Abduction (36 page)

Zoe chewed on her thumbnail as she looked at her
father, his arms wrapped around his midsection. He was pale and shaken. She
watched him struggle with fear and wished there were some way to ease his pain.
He buried his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking.

When they’d
asked her to help, she’d agreed without a second
thought. Now that she knew her mother’s life was at risk, she had more
than a fair share of doubts. One wrong move on her part and
her mother
could die.

Suddenly
Fleming bolted through the front door with JJ and Matt. Zoe had no more time to
guess, second-guess, or question anything.

JJ never
looked in her direction. The only sign that he was
uncomfortable with the situation was the way he kept fidgeting. His
hands would go in his pockets, only to reappear a few seconds later and be
folded across his chest. He’d rest his fists on his hips, then run his fingers
through his hair, then stuff his hands back into his
pants pockets.

She turned away and sat silently while the men
discussed options
,
argued over
methods, and eventually agreed on a plan. Meanwhile, her mother—her gentle,
sweet mother—was in the hands of a mad
man.

Five minutes
passed. Then ten. Then fifteen. Police officers came and went. Agents checked
in with Fleming and disappeared out the door. Still no one said a word to Zoe
or her father.

Jumping to her
feet, she clenched her fists. “Enough!”

Sudden
silence. Everyone in the room turned and stared at her as if she’d lost her
mind. Well, maybe she had. She didn’t care much what they thought. “While you
all stand around talking, my mother is being terrorized!”

Her father
turned pale, and Zoe immediately regretted her words. “I’m sorry. I can’t just
sit here and do nothing.”

Donnie Bevere
took a step toward her. “I know this is hard for you, Miss Shefford, but you
have to trust us. We’re going to get your mother back safe and sound.”

“Don’t give me
that routine, Agent Bevere. I’ve worked with law enforcement for years. You
can’t guarantee anything. You need me to calm down to make things easier for
you. The last thing you want is a hysterical female in the mix. For all you
know, my mother could be dead right now while you’re making promises.”

Keyes released
a keening sound that made Zoe’s blood run cold. She ran to him, dropping to her
knees in front of him, grabbing his hands in hers. “I didn’t mean it, Dad.
She’s alive. You know she is.”

He stared at
her with unfocused eyes. “Is she?”

Dropping her
head to his knees, she struggled to gather her strength. She lifted her head
again. “Can’t you tell? Don’t you think you would know if something happened to
her?”

“I don’t know,
Zoe. I just don’t know. I keep praying for God to keep her safe, but I know God
won’t interfere with free will. If that lunatic wants to kill her—”

“Dad! He
won’t. He wants me. Mom is only bait to get to me. Don’t you see? He needs
her.”

She saw it
then. A subtle shift in his eyes, a tightening around his mouth. He was
struggling with something more than the fact that the woman he loved was in the
hands of a madman.

“Dad? What is
it?”

He started to
shake his head. Stopped. Stared at her again. “Can you
feel
anything?”

The question
rocked her back on her heels. It was the last thing she expected from him. And
yet, in an odd way, she couldn’t blame him. She’d been wrestling with the same
question herself.

“I don’t know.
I haven’t. . . I don’t think I should. . . I don’t know what to do.”

She felt her
soul being ripped in half. She had renounced her psychic abilities. If she used
them now to try to find her mother, she’d be renouncing God. Could she even
sense anything now that she’d renounced the gift? It might not work, and then
she’d have turned her back on God for nothing. But what if she
could
sense where her mother was?

A cold sweat
formed and trickled down her sides.

What was it
Rene had told her?
She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips, trying to
remember. Something about gifts being given without repentance.
What
mattered was how they were used.

But she didn’t
know how to use her gift the way God intended.

She crawled
over to the phone and yanked it off its receiver.

“Zoe, I didn’t
mean to ask. I’m sorry. Don’t do it.”

She glanced at her father and saw the misery
pooling in his eyes. This was torturing him, and she was the only one who could
stop it.

