Maria leapt from the car the moment she parked. The man, Beth’s neighbor, shouted to those inside the house, “The Chief’s here.”
Seconds later Beth was on the front porch, face ashen and body shivering. “Maria?”
It was a plea.
“Oh Beth.” Maria ran to her friend and pulled her into her arms. Her friend’s flesh was so cold. So fragile. So scared. “We’re going to find him, Beth. I promise. Can you tell me what happened?”
Maria led Beth back into the house as she got all the details. After the exciting day at the reservoir, the family had gone to bed as usual. Around one a.m. the home phone rang. No one typically called Beth at that hour, and no one used her home phone except for a few of her elderly hair clients who’d been calling it for years.
Groggily, Beth had answered the phone. On the other end was a digitized voice.
“The voice was unrecognizable?” Maria asked Beth.
“Totally.”
“And what did it say?” Maria rubbed the cold upper arms of her best friend. It felt like she’d spent the night in an igloo.
“They said they’d taken Justin and if we wanted to see him alive we needed to call the police chief.” Beth choked up but still managed to get the next sentence out. “The voice said we had one week to give them what they wanted or Justin would never come back.”
A quick intake of air from Maria. “And what did they want?”
“I-I-I have no i-idea.” Beth began to sob. Her shoulders lifted and dropped with each gasp of breath.
“Nothing? They didn’t tell you how much the ransom is?”
“No. They j-j-just said to talk to the police chief.”
“Okay, it doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out. Clearly, whoever it is wants to string us along. We can play that game. We’re going to get the FBI’s best negotiator here by morning. This is going to be okay.”
On the outside it was Maria’s job to be confident, reassuring. On the inside, however, she was reeling.
No ransom? No explanation? It was rare to take a child from his bed with everyone in the house. This was a deliberate crime. Justin had been handpicked—but why? Could it have something to do with the incident down at the creek? Had the creep from Vegas who had escaped authorities come back to Kanab? Was he getting his revenge?
Beth’s husband stepped up and cradled his wife in his arms. His own face was blotchy red from tears as well, but he was doing his best to be strong for his wife. “The FBI is coming?” he asked Maria.
“Yes. Title 18 of the United States Code.” She continued to rattle off what protocol was in situations like these as she scanned the living room for clues. “When a minor is kidnapped the FBI has jurisdiction, regardless of state lines. I’ve already called them. They know their stuff. We’re going to get the best help we can get.”
Beth’s husband nodded. “I guess our kidnapper didn’t know the FBI would come. The voice on the phone asked for you.”
That was another thing that made Maria uncomfortable. That was not standard protocol to request for the law to get involved. Usually it was the other way around. Something didn’t seem right about the whole situation.
Maria pulled out her cell phone.
“Who are you calling?” asked Beth. Her tears stopping for a moment.
“Rod.” Maria walked to the front window and looked out. “I’m going to have him get Search and Rescue here ASAP. We need to start looking now. The kidnapper is closer now than he or she will ever be.”
Twenty minutes later Rod was at Beth’s home along with seventeen other men and women. Every single member of the Search and Rescue had answered the call to come—even those who considered themselves retired. After hearing Beth’s kid was in trouble, they had all wanted to help. That was the kind of stuff that made Kanab the town it was. The folks cared for one another—regardless of how early in the morning it was.
Details were relayed to everyone on Search and Rescue. They were then divided into groups and systematically sent out to search every neighborhood. They were to look in parked cars, comb empty lots and public spaces, and even pull over drivers to ask if they’d seen an adult with an eight-year-old boy. Rod would be their point of contact and stay at the house coordinating the search.
Pete would contact all hotel owners to see if they’d seen anything suspicious in their lobbies that night. And Maria would scour the inside of the Hills’ home, looking for any traces of who might have been there.
It didn’t seem like enough. Maria didn’t have a large force—for the most part it was just her and Pete. Typically that sufficed, but with something like this she wished she had a hundred on her staff. She was literally counting the minutes until the FBI arrived with their resources.
Maria stood inside Justin’s room, looking out the window. According to Beth, the front door was still locked and unforced when she got the phone call. It was unlikely that was the way the kidnapper got in. The window must have been the point of entry. It was a basic double pane, probably left open to let in the cool night air. The screen was a flimsy barrier to protect the boy from the outside world. Of course, in Kanab that should have been plenty.
The backyard needed to be roped off. That would be one of the best places to find clues. The FBI would want it untouched when they arrived.
Maria exited the bedroom, walked down the hall, and passed by Rod, who had set up the Search and Rescue main communication radio on the kitchen table in Beth’s house. Brenna and Zach, Beth’s other two children, had been taken to a neighbor’s house who was helping to calm them. Beth and her husband paced in the living room.
Rod eyed the police tape that Maria had in her hand. “Need some help?” he asked, hesitating.
At first Maria was about to say no, but then she thought better of it. This was much more important than some silly romantic breakup. There was a kid’s life on the line. “I’d love some help. I want to keep the backyard secure until the FBI can arrive.”
“Good idea.”
