Kidnapped

  “Let’s hope the roadblocks get lucky,” Taylor agreed.

  “Are there any fingerprints we can work with?” Luke asked.

  “The crime guys were just getting started with the inside of the car.”

  Luke nodded. He left Jackie with Taylor and walked across the parking lot to the abandoned vehicle. “Tell me we have something in that car that is going to help us.”

  “Multiple prints on the glass and the door,” the technician kneeling by the driver’s door replied.

  The crime scene technician working on the passenger side of the car shook open a large paper bag and transferred a folded-up jacket left tossed on the passenger seat into the bag. Luke heard him softly curse. “What?” He walked around the back of the car.

  The technician clicked off his high-powered torchlight. He wiped his face before he leaned back and turned with a sigh. “We’ve got blood on the passenger seat. A lot of it.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Luke heard the door behind him open as someone came out of Mark’s house to join him on the back porch. He didn’t bother to turn. It was almost midnight, and nothing an agent said would improve the situation.

  She was dead. He had found Mark and Benjamin, recovered Sharon, and lost Caroline. Someone should just shoot him and put him out of his misery. Caroline was the best thing in his life, and she was dead out there somewhere, probably dumped by the side of the road.

  “It isn’t going to help to get drunk,” Sharon said.

  Luke looked at the can in his hand. “Nonalcoholic, unfortunately. Your husband doesn’t keep the real stuff in the house. I could use a stiff drink right now.” He set the can aside anyway. “You couldn’t sleep? It’s very late.”

  “Benjamin needed a late-night snack and reassurance that I was really home. I was inclined to indulge him.” Sharon sat on the porch step beside him. “She’s still alive.”

  He shook his head. “There was a lot of blood, Sharon. And four times lucky in one case—it doesn’t happen.”

  “Don’t give up hope on my sister. I won’t let you.”

  He reached over and squeezed her hand. “She will have everything in me to find her, that’s a promise. I’m not leaving her out there.” His voice broke. “She loved you, Sharon, so very much.”

  She leaned against him and wrapped an arm around his waist. “I love her too; so do you.”

  It felt so awful, to be the one sitting here. He closed his eyes; he saw the blood. During the years of his job, he had been in too many situations like this to have faith that Caroline was still alive. He lived in a grim reality where faith and hope didn’t have much room to flourish. He wanted so badly to believe Caroline was still alive, but he couldn’t keep that hope alive.

  “I went chasing some guy who took pictures he shouldn’t have, who had a crush on Caroline, and I managed to miss the guy who took her.” He took a deep breath and let it out, using it to stop his tears. “I don’t know where to look for her.”

  “I can’t explain the hope I feel, the confidence that she’s still alive, but I know it’s going to be okay. God knows where she is. Caroline’s going to come back alive and well.”

  Behind Sharon’s back, Luke lifted his hand to acknowledge Mark. His cousin had stepped to the door to check on his wife. In the days to come, it would be hard on Mark to breathe easy when Sharon was out of his sight. His cousin nodded and disappeared toward the kitchen.

  Sharon leaned back and tugged a piece of paper from her pocket. “I wish I could have done a better job describing him to the police sketch artist.”

  “You did fine; they faxed a copy of the sketch to Jackie as soon as you thought the drawing was close.” Luke took the sketch from her and smoothed out the folds. “It’s Frank Hardin. Or close enough to be his twin. Mark was right. This switch for Caroline was all about Frank making this case very personal to me.”

  “You’ve been chasing this man a long time.”

  Luke nodded. “Murder, extortion, the most likely suspect in the disappearance of an agent from Florida. Television reporters have shown me on the news with Caroline holding her hand. The local newscasters have repeatedly mentioned the fact that we’re dating. Frank would have thought it was a good payback, to take the one person closest to me. He knows Jackie and I are hunting for him; he’s taunted us before after we just missed capturing him in Louisiana. The agents trying to find him are like trophies in a game of cat and mouse for him.”

  Sharon was silent for a while, lost in thought. “Frank Hardin let me go; he left me alive, just so I could draw that sketch.”

  Luke sighed, wishing she hadn’t made the connection that would haunt her over time. “Frank took Caroline as a way to strike at me. But unless I knew for certain he had her, it was a wasted action. Killing you was not as productive as letting you go.”

  “He’s cruel.”

  “Yes he is.”

  “He’ll want to get out of this area to live another day; you’ve told us he’s driven by a desire for money. Killing Caroline doesn’t help him with either. You’ll find her, Luke, and she’ll be fine. My sister is a survivor.”

  Luke reached over and wrapped his arm around Sharon, hugging her. Frank had a habit of cutting his losses early and moving on. Shooting his friends at the campsite was just the latest demonstration of that fact. Caroline was likely already another casualty. “I’ll let you believe that for me tonight. There have been too many twists since Friday to keep my perspective.”

  She sat beside him in silence, and he studied her bruised face. “How are the memories tonight?”

  “I’m jumping at boards creaking, people moving around in adjoining rooms, the phone.”

  “Time will help.”

  “I know.” She drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. “If they had been able to grab Benjamin as they first intended . . . I don’t know how to handle that thought, that fear. What if someone tries it again?”

