Abduction (24 page)

Her head
jerked up. “I beg your pardon?”

“You need to get some sleep. I’m going to sit here
and read this. . .”
He picked up the novel she was reading.
“Wild
Hearts in Paradise
? No, I don’t think so.” He dropped it as if it were a
snake ready to bite him. “I’ll find something to do. Go get some sleep.”

She stood up.
“Thanks.”

“Somehow I
didn’t take you for the type.”

“What type?”

He nodded
toward the book she was picking up. “Romance, love novels, whatever they call
those things.”

“Who do you
think reads them?”

“Housewives
with five kids looking for a little escapism.”

“Everyone
needs to escape once in awhile.”

Before he
could reply, she padded off down the hall with her book. As soon as he heard
her bedroom door click shut, he shut off most of the lights. Then he perused
her book collection and found a mystery novel that looked promising.

Kicking off
his shoes, he stretched out on the sofa with the novel and prepared for a long
night.

#

Zoe curled up
under the covers and switched off the lamp next to her bed. It was the first
time all evening she felt safe in the dark.

And it was
because JJ was in her living room, keeping watch.

She closed her
eyes and yawned. If he weren’t such a jerk, he would be someone she’d want to
know better. She knew what made him act that way though. His relationship issues
were not insignificant. Like Macy.

Someday he’d
resolve that situation in his mind and in his heart, but until he did, he
wasn’t any good for any woman.

And certainly
not for her. He’d be nothing but a heartache. And she’d be left with the scars
on her heart.

No thanks.

She had enough
of her own issues to deal with.

She yawned
again, snuggling deeper into her pillow.

But he sure
could kiss.

chapter
19

Sunday, April 23

Y
awning,
Karen shuffled into the kitchen, flipped on the television, and started the
coffee. She had barely slept for the third night in a row. And then when she
did manage to drift off, nightmares of Ted drowning in a river, Jess trapped in
the car, and a bloody knife on the dashboard jerked her awake in a cold sweat.

“. . .Here’s a
follow-up to Friday’s story about a car discovered in the river and the fate of
its driver. Police are saying that the apparent victim is forty-six-year-old
Ted Matthews, who had left home, according to his wife, to meet with the
alleged kidnappers of their infant daughter.”

Karen whirled
around, spilling grounds across the counter and onto the floor.

“The police
have been dredging the river since early Friday in hopes of recovering the
body, but so far the search has been fruitless. One police officer admitted
that they are focusing their investigation on Karen Matthews, who they claim
has been extremely uncooperative.”

With a scream
of outrage, Karen threw the coffee can at the television. “I didn’t
do
anything!”

The can hit
the television and bounced off, scattering black coffee grounds all over the
television, counter, and floor.

The phone
rang, causing her to jump. She stared at it, debating, but the prospect that it
might be her attorney drove her to it.

“Hello?”

“Mrs.
Matthews?”

The voice was
decidedly female, driving out every hope that it was Benson. “Yes?”

“This is Alicia DeSimone from WRRS News. Do you
have. . .”

Karen slammed
down the phone and backed away from it. It started ringing again. She put her
hands over her ears. “Go away. Just go away and leave me alone!”

“Karen?” Ray
was still buttoning his shirt as he hurried into the room. “What in heaven’s
name is going on?”

She looked down at the coffee grounds strewn all
over the kitchen and then up at Ray, who was still trying to wake up. “Nothing
.
I’m sorry I woke you.”

“You call this
nothing? It looks like the Boston Tea Party but with coffee grounds.”

“It was the
news. They were blaming me, saying I killed Ted.” It was a nightmare she
couldn’t wake up from.

Ray opened his
arms and swept her into a hug. “Don’t listen to the news, Sis. You know they’re
just trying to beef up ratings any way they can.”

“I didn’t kill
him, Ray. I didn’t.”

#

Zoe awoke to find JJ sprawled on the sofa with a
novel across his chest. He had one foot propped up on the arm of the sofa, the
other rested on the floor. His hair was sticking up in every direction pos
sible.
Traces of a beard shadowed his face.

