Stranger in Town (20 page)

I stood up, leaving the list of names on the table.  I wanted to grab the papers and hurl them across the room.  I hated to admit it, but I actually hoped the feds would find something Cade and I had missed when they searched the house—anything to bring Olivia and Savannah home. 

Think, Sloane, think. 

I returned to the table, remembering I had a connection to the kidnapper.  Now I just needed to use it. 

“Jenny, I need a favor,” I said.

She yawned into the phone.  “What, umm, time is it?”

“It’s late.  Please, I don’t have much time.”

“Sure, yeah.  What do you need?”

“I need you to talk to Todd.”

“What—why?  I haven’t spoken to him in—”

“I know,” I said, “but this is important.”

“What is it?”

“I am sending several photos to your phone.  I need you to show them to Todd.  Ask him if he recognizes any of the men from the night Olivia was abducted.” 

“Why don’t you just call him yourself?” she said.  “I have his number.”

“After what I put him through, I’m not sure he’ll agree to speak to me, but I’m willing to bet he’ll talk to you.”

“Got it.  I’m on my way.”

I paced the floor for the next hour, going over all the photos I’d sent Jenny, cross-checking them with the photos I hadn’t sent.  I wanted to be sure I hadn’t missed any possibilities.  Narrowing the list by age and height alone left a couple dozen possibilities.  I then cut it down even more by the crimes they’d committed to put them in prison in the first place.  I just hoped one of them was our man. 

I was about to try Jenny’s phone when my own rang. 

“Jenny?” I said.

“It’s Todd.”

“I didn’t think you’d be interested in talking to me or I would have called you myself.”

“I’m not.”

“Did you look at the pictures I sent?” I said.

“Yep.”

“Did you recognize anyone?”

“Yep.”

A wave of excitement rushed through me.  I just hoped he was right. 

“Are you absolutely certain?”

“Yep.”

“How do you know?”

“The guy was wearing glasses, so I covered the top half of their faces.  His chin—there was something about it.  I tried explaining it to the sketch artist, and I couldn’t get it right.”

“But you saw it in one of the photos?” I said.

“The third one—it’s him.”

CHAPTER 38

Cade came by the next morning.

“I was going to call you a few hours ago,” I said.  “But I figured you were asleep, so I decided to wait.”

“You were awake—why?”

“I’ll explain in a minute.  How’s your dad?”

“They won’t release him yet, but the nurse said he’s awake and talking to everyone.  I hope it’s a good sign.”

“Me too,” I said. 

“What did you make of the names I gave you?”

I grabbed a paper from the table and handed it to him. 

He scanned it, muttering the contents of the rap sheet to himself.  When he finished, he said, “Eddie Fletcher.  How do you know this is the guy?”

I told him about my conversation with Todd the previous night.

“Anything new on your end?” I said.

“Chief Rollins called me this morning.  The coroner looked over both bodies.  He concluded the time of death was between ten and midnight the night before we showed up.  The coroner said the same thing I did—the Kents were sleeping at the time of death.  So far no prints have been found that can’t be accounted for.”

I was relieved for us, but not for the killer.

Cade mentioned a few more details from the ME’s report, but nothing I considered alarming.

“The question is: where do we go from—”

I was interrupted by the sound of Cade’s phone.  He grabbed it out of his pocket so fast, he almost dropped it.  I imagined he was waiting for an update on his dad, but it wasn’t the hospital or his mother on the other end of the line.  It was the sound of someone saying Cade’s name.  He flipped over a piece of paper on the desk, and wrote one word on it: EDDIE.

I assumed Cade recognized his voice from their previous conversation.  I moved closer.

“Cade McCoy?” Eddie said, again.  

“Who’s this?” 

“Find a pen and paper.  You have five seconds.”

Cade sat down at the desk and flipped the phone on its side so I could hear the conversation.

“Do you have it yet?” Eddie said.

“Yes.”

“Good.  Don’t talk, just listen.”

Neither of us moved.

“Are you listening?” Eddie said. 

“You said no talking,” Cade said.  

“At seven o’clock tonight, you will bring two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash to a shack at the end of Swanee Bridge Road.” 

“How do you expect me to come up with the money in such a short—”

“Not my problem,” Eddie said.  “And you’re not talking, remember?”

Cade stayed quiet.

“You’ll get to the location using my directions.  Head North on Tucker Road heading out of town.  Drive twelve miles.  When you get to Falcon Drive, turn right.  The next road you come to will be Swanee Bridge.  The place you are looking for is at the end of the road.  It’s old and run down.  You won’t have trouble finding it.”

Cade and I exchanged glances, but neither of us dared say anything.  Eddie continued.

“Listen to this next part carefully.  You will not involve the media, the police, the FBI, or anyone else.  This is between us.  If I see anyone come in with you, the girls die.  If you don’t bring the money, the girls die.”

Eddie paused, then continued.   

“The money will not have any consecutive numbers. The money bag will not contain an explosive dye.  There will be no new bills, no marked bills, and no tracking devices of any kind, either in the money bag or in your vehicle.  Do you understand?”

Cade looked at me like he wasn’t sure whether to speak or not.

“Yes or no?” Eddie said.

“Yes—now can I ask you a question?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Where will the children be?” Cade said.

“When you get to the shack, go up the steps to the porch and stick the money through the window.  It will be open.  Then walk back to your car.  Wait ten minutes and then enter the house.  The girls will be waiting inside.  Do we have a deal?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be watching your every move.  Their life is in your hands, Mr. McCoy.”

“I want proof,” Cade said.  

“What’s that?”

