Decided to go back to the school and see if I couldn't speak with some of Gale's friends. Miss White Board sits in with me while I talk to them. Turns out that Gale talked non-stop about his father. He kept the comic in his desk because he was afraid that his mom would take it from him if she saw it. Aside from that, the foals weren't a big help. Surprisingly, it was White Board who helped the most here. She'd been secretly worried for Gale Song for a while. He didn't seem terribly happy or motivated unless he was talking about his Father. She told me he'd been becoming more and more reclusive as time went on and the Naughty corner received his patronage more and more.
I'm positive now that Gale is with his Father somewhere. Need to figure out where he might be.
Went to Sunny's again. If anything, it's gotten worse around here. I'm starting to doubt if Sunny's the best of the two parents to have the kid. Doesn't matter right now. Find the kid first, deal with the other problems from there. After a bit of coaxing, I managed to get a bit more information on Cloud Cover. I was right. He stayed to be with them. She told me how they'd met in Fillydelphia and hit it off at a party. It went on from there. Some vague comment about thing going bad, and then he left. Turns out his brother lives in Filly. That could be something.
Ran back to the Apartment he lives in, or Lived in rather. He put in his notice of intent to vacate day before yesterday. Only just made it to the desk. He's skipping town. Gotta see the station manager.
Well, luck's on my side. The tracks going towards Filly have been out for a week because of a rock slide. Couldn't get confirmation that Cloud had bought tickets. Probably used an alias. Has to believe the Guards are looking for him. Maintenance should be finished today though, so I better hurry. He's gotta be staying somewhere.
Did some looking around the local hotels. Narrowed it down to ones near both the school and the train station. That left three. Royal Suites, the Rising Sun and the Ritzy. Royal Suites and the Ritzy are pretty high profile. Rising Sun was a bit lower key and cheaper to boot. Clerk confirmed that they had a guest that fit Cloud's description. Went to find him upstairs. Room was empty, but the half eaten bowl of potato stew was still warm. Just missed them. They have to be on their way to the train station.
Got him. After I left the Rising Sun, I went to the Guard Post and told them I'd found Gale Song. Three guards in tow, we arrived at the station. In the interest of not freaking the kid out, I asked the guards to let me go in first and talk to him. I'm surprised they let me. Inside, he was sitting on a bench saddlebags packed and there beside him, dozing with his head across Cloud's withers was Gale. I sat next to him and just talked. Didn't tell him why I was there. I wanted the story from both sides.
Man. All three of these ponies had it rough. Thankfully my fears of abuse were unfounded. Apparently, while Sunny is an alcoholic, she was more indifferent while smashed. Part of the reason Cloud left. He couldn't get custody of Gale and so he had to sneak around to keep in touch with his son. Turns out the whole thing was Gale's idea. Wanted to go see “Uncle Slugger”. That's what Gale calls his Uncle, Sledge Hammer. Damn if that ain't the cutest thing.
I was wondering why he was telling me all this until he asked me if the guards were outside. Smart guy this one. I got the guards in there real quiet like. There wasn't a fuss or anything. Gale looked sad but what can you do. I think I'll be writing the Princess about this one....
Author's Note
A bit of an experiment. I want to see if this kind of format will be well received, and if it goes well I'll write more. So, please feel free to post suggestions for cases that Sleuth and Sons can take on.
