Vanished (19 page)

J.T. crossed to the table. “Have you ever heard of Neville Sommers, Timothy Connors or Bobby Johnson?”

Bewilderment marked the woman's expression. “No, should I?”

“They were convicts that served in the same prison as your husband.” J.T. set his fists on the table and leaned into it.

Elizabeth sat up straight, her chin coming up a notch. “I made it a point never to have anything to do with my husband's friends who served time.”

“So you've heard of one of them?” J.T.'s voice sounded tight with agitation.

Elizabeth looked them both in the eye and said, “No, I haven't.”

“Do you have a basement?”

Surprise filled the woman's expression. “Basement? I live in a duplex. There isn't a basement. You're welcome to come look.”

J.T. inclined his head. “I'll have Deputy Nelson follow you home and check around if that's okay with you.”

Now she looked hurt. “That's fine with me. May I go now?”

“Yes.” Madison rose.

When the cleaning lady left, she lounged against the table and waited for J.T. to come back from talking with Derek. Two minutes later, he shut the door.

“That was so much fun. Are you ready to repeat it with Susan?” The savagery in his expression contradicted his words.

“It has to be done, J.T. I know you don't like accusing your neighbors and friends of any wrongdoing, but if they're innocent, they'll understand when this is all over with that you were only doing your job.”

“I hope you're right because I have to live with these people.” He went out to get Susan.

When the older woman arrived, Madison sat again, noticing that J.T. stayed back by the door with his arms folded over his chest. She could feel his reluctance. This was the part of his job he hated.

After the necessary information for the tape was given, Madison asked, “What is your real name?”

Susan's eyelids fluttered, then she fixed her gaze on her hands entwined on the table. “What do you mean? You know my name. It's Susan Winn.”

“That's the one you go by now, but that's not your real name. Your information doesn't check out.”

Susan drew in a sharp breath and lifted her eyes, tears glistening in them. “I didn't mean to do anything illegal. I couldn't stay.” Wet tracks coursed down her cheeks unchecked.

J.T. pushed away from the door and came closer.

Madison stiffened, almost afraid to ask. “What do you mean you couldn't stay?”

“Ralph, that's my ex-husband, used to beat me. I had to disappear before he killed me.” Susan used trembling hands to wipe her face.

“Ralph who?” Her heart going out to the woman,
Madison realized she was discovering things about the people in Crystal Springs she wished she wasn't. She felt as if she opened a Pandora's box.

Susan sniffed. “Ralph Baker. I was Cora Baker before I bought this Susan Winn identity.” She turned to J.T. “I'm so sorry I broke the law. I didn't know what else to do. He was a mean man. He broke my jaw and several ribs the last time he put me in the hospital.”

“Why didn't you file charges against him? Put him in jail?” J.T. finally spoke, moving to stand next to Madison.

Susan's tears began to flow again. “I was scared. He had powerful friends in town.”

“Where?” J.T. sat in the chair next to Madison.

“Bakersville near the border of Kentucky. Please don't let him know I'm here and alive. Please.”

The pitiful words twisted Madison's heart. She had seen other battered women, trembling and frightened of their husbands, too. It always made her angry and protective. From the look on J.T.'s face, he felt the same way. “We won't, Susan. Our inquiries will be discreet. I promise you.”

“I can drive you home, Susan. You're too upset to drive yourself. You still live in that apartment on First Street?”

Nodding, the older woman opened her purse and withdrew a tissue. “Thanks, J.T. I'll be all right.” She dabbed at her cheeks and eyes. “Did you need me for anything else?”

“We can ask you later if there's anything else that comes up.” Madison stood and offered to help Susan to her feet.

The older woman waved away her assistance and
rose, put her wet tissue into her purse and snapped it closed, then raised fear filled eyes. “Don't contact the sheriff in Bakersville. He's a good friend of Ralph's.”

“I won't. Thanks for letting me know.” J.T. strode to the door of the interview room and opened it. After Susan left, he faced Madison. “You work with people for years, and yet you don't really know them. She never said a word.”

