by Unger, Erin;
He nodded. “Please, he took her. Robert Adcock. It has to be him. He saw us at his office today. Well, he goes by Keith.”
Tuttle was back. “Slow down. Who’s that and what’s his connection to Madeline Clare?”
Joze relayed all the evidence they’d discovered and how they were on their way to report the incident that had happened at the doctor’s office when Maddie simply disappeared.
More officers arrived. Joze waved to the crew he’d worked with for three years. A couple slapped him on the back. “He’s been stalking her since Thursday. You know, Tuttle, because we’ve had to call you a few times.”
“Let us search the neighborhood.” Brown instructed the officers and drove off.
All the men scattered, combing the streets.
Joze wrenched his hair in his hands. Not Maddie. After all the work he’d done to keep her safe. “Please, God, protect her. Let us find her. Direct us. I don’t know where to look.”
His head popped up from his prayer stance on the steps. The flash drive. It had an address in Massachusetts. The only one they hadn’t driven to. And, of course, the house where no one answered the door. Two possibilities.
And then he plummeted back into despair. Maddie had the flash drive. Which meant Keith Adcock had all their evidence.
He had to call Maddie’s mom. Why hadn’t he thought to do it already? He ran through the house and into the kitchen. Everyone had an emergency number list. He searched the fridge and found it on the side. Dialing her number, he waited ten agonizing seconds for her to pick up. “Ma’am, this is Joze. Your daughter has been kidnapped.”
37
Maddie sucked in the stale, dead air around her as she stirred, the low pitch of rumbling coming from a roadway.
Where was she?
One eye opened. Panic radiated. She wasn’t at college in her dorm. She was in a small, dark trunk. Screams fought to escape but died on the gag in her mouth.
She was going to die. The knowledge sent her into motion, kicking the sides of the car, even with the searing pain in her head. Her hand ached where the plastic cuffs had chafed the laceration on her palm. She cried and thrashed but the car didn’t stop. The hood didn’t pop open from her angry beating this time.
Some of the gag hung out of her mouth leaving it a little loose. She worked it with her tongue until it loosened bit by bit. Good thing he hadn’t checked to see how much he’d stuffed in. With one final thrust of her tongue, the bulk of it fell out and she blew as hard as she could until it shot out of her mouth.
At last the car slowed and then stopped. She grew still. Was it possible to get in a stooped position where she could hurtle herself at him when he opened the trunk?
Good thing he hadn’t tied her feet together. She rolled to her stomach and scrunched her knees up as best she could.
Shuffling came closer.
With as much balance as she could muster, Maddie used her aching head to help get her body in the right position to lurch out as soon as the trunk door opened.
The key scratched in the lock.
Maddie counted in an effort to calm her outraged limbs.
The trunk popped open and she vaulted out with all the might she could muster. Her body crashed into his, sending him flying backwards.
Doctor Adcock cried out as he landed on his back.
Maddie hit the ground so hard it took her breath. She gulped in air as she shot to her feet and took off. Don’t look back like all those dumb movie chicks. A huge yard with manicured gardens flowed down a small mountain. Trees surrounded the property from where she could see. They were her best bet. Maddie worked to stay upright without the use of her hands as she ran. She fought the pain but couldn’t stop the tears.
Something wet trickled down her temple. The flashlight must’ve done a number on her head and the pounding proved how hard he hit her.
The tree line grew closer, but it was still so far away. Don’t give up. Don’t die out here. Keep going.
In the next second, her attacker lunged forward and pushed her so hard she stumbled and lost her balance. She tried to ball up to absorb the fall, but her head pummeled the ground.
Everything went black in a daze of pain.
38
Joze wanted to be moving, searching, anything but standing here doing nothing. Tuttle and Brown stood in front him as the cool night air dampened the ground and everything it touched, including him. He rubbed at his moist shirt.
Brown spoke for Tuttle. “We have a K-9 unit on the way. But they’re coming from Hartford. Be patient.”
Joze couldn’t take hearing those words one more time. He walked away to temper the building anger. Patience was an impossibility when the woman he loved was in the hands of a potential killer.
He loved her? Truth was, he’d never stopped. He’d hidden it under self-righteousness and a sense of loyalty to Todd, but it had been there all the time. Why did it have to take this nightmare to bring him around? All the wonderful things about Maddie clouded his mind. He went back into prayer mode. God be merciful.
Returning to them, he took out his phone. Weren’t some of the addresses Maddie and he’d visited on his phone? He pulled up his GPS history and found one of them. “Guys, here’s the address to one of the offices we visited.”
Brown took the phone out of his hand and Tuttle wrote down the address.
He folded his arms together. “The other one was those office buildings past New Britain Hospital. Um,” he snapped his fingers, “Twenty-nine, ninety-five New Britain Way. Yeah, that’s the other address. It’s the one Doctor Keith Adcock works at.” They copied down what he said. “Oh, and there was a house a few blocks past Rusk Street on…Applegate, I think. It could be related to the doctor.” He shook out his hands as tingles of tension coursed through him. “And I already told you about Massachusetts. I don’t know that one, but you can do a search on Adcock and Mass to see if there’s a connection.”
