Kidnapped

  “We’re ready.”

  “Don’t pull her; let me lift her from below.” He slid his hands behind her back and lifted her.

  Hands reached in to steady her through the opening.

  “Her arm—” Luke gasped.

  “I’ve got her,” Henry said, his hands under her head and sliding past the injury to make certain her arm stayed immobile. Her tennis shoe rubbed on the metal and then she was out.

  Luke pulled himself out of the van as they laid Caroline down.

  They were almost free of this nightmare.

  Caroline disappeared from his sight as Sharon and the paramedics took over.

  Luke ran the back of his hand across his face, wiping away sweat, tears, worry. She was out of that death trap—and alive. Thank You, God.

  Mark joined him. “You okay?”

  His smile felt real. “Fine.”

  He watched them work as paramedics reached for IV bags and Sharon ripped open pressure bandage packets to stop the renewed bleeding. Not quite fine.

  Luke took a seat on the nearest fallen log. If they had abandoned the search until morning, Caroline would not have been found alive. It was that close. His hands quivered.

  God, I’m sorry I doubted a good outcome was possible. I forgot that nothing is impossible with You.

  Mark sat beside him and offered a candy stick. “They work well for stress.”

  Luke accepted it. “This wasn’t how I thought it would end.”

  “She survived; that’s enough.”

  “It’s a very bad break.”

  “Sharon and her colleagues are very good doctors.”

  Luke let his hands rest across his knees, exhaustion taking hold. “One week of this stress is enough to kill you.”

  “When this is over, we’re all taking a long vacation somewhere with a beach, good food, and no press.”

  “I like your thinking, Mark.”

  “If the medical crews have room, I’ll let Sharon go to the hospital with Caroline while I swing home to pick up Benjamin. I think he’d rather spend some time at the hospital with us than be home without us.”

  “I think that’s wise. It will be good for him to see everyone together again, to see for himself that Caroline is okay.”

  “What about you?”

  “If they tell me Caroline is stable, then I’ve still got work to do tonight. Frank is no longer a factor, but the man who hired him—he’s still out there.”

  “You really think it was Jason Fromm?”

  “Frank could have chosen that name as a diversion, but if he did, you would figure we could locate Fromm. He’s not in Atlanta where he told his staff he was heading.”

  “Luke!” Sharon turned and waved for him to join them.

  He surged to his feet and hurried over. “Right here.”

  She moved aside to let him in beside the stretcher. Caroline already looked better. Her broken arm sported a bright splint, and white pressure bandages were controlling the bleeding. They had washed her face of the blood traces and two IVs were going. The pain had eased; Luke could see the change in her face. The silver thermal blanket tucked around her looked cozy.

  “Someone would like to say hi,” Sharon said simply.

  Luke started and looked back at Caroline. He suddenly realized her eyes were flickering.

  “Caroline?”

  Her eyes opened. “Hi.”

  He tried to keep his hand steady as he touched the side of her face. “You look beautiful.”

  She tried to smile. “Liar.” She took a deep breath. “Thirsty.”

  Sharon pushed a straw into a water bottle and handed it to Luke.

  “Right here.” Luke lifted her head and helped her drink. She nodded her thanks and set aside the bottle.

  “I love you,” she said softly.

  “I love you too,” he replied calmly. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

  “Yeah. Sharon?”

  “I’m here, sis.”

  “Frank broke my arm.”

  Sharon tugged a strand of Caroline’s bangs as she smiled. “We’ll fix it.”

  Luke looked at the paramedics. “Are we ready to go?”

  “Yes. In preparation for the trip she’s been given as much painkiller as we can risk.”

  Luke looked back down at her. “Caroline.”

  She looked up at him.

  “Why don’t you go back to sleep for a while? You’re not going to miss anything on this walk.”

  “I’m tired. See you later?”

  “Count on it.”

  Four firemen and paramedics lifted the stretcher from the ground. They held it steady as another thermal blanket was put beneath the stretcher and up over it, creating another layer to keep her warm.

  Luke followed with Mark and Jackie on the slow walk to the road.

  He watched as they loaded the stretcher into the ambulance.

  Sharon came over to join him. “She’s stable, Luke, and her vitals are strong. There will likely be a brief surgery tonight to clean the break, and then they’ll give it some time for the swelling to subside before a second surgery sets her arm.”

  “Okay. I’ll be a call away if anything changes, and I’ll join you and Mark at the hospital later tonight. There’s unfinished work to deal with.”

  She searched his face and then squeezed his hand. “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Sharon joined Caroline in the back of the ambulance.

  “The medevac flight was able to land near the road junction. She’ll be on the way to the hospital within a few minutes,” Henry told him.

  Luke nodded. “I’m going to find a radio and thank Joe.” He looked at his partner. “Then I want the man who did this.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Luke picked up a soda from the cooler and walked over to study the task force fact board at the sheriff’s office. The time line of events and discoveries since Friday’s snatch were documented in a neat sequence of notes and photographs. The mood in the room was so different from the last time he had stood here. Men and women were relaxed, and occasional laughter was heard amidst the conversation.