“Would you? In her mind her survival depended on her keeping quiet. I've seen it too many times before.”

“When everything with Ashley is over with, we'll have to address this.”

“We'll have Paul go to Bakersville tomorrow and check discreetly into Susan's past. It's about two hours south of here, and while he's down that way, he can look into Max Dillard's last place of employment before he came to Central City. Anderson is a little over an hour from Bakersville.”

“Kill two birds with one stone. Sounds good to me.”

Derek stuck his head through the open doorway. “Boss, Elizabeth doesn't have a basement. There wasn't anything at her house that raised a red flag to me.”

“Thanks. I guess now we need to concentrate on Jill and my list of felons and the women in their lives.”

Basement? A vague thought nagged her. What was she missing? She began to pace the small interview room. “There's something we should be doing.”

“What?”

Then it came to her. She swept around and said, “Howard Wright is a real estate broker. He may have access to various properties that are vacant. One of them may have a basement and a doggy door.”

Day ten, 12:00 p.m.: Ashley found one hundred and twenty-four hours ago

S
itting in J.T.'s Jeep on Monday afternoon, Madison sank her teeth into the juicy hamburger from the fast-food restaurant. “These are as good as I remembered them.”

“Yeah, people come from Central City to eat at Eddie's Hamburger Joint.” J.T. popped a fry into his mouth.

“I wish this morning had gone better.” She took another big bite of her sandwich.

“Me, too. It was a good idea, though. Howard had four vacant houses listed in the area. They all had basements but not like Ashley described.”

“Which probably rules him out.”

J.T. reached out and wiped his napkin at the corner of her mouth. “You had some juice there.”

“Thanks,” she murmured while her heartbeat kicked up a notch. The gesture suddenly made the atmosphere in the car intimate.

“You know when the case is over with we need to talk about this.”

What? This intense attraction between us? These emotions that scare me, make me feel so vulnerable?
“Yes.” She dropped her gaze away from his handsome face and concentrated on the pile of fries in the sack in her lap. She took one and nibbled on it. His presence so close to her sharpened her senses, all centered on him.

“I don't want to ignore what's happening here like we did last summer. You make me feel as though somehow everything will work out.”

The huskiness that laced his words caused her pulse to beat even faster. She peered at him. “We will catch the kidnapper.”

He smiled, a smile that encompassed his whole face, the kind that did funny things to her insides. “I know. I think we're close.”

“Let's hope Paul had a productive trip this morning.” Madison finished the last bite of her hamburger and patted her napkin along her mouth.

J.T. scrunched his trash into a ball and stuffed it into his paper sack, then straightened and started the engine. “Come on. I want to relieve Colin and Emma of watching Ashley and be there for Kim and Neil when they get home from school. We need to make the most of the next couple of hours.”

“You're right. Let's go.”

He backed out of the parking space, then directed his Jeep toward the station down the road. Two minutes later they entered.

“Boss, Agent Kendall just called.” Derek checked his
notepad. “He said that Max Dillard worked for Goldie's Grill for several years. The owners changed once while he was there.”

“Who were the owners?” J.T. stopped on the other side of the counter.

“Ann Laskey, then Cheryl Masters.”

“Let's find out everything we can about those ladies.”

“I've already got Rachel working on it. Kendall is now heading to Bakersville to check out another lead.”

At the mention of the town where Susan Winn, aka Cora Baker, used to live Madison glanced around the large office. Susan wasn't there.

“Where's Susan?” J.T. asked, looking around, too.

“Remember, boss. She had a doctor's appointment in Central City this afternoon.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot she said something this morning about it.” J.T. walked toward his office, pausing by Rachel's desk. “Come in and give me and Madison an update on anything you've found this morning.”

“Don't have to come in. The only person I've been able to clear is Bobby Johnson. His alibi holds up. He doesn't have a girlfriend, or wife. He didn't have one when you put him away. He's an only child and his parents are dead.”

