When Rachel arrived in Cozumel, she met with the FBI agent in charge, Hammond Lewis. He’d told her how everything transpired. It all started when a family on vacation in Cozumel reported that their toddler girl was missing. When the FBI was called in to investigate, fingers started pointing toward a housekeeper and her son who worked at the hotel where the girl’s family had been staying. After obtaining a search warrant, the FBI found the computer in the housekeeper’s cottage with pictures and profiles of children who were allegedly kidnapped. There were also files on the families who were looking to adopt—and from the looks of it, most of them were quite wealthy. The housekeeper was arrested along with her son. The son wasn’t talking, but the housekeeper was denying any involvement. One good thing came out of it: the little girl who’d been kidnapped had been found safe in a nearby house and was reunited with her family. Two women who were found in the house taking care of the girl were also arrested. In the investigation, it was found that the house was deeded by a dummy corporation that the FBI traced to a couple from Miami: Helen and Dirk Amsel. Rachel thought back to her first meeting with the FBI when she came to Cozumel, still paddling back toward the coastline as she went over all the details in her head.
“So how exactly is Scotty Jensen involved?” Rachel had asked Agent Hammond Lewis.
“We believe he is the mule of the operation.” Lewis had explained to her again how the FBI believed the illegal adoption ring was formed. “Helen and Dirk Amsel were the masterminds of the operation and may have recruited Scotty to find potential children to kidnap. Those children were kept in a ‘safe house’ until they were adopted by unsuspecting wealthy families who would do anything and pay an absurd amount of money to adopt a child. Several e-mails between Scotty, the Amsels, and the housekeeper’s son were found on the same computer that held Mallory’s photo.”
“Did any of those e-mails mention Mallory?” Rachel had asked him.
Agent Lewis had shaken his head. “So far, no. We just have her photo.”
Rachel recognized the photo found on the seized computer as one of the many pictures of Mallory that was taken during a birthday party for a mutual friend the weekend before Mallory disappeared. She had given the FBI the details of the party and who had attended. “It was held at a local public park,” she’d told Agent Lewis, trying to hold back tears. “Anyone could have taken the photo.”
Over the course of the two weeks that Rachel was in Cozumel, she’d had two more meetings with the FBI. She had told them that she didn’t know Dirk or Helen Amsel or any of the other parties involved in the kidnapping ring that had been arrested so far. She explained to Agent Lewis her seemingly coincidental relationship to Scotty Jensen.
“Shortly after Mallory went missing, I met Janine Jensen. She was separated from Scotty and was trying to get full custody of their son. During the investigation of her son’s disappearance, I found out that Scotty had previously worked for Rick Scott Imports, my ex-husband’s car dealership, as a mechanic. However, Scotty was fired before Rick and I were even married. Anyway, after we found that Scotty had kidnapped his own son to get back at Janine, I realized there could be a possible connection to Mallory’s disappearance. I talked with Rick about it at the time, but he dismissed the idea that Scotty could be connected to Mallory’s kidnapping.”
“He showed no interest in following up on it as a lead?” Lewis had asked Rachel.
“Not really. Rick said he just couldn’t imagine that Scotty had been involved. He said that Scotty had been fired because he never showed up on time and his work was suffering.”
“What department did he work in?” Lewis had asked, taking notes on his legal pad.
Rachel didn’t remember ever meeting Scotty during the many company functions that she attended with Rick. Of course, Rick Scott Imports employed over a hundred employees. It was hard for Rachel to keep all the names straight.
“Scotty was a mechanic. Rick said he was a model employee for a few months. Then Scotty started showing up late or not at all. His coworkers also mentioned to management that Scotty was driving a new BMW and flashing lots of cash. Rick suspected a gambling problem. Eventually Scotty was fired.”
“Do you think he would’ve kidnapped your daughter to get back at Rick for the firing?” Hammond had asked.
