Chemical Attraction (20 page)

“He likes all the loud toys. Okay, here it is. No, he didn’t scan in.”

He handed her his card. “Call me if he shows up?”

“Sure. Hey, I met your wife the other day and her brother.” She smiled. “Rumor is he and Dr. Pierce moved in together.”

He chuckled. “I heard that, too. Thanks for the help.” He walked back to his cruiser in the circular drive. As he buckled his seatbelt, his cell rang again. Resisting the temptation to throw it out the window, he answered.

“Dad, come home now. Mom’s missing.”

“What do you mean?”

David’s voice quaked. “Someone took her. There’s a note.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” He flew. Until he knew more, he left his siren and lights off, so not to draw attention. Keeping his panic down, he pulled into the driveway. David stood in the garage next to Eva’s car holding a piece of paper with the grilling tongs. Matt took the tongs and set them on the trunk of his wife’s car. “Start from the beginning.”

“I dropped Kim off after we visited the boys at the hospital and then I came home. Dad, I didn’t touch a thing, only the screen door. It’s a mess in there. I yelled for her, found that on the kitchen table, and then called you.”

He looked closer at the note. On a white sheet of computer paper, someone wrote
I have your wife. Do as I say or I will hurt and kill her. I will call with my demands. DO NOT INVOLVE ANYONE!

“Shit,” he said. His heart rose into his throat.

“Dad, what are we going to do? We can’t tell anyone, can we?”

“First, let’s look for clues, and then we’ll figure out how to get your mom back.” He carefully walked into the mudroom. “David, go to my cruiser. In the trunk is a large black suitcase. Set it on the hood of your mom’s car in the garage and I’ll be right back.”

In the doorway, he looked around the kitchen. He bent over to feel the still warm frying pan overturned on the floor. Damn it, he should have been on time. Stepping around partially cooked chunks of chicken, he walked slowly down the hallway. He noticed the huge boot print on the door. In their bedroom, the comforter was off the bed and the lamp, radio, and other stuff were scattered across the floor. He carefully moved into the bathroom.

“That’s my girl.”

On the mirror in lipstick, she wrote
six foot, white male, mask, gloves, red-t, jeans, know voice.
He backtracked to the garage and told David about the message. He opened the suitcase and pulled out his equipment.

“Okay, since your mom knows the voice, we can’t trust anyone.”

“Why didn’t she say who it was?” he asked, biting his nail.

“Maybe she couldn’t place it right then. So, what do we know?” He kept David focused, which helped him in the process.

“We have a description, sort of, and the voice is an acquaintance or someone she’s met.”

“Good, so until we know what he wants, we stay put, and quiet.” He willed his heart to slow down.

“That’s all?”

“While we wait, let’s process the scene.”

With a deep sigh, he thought about the SOB that had his wife. Could he be blackmailed and give in to the demands? He doubted that this was for money. This had to do with Joe’s case. He’d call him after he heard from her abductor.

He and David worked together. They took pictures and actually had a good boot print from the bedroom door. They did everything by the book. It took them all afternoon and well into the evening. It kept them busy until the knock on the front door. He approached cautiously. David stood off to the side. Through the curtain, they saw Sheriff Benton standing with files in his hand. Matt cracked the door slightly.

“Why the house call?” he asked.

The sheriff tried to peer in. “I wanted to drop off these reports.”

“Thanks,” he replied, taking them through the crack.

“What’s going on, Matt? You seem distracted.”

“You know the stress of our jobs,” he said as the house phone rang. “I gotta get that, Jim. Thanks for the files.” He quickly closed the door. In the living room, he reached for the house phone while David grabbed the one in the bedroom.

“I will enjoy killing her if you don’t stop investigating,” a muffled voice replied.

“Investigating what?” he asked.

“Everything,” the voice said, laughing.

“Let me talk to her,” Matt insisted.