  “It’s good to have Caroline back,” the sheriff said, joining him.

  “Wonderful,” Luke replied with a smile. “Caroline was feeling well enough to tease her sister.” Luke gestured to the board. “Talk to me about Jason Fromm.”

  “The only thing certain is the fact we can’t find him. We’ve got Frank’s word that Fromm was involved, but so far none of the independent evidence we’ve discovered confirms that.”

  “When was he last seen?”

  “Around noon, when he left the bank, telling his staff he was going to Atlanta for a meeting tomorrow.”

  “Before the diamond ransom demand came in.”

  “Yes.”

  “Anything troubling in his finances? The man owns three homes, and from the one I saw, he is living very wealthy.”

  “He also owns a home in Atlanta. The Benton Bank is privately owned, and he’s been president five years. I’d say those homes and his lifestyle are well beyond what the job pays, but I always heard he came from family money. It will take a federal auditor to tell us if fraud is going on at the bank.” The sheriff sighed. “I’m beginning to wonder if he’s dead.”

  “If he double-crossed Hardin as he said in his call, I would almost bet he was,” Luke agreed. “Joe said something interesting. He said Frank was probably being literally correct—the man who hired him does live at 8754 Logan Road and Caroline was in the back of the white van; it was just abandoned somewhere other than that address.”

  “Half of Joe’s statement has proven true.”

  “I want to search that address again. There’s a safe room somewhere, and I’m still willing to bet we missed it in that sprawling home.”

  Jackie joined them and Luke offered her one of the french fries from his dinner. Luke finished the soda. “Think about the planning that was done for this kidnapping. It’s elab
orate. A safe room. Vehicles. A secondary place at the campsite. The details in the first ransom demand, the photos that showed they had been watching Sharon and Benjamin before the snatch.”

  “The man who planned this spent months preparing,” Jackie guessed.

  Luke nodded. “It sounds like a banker’s personality—trying to control everything and yet stay a step removed from what’s being done.”

  “Do you want to go out to the house tonight, or wait until the morning?”

  Luke looked at his watch. “I’m not ready to sleep yet, not before this is done. Let’s head out there now. If we come up empty-handed again, then we’ll regroup in the morning.”

  * * *

  Luke shoved the initial paperwork of the day’s events into a folder and leaned around to set it on the backseat of Jackies’s car. “I’m going to owe you a few years’ worth of doing your paperwork to make up for the weight you carried for me these last few days.”

  Jackie smiled. “You’re welcome. We’ll wrap up the details, Luke, then we can both take a vacation and put this far behind us.”

  “How many times did I step on Henry’s toes?”

  She laughed. “Not enough for him to mind. He said he’d be joining us once he’s comfortable that van has been rendered safe for the crime scene technicians.” She turned on the radio briefly, heard the news was on, and shut it off again. “The press has been clamoring to talk with you. You won’t be able to avoid them for much longer.”

  “The media can wait another couple days until Caroline and Sharon decide how much they want to make public.” Luke’s smile faded. “Do you know a good psychologist? Sharon and Caroline are both going to need some time to decompress from this.”

  “So will you.”

  “There are days I wonder if I’m getting way too old for this.”

  “You were made for this job, Luke. How many other agents could handle what went down here this weekend? Not many.”

  “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

  Jackie pulled into the driveway of Jason Fromm’s guest home. “Where do you want to start?”

  “With a measuring tape and a sketch pad.”

  “You know, it’s possible the rooms were intentionally built in those odd angles, to hide a large walk-in safe or a private closet.”

  “I’m a bit suspicious about the height Sharon described for the room. This place might be built with a height difference between the floors, an intentional void built to let them hide things like one of those safes, to expand the heating and cooling vents for greater distances so they don’t have to put in as many between floor casings.” Luke changed the batteries in his flashlight while he waited for the sheriff to join them. “When did they seal the house?”

  “Shortly after the dogs completed their search.”

  Luke used his pocketknife to slice the police tape on the front door. The sheriff let them in, two of his deputies joining them.

  “We’ll start in the basement and see what can be traced regarding the plumbing,” the sheriff offered.

  “Jackie and I will start on the second floor.” Luke found the lights and led the way upstairs.

  “Did you hear something?” Jackie asked, pausing at the landing.

  Luke stopped to listen. “It sounds like a faucet dripping.”

  She shook her head. “It sounds more like rain.” She reversed directions and returned to the main level. Luke followed her.

  She turned on lights in the study. A drop of water splashed on the desk, a small puddle now forming on the polished wood. “Where is that water coming from?”

  Luke studied the light fixture above the desk. “There, off that decorative leaf. It’s coming through around the base of the light.”

  Luke moved the wingback chair over and stepped up on it to tap the ceiling. He reached over and removed the ceiling hook for a planter. Water poured down in a thin stream. “Where does this study put us relative to the second floor?”

  “We’re somewhere under the master bedroom suite.”

  “I suggest we follow the water. I have a feeling it’s a neon sign to what we seek.”

  “A leaking pipe—water might be running all the way along the pipe until it reaches a bend before it drips down. The leak could be anywhere.”

