The Abducted Book 0 (6 page)

“
I must say, I can understand where
your ex is coming from. I wasn’t going to let Freddy have
Ana.”

O
’Leary stared ahead
blankly, nodding.

“
Can I get you a drink? Water? Soda?”
she asked, opening the fridge.

“
Water is fine,” he said.

She got a glass from the wood-stained
cupboard and poured some water into it from a jug inside the
fridge. As she walked over, O’Leary’s eyes wandered to examine the
kitchen. It was quaint and clean—opposite from his man cave back
home. She stopped and set his glass down on the table.

“
Thank you,” he said, holding up the
glass. She nodded, smiling ruefully.

“
So what can I help you with?” she
asked abruptly. “Better yet, what brings you all the way out here
that couldn’t be said on the phone?”

O
’Leary thought to
himself, searching for the right words. “Sergeant Castillo, I just
want to—”

Miriam stopped him.
“I
left the force a year ago. I’m a civilian now.”

“
Sorry. Force of habit. It’s weird
calling you anything else.”

“
That’s okay. But I’ve moved
on.”

He took a long sip of water as the
overhead clock ticked. Once the glass hit the table, he
began.
“First, I want to thank you for agreeing to
meet with me.”

Thunder rumbled outside, louder than
before.
“Not a problem.” She laughed a little to
herself. “How about you just spit it out?”

“
Fair enough,” he said. His hands went
flat on the table as he interlaced his fingers. “Look, I get it. I
get why you did what you did. And I didn’t come here to lecture you
about any of it. Your superiors left you high and dry. You were a
sacrificial lamb, and everyone knows it. But you’re a good cop,
Castillo. You still have it in you. One of the worst things to come
out of that terrible day, along with Jenny’s disappearance and
Lang’s death, was you leaving the force as a result.”

Miriam stared ahead for a moment, not
making eye contact. She then looked at him with serious
eyes.
“I appreciate your understanding, but we’re
still not any closer to what you’re doing here.”

“
I need your help,” O’Leary stated
flatly. “And before you say no, let me explain that I’m not here to
make you a cop again. I’m asking for a favor, nothing more and
nothing less.”

“
What kind of favor?” Miriam asked,
pointing her beer at him.

“
Help me find out what happened to
Jenny Dawson.”

For what seemed a long time, there was
only silence. Miriam tensed up and froze.
She then
turned around and looked outside the kitchen window, not saying
anything.

O'Leary continued. “Jenny is officially a
cold case now.”

“
That’s because she’s dead,” Miriam
said, looking down.

“
We don’t know that for sure. I’ve
seen abduction cases where the victim is found ten, twenty years
later sometimes.” His voice rose with passion.

Unmoved by O
’Leary’s
conviction, Miriam turned around and approached him, leaning
against the chair at the head of the table. “Deputy Lang died that
day. Jenny Dawson died probably not long after. And a piece of me
died with them as well.” Her eyes were glossy and pained with
anguish. “You want to know why? Because I could have saved them
both, and I didn’t! I can sit here and blame the department for
railroading me, but the truth is, they were right. It
was
my fault.”

“
That’s ridiculous,” O’Leary
protested. “Come on, you’re smarter than that. You know what you
sound like? You sound like a battered housewife making excuses for
her husband.”

Miriam released her grip on the
chair.
“Again, I appreciate your support. I always
have. But the truth is the truth. Nothing can change
that.”

“
You’re the only person I know who has
encountered the Snatcher.”

“
So what?” Miriam said.

“
And that means something. Like you,
I’m ready to walk away. But being a detective is all I know. It’s
my life.” He leaned in closer, a look filled with shame replacing
his schoolboy smile. “I haven’t solved a single case this year. And
with this Dawson thing looming over my head, I don’t think I ever
will.”

Miriam backed away and went back to
the counter.
“I wouldn’t be any good to you. Even if I
wanted to help…”

“
I don’t believe that,” O’Leary
said.

“
There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry
you came out here for nothing.” She opened the fridge door and
started taking some food out, setting it on the counter.

“
You were a damn fine police officer.
Four decorated years in the Air Force. High marks from your
superiors. Police academy test scores that are some of the highest
on record. You’re highly skilled, Castillo. And I’ll be damned if
I’m going to see it go to waste.”

“
Is that what you think I’ve done?”
she asked with her back to him. “Let my skills go to
waste?”

“
Frankly, yes.”

A silence came over them again. The
clock seemed to tick louder than before. O
’Leary
finished his water and set the glass down, searching for the words
that could turn the conversation in his favor. “It’s not an
indictment, it’s just an observation.”

Miriam turned around and clasped her
hands over her thighs.
“Well, it’s time for me to get
dinner started. Good seeing you, Detective.”

O
’Leary grimaced with a
knowing nod. He pulled a card from his coat pocket and put it on
the table as he stood up. “All I’m asking is that you consider it.
My number’s on my card.”

“
Again, I’m sorry.”

O
’Leary gave her a
sympathetic look. “It’s okay. Just think about it. It’s all I
ask.”

Miriam turned to the counter and began
taking out plates from the cupboard. O
’Leary stood
awkwardly for a moment.

“
Thanks for speaking with me,” he
said.

“
No problem,” Miriam said in a polite
tone.

He left the kitchen, not pushing the issue
any longer. Miriam kept her back turned and waited for the sound of
the front door closing. The door shut. His engine started from
outside and then revved as he backed out and drove away.

She went to the pantry and reached for a box
of Hamburger Helper, set it on the counter, and took a frying pan
from the cabinet. As she took a package of beef out of the freezer,
her movements slowed.