  He gently rubbed her back. “Bravery comes when you know the risks might happen, and you still go on with life. For the next while, let Mark hire you a driver and arrange more security here. You can be smart about the fear.”

  “Benjamin needs life to return to normal as soon as possible.”

  Luke nodded. “I’ll help you out, Sharon. You won’t have to live with the fear.”

  She smiled. “I’ll look forward to that.” She rubbed her cheek against her knee. “I wonder why Gary ran, if he didn’t have anything to do with any of this.”

  “He got scared that he would be suspected, that his photos would be uncovered,” Luke guessed. “Reasonable worries on his part as both happened.”

  “Mark showed me some of the photos. It’s sad that Gary felt he had to try to become part of our family.” She sighed. “Maybe if the task force can find where I was held, that might help answer the question of who hired this done. Whoever arranged this has to be stopped before he does it to some other family.”

  “We’ll find him,” Luke promised. “Are you ready for the media?”

  “No, but I’m getting there. Henry James wants to give it till morning, while they leak enough of what has happened to generate a lot of public interest in my story. They think they can get even the national networks to carry the press conference live.”

  “If we didn’t need the coverage so badly, I would never ask you to face this so soon. But Frank will likely be out of the state before morning. National news is the only card we’ve got left to play that has a good chance of generating more solid leads. He’s been running a long time, and he’s good at it. Once his trail goes cold—it may be a long time before we get another lead on his location.”

  “For Caroline’s sake, I’ll take every question they ask. At least the sketch of Frank and his last police mug shot are all over the news right now.”

  Benjamin called for Sharon. She hesitated, but Luke squeezed her hand. “Go, your son needs you.”

  “Can I at least get you something to eat that would qualify
as a meal?”

  “Maybe later.” Something substantial to eat right now would just make him ill.

  He watched her walk back inside.

  Where was Frank heading? I need ideas, Lord. What I really need is for Frank to keel over from a heart attack and end this.

  Luke wiped his eyes. He finished the drink and got to his feet. The task force had suspended the foot search so they could bring in the tracking dogs. Searching the woods from where Caroline’s car had been left to where Frank’s car had been abandoned would take the trackers most of the night.

  He looked at his watch and made the decision to go join them. If they recovered a body tonight, he would be the one doing the identification.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  A cold front had moved in with the Friday dawn, making the damp morning all the more bitter. Luke pushed his way through intertwined vines to get to the small ridge that cut through the forest, a slab of rock marking where this area had once sheared away in a landslide. The area was covered with such rockslides, making the footing through this stretch of woods unreliable. Even with heavy boots he was finding it hard to maneuver.

  Luke stopped long enough to shift his jacket collar where a tree limb had torn the fabric. The walking stick Benjamin had insisted he take along was proving its worth. Luke resumed his hike. Frank had the habit of dumping bodies where they would not be easily recovered.

  To the east of him, Luke could hear the next searcher but not see him. They were spread too thin in this area to do an in-depth search. Until someone recovered torn fabric, found drag marks, something clearly showing that people had been out here recently, they had to hope a general canvass would be enough. At least with the dawn they had a chance to spot whatever might be here.

  Caroline’s smart. If she’s being taken somewhere, she would do what she could to mark the route—dropped items, scuffed steps, something.

  No matter how many positive thoughts he tried to hold for the sake of her family, for himself, it didn’t change what he suspected had happened. Caroline had saved her sister’s life only to give her own within the same hour. This wasn’t a search and rescue; it was now simply a search and recovery.

  He knew the task force members were also on the downside of the hope curve, doing their jobs thoroughly and well but with grimness now and knowledge that the odds had turned against them. Finding the dead was a hard burden to bear. As much as everyone wanted this case to be over, no one wanted to be the one to find the body.

  Luke pushed the walking stick into another mound of leaves and kept walking. Frank would have been carrying the body from where he parked the car, so he wouldn’t choose the densest route into these woods, even if he did hike in for quite a distance before leaving the body. It would be like him to roll the body down an incline or into a rock crevice. Luke stopped and listened. He searched the air. Birds would know, forest animals. The smell of blood attracted so many creatures. Nothing sounded particularly helpful.

  “Luke.”

  “Over here, Taylor.”

  The state homicide detective joined him. “Mind if I walk with you a bit?”

  “Feel free. I’m heading to that old oak by the bridge.”

  Taylor had come better prepared, dressed in layers of hunting clothes and a backpack of supplies slung over his shoulder. “I’ve got coffee if you’re interested.”

  “I’m okay for now.”

  Taylor fell into line ten feet to Luke’s left to broaden the coverage. “They were loading up the tracking dogs when I left the road.”

  “I know.” The search of the roads between the vista where her car was recovered and the restaurant where Frank abandoned his hadn’t turned up any hits. The dogs had been in near-constant use since Saturday. They and their handlers needed a break.

  “We don’t know yet if that blood was hers.”