And he snored.

She wrinkled
her nose, covering her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh as he choked on
a snore and shifted positions. Tiptoeing into the kitchen, she quietly emptied
the coffeepot from the night before and made a fresh pot.

While the
coffee was brewing, she padded softly to the front door and retrieved the
morning paper. She wondered if she would find something besides the paper on
the front porch but was relieved to see that the killer had given her a night
off.

She sipped her
coffee while skimming through the paper.

“Anything
interesting?” JJ scratched his stomach as he made his way groggily to the
coffeepot.

She smiled and
pulled her eyes back to the paper. “Not much. The mayor wants to enlarge the
playground at the park; the fire at the old warehouse was determined to be
arson; and there’s a sale at Carson’s hardware.”

“A sale on
what?”

“Power tools.”

“I’ll have to
check it out.”

Zoe slanted
him a glance and a smile. “Hey, thirty percent off—you’d better hurry.”

“I’ll buy two
of everything.” He pulled out a chair and dropped into it. “Sleep well?”

“Yes, thank
you. Like a rock. You?”

“Good enough,
all things considered.”

“I thought
you’d be up all night keeping watch.”

“I dozed off.”
He glared over at her. “You were safe enough.”

“I wasn’t
implying otherwise. Would you like some breakfast?”

He stood up.
“No. Thanks anyway.”

“Here we go
again,” she muttered as he stalked out of the kitchen. “Have a nice day,” she
yelled out seconds before she heard the front door slam shut.

After setting her coffee cup in the sink, the
phone rang.
“Hello?”

Zoe stood swaying as harshly whispered words echoed
in her
head.

“Weeds in the
garden, so you must die. Will today be the day?”

“No,” Zoe replied as her heart lurched in her
chest. She could feel the sweat break out on her forehead, and her hands went
icy cold.

“Did you think
you were safe with that nice policeman on your sofa all night?”

“It made
him
feel better.”

“I notice your
mother didn’t come home again last night. Now, I wonder why.”

“This is
between you and me. It doesn’t involve her.”

“You really
are a smart woman, Zoe Shefford. How unusual. I’m going to take such delight in
killing you.”

“Like you
killed Amy?”

“Now, there
was a true delight.”

Zoe felt the
tears spring to her eyes.
Not now. Not now. Fall apart later. Don’t let him
see it bothers you.
“Amy was one of a kind.”

“No. There is one just like her. And I can’t wait
to have you join her.”

chapter
20

Monday, April 24

^J
J
shrugged out of his jacket just as the phone started ringing. Matt stood.
Barone came skipping in with a smile. JJ threw up his hand, stalling the two
men, and grabbed the phone. “Johnson.”

“Hey, Johnson.
It’s Tripp. Just wanted to give you the heads-up. The blood on the knife was
confirmed as the same type as Ted Matthews. We’re bringing the wife in for
questioning.”

“Keep me
posted.”

“You bet.”

Barone leaned
forward. “I did a little checking on the locations
of the missing girls over the years. Get this. Nearly twenty percent of
the
missing children came from homes that were, or are, owned or managed
by Keyes Realty.”

JJ shook his
head, shrugging. “So?”

Barone smiled
smugly. “Keyes Realty. As in Keyes Shefford, father of Zoe Shefford.”

JJ felt as if
the ground beneath him had just shifted. He grabbed the edge of the desk.
“Zoe’s father?”

Barone nodded.
“Do you think it’s possible that Shefford, or someone who works for him, is
involved in this?”

Matt whistled
now as he pulled up a chair. “This is not good.”

JJ continued
gripping the edge of the desk, afraid his hands would start shaking if he let
go. Had she conned him? Could he have been so blind?

He managed to
look up at Barone, who was eyeing him with anticipation. “See what else you can
find while we check out Keyes Realty.” He turned to Matt. “Matt, see. . .”