She turned from the counter and went
back to the table, where O’Leary’s card still rested. Next to his
card was Ana’s note. She held it up and reread it, going over every
word. The microwave was beeping. She set the note down and grabbed
O’Leary’s card.
“Criminal Investigative
Division, Lee County PD,”
it said. She put the card in
her pocket and went back to the counter, where the task of making
dinner awaited.

Lady in the Big Dress

At first glance, the kidnappings
seemed random, but O
’Leary formulated a discernible
pattern. The unsolved abductions—five total—happened exactly one
year apart from each other. This concerned him. If the pattern was
correct, the Snatcher was going to strike again very
soon.

Lee County had already been placed on high
alert following the anniversary of Jenny Dawson’s disappearance,
but there was only so much law enforcement could do. The vigilance
of parents was needed as well. The pattern of disappearances was
largely happening in small towns within the county, and there was
little doubt the Snatcher would strike again. But where?

At around the same time O’Leary drove up
I-75 toward Sarasota to meet up with Miriam, ten-year-old Emily
Beckett was at the Palm Dale Safeway store shopping for groceries
with her mother, Karen, not realizing that they were being watched
closely by someone they did not know.

In the soup aisle, Karen was pulling some
cans off the shelves when Emily told her that she needed to use the
restroom.

“
We’ll be over in that direction soon
enough,” Karen said, exhausted from a long day of running
errands.

Emily, fresh out of school for the day, wore
a floral-pattern top, jean shorts, and sneakers. Her mother,
dressed in a beige hem-sleeve top and blue jeans, pushed the cart
down the aisle as Emily swung her blonde pigtails back in the other
direction. “But I gotta go now.”

Karen glanced at her through her thin,
rectangular glasses. “That’s enough. No whining or I’ll put your
fruit snacks back on the shelf.”

“
Oh, come on!” Emily
protested.

As they bickered, Karen noticed what looked
like a large woman at the end of the aisle watching them. The
person was wearing sunglasses—black as night—and was hunched over
her cart, staring at bags of flour. She looked out of place:
red-and-white polka-dot dress, blond beehive, and way too much
make-up. Karen paid her little mind and moved on.

“
Can we hurry up, then?” Emily
asked.

Karen turned back to her momentarily. “Yes.
Just hold your horses.”

They pushed on toward the produce section,
leaving the mystery person behind. Elevator music played overhead
as customers sifted through produce. A high school stock boy
stocked heads of lettuce. An elderly woman broke apart some bananas
and put one on the seat of her cart. Karen approached a display of
potatoes and grabbed a five-pound bag. She pointed to a restroom
sign ahead near the meat section.

“
There. Go use the restroom. I’ll be
right over here,” she said.

Emily walked off toward the women’s restroom
as Karen pushed ahead into the meat section and began looking at
packaged ground beef. Behind her, she heard a cart moving with a
squeaky wheel and turned to catch a glimpse of the same strange
beehive person going down another aisle.

Karen looked back at the rows of ground beef
for dinner. A pound would probably do the trick. She looked over at
the restrooms, growing impatient.

Moments passed and Karen was ready to move
on. She pushed back toward the restroom, ready to go inside and
tell Emily to get in gear, when suddenly the door opened and her
daughter came out, wringing her hands.

“
Let’s go, slowpoke,” Karen
said.

“
Wasn’t
that
long. Sheesh,” Emily said.

They were headed toward the checkout area in
the front when Karen caught yet another glimpse of the beehive
person entering one of the aisles ahead. She shrugged it off, but
she couldn’t shake an uncomfortable feeling in her gut.

They got to the front of the store, but
Emily stopped and turned in a slight panic. “Oh no, we forgot to go
down the cereal aisle!” Her braces glistened in the bright
supermarket lights overhead.

Karen looked at her watch. They were running
behind. She had mail to drop off, and the post office was closing
soon.

“
Okay,” she conceded. “Go grab a box
and meet me down the frozen food aisle, but hurry.”

Emily nodded and ran off toward the cereal
as Karen looked for an empty checkout line. Three were open, and
each one had a line. Karen sighed and looked to the cereals three
aisles down. Something didn’t seem right. Another strange feeling
in her gut. She bypassed the checkout line and went to the cereal
aisle. Emily was nowhere in sight.

Karen looked at her watch and sighed again.
“Emily!” No one answered. She pushed the cart back toward the
checkout line, growing nervous. She looked around past the blurry
lines of customers in front of her.

She backed away from her cart and began
walking past each aisle. “Emily!”

“
Mom?” she heard Emily’s voice say.
Karen stopped at the frozen food aisle to see her daughter standing
there with a box of Fruity Pebbles in hand and looking at the
frozen pizzas. “What’s wrong?”

Karen hurried down the aisle and took her by
the arm. “You said you were going to the cereal aisle. Let’s
go.”

Emily struggled and tried to pull away. “I
was just looking at the frozen pizzas!”

“
No,” Karen said, dragging her away.
“We have pizza rolls at the house.”

Emily groaned again as they went back to the
cart all by itself near the first checkout line. Karen told her to
help unload the groceries onto the conveyor belt. It had been a
long day for both of them, and all Karen wanted to do was get home
and relax for a minute. Tom, her husband, would probably get home
from the office around the same time, asking about dinner, and she
wasn’t in the mood.

They exited through the automatic doors with
six paper bags of groceries in her cart toward the third parking
row, where her blue Nissan Sentra was parked. Karen pulled her keys
out of her purse and unlocked the car remotely.

“
Can you help me with my homework
tonight?” Emily asked, skipping along beside her.

Karen opened the trunk and began loading
groceries. “I’ll try, but you might have to ask your dad first.
I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.”

“
But he makes it so
boring!”