“No, don’t tell anyone or I’ll make her cry like a rabbit in a dog’s jaw,” the voice said before hanging up.

He stood stunned. David came out of the bedroom shocked as well. “Dad, I know—,” he started as the sheriff knocked again.

“Quiet, David.” He opened the door. “What?”

“I forgot to give you this one.” With another brown folder in his hand, Benton stared at him. “What the hell is going on?” He pushed his way through the door and saw the equipment and the mess. “Where’s Eva?” he demanded.

“Someone’s grabbed her,” Matt said, rubbing the back of his head.

“When?”

“This afternoon.”

“Dad, I need to talk to you.”

“David, let me talk to your father.” Benton glared. “What have you found?”

Matt filled him in on the what but not the why. Biting his hangnails, David paced.

“Give me your evidence. You do nothing, but sit and wait. I’ll get my boys on it.”

“I’ve got to do something,” he replied.

Benton gathered the evidence. “No interference.”

After the sheriff left, he sat quietly and rubbed his neck. He had no choice. Feeling helpless, he tried to think.

“Dad, why didn’t you tell Sheriff Benton the truth?”

“I don’t trust him.”

“Dad, this has to do with Uncle Joe’s case, right?”

“I think so, but for now we sit tight.” He paced the room.

David walked into his room and grabbed his cell. He had immediately recognized the line in the message about
a rabbit in a dog’s jaw
. He had only heard Brad Murphy, Kim’s ex-boyfriend, use that line. Brad says it all the time. He thought Brad Murphy or his dad had something to do with this. What’s their connection to Uncle Joe’s case? He didn’t understand any of it. He would hold off on telling his dad anything until he could prove Brad Murphy had a part in taking her. What if something happened to his mom? He’d been so mean to her lately. He needed to find her.

He opened his window and slipped out. Although it was only eight in the evening, the dark clouds made dusk come earlier than usual. He walked the six blocks to Mrs. Folkert’s house. After knocking on the door, he asked if his uncle was there.

“No dear, he and Madeline went away for the weekend.”

“May I use your phonebook?”

“Of course, come in. Is everything all right?” she asked as they walked into the kitchen.

“I just forgot the number of a friend is all,” he replied, fighting his fears. He flipped through her Allenton County phone book and jotted Brad Murphy’s number and address down.

“David, do you want to tell me what this is about? Maybe I can help.”

“No ma’am, but thank you.”

He dialed his uncle’s cell as he walked toward the riverfront. His reception sucked in certain places, mostly because of the surrounding hills. The best area was by the water. “Uncle Joe, it’s David. Someone kidnapped Mom.”

“What? David, repeat that. I can’t hear you.” Joe’s voice broke up.

“Dad needs your help. I think I know who it is, but I want to make sure first.”

He looked at his phone. How’d he lose reception by the water? Redialing his uncle’s number, he got his voicemail. He hoped he came home soon.

“David, wait,” Joe said. “Damn it, my battery’s dead.” He pulled into a gas station along Dickerson Road in Battle Creek.

“What’d he say?” Madeline asked.

“David said something about Eva being kidnapped.”

“Oh my God, here.” She reached into her purse for her cell.

He dialed Matt’s number. “Where’s David? What’s happened?”

“Did he call you?”

“Yeah, but my phone cut out. Eva was kidnapped?” Joe sat up straighter while Madeline tried to understand a one-sided conversation.

“The note said he’d call with his demands. When he did, he wanted me to stop our investigation. The sheriff’s got me just sitting here.”

“God damn it. Where’s David? He said he knew something about the caller.”

“Just a second,” Matt replied. “Shit, now he’s gone. What did he tell you?”

“He said he thought he knew who it was. Then my phone died.” He fisted the steering wheel.

“I could use some help. I don’t even know if she’s alive,” Matt whispered.

“We’ll be there in thirty minutes. We’ll find her. She’s smart and tough,” he replied.

“What did he say?” Madeline asked, taking the cell.