“I asked Rick the same question. He didn’t think so. Scotty was long gone from the dealership before Mallory was even born.”
“What do you think?” Hammond had asked her.
“I think anything is possible. Scotty kidnapped his own son to get back at Janine. He wasn’t happy about the pending divorce and he wanted revenge. He was mad that Janine was trying to get full custody and he thought he could take care of Jack better than she could.”
“It’s possible that Scotty was involved in the child abduction ring while he was working at the dealership. It wasn’t a gambling problem. He was getting money from the child abduction ring.” Lewis had continued to write notes on his pad. “We need to take another look at child disappearances in the Miami area around the same time that Mallory disappeared.”
“Red Cooper, who was the lead detective on Mallory’s case at the time, did take a look at Scotty,” Rachel told him. “He didn’t find anything suspicious when he questioned him, although Scotty couldn’t provide a solid alibi for the time frame that Mallory disappeared. He’d claimed he was out of work at the time and was probably home the morning Mallory vanished.”
“We have a warrant out for Scotty’s arrest,” Hammond had assured Rachel. “We are also looking for the Amsels. They have a residence in Miami and one in Germany, but so far they haven’t shown up at either place.”
Rachel finally got to the shoreline and dragged her board onto the soft sand, feeling happy that she’d been able to get out on the water to clear her head. She located the backpack she’d left behind on a beach chair and pulled out a plastic hair clip. She took her long auburn hair and fashioned it into a messy bun, securing it with the clip. Taking a long sip of bottled water from the backpack, she tried to gather her thoughts. It was time to figure out her next move. As she stared out at the blue water, she asked herself the questions she’d asked Hammond several times during their meetings.
If Scotty or the Amsels were found, would the FBI uncover new clues to find Mallory?
Was Scotty the person who kidnapped Mallory? If so, was it revenge for being fired from the dealership or just a coincidence?
Tonight Rachel would be flying home to Miami. She wanted to start from scratch and retrace Scotty Jensen’s every move from the day Mallory disappeared. Rachel also planned to find out everything she could about Helen and Dirk Amsel. She would also talk to Rick again about Scotty’s employment history with the dealership. They could be overlooking some significant clue. Rachel knew that Rick wanted to find his daughter just as badly as she did and would be willing to help.
She was close to finding Mallory. She could just feel it.
CHAPTER 3
Once Rachel was back in Miami, she involved herself in finding out more about Scotty Jensen and the Amsel couple, hoping it would bring fresh leads to finding Mallory. At the same time, she was fielding calls on other cases. Her second morning back, Red Cooper called her from Baton Rouge.
“We’ve got a pretty interesting case going on out here,” Red said. “Think you could fly in and help us out? We could use you on this one, Rach.”
Rachel smiled at the sound of his voice and leaned back in her chair. She remembered first meeting Red when he was a detective with the Miami police department. He’d been assigned to Mallory’s case and worked tirelessly to find her. During that time, Rachel had become close to him and treated him like a second father. When Red had told her he was getting ready to retire from the force and go into practice as a private investigator, Rachel had offered him a position at Florida Omni Search and he’d taken her up on the offer. This turned out to be a win-win arrangement for both parties. Rachel gave Red free office space in exchange
for his expertise on some of her bigger cases. Lately, he had been working more of her missing-persons cases than his own jobs, but he never complained. Rachel benefited from the situation because it meant she got to work with a pro every day, one who also brought plenty of smarts to her daughter’s ongoing case. That Red still had ties to the police department and was able to use them to help with Rachel’s other cases was just the icing on the cake.
“This is the missing family you told me about?” Rachel asked, juggling her cell phone and a manila file folder. As much as she tried to absorb the details of other ongoing cases, they remained vague in her mind; that was always the case when she was focused on chasing down leads about Mallory.
“Yeah. We got an interesting twist in the case, though. Saturday night, we got a call on our tip line. The husband was found at a truck stop in Baton Rouge.”