“We’re on it.” Tuttle called on his mic to send officers to the locations.
If he could only get in his car and figure it all out on the way he’d be gone, not sitting around helpless.
Mrs. Clare bowled into the driveway, sending exhaust and grass cuttings through the air.
He shrank back. How was he going to explain that he’d let her daughter fall into the hands of her stalker?
She stormed out of the vehicle and screamed, “Joseph Evans, this is all your fault—again.”
39
Eyes flying open and body tensing, Maddie struggled and pulled her head back as far as she could until the gun appeared in her line of vision and returned to her temple. What had happened two seconds ago? A black haze and the doctor’s voice were the last things she remembered.
The doctor pushed the barrel against her head so hard that it had to be leaving a divot in her skin. She stilled.
“Stand up and walk.” He didn’t mince words.
It took her a second to get her balance. Maddie looked from him to the house on the hill. A stately mansion occupied the top of the mountain. Where were they? Were these the Berkshires? This had to be the Massachusetts address. As long as she’d been conscious and aware of time passing it made the most sense.
He gave her a shove and she stumbled. “You don’t need to be spying. Keep your eyes forward.”
They walked down a hill away from the stone Victorian. Maddie kept her eyes on him as much as she could, but it took careful steps in the light of the flashlight to keep upright.
His posh suit didn’t fit the surroundings or the violent abduction she’d just lived through. She eyed his wingtip shoes. Not good for mountain climbing. Could she knock him off balance and gain some distance before he could aim the gun at her again?
He pulled his black trench coat a little tighter. “You know, I shouldn’t have taken your aunt out. It was the one mistake I made. But what do you do? Nobody wants to be lonely the rest of their lives. But really this is her fault. You can blame her for why you’re involved.
I tried to stop her before she blabbered to you. It was just my luck that she died in that fluke plane crash.” He sighed and shook his head. “But then that left you to take care of. And I only meant to warn you. Until you had to get that medic involved.”
Maddie gasped. “She didn’t tell me anything. All of this is because you attacked me at the carnival.”
“Come on. She told me she tells you everything. Stop lying. It’s too late to change things anyway.”
Maddie avoided a stump as they drew within feet of the trees. She had to stop him. Once they entered the trees, no one would ever find her again. She slowed. Keep him talking. “You shouldn’t have sold prescriptions illegally. Then my aunt wouldn’t have been involved if she hadn’t seen you dealing with a drug lord.”
He snorted. “That was the least of my problems.”
What did he mean? She stopped.
He dug his nails into her arm and thrust her further into the forest. She landed against something hard.
Doctor Adcock brushed off the surface beside her. He pulled a long metal bar through some latches, and a door sprung open at his touch.
What was this place? Her heart beat so hard it threatened to come out of her chest.
She squinted to see into the ink-black hole that opened up. She couldn’t go in there. Maddie trembled, and it was difficult to take breaths. “No.”
He set the gun down, yanked her to the hole, and then slit her handcuffs off. With the fastest swing she could muster, Maddie brought her hand around to make contact with his head, but he thrust her forward. She tumbled down and down until her feet hit solid ground and crumbled under her. “Ms. Clare, meet my brother, Keith. He didn’t stay out of my business either.”
Was someone in there with her? No movement shifted in the dark space. “But you’re Keith.”
He snorted. “Well, I am now.”
He’d taken his brother’s identity?
The door closed with a definitive clank.
40
Joze couldn’t stop the panic any longer. The Hartford K-9 unit loaded their dogs into the back of their cruisers. Lights, neighbors, and bystanders covered the street in front of Maddie’s house. He didn’t wait for them to debrief the officer in charge of the case, but strode up to them. “What’s going on? Did they get a lock on her scent?”
One of them raised an eyebrow and headed to Officer Tuttle. The other checked his gear and looked in on his shepherd. “Sir, we deal only with the officer in charge.”
He threw his hands up and waded through the officers to Tuttle. “What’s going on?”
It took Tuttle a moment to acknowledge him. “Listen, I need you to wait over there. Let me get the details first.”
Not another stall tactic. Acid burned his stomach as he struggled to stay where the police had asked him to remain. With his pulse in overdrive and teeth grinding, Joze tried to make eye contact with any one of them across the yard. Couldn’t they see how much he needed to know what was happening?
If he’d done this or that then she wouldn’t be gone. But there really was no stopping Maddie from being her independent, tough self, either.
When he looked up, Mrs. Clare had moved to the front porch on the top step. She needed comforting. Focus on her for now. He stopped at the bottom of the steps and drove down all the emotions welling in him. “Can I get you anything? A blanket? A drink of water?”
She didn’t look up. Maddie got her hard exterior from this woman for sure. “I’m fine.”
It didn’t look that way. He teetered between leaving her alone and pushing her to talk. “They’re going to find her. I’ve worked with a lot of these men, and they won’t stop until they do, Mrs. Clare.”