“Okay. How about Timothy Connors and Aaron Adam Acker?”

“Still tracking some leads down. I haven't been able to find Aaron's sister or mother.”

“Work on the owners of Goldie's Grill. Madison and I will work on the names on the list.”

Rachel gathered up her sheets spread out on the
desk beside her. “I take it nothing panned out with Howard Wright.”

J.T. shook his head. “We can cross him off, at least for Ashley's kidnapping. But when this is over, I will delve into his story about the porn and his brother-in-law.”

Madison took the papers Rachel held out for them. “You've got great computer skills. Have you ever thought of working for the FBI?”

“Nope. I like it here.”

J.T. continued toward his office. Madison followed him and took a seat across his desk.

“You never lived in a small town, did you?” J.T. lounged back in his chair, his fingers forming a steeple in front of him.

“No. Most of my life I've been in Chicago.”

“Life here probably would seem dull to you.”

“There hasn't been anything dull about Crystal Springs while I've been here.”

A grin pushed through his serious expression. “That's unusual. Believe me, kidnapping and murder don't usually happen here.”

“And you aren't bored?”

He laughed, but it was a humorless sound. “I worked in Chicago for years. My focus is different now. My family is the most important thing in my life. It took hitting rock bottom to see that. Crystal Springs is a great place to raise a family.”

When he mentioned family a yearning planted itself in her heart. Would it be enough for her? She liked the excitement, the challenge of a complicated case—like
doing a jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces. But going home to an empty apartment was getting lonely.

Day ten, 3:00 p.m.: Ashley found one hundred and twenty-seven hours ago

“That's good, Paul. I'll tell J.T.” Madison disconnected her cell and pocketed it. When J.T. looked up at her, she smiled. “Paul just called. He's heading back here. Susan's story checked out. Her husband is one mean man who has quite a reputation in Bakersville.”

J.T. breathed a sigh of relief. “I'm glad she got away from him. We'll have to make sure she stays unharmed. I don't want anyone else knowing about her other name or life.”

“Paul was very careful.”

He rose, rolled his shoulders and stretched. “I feel like that phone is glued to my ear at times. I need to get home and get ready for Neil's graduation. Ashley, Kim and I will pick you up—”

“Yes! I found a connection.”

Madison whirled around at the sound of Rachel's shout and hurried into the main office. J.T. came up behind Madison. “What connection?”

Rachel jumped to her feet, grinning from ear to ear. “Ann Laskey was Chris Kline's mother. She married Bud Laskey and ran Goldie's Grill where Max Dillard worked.”

“What happened to Ann Laskey? Where is she?” J.T. covered the space between him and Rachel and stared down at her computer screen.

In black letters he saw his answer. Cora Ann Kline
married Bud Laskey, then Ralph Baker. No! He blinked as though that would change what was on the monitor. He glanced toward Madison who was making her way toward him. “It's Susan.”

“Susan? What do you mean?” Rachel asked from behind him.

Madison peered at the computer, sucking in a sharp breath. “She was so convincing yesterday.”

“Because what she said was true.”

“Boss, what are you talking about?”

He turned toward Rachel. “Cora Baker bought a false identity and disappeared. We know her as Susan Winn. Our screening for staff other than deputies only checks for a criminal record. It wouldn't catch an assumed name, purchased illegally.” The thought that he'd been fooled made his anger boil. “She has to be the kidnapper. It's too much of a coincidence that she just happens to end up in Crystal Springs working for the man who put her son in prison, a son who died in prison three years ago.”

“Do you remember Chris Kline's mother at the trial?” Madison asked.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember when he had last seen Kline. The woman he pictured in his mind was different from Susan—heavier, brown hair, large nose. “Can you pull up a picture of Cora Baker or Ann Laskey, Rachel?”

Rachel moved back to the computer and began typing. In a few minutes a photo popped up on the screen. “Driver's license from four years ago.”