Janine hadn’t mentioned anything to Rachel about that this morning when Rachel had come in. Janine managed the office, including all the staff and the volunteers who ran their toll-free hotline. They got lots of calls because the number was publicized by the media so anonymous tips could be reported about missing people.
“Just the husband?”
“The wife and kids are still missing,” Red confirmed.
Rachel put down the file she’d been staring at for the last hour and rubbed her eyes. “Okay. Bring me up to speed.”
“Our crew had put up flyers in the usual truck stops and convenience stores within a three-hundred-mile radius of New Orleans. We got a call last night from someone who spotted one of our flyers at a truck stop in Jackson, Mississippi. The trucker, ah, his name is…”
Rachel could hear paper rustling on the other end.
“Keith Brunswick. He told us he bought Matt O’Malley dinner two nights ago in Baton Rouge. I guess Matt approached him in the truck stop parking lot and asked him for money. Keith, who seems like a friendly, honest type, invited Matt inside to eat dinner. Keith said Matt didn’t seem homeless, but that something about him was a little off.”
“What was off?”
“Matt looked…‘down on his luck’ is how he put it. Described him as dressed in a wrinkled T-shirt and track pants. Other than that, he was clean, but didn’t talk much.”
Rachel grabbed her pen and started taking notes. “Did he tell Keith where his wife and kids were?”
“He didn’t mention a wife or kids to Keith.”
“Where is Matt now?”
“Still in Baton Rouge. The police found him sleeping behind a Dumpster near the truck stop.”
“Have you talked to him?” Rachel asked.
“Not yet. The police are questioning him. From what I’ve gathered, Matt’s not saying much and his brother Chris has retained an attorney.”
“Chris is the one who asked for our assistance in finding Matt and his family?”
“Yep.”
“What’s your gut telling you?”
“I’m at a loss on this, Rach. He has an obvious head injury and may have suffered a concussion. He’s telling the cops he doesn’t remember what happened to him. Amnesia maybe?”
Rachel tapped her pen on the pad of paper in front of her. “How long are they going to hold him?”
“Don’t know. I’m going to talk to Chris later today. We can meet with them when you get here.” Red hesitated for a minute. “What’s going on there?”
Rachel lowered her voice. “Janine is in the office today. It’s very awkward, Red. I know she feels bad about the whole situation with her ex-husband, that Scotty might be implicated in Mallory’s kidnapping. She’s offered to take a leave of absence until this whole thing blows over.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her that wasn’t necessary. She has no reason to feel that way. Scotty is the bad guy here.”
“Anything solid on Scotty or the Amsels yet?” Red asked.
“No,” Rachel answered. “I’ve looked through the file you gave me on Scotty a hundred times. It’s on my desk now. All his cell phone records, employment history, witness statements. I can’t find anything that links him to Mallory other than the brief employment at Rick’s dealership prior to Mallory’s birth. I’m still waiting on your contact at the police department to find out something about the Amsel couple.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be there to help,” said Red, seeming to sense her frustration. “Just give Janine some breathing room. Something will shake loose. It always does.”
“I have a meeting with one of Scotty’s former drinking buddies.” Rachel checked the name in her file. “Dalton Bedford. We are supposed to meet at the Fish Shack in the next hour. I’ll see if I can catch a flight to Baton Rouge after that. I don’t think there’s much left I can do here.”
“It’ll probably do you some good to get out of the office for a bit. Call me back and let me know how the meeting goes and when you’ll be here. I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
“Sounds good.” Rachel disconnected, and picked up the file on her desk. Lately she felt like she was running in circles. She needed a break, and going to help Red on this case would get her mind off Scotty for a bit. Then she would come back to Miami and look at everything again with fresh eyes. There was something she was missing. She was sure of it.