  Luke looked over at Taylor, appreciating the reason for the comment, even as he shook his head. “It’s going to be hers,” he replied, resigned to that reality. “It’s possible Frank transferred her to the other vehicle and took her with him, but if so, it’s likely he just wanted to make it that much harder for us to find her. He’s not been in touch with another ransom demand. The roadblocks overnight didn’t spot him. He’s either already a state away, or he’s sitting somewhere waiting us out.”

  Luke paused as another helicopter came in low over the trees, following the highway. The odds they would spot something from the air were slim, but even if they couldn’t locate the body, the white van was still out there somewhere. It would take every bit of evidence they could find to generate a lucky break at this point.

  Where are you, Caroline? I need to find you now, before the weight of this tears even more into Sharon and Benjamin and Mark. I need to find you, love. If only to tell you when it’s too late just how much I love you.

  The helicopter moved off to the south. “He may be holed up wherever they were holding Sharon originally,” Taylor said.

  “It’s possible. Sharon was certain there was carpet under her feet when they pulled her out of that room and took her to the garage to put her in the car trunk. She remembers a full flight of stairs, suggesting it’s somewhere inside a two-story house. But other than the fact it’s somewhere near Benton, do we know much about where to even look?”

  “Not enough.”

  Luke looked at his watch, wondering if Sharon had been able to get any sleep in the remaining hours of the morning. “Sharon’s offered to go with us for a drive, to see if she recognizes the sounds of a bridge she crossed, railroad tracks, anything that will give us a sense of direction and distance she was driven, but it’s a long shot. We need to find that white van. Maybe if we can figure out where they dumped it, or who originally bought it, we can get a lead on this guy who had enough money to set up this kidnapping. He’s the one person who would know where that room is located.”

  “Jackie is with Sharon this morning?”

  “Yes. She’s remembered a number of useful details beyond the sketch. We haven’t done a full debriefing yet. Henry wanted Sharon rested enough to get through the press conference this morning first.”

  “That’s smart. The public will sympathize with Sharon a lot more than a police briefing. Luke, do you mind if I tag along for that drive around?”

  “I’d appreciate it. You know this area like the back of your hand. You might be able to put together the small details Sharon can remember.”

  The trees began to thin out and the field came into view. The old oak Luke had been using as his guide to stay on a straight search line towered above them, decades of living having aged and thickened the bark and branches.

  Vehicles lined up along the road on either side of a communications van being used as the field command post. “I’m going to go into town for the press conference. I’m guessing we won’t head out to drive around with Sharon until midafternoon. I’ll find you before then.”

  “I’ll be around,” Taylor promised.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The news at the top of the hour came on. Highlights of the press conference began to replay. Luke shut off the small television mounted under Mark and Sharon’s kitchen cabinets. He opened the refrigerator and poured himself a tall glass of juice and carried it with him into the living room. Sharon had sought refuge on the couch, curling up under an old quilt.

  “You did a good job.” Luke shifted the ice bag she held against her face and looked at the bruise. “And that is getting better.”

  “I looked like an abuse victim on TV.”

  “The cameras are never kind,” he commiserated. “You handled the questions like a pro.”

  “They say the tip line at the task force has been busy.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” he asked gently, loath to push right now. He was exhausted just having been a spectator in the crowd; he knew she had to be running on nervous energy right now.

  “Ask your questions, Luke. I’m up to this. It will help to have it over
with.”

  “Relax, Sharon. Let’s just talk a bit now, and plan to talk again later today and over the next couple days. Memories tend to have layers. You’ll remember some details now and others will come to mind on their own. There’s no pass or fail in an interview like this.”

  Mark joined them, shifting Sharon’s feet so he could sit on the couch with her. Luke was relieved to see from his cousin’s movements that his chest pain appeared to be abating.

  Luke took a seat across from Sharon and opened his notebook. She had already gone over the time line of events with Jackie that morning, and Luke didn’t want to reopen any memories he didn’t have to. “Why don’t you start by telling me more about the room you were in. Describe it for me.”

  “It’s not high enough to stand up in. The entry was up high on the wall, about three feet square. About the only thing I’m certain of is that it’s got good soundproofing. I could hear nothing through the walls or the floor.”

  “Was anything unique that might be traceable? A particular video he purchased or an unusual food item?”

  Sharon shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “What about when they hauled you out of the room? Do you remember what kind of place you entered?”

  “They had shoved a pillowcase over my head. I remember getting pushed up and out of the room. When I cleared that entryway, I was on my hands and knees and it was carpeted. They pulled me to my feet and I lost my balance. I grabbed something that I thought was a coat or maybe one of those heavy fabric storage bags. My hands were taped, and it was more the feel of the rough fabric than anything else about how it was cut.”

  “The fabric wasn’t on a piece of furniture?”

  “It gave under my hands, and it was high—you know it could have been a drape. It had that same heavy feel to it.”

  “What happened next?”

  “I distinctly remember being pulled down a lot of stairs that felt like they were at a steep angle.” She bit her lip. “We made at least one right turn, and it seemed like a very long walk before I was pushed through a door into what must have been a garage. It was cold, and the floor was concrete. After they shoved me into the trunk, it was almost an hour before the car was moved. I remember thinking as I lay there that I was hearing a deep freezer run.”