By the time Maria and Rod had roped off the backyard, Beth’s entire neighborhood was awake. Maria chose two responsible neighbors and asked if they would guard the police line she’d just installed. “Stay together at all times,” she told them. “We can’t have anything tampered with in that yard. No one, and I mean no one, goes back there.”
Back inside the house, Rod was about to sit down at the table again when Maria headed down the hallway to Justin’s room. “Can you be my witness?” she asked Rod.
“For what,” Rod said.
“I’m going to go back into the bedroom again to check if there are any clues that might help us catch the kidnapper immediately. Stuff like that is best done in pairs so no one—not even law enforcement—has an opportunity to mess with the crime scene.”
“Gotcha.”
Maria and Rod entered Justin’s bedroom together. A bookshelf full of assembled Star Wars Lego kits was prominently displayed in the middle of the wall. Justin’s only attempt at decorating. A couple pairs of dirty socks lay on the floor by his closet. A handful of Nerf darts were shoved into a corner. It was the room of any average eight-year-old kid whose mother didn’t make a fuss over his room. Nothing indicated something heinous had just happened there.
To take a child from his bed, under the very roof where his parents slept?
Maria’s anger flared. It was brazen and … evil. Justin didn’t deserve this. No child did. He must be overwhelmed. She had to do everything she could to get him back.
Absolutely everything.
“I’m going to look around the bed,” said Maria. “Maybe the kidnapper dropped something.”
“Okay.” Rod’s voice was anxious. “I … I can’t believe this happened. Not to Beth’s family—everyone loves her. It’s crazy.” He shook his head. “I mean, kids just don’t go missing in Kanab.”
“I know.” Maria nodded. “Something feels really off.” Part of her ached for a moment of physical contact between her and Rod. Not something mu
shy and drawn out, but just a reassuring pat on the shoulder would boost her spirit. The stress and responsibility she felt to get Justin back grew every second.
But there was no chance of Rod touching her. The man was there to help Beth, as was she. What Maria really needed was focus.
Maria leaned over the bed, unmade with the blankets pulled back. Her eyes scoured the Batman sheets for a stray hair, a speck of dirt, a wrapper, a coin—anything that might have fallen out of the pocket of the kidnapper.
Please, let there be something here.
That’s when she saw it. Something poked out from underneath Justin’s pillow. She slipped on a pair of latex gloves, lifted the pillow with one hand, and retrieved the object with the other.
It was an envelope. The ransom note. It had to be.
Not wanting to touch the envelope seal (in case there was saliva on it), Maria used a pair of scissors to cut the side of the envelope open and pull out a folded sheet of paper.
“Got it,” she said as Rod watched her, seemingly holding his breath.
Carefully she opened the letter. The message had been printed on twenty-pound stock paper with no identifying markings. Ink was black. Everything had been kept generic. The words read:
To Chief Maria Branson,
This letter is for your eyes only. Solve the riddle in seven days’ time and you will find the boy. No negotiations.
What you seek is in a bottle of fun with one player missing.
Open the lid.
South will find SA64HQ965DJ52C654
East is next.
North comes third.
Go West and you will find what you desire.
Beware. The monster awaits.
“No. No. No.” Maria closed her eyes and tilted her head backward. Had she been alone she would have screamed. Long and loud. As it was, her scream was silent but just as painful.
This had to be some kind of joke. The letter was addressed to her, not Justin’s parents. There was no request for money. Only some stupid, nonsensical riddle. Why did these things happen to her? What would she tell Beth?
Hey, so it looks like the ransom note is actually for me. Someone wants me to solve a riddle.
How insane did that sound?
“What is it?” asked Rod, moving toward her.
Maria’s heart sank. It was happening again. She was putting others in danger. It was like her black ops team. One by one the people around her in Kanab were having bad things happen to them. Rod’s nightmare in Arizona. Now Beth’s child had been taken. It always came back to her. She was the source of so much misery.
“It’s a letter.” Maria nearly gagged on the words. “It’s addressed to me.”
“What? Why is it addressed to you?”
“I don’t know, but someone left it for me.” Her voice shook. “It’s a riddle. A stupid, stupid riddle.”
“A riddle?” Rod inched closer to see the letter.
Maria held it up for him to see. The warning that the letter was for her eyes only was moot. She would give the note to the FBI as soon as they arrived.
His eyes scanned the paper up and down, then up and down again. “Huh, you’re right. But I have no idea what it means. Strange. How does Justin have anything to do with this?”
The truth of the matter was that this probably had very little to do with Justin. He was being held to help manipulate Maria or possibly Kanab’s law enforcement.
“I don’t think this is your regular kidnapping. There is something else going on here. At least, so far the perpetrator hasn’t been following the rules.” Maria’s hand holding the letter started to shake. She quickly lowered it so Rod couldn’t see that her nerves were starting to kick in.
“So, no money extortion?”
Maria shook her head. “Doesn’t look like it. That should have been obvious to me from the beginning. I mean, Beth and her husband are employed as a hair dresser and store manager. They have no big savings account. No stocks or million-dollar investments.”
“You’re right. But then what are they after?” Rod scratched at his facial hair, stopped, and then did it again.