Pulling her
eyes away, she punched in Rene’s phone number. It rang three times. Then four.
“Come on, Rene. Where are you when I need you?”

It rang again.
And again. She slammed down the phone. There would be no help this time. She
would have to make this decision on her own. Could she live with herself if her
mother died and she hadn’t even tried to find her?

Her father
reached out with a shaking hand. “I can’t ask you to do this. We have to trust
God.”

“Can you?” she
asked in a rough whisper.

“We have to
try.” He took a deep breath as tears streamed down his face again. “We have to
try.”

“I don’t know
if I can, Dad.”

#

Justus
Gallagher ran long, thin fingers through his red hair as his foot rocked back
and forth under the tall stool.

“What does it
say?” Vivian stepped into the autopsy room, tying her scrubs.

“Edward
Matthews was O negative.”

“And the
body?”

“B.”

“Ouch.” Vivian
reached for a pair of latex gloves. “Well, call Johnson or Tripp and let them
know.”

#

Zoe paced.
Then stopped. She glanced at her watch. Nearly two hours had passed since her
last attempt to reach Rene. She’d left a message, but Rene hadn’t called back.

The late afternoon sun streamed down through the
trees, high
lighting some areas, shadowing others. A squirrel appeared in
the front yard, sniffed the air, turned, and quickly darted off.

Zoe turned
away from the window and started pacing again.

JJ, Fleming,
Matt, Bevere, Vince, and a host of other police officers and FBI agents were scattered
all over the house and yard. Fleming had commandeered her rarely used family
room downstairs as a command post. Occasionally someone would come up and get
coffee or water and then disappear again. No one told her anything. It was
driving her crazy. Her only consolation—small thing though it was—was that
Vince, sitting near her father, was probably getting dizzy watching her pace.

She took a
deep breath and looked in the hall mirror. There were circles under her eyes
and worry lines around her mouth. She was pale and her hair was mussed from
constantly running her hands through it. She was a mess.

And she felt
worse than she looked.

She spun on
her heel and headed for the kitchen. Where was he? What was taking so long? Why
hadn’t he called back? What was he doing to her mother? The thought hit her
mind and pain washed over her with the intensity of ice water on a hot day.
Please,
God. I don’t care about me, but don’t let anything happen to my mom.

Heavy
footsteps thundered up the basement steps. She glanced over, expecting to see
Matt with an empty coffeepot. But it was JJ who came through the door this
time. His eyes met hers then darted away as he headed for the back door. With
his hand on the knob, he turned his head and stared at her. He licked his lips
nervously. “Why don’t you try to relax? He’s not going to call again today.
It’s part of his game to make you suffer.”

She shook her
head. “He’s going to call again. I know he is.”

“Not today.
Maybe not even tomorrow.”

He reached out
and touched her shoulder. She flinched, backing away from him. “We’re going to
get him, Zoe. I promise you, we’re going to get him.”

“Before or
after he kills my mother?”

“He’s not
going to hurt your mother until he’s sure he doesn’t need her to get to you.”

The words had
the effect of a blow, causing her to stagger back a step or two.

“I’m sorry,
Zoe. That was insensitive of me.”

“Nothing new,”
Zoe whispered to herself as JJ stepped outside and pulled the door closed.
Insensitive,
but also the cold, hard truth.
As long as this maniac needed Denise
Shefford, she was safe. The trouble would come when he had Zoe. Then what was
to stop him from killing her mother?

#

Karen followed
the officer down the long hall. She had no idea what she was about to face. No
one had told her a thing. She’d asked, of course, but the officer had said he
didn’t know.

He stopped,
opened the door to Lieutenant Tripp’s office, and then stepped aside to allow
her to enter.

Inside, she
found Ray, her attorney, and Tripp waiting for her. Tripp didn’t look the least
bit happy. Ray looked ecstatic.

Tripp nodded
to the officer at the door. “Uncuff her.”

The cuffs fell
away and Karen rubbed her wrists. “Now what? Rubber hoses?”

