Linda said, “I’ll get them.”
“And if she has a laptop or tablet, anything with data on it. If you allow us to access it, and her phone records, we might get a valuable clue.”
“She has an iPad. I’ll get it.”
“Good. The way kids are with social media, we might find something.”
Linda left the room and Cory said, “You know, about a month ago, our son was picked up by an Asian man at his Taekwondo studio. We never found out who it was, but there’s a chance it was this Chinese gang that does illegal transplants.”
“You mean organs, like a kidney?”
“Yeah, I’d been vocal about the whole thing, and somebody told me to lay off, but I didn’t, and next thing we know, Tommy went missing.”
“How long was he gone?”
“Like, under an hour.”
“You called it in?”
“Yes, a Detective Belfi knows all about Tommy and the transplant ring. He’s with the Seventy-Fifth Precinct.”
“As soon as I’m done here, I’ll call him.”
“Good. Are you going to organize a search party?”
“We’ll get an Amber Alert out and circulate her picture. I’ll call the station and see what resources we can get out on the street. It’d be good if you got ahold of some of your friends and organized a search.”
“No problem. I’ll start making calls.”
* * *
Cory picked up a hundred posters of Ava and walked out of Staples. He handed a stack to three friends, and they left to distribute them.
Rush hour was underway. Cory scanned the street, wondering where the hell his daughter was. As he headed home, he rolled around whether a lunatic had snatched his daughter or whether it was the transplant gang.
After Tommy’s misadventure, Cory had kept a low profile. The pictures of the Hendry kid had garnered considerable coverage, but they’d kept Cory’s name out of it.
Was there a way these bastards had discovered his involvement? It seemed remote. He had to be careful, or he’d make them into superpowered bad guys.
At this point, he just wanted his daughter back. Let those animals do whatever they were doing. His daughter was all that mattered.
Cory checked his phone again, no messages. He was worried about Linda. They were scheduled to do a press conference in an hour. He hoped she’d hold up. She didn’t want to do it, but Cory knew the reach of the media.
Many times, journalists misused their power, but there was no better way to get the message out about Ava’s disappearance. He hoped whoever had taken her would reconsider after seeing them plead for her return.
Chapter Eighteen
Cory looked out the window, and about forty onlookers were crowded around two reporters and their cameramen. There was a knock on the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Lupinski? They’re ready for you.”
Cory said, “We’ll be right down.”
He went into the bedroom. “Come on, hon. Let’s get this over with.”
Linda said, “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You don’t have to say anything, I’ll handle it.”
Linda stopped in her tracks when she saw the crowd. Cory took her hand. “It’s okay. The more people this gets out to, the quicker Ava gets home.”
Detective Grillo looked at Cory, who gave him a thumbs-up. Grillo nodded to the reporters. “Two days ago, Ava Lupinski went missing. She’s seventeen years old, and this is a recent picture of her.”
Grillo held up an eight-by-eleven photo. “We’re asking the public for help in returning Ava safely to her parents. Time is critical in these types of cases. If anyone has any information about Ava, please call 1-899-800-1000.”
“This hotline number is completely confidential. You don’t need to identify yourself during the call. We only want to know whatever you know or believe happened to her.”
Grillo repeated the number and his plea for help and said, “Ava’s parents would like to say a few words.” Grillo stepped to the side. A distant siren wailed as Cory squeezed Linda’s hand. Stepping forward, they approached the microphones.
“My wife, Linda, and I thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. What’s happened to us is a parent’s worst nightmare. Our family is sick with worry over what happened to Ava. She’s a good girl, and we need your help getting her home. Please call the hotline with anything you saw or heard. The littlest thing could be the key to her safe return.”
Cory paused and looked into the camera. “To whoever took our daughter, my wife and I beg you to let her go.” Cory sniffled. “We don’t care who you are or why you did it, we just want Ava to come home. Thank you.”
A reporter asked, “Mr. Lupinski, do you believe your daughter’s disappearance is related to your public appeals over illegal organ transplants?”
“We don’t know why anyone would do this to Ava. There’s no reason on earth. She’s an innocent seventeen-year-old getting ready to go to college.”
Grillo stepped up. “The Lupinskis need your help. Here’s the hotline number again: 899-800-1000. It’s completely confidential. Thank you.”
The detective led the Lupinskis back into the building. “Well done. Let’s hope it generates hard leads.”
Linda said, “Do you think it will work?”
“These pleas always generate responses. Some are real, some are well-intentioned people who want to help, and others . . . are a bit kooky.”
“What about looking into what that reporter said? Cory and I talked about it but didn’t think there was anything to it. But now that she brought it up, what do you think?”
“We look at anything and everything. I’ve talked with Detective Belfi, and they’re exploring the possibility of a connection.”
Inside the apartment, Grillo said, “If you don’t mind, I’d like an article of clothing that Ava wore recently. Preferably something not washed.”
“Why?”