He headed for the interstate. “David’s missing, too. That little shit had better not try anything on his own. Eva will kill me.” He exceeded the speed limit toward Allenton.

Madeline looked out her window. “I can’t believe they took Eva to keep Matt quiet. This is my fault.”

He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “This is bigger than we thought.” This was what had kept him awake at night.

They had traveled around Michigan with stops in Flint, Lansing, Howell, Jackson, and Battle Creek. Madeline wrote down all the addresses as they went. The drops were short with only enough time for a quick bathroom break and snack. There were still more boxes in the truck, but they had plenty of information.

David turned off his cell. His uncle would probably be calling his dad and his dad would be extremely mad that he left. As he walked toward Brad’s house on River Street, he caught a glimpse of Brad riding his bike a side street over. He couldn’t let that lead get away, so he jogged after him.

Brad rode south on Elm while David stayed a few blocks back. He continued downhill toward the boardwalk where he had just been. His legs ached, but he ran to keep him in sight. Brad took the alley. David stopped to catch his breath. Feeling tears in his eyes from the burning in his legs, he scanned the area. He spotted the bike near the playground by the Hartford Auditorium.

Brad stood with his backpack at the lower level door. Even though the outside lights by the entrance were off, he saw Brad’s dad reach out his arm and grab the bag. His mom’s note on the mirror said that the man was six-foot tall with a red t-shirt and jeans, like Brad’s father. Brad quickly left on his bike. Before calling his dad, he’d check to see if his mom was there.

For the next fifteen minutes, he observed from a secluded bench. Trees surrounded the stone and brick building with a variety of bushes and flowers. Each of the three levels had steep roof overhangs above all the windows in staggered places on the sides of the huge building. With the doors locked, he’d have to either break in or climb to look in the windows. Opting to climb, he bit his nail and thought about where to start. He snuck around the building and saw dim lighting at the highest window next to the township library.

He climbed the tree to the first roof level and peered through the iron bars on the window of the main floor lobby. Not seeing light or movement, he looked up at the next level. Since the roof extended out along certain sections on that level, he climbed to the edge and hoisted himself up onto that tiled partition.

Standing against the wall on one of the second level roofs, he caught his breath and looked around. The other downtown buildings were at this height, so he could see the tops of all the structures and area houses. He peeked into the nearest window to find a small dressing room used during the plays and programs. The dark room showed a slit of light coming from a room above it.

The top window was six feet above him to the right. Only a small three-inch ledge under that window could secure his position. He wasn’t sure he could reach it, but he had to try. He latched onto the protruding stones with his fingers and climbed. He carefully rested his forearms on the ledge.

He saw her hands and feet tied, something stuffed into her mouth. Her messy hair covered her face, so he couldn’t tell if her eyes were open. He lowered himself back to the second level. His hands ached. His fingers were raw and scratched, but he didn’t care. He’d found her. Keeping his back tight against the building, he reached into his pocket for his cell.

“Dad,” he started to say.

“David, where the hell have you been?” Matt yelled into the phone.

Pulling it away from his ear for a second, he continued. “Dad, I found her.”

“David, where are you?” he asked, slightly calmer.

“I’m on the roof overhang above a window at the Hartford. She’s tied up inside. Brad Murphy’s dad is the one who has her. Hurry, Dad. She doesn’t look good.”

“David, stay put. Don’t do anything else. Joe just pulled in and we’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

“Please, hurry. I saw her through the top-level window on the side next to the township library.” He slipped his cell back into his pocket.

David looked around, wondering what else he could do. A few minutes later, he heard a man’s voice. He wiped his hands on his pants and scaled the wall again. Brad’s dad moved his mom’s auburn hair from her face and untied her legs. She had a purple jaw and red marks on her arms. David waited for her to start kicking him. She didn’t move. She cried. Brad’s dad loosened his belt and started to unzip his pants. His mom shook her head.