Ray swept her up in a hug. “It wasn’t Ted. The
autopsy proved
it.”

Ted was alive.
She didn’t know how that made her feel.

Suddenly she
frowned. “Then who was that man?”

Tripp sat on
the edge of his desk, folding his arms across his chest. “We were hoping you
might know.”

“I have no
idea.”

Benson picked
up his briefcase. “I believe that takes care of everything. You know where to
reach my client if you have any fur
ther
questions.” He turned to Karen. “Let’s go home, Mrs. Matthews.
”

“Home? You
mean. . .I’m free?”

“
The man they found had been strangled. You aren’t
tall enough
or strong enough to have pulled it off. They arrested you
for the murder of your husband. That man is not your husband. Therefore, all
charges have been dropped and you are free to go.”

“Just don’t
leave town,” Tripp added gruffly.

#

Just after
seven, Matt came through the front door with a stack of pizzas and a case of
sodas. While the men downstairs ate, Vince and another agent relieved the two
men posted outside so they could take a short break.

Neither Zoe
nor Keyes ate a bite. They sat in the living room staring at a sitcom on TV and
never cracking a smile.

At 11:00
p.m.
, Fleming came upstairs and told
Zoe he was sending everyone home except two agents who would be staying at the
house. The rest planned to return in the morning.

Zoe nodded,
too exhausted, both mentally and emotionally, to ask him what they’d been doing
in her basement for the past six or seven hours.

A little while later, she convinced her father to
lie down in the guest room. After taking off his shoes, she covered him with a
blanket.

Clutching at
the blanket, he started to tear up again. “I can smell your mother’s perfume.
Am I going crazy?”

Zoe shook her
head as she reached out and stroked his cheek. “No. Mom stayed here the other
night.”

He tugged the
blanket closer to his chin and closed his eyes.

As she stepped
out of the room and started to pull the door closed, she heard her father.
“Zoe?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“I love her.
I’ve always loved her. Do you know how I met her?”

Zoe stood in
the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. “Tell me again. I don’t remember.”

“It was a frat
party. She came with a friend of hers and she hated it. Hated every minute of
it. You could tell. She stood in a corner and just watched everyone drinking
and dancing all around her. It was like she was above it all. None of it could
touch her. That fascinated me. It took me twenty minutes before I could even
get her to talk to me.”

“And she fell
in love with you.”

“Not right
away.” His voice drifted across to her as if coming from a deep tunnel. “I kept
asking her out and she kept turning me down. She said she didn’t have anything
in common with a boy who was more involved with frat parties than he was with
his studies.”

Zoe smiled to
herself. Her mom had been no fool, even back then. “What did you do?”

“I lied. Told
her that I had only been there at the party because I promised a friend I’d
go.”

“And she
believed you?”

“No. But she
went out with me anyway.” There was the sound of a husky chuckle. “I think I
just wore her down.”

“She did fall
in love with you though.”

“Yes. Yes, she
did. And she married me. Then I blew it. I knew how seriously she took things,
and I blew it anyway.”

“That was
then, Dad. She’s forgiven you. You can get married again and—”

“We were never
divorced, Zoe.”

That shocked her. She’d always assumed they had
divorced right after Amy disappeared. “I thought she filed for divorce. I could
swear I remember her talking about meeting with an attor
ney.”

“She
threatened to. But she didn’t. She said that if I wanted to divorce her, then I
could sue her for divorce. She said she’d taken a vow for life and was going to
stay married to me for life, even if we never lived in the same house again.”

“I didn’t
know.”

She heard him
sigh heavily and waited to see if he was going to say anything else. When he
didn’t, she whispered goodnight and quietly closed the door.

The despair in her father’s voice stayed with Zoe
as she took a shower and changed into a pair of light blue cotton drawstring
pants and a T-shirt. Her stomach wanted food, but her breaking heart trumped
the hunger. She stretched out on her bed in the dark and stared at the ceiling.
Was her mother asleep? Or was this lunatic keeping her awake? Was she alone but
too frightened to sleep?