“I’m not bringin’ the money unless I know the girls are still alive.  Put one of them on the phone.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Then forget it.”

Cade hung up. 

“What are you doing?!” I yelled, reaching for the phone.  

“Give it a minute—he’ll call back.  He wants the money, trust me.”

I wasn’t so sure.  We waited two minutes, and then five.  No phone call.  I drank an entire glass of water, rinsed dishes, and tried to keep my mouth shut.  It wasn’t easy.  I was losing my mind, and in another minute, I’d be losing it on him. 

And then the phone rang. 

“Told you,” Cade said, reaching for his phone.  

He answered it and pressed the speaker button.

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

There it was.  A beautiful, young female voice.

“Who’s this?” Cade said.

“Makayla.  I mean Olivia.”

“Are you okay?” Cade said.

“I don’t know, I guess so.  Who are you?”

“Someone who has been tryin’ to find you and Savannah,” Cade said.  “Is she with you now?”

“Yes.”

There was a sound like the phone was exchanging hands.  “All right, you talked to her.  We have a deal.  Seven o’clock.  Don’t be late.”

The phone clicked.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” I said.

But Cade didn’t hear me.  He sat down, drumming his fingers on the table in front of him.

“What’s going on?” I said.

“I’m just tryin’ to decide the best way to work this out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to make sure I handle this right.  Two hundred and fifty thousand is a lot of cash to come up with in a short amount of time.”

“We will think of something,” I said.

He still wasn’t listening.

“I just hope they’ll go for it without hearing the conversation.”

“Who?” I said.

“The FBI.”

“This Fletcher guy said not to involve them,” I said.  “It’s too big of a risk, Cade.  You can’t.”

“He doesn’t care if I use them to get the money.”

I shook my head.

“If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have told you to leave them out of it,” I said. 

“He just wants to make sure I drive out there alone, and I will.”

“They’ll never let you,” I said.  “There’s no way they’ll hand over the money and allow you to make the rules.  That’s not how they do things.”

Cade shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter…they’ll have to.  It’s my way or it’s no way at all.” 

CHAPTER 39

Cade left without me convinced that letting the feds in on the situation was the best solution.  He was sure they would understand once he explained everything.  Cade’s version of “everything” would be telling them that the kidnapper knew who he was because he’d been working the case for the past several weeks…and that he was the only one who could do the drop off because the guy knew what he looked like.  Cade had a way with words, but I wasn’t convinced it would work this time.       

Cade expected me to stay put.  He thought it was safer for the girls if I didn’t get involved, but taking orders had never been my strong suit.  The kidnapper expected Cade at a certain time.  He knew it would take him several hours to get his hands on the kind of cash he requested.  He didn’t seem to know about me or my involvement in the case, and I wanted it to stay that way. 

As soon as Cade left, I searched the Internet for Swanee Bridge Road.  The map I found was a little less detailed than I’d hoped for, but it pointed me in a general direction.  I scribbled down the directions on a piece of paper, grabbed my keys and my gun, and left.   I drove until I reached a point where my cell reception started fading and gave Cade a quick call to check in.   

“What a nightmare,” he said when he answered the phone.

“They aren’t letting you go alone, are they?” I said.

“Not a chance.  They even told me I couldn’t go.  Can you believe it?  They were going to send one of their guys in my place and leave me out of it all together.”

“What did you say?” I said.

“I told them the kidnapper was calling me at seven o’clock and that if someone else answered, he’d know it wasn’t me.  I also told them he knew what I looked like.”

“Nice job, liar,” I said.  “Did they buy it?”

“I think so.  They’re off in another room discussin’ it now.  Where are you?”

“I stopped at the store for a couple things, grabbed a bite to eat.”

“If they let me go, and I think they will, I probably won’t be able to call you again until it’s all over,” he said.  “They’ve been following me around ever since I got here.”

Perfect.

“I’ll be waiting for your call,” I said.  “Good luck.”

Thankfully Cade was too preoccupied with the feds and all their minions to consider it odd that I’d so easily backed off, allowing him to see it through to the end on his own.  I passed Falcon, opting for an alternative side road to turn on instead of the street the kidnapper suggested.  According to the map the next road circled back at some point, leading me to the same place.  I had to assume Eddie might already be there waiting.  An alternate route was my best chance to go unnoticed. 

The area around me looked like some kind of national forest.  Several roads had no signage of any kind.  Luckily, Falcon was marked with a wooden stake, its letters painted yellow.  I passed it and took the next left, picking a cluster of trees and hiding my car behind them.  I’d walk the rest of the way.  

It took over an hour, but I finally reached the end of Swanee Bridge Road.  The shack looked more like a one-hundred-year-old pile of abandoned wood.  As for the window the kidnapper said he’d leave open—it was open all right—it was broken, shattered completely. 

I took my time inspecting every angle of the area around me before taking a step closer.  I listened for sounds coming from the house, for any sign of the girls or their abductor, but it was silent.  The only noise I heard was coming from the birds in the trees around me.  No one was there.  Not yet. 

I pushed open a wood door that had a hole where a handle had once been and looked around.  There was nothing to the place at all.  It was a simple, square room with no bedrooms and no other doors.  It looked like there had been a kitchen at one time, but all of the cabinets had been ripped out.  Some of the wood planks lining the floor were gone, maybe because of old age.  I wasn’t sure.  They appeared to have rotted and fallen through to the ground below.    

In the corner of the room was a wooden box, the only accessory left in the place.  I assumed it had been used for firewood at one time.  I pulled the lid open and looked inside.  There was still wood in it, but not a lot.  I shifted a few pieces of wood around thinking insects would come crawling out of every orifice, but none did.