“I don’t know.” Maria’s voice had dwindled to a whisper. All she could think about was facing Beth and explaining to her that her son had been kidnapped for some random reason that must have something to do with Maria. The police chief. The freak. A walking time bomb to anyone who knew her.
“Should we tell Beth …” Rod’s words drifted.
“Yes. I’ll go do it now.” Maria’s shoulders sagged as she exited the room. The weight of Justin’s life pressed down on them.
There was no sleep that night for half the town of Kanab. By morning, entire neighborhoods had formed search parties to look for Justin. School was cancelled and parents kept their children home, petrified there was a kidnapper on the loose.
So far, there were few leads.
Someone had seen a couple kids riding in a car with an adult not too long past midnight. But since there were no other reports of missing children, the lead was probably nothing more than a family traveling late at night, probably on their way to the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas.
One hotel guest said he’d heard a ruckus going on in the room next to him in the middle of the night. When the suspicious noises were investigated, it was just a family touring the area whose son suffered from night terrors.
Someone else said they saw a gang of teenagers out late. When kids were questioned, they explained they were simply hiking “K” Hill at night. That answer stung Maria, but she moved on. This was no time to dwell on her falling out with Rod.
Deep down, Maria knew the leads wouldn’t pan out. The person who had left her the riddle had planned the crime. He or she was smart. Calculating. Someone who had a plan and who expected to execute it flawlessly.
It was Maria’s job to put a wrench in the gears of whatever it was that had been set in motion. And the best way to do that was by being unpredictable. She had to do exactly the opposite of what the person trying to manipulate her wanted. It would drive Maria mad not to immediately go look for Justin, but she knew she had to play her cards right. She needed to be as calculated as her opponent.
Even if it killed her.
About sun up, as Rod was coordinating search efforts and Maria scoured over the riddle, her cell phone buzzed. The number was blocked.
What if the kidnapper had changed his or her mind and wanted to negotiate after all. Maria answered the call immediately. “Hello?”
“Maria, it’s Dr. Roberts.”
“Dr. Roberts?” Maria pushed back her urge to cry. “Why are you calling?”
“I heard about the kidnapping. I get an alert whenever something comes through the FBI or CIA connected to one of my patients.”
Maria pressed her lips together. I cannot cry. I must be strong for Beth.
“Anyhow,” her FBI-mandated therapist continued, “I wanted to see how you were holding up. I understand you know the victim?”
“I’m okay, I guess. I do know him. He’s the eight-year-old son of my best friend from high school.”
“You’re not really okay, are you?” The doctor’s words pierced her in the chest.
“N-no.”
“Let me guess. People are close by. They can hear you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Say the word ‘pencil’ if your hallucinations have come back. Say ‘pen’ if they haven’t.”
Maria stopped a moment. Had her PTSD hallucinations come back? She’d been so busy studying the riddle that she hadn’t really taken in her surroundings.
Peeling her eyes from the letter the kidnapper had left her, Maria looked around Beth’s living room. Nothing strange about it except that it was void of children. At this hour, the three of them would have been running out the door, trying to get to school on time.
But there were certainly no ghosts. No hallucinations. Everything that was happening was very real. Too real.
Beth and her husband sat in a corner holding
each other. Their local clergyman had come and was trying to give them comfort. Rod was in the kitchen, talking on his radio. The county Sheriff had arrived to help. He and his assistant had taken on the job of keeping people away from the house and especially the backyard.
“Maria?” asked Dr. Roberts. “You still there?”
“Sorry. Y-yes. I’m here.”
“And your hallucinations?”
“Pens, it’s definitely pens.”
“Really? That’s wonderful. Your progress is coming along so well.”
“Yeah, well I’ve been having dreams. Nightmares actually.” It was then Maria remembered the fuzzy male figure she’d seen in her room seconds after waking before learning of the awful news about Justin. Had that been a hallucination or just leftovers from her dream?
“What are these dreams about, Maria?” asked Dr. Roberts.
Maria glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention to her. They weren’t. She still was careful to speak very softly. “Tehran. My team. You know.”
“Listen, Maria, you’re under a lot of stress right now. Everyone has bad dreams. Especially someone who has been through something like you have. Don’t give the dreams a second thought. They don’t mean anything.”
Maria hoped that was true. The last two nights the dreams had been so vivid. Horrific. And both nights Ryan had called out to her. At the very end he said something she couldn’t understand. She was partially glad she couldn’t make sense of the words. They certainly couldn’t be anything that could help her feel better.
“And, Maria,” Dr. Roberts continued, “there’s no one I know who will work as hard as you to get Justin back. Kanab is lucky to have you.”
“Thanks, Dr. Roberts.” Then, in a much quieter voice she added, “But I feel like it’s my fault Justin was taken in the first place. The ransom letter was addressed to me. And it’s not money the kidnapper wants. Whoever left it wrote a riddle. I’m supposed to solve it to find Justin.” She hit the coffee table in front of her with her palm. “It’s so frustrating.”
Paranormal Mystery Boxset Books 1-3: Legends of Treasure Page 58