A sniffle escaped her. “This is my fault. I tried to blame you—for this—for what happened four years ago, but I’m not going to do it anymore. I don’t want the past to take a slice of my life away any longer. If I’d been there for her, this would’ve never happened. She’s a grown woman and I’ve been treating her like I did when she was young.” For the first time she looked him in the eye. “Maddie was trying to tell me something. But I didn’t listen.” She wiped her sleeve across her eyes. “I…never listen.”
“I know people always say don’t blame yourself. And I get how impossible that is right now, but you really shouldn’t. We have to get through this.” If he could just listen to his own words and stop circling blame around himself. All the anger drained out of him and left weariness. “This is all on me. I’d never leave her unprotected. The alarm was set and everything. I just never guessed she’d open the door to that doctor.” He stopped, conflicted. “None of this makes any sense. Why’d she do it? If I could, I’d do anything to go back and stop her. But—”
She pulled her hair back and rested her elbows on her knees. “I might not ever get a chance to fix things.”
Without a thought, he headed to her side and sat down. “Don’t say that. We’re going to find her. I won’t stop until we do. And she’s going to be so glad to see you it won’t matter anymore.”
Mrs. Clare rolled her head forward and started to sob. Joze put his arm around her, and she didn’t resist. How was he ever going to make it up to her?
Being helpless stripped him bare. This was what God had been trying to tell him. The one thing that Joze knew but couldn’t let go of. He wasn’t in control. He needed to leave it to God. God, be Maddie’s hero from here on out. Save her before it’s too late.
41
Something decaying permeated the atmosphere around Maddie, leaving its odor draped around her like a moth-eaten wool blanket. Her hardness had worn away as she’d reverted to the helpless teenager after Todd had attacked her. She struggled to control the old guilt that worked its way into every pore—guilt that this was all her fault. She deserved it.
“Help.” She sat balled up against an unseen corner, battling the past, shaking so hard she thought she might vomit. The cry wasn’t loud enough to be heard by someone even standing close, but her throat burned so bad it stole any chance for a real outcry.
Where was she? If she’d tried harder, she’d be able to guess. But she’d given in. Like after the incident when she’d left college and didn’t return.
Then she remembered. Massachusetts. This had to be the house in Massachusetts. Too many bumps on her head was addling her thoughts.
The smell continued to waft up her nostrils. Maddie buried her head in her arms. There was no time to give up. She had to find something, some way to get out.
And she had to figure out what was causing the awful smell. Sucking in a couple breaths through her mouth, Maddie managed to slow some of the shaking. If she got up and moved around, it’d help, for sure. She forced herself onto her knees and breathed again. Reaching out her hand, she touched the rough wall of cement. Please don’t let any bugs run across my fingers.
A leafy vine tickled her palm. The room must not be sealed. A new panic filled her. That meant water could get in. Was it possible to drown out here? She struggled off the ground. Please don’t let it start raining.
Her head bumped the low ceiling. Was it about a four-foot-high area? She pressed her back up and measured. Maybe almost five feet but no more.
With a careful step, Maddie put one hand on the wall and thrust the other one out. One slow step at a time, she shuffled forward as best she could. Her foot thumped against an unyielding object.
With quivering hands, she lowered herself bit by bit and lightly touched it. Material. Moist, sticky linen. She slid her hand around the object and realized it connected to something. Her fingers moved downward. Waxed laces.
The next second, she hurtled backward. It wasn’t something. It was someone.
And she’d touched the source of the decaying stench.
42
Joze couldn’t believe this was real and not a nightmare he couldn’t wake from. The news splashed Maddie’s kidnapping story across every television screen in New England.
By Tuesday morning not even th
e K-9 unit had found anything other than their exit point several houses down from the Clare residence. He must’ve been in the dark woods when her kidnapper sped off with her. Torrential rain pelted the window of his little kitchen where he sat chugging a bowl of cereal that he couldn’t taste.
Three days. Three long days and still nothing.
He’d donned his EMT uniform. Today he’d hit the road and search with his buddies. They’d take every lead they could come up with. And he had to be ready if she was hurt…or worse.
The police hadn’t found Dr. Adcock’s personal residence yet. But it had to be a matter of time. With the Internet, no one was ever really anonymous.
His police scanner went off. Joze jerked up. What was that about a dead body? The scanner came to life again. “A DB. Male.” He dropped his shoulders and sent a thank you to God. The voice continued over the static. “Cause unknown at present. All units report.”
The dispatcher gave an address.
He couldn’t finish the last few bites. His cell phone rang and he slid the answer button to the right. “Hello?”
Beaucamp answered. “You’re going to want to answer that call.”
“The one the scanner just put out?”
“Yep.”
“On my way.” Joze shot out of his chair. If his buddy wanted him there, he’d be there.
Joze maneuvered around stubborn motorists who didn’t seem to get the importance of his tailgating. What if it was their loved one? He kept his growing cynicism at bay.
When he screeched to a stop on the road, he noted the policemen at the perimeter of a taped-off section. Some bystanders craned to see whatever they could. He hurried under the tape, stopped at the door, and then called, “It’s Evans. Can I come in?”
“Give us a while,” Brown yelled. “I’ll send someone to let you in once the scene is processed. And don’t forget to put on the booties at the door.”