Janine popped her head in the doorway. She was a few years older than Rachel, in her late forties. Janine wore her long dark hair in a braid and favored the hippie look, frequently wearing Birkenstocks with her jeans and peasant blouses. “Want to go out for a bite to eat?”
“Sorry, I can’t today.” Rachel saw the hurt on Janine’s face. “That was Red on the phone and he needs me in Baton Rouge. Can you take Maggie for a few days?”
Maggie was Rachel’s black Lab, who Rachel usually left with Janine and Jack while she traveled. This, unfortunately, was quite frequent lately.
“Sure. I’ll go by your house this afternoon and pick her up.” Janine hesitated outside Rachel’s office. “Are we okay, Rach?”
Rachel got up from her desk and walked over to Janine. “Of course. Things have been a little crazy for both of us.” She gave her friend a hug.
“I feel terrible about all this.” Janine started crying.
Rachel knew that the FBI had been questioning Janine about Scotty and that it was starting to wear her down. That was something else that Rachel and Janine had in common. They were both divorced, yet still involved with their ex-husbands because of their children. You hope that once you divorce someone, Rachel thought, that’s the end of the relationship. Sometimes, it’s only the beginning.
CHAPTER 4
Red picked Rachel up from the airport in Baton Rouge, and they headed toward Louisiana State University. Rachel didn’t follow college football but nodded as Red talked about the LSU Tigers, who were currently in first place in the SEC.
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said. “But that’s enough about sports. Where should we eat?” Rachel had gotten lucky and was able to hop on the last flight out of Miami to Baton Rouge. She always kept a bag packed for times like this when she needed to get out of town fast. With Janine taking care of Maggie, she’d been free to leave right after the meeting with Scotty’s drinking buddy. The guy hadn’t given her any good information. It had seemed like just another dead end.
Red pulled into the parking lot of The Chimes, a popular restaurant located just off the LSU campus, which was crowded with a mix of students and young professionals enjoying drink specials and dinner. They grabbed a booth away from the bar area and the noise of the crowd. The waitress brought over some water and suggested they try the blackened alligator bites for an appetizer. They took her suggestion on the alligator, and both ordered a beer.
“How was the flight?” Red asked.
“Good, but I’m famished. Peanuts and a Coke is the only thing I’ve had since lunch. Even the alligator sounds appetizing.”
“I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’ve eaten here twice and the alligator is always good.�
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Rachel took a quick look around the place. “The alligator isn’t the only reason you’ve eaten here.” Her eyes set on a group of college girls laughing loudly in the corner. “I think the scenery may have something to do with it.”
Red followed her gaze and laughed. “I ain’t dead yet!”
“Speaking of, are you watching your diet?” Rachel had been concerned for him since his heart attack a couple of months ago. Red was a like a father figure to her and even resembled Rachel’s own father a bit. Red was short, beefy, and bald, had been divorced three times, had no kids, and was an avid collector of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. And just like her, he never gave up looking for Mallory. Because of that, Red had a special place in her heart.
“Yes, ma’am,” Red answered. “Cross my heart.”
The waitress brought over the plate of steaming alligator bites. Rachel plucked one off the plate and ate it. “Hmmm, that is good.” She washed it down with a swig of her Abita Purple Haze beer. “So bring me up to speed on Matt O’Malley.”
“The police questioned Matt with his attorney present, but Matt claims he doesn’t remember anything. Matt was released into the custody of his brother and attorney. They took him straight to the hospital. Chris is supposed to call me after Matt is examined. He’s pretty pissed that the cops didn’t take his brother straight to the ER when they found him behind the Dumpster. He had a pretty big knot on his head.”
“Has he lost all his memory?”
“Matt claims he doesn’t have any knowledge of what happened to his wife or kids. He told Chris and the police that he doesn’t remember anything that happened the last few months prior to the incident. He doesn’t know how he got to Baton Rouge. Matt said he woke up behind the Dumpster three nights ago with a bad headache. That was the night he befriended Keith, the trucker.”
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