“Hold on, JJ. You don’t really think this man
could be a viable suspect, do you? One of the kids that was killed was his own
daughter.”

“We don’t know
what happened to the Shefford girl.”

“Amy,” Matt
supplied tersely.

JJ ignored
him. “The Sheffords were going through a nasty separation at the time. Suppose
the father took the child as leverage and something went wrong.”

“I don’t buy
it.”

“I didn’t ask
you to. I didn’t ask you to arrest him either. But a connection like this
deserves a closer look.”

“Yeah, Keyes
Shefford. I’m on it.” Matt turned on his heel and sprinted for the door.

He was back less than five minutes later looking
very grim. “Keyes Shefford has disappeared. His secretary says he called in
yesterday afternoon. Said he had to go out of town for a few days and would
call in for his messages. He wouldn’t tell her where he went.”

JJ slammed his
fist down on the desk.

#

Karen sat
quietly, her hands clasped in her lap as her attorney jotted notes on his
yellow legal pad.

“We talked to
his boss, who confirmed that Ted was
not
sent
out of town on a business trip. We checked the company phone records,
and Mr. Matthews did not receive any calls from outside the office any time
during that day. We spoke to the cashier at the restaurant, who confirmed that
you were in there Friday evening,
picking up food.”

Tripp lowered
his reading glasses and peered over the top of them. “So we know that your
husband was not scheduled to leave town, did not get a call from the
kidnappers, and is now missing.”

Karen looked over at her attorney, Lawrence Benson,
a rail-thin man in his fifties with thick gray hair, bright blue eyes, and a
thousand-watt
smile.

He patted her
hand gently as he kept his eyes on Tripp. “As we explained, Mr. Matthews
informed my client that he was going to meet with the kidnappers, pay the
ransom, and bring their child home. If he lied to my client, that is not my
client’s fault.”

“Perhaps she
can explain how a knife with her husband’s blood on it was found in her sink?”

Benson smiled slowly, deliberately. “This is his
house, too. Perhaps he was cutting something prior to leaving and nicked his
finger.”

“And the shirt
with Mr. Matthews’s blood on it?”

“Perhaps he
grabbed it out of the laundry basket and wiped his blood on it, thinking it was
a rag.”

Tripp frowned,
tapping his fingers on the desk. Benson tossed his legal pad back into his
briefcase and closed it, snapping the locks with quiet deliberation. “You have
nothing, Lieutenant Tripp. If and when you feel you have something convicting
my client of a crime—you know, like a body or something—call me.”

He stood up,
taking Karen’s elbow and guiding her to her feet. “We’re leaving now, Karen.
They don’t have anything to hold you.”

Tripp stood
up, glaring. “We have a missing husband, an abandoned car, a bloody knife, and
blood on the wife’s clothes. I’d say we have something.”

“You have
nothing, Tripp. You know it and I know it.”

“The cashier
at the restaurant said that Mrs. Matthews was quite upset when she came in,
obviously crying.”

Benson narrowed his eyes, leaning forward,
forcing Tripp to move back. “Her child is missing. She believes her husband has
gone to meet with kidnappers. She is facing hours of sitting around wringing
her hands waiting for her husband to return safe and sound with their child. In
the meantime, the police haven’t done squat to find her daughter. Don’t you
think the woman has something to be upset about?”

Tripp growled.

“Let’s go,
Karen.”

Karen let
Benson guide her from the interview room, her heart pounding. Ted was missing,
presumed dead, and they thought she’d done it. Her daughter was missing, and
they thought she was responsible for that, too. How much worse could things
get?

Suddenly she gasped. “What if he
was
killed, Mr. Benson? What if he was taking the money to someone? Maybe the
people who have Jessica
did
call Friday. Maybe they contacted him while
he was out to lunch or something. Maybe they followed him, contacted him there
so there was no record of a call into his office. Maybe when he met them with
the money, they took it all and killed him. Oh, no. Oh, my God. They’ve killed
my husband and my daughter. Oh, God. What am I going to do?”