“Susan has altered her appearance, lost a lot of weight, but I can see a similarity around the eyes and
mouth. Same height. Did she threaten you, J.T.?” Madison took out her cell.

“At the trial I remember she fell apart when the verdict was read, screaming hysterically. I didn't stay around. I was working another case and needed to meet my partner.” J.T. withdrew his keys and started for the entrance. “Madison and I are going to her place. Put an APB out on Susan Winn, Rachel. Let the other deputies know we're looking for her and that she is considered armed and dangerous. Then get me a warrant for Susan's apartment and call Colin to let him know what's going on. Ask him to look out for my children.”

While he made his way to his Jeep, Madison called Paul to let him know what was going on. J.T. pressed his foot on the accelerator, speeding toward the far side of Crystal Springs.

“Do you think she's at her place?” In the front seat Madison angled around toward him.

“Probably not, but we have to check. I know she doesn't have a basement, but my gut is telling me it's her.”

“Then where did she keep Ashley?”

“Don't know.” He came to a screeching halt in front of a two-story white brick building with four apartments. “Hers is the right one on the first floor. There's only one way into her place.” He checked the driveway on the left side of the house. “Her car is gone.”

“Is it a white one?”

“No, a black Honda. From the beginning we have been toyed with by someone who knows what's going on and has planned this for a long time.” He thought back over the past week and all the times Susan was suppor
tive and always there to help. She even signed in the volunteers who searched for Ashley. The irony of that struck him as though he had been punched in the stomach.

Inside he knocked on Susan's door. He waited a minute then pounded again. When no one answered, he tried the handle. It was locked. He started to slam his shoulder into the wooden door when Madison stayed his forward motion with a hand on his arm.

“Let's wait for the warrant. Rachel should be here shortly. We don't want Susan getting off because we didn't follow the rules. If she's in there, she can't get away. We'll block the only way out.”

For the next ten minutes J.T. prowled the foyer of the building. His mind reeled with emotions he tried to suppress. This wasn't the time to explode with anger.

Lord, give me the strength to see this through to the end and not blow it. All I want to do right now is get my hands around Susan's neck and make her suffer like my daughter did—like my whole family.

“How could she take Ashley?” J.T. stopped in the middle of the hallway and faced Madison. “She's been over to my house for dinner before. She's come to my children's birthday parties. She…” Despite his resolve, fury welled in him and cut off his words.

Madison hurried to him and gripped his hands. “Don't think about that right now. She's had several years to fine-tune her plan. It's obvious she came to Crystal Springs two years ago to do harm to you and your family.”

“I don't like what she makes me feel. I wish her husband had permanently taken care of her so that my family wouldn't have gone through this past week and a
half. That's wrong, Madison, but I'm finding it hard to forgive.”

“You wouldn't be human if you didn't have those feelings. Give yourself time. You're still processing her betrayal. This is a woman you counted on, cared about.”

“And she used that.” He gritted his teeth, his fingers tightening around Madison's.

She tilted the corners of her mouth up. “You know, both of us were right. This was an act of revenge connected to your old life in Chicago
and
it was a person close to you here in Crystal Springs.”

“I would have preferred you being wrong.”

“So would I,” Madison murmured as the front door opened and Rachel rushed inside.

“I've got the warrant, boss.” Rachel waved a piece of paper.

“Then let's break down this door.”

“You don't have to.” Rachel pulled out a lock pick from her back pocket. In a short time she had Susan's door unlocked.

“Interesting.” J.T. pushed into the apartment and stopped a few feet inside.

Any personal touches that had been on Susan's tables were gone. He walked to the coat closet and saw that it was empty. Without a word he strode into the only bedroom and checked its closet and drawers. Nothing.

“She's gone,” J.T. said to Rachel, who had come into the room with him.

“J.T.,” Madison called. “You need to see this in the kitchen.”

When he entered the small room with a table for two
in front of the window, he found Madison staring down at an open magazine on the counter. A pair of scissors lay next to it.