“We’re bringing the canine unit in. You never know where they might pick up a trail. We’ll start them from the dance studio where she was last seen.”
Linda said, “I have a couple of things that have to go the cleaners. I’ll get something.”
As Linda left, Cory sidled up to Grillo. “Does this mean you think she’s, uh, not alive?”
“No. Not at all. We’re just pulling out all the stops. If we lost her trace, say, by a grocery store, we’d try to find who was there and if they remember seeing Ava. We’d check their CCTV footage.”
“Okay. You had me worried.”
“I know it’s impossible, but try to relax; we’re doing everything we can to find your daughter.”
Grillo promised to call with an update and left with a blouse Ava had worn.
Linda stared out the window. Cory said, “Why don’t you take a nap? You haven’t slept in two days.”
“I can’t sleep when she’s out there. We have to do something.”
“Donny got about twenty guys we’ve played with over the years doing a search. They got five different groups checking around Brooklyn.”
“We need to see if anybody saw her in the city.”
“Silvertone Studios is handing out flyers all over the city.”
Linda started crying. “Where is she? Where’s my baby?”
Cory embraced his wife. “She’ll be home soon. I can feel it.”
“Why would anyone do this? It’s crazy.”
“There’s a lot of lunatics out there.”
“He better not hurt her.”
“Ava’s smart. I really think she’ll be okay.”
“I swear, I’ll get whoever did it.”
“Take it easy. Go eat something.”
“I can’t eat.”
“You have to have something. Have a piece of toast. I’m going to call Belfi.”
Cory punched a number in.
“Detective Belfi.”
“Hi, Detective, this is Cory Lupinski.”
“Hello, Mr. Lupinski. What can I do for you?”
“Did you talk to Grillo?”
“Not today. Why?”
“The more I think about it, maybe it is the transplant ring that took Ava.”
“What makes you believe that?”
“To get back at me. You know, to make me keep my mouth shut. Don’t forget, they warned me just before they took Tommy.”
“We don’t know if it was them who took your son.”
“Oh, it was them. I’m positive. You got to get on them before they do something to Ava.”
“We’re gathering as much intel as we can and notified the FBI as well.”
“You need to get out there and find my daughter! Sitting behind a desk isn’t cutting it.”
“Rest assured we’re doing everything we can to locate your daughter. I realize for you it will never be fast enough, and I understand that.”
“You understand? I don’t want you to understand, I want you to find my daughter!”
Cory hung up and Linda said, “Don’t get the police mad; they won’t look for Ava.”
“Don’t worry. They will, but I just got an idea.”
Chapter Nineteen
Linda said, “What are you talking about?”
“We got to call Mr. Black. He’ll find Ava. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”
“How’s he going to do that?”
“I have no idea, but he’s got all kinds of underground contacts.”
“But he double-crossed you with Tower.”
“I know, but—”
“But what? We can’t trust him.”
“How’s he going to screw with us? Ava’s missing. We need all the help we can get.”
“Okay, okay. Call him.”
“I want to think it through a minute. Why don’t you go down to Mrs. Murray’s and see how Tommy’s doing?”
Linda left and Cory paced the apartment. He never confronted Black when the operative betrayed him. He was pissed, but the reality was Tower had a lot of people under his thumb.
The crafty lawyer worked hard to collect whatever he could to get someone to do what he wanted. If there was nothing compromising, Tower would revert to bribes or entrapment.
Cory didn’t think Black could be bought. It had to be something else that had turned the facilitator against him. He wondered what Tower had over Black.
Cory palmed his phone. There was no need to be anything but direct, he thought as he dialed. As expected, it went to voice mail.
“It’s Cory Lupinski. We need help. My daughter’s missing. Please call me ASAP.”
* * *
Cory was a life-long New Yorker who lived in Manhattan when he’d been at the top of the charts. But he still had to look up the place where Black said to meet. Twenty-Four Sycamores Park was just off the East River on Sixtieth Street.
Cory walked under the Queensboro Bridge and into the square-block park that was filled with mothers, strollers, and kids on playground equipment.
Cory started counting the trees to see if there were twenty-four, when he spotted Black. The operative was sitting on a park bench under a red erector-set-like pergola.
“Thanks for seeing me so fast. We need help.”
“Sorry about your daughter. What can you tell me?”
A red Roosevelt Island Tram car passed overhead as Cory filled Black in. Black nodded when told about the possible connection to the illegal organ transplant operation.
Cory said, “You know something about them?”
“I’ve heard things.”
“They got my daughter?”
“Not about your kid. About the syndicate running it.”
“Syndicate?”
“I don’t know much more than the organization has been around awhile, and based on what I hear, they’ve stepped up their activity.”
“My gut’s telling me it’s them. I mean, with the threat and Tommy getting taken, it’s got to be them.”
“It could be, but these people are low-key. They have to be to do transplants and avoid detection. We’re talking about something that requires a lot of people and days if not weeks to pull off.”