  “True. But this leak looks new, or at least it’s gotten worst very recently. The officers would have noticed this.”

  Jackie led the way back upstairs and to the master bedroom suite.

  Luke stood in the doorway and listened. “It’s quiet.”

  “I don’t see signs of wet carpet. The source of the leak must be under this flooring.” Jackie turned on lights in the master bathroom and knelt to open the cabinet below the sink and pulled out items. “It’s dry here.”

  “And it’s dry around the stool.”

  After a moment’s thought, Luke walked back into the bedroom and shoved back the bedspread. “It’s not a full or partial waterbed mattress.”

  He paced away from the window until he was about the same distance into the room as the desk was in the office below them. “It’s pooling somewhere about here.”

  “If we’re wrong, we pay for either carpet or for ceiling plaster.”

  “Carpet is a lot less messy and a whole lot cheaper. Tell the sheriff to shut off the water and then bring up a camera. We’d better document what I’m about to do.” Luke studied the furniture, trying to decide what to move in order to roll the carpet up and give him access to the flooring.

  “Move the bookshelf. We can pull the carpet back in the closet to see if its been tacked or glued down, and then keep rolling it back out into the room.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Jackie headed downstairs.

  Luke unloaded the bookcase and moved it into the hallway.

  He turned his attention to the closet. “Jason does love suits.” He pushed them aside to move the items on the floor. He’d need a hammer or a screwdriver and a couple pairs of pliers to lift the carpet.

  The guy loved shoes like he did suits. Luke moved the shoes and pulled out the elaborate shelves. He picked up the top half and carried it into the hall. He knelt to lift the lower half of the shelf and froze. The seam in the paneling looked split.

  He set aside the shelf unit and turned his attention to the wall. There was a split, a subtle one, but a break. He started looking for a horizontal break and found it, right along the edge of the floorboard. It appeared as part of the wall.

  He couldn’t find any mechanism to open the panel.

  “What is it?”

  Luke started as Jackie stopped behind him. “I found the room. I just can’t figure out how to get into it.” He traced the seams for her.

  He began tapping the wall. The panel moved. “Got it!”

  It swung to the left, and behind it he found waffled foam. “There’s the soundproofing.” He tugged out the soundproofing panels. An angry voice cursing the water echoed through what looked like a solid piece of metal.

  “Well, whaddya know. That voice sounds very much like Jason Fromm.” Luke picked up the hammer Jackie had brought up with her and struck the metal plate, the impact ringing through the master bedroom and the concealed room. The words stopped.

  He sat down and leaned against the closet wall across from where the suit jackets hung and rested his arms across his knees.

  “You’re not going to open it?” Jackie asked, surprised.

  Luke looked at his watch. “Give him another twenty minutes to think about the fact we know where he is. You and I both know what a killer it is to wait and wonder what’s going to happen or when.”

  Jackie sat in the doorway. “I could order in a pizza for us.”

  Luke laughed. “Now that has a definite appeal.” He tugged out his phone and dialed. “Henry, come join us.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Luke parked in the upper level of the hospital parking garage and shut off the car. He leaned his head back against the headrest, f
eeling a week’s worth of exhaustion overwhelming him. There were so many things he wanted to enjoy with Caroline in the years ahead. God had to give second chances.

  Would she be able to set aside the trauma enough to keep her confidence about life? Would it leave her fearful and scared every time he took a page from work? The uncertainties of what was ahead were too much to face this morning.

  He picked up the roses from the passenger seat and locked his car. The reporters were being kept away by security. Luke lifted a hand to the officer on duty and headed up to the surgical floor. Sharon was already pulling strings among friends so the doctors coming to Caroline’s aid were some of the best in the state. They were confident she’d regain nearly full use of her broken arm with time. He joined Mark and Benjamin in the waiting room.

  The boy had his toy cars out. “Nice track, Benjamin.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s done?” Mark whispered.

  Luke took a seat beside his cousin. “Henry said Jason Fromm gave a full confession and is looking for a deal on the bank fraud and kidnapping to avoid accomplice to murder charges.”

  “When do I get to land a fist in his face?”

  “Stand in line. Sharon’s in with her?”

  Mark nodded. “They’re just moving Caroline to recovery now. The initial surgery went well.”

  “Sharon still figures she’ll be sedated for the day?”

  “They want to keep her under, give her about four hours of IVs, then set the arm.”

  Luke winced at the image.

  “You’re welcome to return to the condo with us and get some sleep. We’ll be back for the surgery this afternoon.”

  “Thanks, but I think I’ll hang out here. She might not be able to remember what I say, but I’ll take the time I get with her anyway.”

  Mark smiled. “I wouldn’t let her out of your sight for a while. Luke, for everything—thanks.”

  “Anytime, Mark. We’re family.” Luke held his cousin’s gaze, and the man nodded. Whatever life threw at them, it was going to be faced together.

  “Mom.”

  Benjamin got up as Sharon joined them. “Dad said I could maybe keep one of the kittens.”

  She smiled at Mark over Benjamin’s head and knelt to straighten the boy’s shirt. “One or all of them?”