“I know, you’d think this couldn’t be going on. But it is.”
“It’s all about demand. Over the last ten years, I know two people who died waiting for a transplant.”
“Yeah, the lack of donors is a problem, but now all I care about is getting Ava home safely. Can you help?”
“This isn’t going to be easy.”
“We’ll pay whatever you say.”
“With your kid missing, I couldn’t take your money. You take care of whatever expenses there are, and we’ll call it even.”
Cory wondered if Black was giving him a break to make up for double-crossing him or if he was sympathetic. “Thanks. I appreciate it. You have kids?”
Black nodded. “A son, but we’re not close.”
“It’s never too late.”
“Maybe someday. Look, don’t expect too much here. I’ll check around, see what I can tap into.”
Without saying goodbye, Black stood and walked away.
Cory’s eyes followed him out of the park, catching a glimpse of the bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling over the Queensboro Bridge. He was sure no one in all those cars had a kidnapped daughter.
* * *
Cory closed the door and stripped his sweater off. Linda was on the phone. She hung up quickly.
“What did Mr. Black say?”
“Said he was going to check around, see what he could find out.”
“That’s it?”
“What did you think? That he knew where Ava was?”
“No, but . . .”
“He’s on it. Let’s give him some time.”
Her face crumpled. “Ava may not have time.”
Cory hugged her. “Take it easy, it’s going to be all right. The police are working on it, and now we have Mr. Black on the case. Oh, and guess what?”
Linda broke the embrace. “What?”
“Black isn’t going to charge us. I think he may actually have a heart.”
“I don’t care about money. I want my Ava.”
“Me too.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Let me call Grillo and Belfi, see what’s going on with them. Why don’t you take Tommy to the park for half an hour?”
“I can’t.”
“He needs you. We have to pay him some attention.”
“All right, but just for a little bit.”
Cory kissed his wife’s cheek as she put a jacket on. “See you later.”
He dialed a number.
“Detective Grillo.”
“Hi, it’s Cory. I’m checking in.”
“Hello, Mr. Lupinski. How are you?”
“Not good. What’s going on with the case?”
“Well, we’re running down the hotline leads, but at the moment, nothing has panned out.”
“But you still got more to check?”
“One or two.”
“What about her computer? Did you get anything off it?
“Forensics went over it thoroughly but didn’t find anything that raised a flag.”
“What about her social media accounts?”
“They were clean. Normal teenage stuff. A lot of dance stuff and her girlfriends.”
“What about that kid, Bruce?”
“His alibi checked out.”
“So, there’s nothing?”
“At the moment, we don’t have a definitive lead on your daughter’s whereabouts.”
“What about the transplant gang?”
“That’s being handling by Detective Belfi.”
“Great. My daughter’s missing, and you guys are screwing around with bureaucracy.”
“I’ll reach out to him and—”
“Forget it. I’ll call him myself.”
Chapter Twenty
“Detective Belfi, this is Cory Lupinski.”
“Mr. Lupinski, how are you?”
“
Not good. I just talked with Grillo and he’s gotten nowhere. I asked him about the transplant gang, and he said you’re handling it.”
“That’s true. I realize it’s frustrating—”
“You have no idea what it’s like with your kid missing, so, don’t tell me you do.”
“I understand, sir, I was only trying to express my sympathy about the situation.”
“I don’t want sympathy, I want to know what’s going on with the situation, as you call it.”
“Detective Grillo is in charge of your daughter’s case.”
“I know, but he told me you’re handing the transplant gang. Where are you with them?”
“We continue to investigate the alleged transplant operative—”
“Alleged? Tell that to the Hendry parents or the parents of the Down Syndrome kids.”
“Let me rephrase that. Clearly, we’re aware these crimes have been committed. But we’re uncertain the same group is responsible for them.”
“Oh, come on, how many people do you think are doing this?”
“Unfortunately, the FBI has evidence there are several groups operating in the United States.”
“What about the one right here in New York? The one that threatened me? The one that took my son? Why aren’t you going after them?”
“It appears they are operating across state lines, and it may be an international ring. As such, the FBI has jurisdiction.”
“I don’t care about jurisdiction, I want to know what they’re doing about it.”
“I can’t share much about an ongoing investigation.”
“And you expect me to be satisfied with that answer?”
“I wish I could tell you more, but I’m unable to. I’d be happy to provide the contact information for Agent Knox. She’s the lead on the investigation.”
“If you’re not going to help me find my daughter, give me someone who will.”
Cory hung up and made another call.
“Jennifer Knox.”
“Miss Knox, this is Cory Lupinski. My daughter has been kidnapped, and I want to know what the FBI is doing to get her back.”
“Mr. Lupinski, I believe the NYPD is handling your daughter’s disappearance.”
“It’s not a disappearance. She was kidnapped.”
“While that may be true, I don’t believe NYPD has evidence to support an abduction.”
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