“Perfect,” Charlie said.
“Sooner would have been better. It means waiting until Friday but I suppose anything else would arouse suspicion.” I was glad that I had asked Marsha Green to keep our conversation to herself. I trusted that she would keep her promise to do so. “I hope George has hired some bodyguards?”
“Aye, he has finally conceded. He agrees that they are a necessary evil. He has promised to make some calls first thing tomorrow,” Charlie said. “In the meantime my men are sticking close. And just so you know, we weren’t idle while you were off working.”
“No?”
“Och, no, lassie. Malcolm and I managed to meet up with Mandy Dole, Mike Green’s secretary and ex-mistress.”
“What do you mean we, Charlie? I’m the one who did all the work.”
My father’s eyes were gleaming. I had no doubt that he had thrown my fiancé in the path of an attractive woman. It was not the first time. I pinned my eyes on him with a glare.
He chuckled and took a step back. “I thought we would get more out of her if Malcolm interviewed her on his own.”
“And did you?”
MacGregor shrugged. “I told her that I was considering using her boss for a job I need done. That gave me the opportunity to ask about his relationships with people and his integrity. Basically she gave him a rave review.”
“Which surprised me,” Charlie said, “considering that he gave her the boot—relationship-wise, that is.”
“Apparently she still respects him.” Which actually said a lot. Unless he had been lying and the affair was still in full swing. “And Ally? Any progress on narrowing down the list of three?” I switched subjects to the even more critical case we were working.
“No. Jack and Rochelle have interviewed several of the lads, inquiring about their friends and teammates, but focusing on our three. No one has given any indication that there have been changes in their behavior. Rob seems to be as friendly and gregarious as ever. Drew has always been on the shy side which hasn’t changed. As for Shane, they ended up going to the girls’ dorm to learn more about him. Apparently he’s always been and still is the charming ladies’ man.”
“Damn.”
“They’re still on it, lassie. Despite Ben Blaine’s directive to be elsewhere.”
“Hopefully they’ll learn something.”
“Aye, we will, lassie. Dinna fash yourself. We’ll find that wee bairn.” This time he was the one encouraging me.
“You’re sure, Charlie?”
“As sure as I can be. I’ve got my men sticking close to the three lads. If Rochelle and Jack don’t zero in on one of them, my men will.”
I turned my attention to Matt. “Did you learn anything at the track?”
He shook his head. “Not much. Although none of us thought it could be Rob. He seems like a really nice guy and he didn’t seem nervous or guilty like you told us to look for. Josh really likes him.”
“And Holly?”
“Instant crush. Although another guy tried to get her attention.”
“Let me guess, Brad Warner?”
“You’re good, Mom.”
“She didn’t fall for it though, did she?”
“No, and the other guy, Shane Brubeck came on to her too. We aren’t so sure about him so right now he’s on the top of our suspect list, but that’s not based on anything except that we don’t think Rob did it.”
“And the third one? Drew?”
“Didn’t show. No, actually he did, but he got a call and had to leave right away so we didn’t get a chance to talk to him.”
“Okay, well, that’s not as much as we’d hoped for, but it’s something. You had a good time?”
“Playing guard dog? You should have sent Rocky. Your daughter has become a flirt, in case you didn’t know that.”
I gulped back those mother-terrors. “Seriously?”
“I think my little sister has stopped thinking about dance enough to finally discover boys. She was in heaven. Of course, being the only girl there helped. But Josh did receive an open-ended invitation to join them for a run anytime he wants.”
“That was nice.”
“On one condition,” Matt continued. “If he brings along his ‘sister.’”
Charlie’s phone rang a moment later. “The Elliots.”
Only half-listening, I went to stand in the kitchen doorway. Josh and Holly were sitting inside the barricade on the floor, playing with the puppies. I thought for a moment that my heart was going to burst right out of my chest as I watched my daughter allowing herself to be my little girl again.
I pressed the camera mode on my cell and held it up to take a picture. I wanted to capture this image forever. Especially since I knew I had only a brief moment before we would be heading back to see the family of a baby whose parents were clinging to the belief that they would have the joy of watching and photographing her as she moved through all the stages of her childhood.
Chapter 12
“We finally got our ransom call.” Charlie tucked his cell into his pocket after hanging up with Carter Elliot. He had a baffled look on his face.
“What, Charlie?”
“Why now? Why so long after the kidnapping?”
“It’s only been four days,” Matthew pointed out.
Four very long days.
“Aye, laddie, but if it’s money they’re after, why didn’t they request it immediately? And why so little?”
“How much?” MacGregor asked.
“Forty thousand dollars.”
“That is peculiar, particularly when they must know we’re offering one hundred thousand in reward money.”
“We’d best get over there. I’m sorry to take you away.” Charlie nodded toward the kitchen where my daughter was holding a puppy that was determinedly chewing on her hair. “But I think we all need to go.”
Matt kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “I’ll keep her here even if I have to sit on her.”
“Thank you.”
This new development was significant. For one, it indicated that possibly the runner had done this on his own. The kidnapper was not interested in keeping Ally or selling her to an adoptive couple for a lot more than forty thousand dollars.
“This is a good thing, right?” Carter asked when he let us in through the backdoor. Once again we had evaded the press by taking our contingency route through the Sharkey property. Maureen wasn’t home, but Charlie had a key. It was even more important now that the press not discover the reason for our visit. If they found out about the ransom call, it would be all over the news and possibly scare away the kidnapper. Or the press could very possibly jeopardize the exchange of money for baby if they managed to follow whoever met the kidnapper.
“I think so,” Charlie answered Carter.
“It means that Ally is alive, right? And that we’ll get our baby back?”
“It increases that likelihood,” Charlie said.
It was the first time I had seen tears in Carter’s eyes and they were not contained there. He wiped his cheeks and said a quick apology just as Shelby joined him, tucking herself under his arm. The tension on her face indicated that she was scared to hope. I didn’t blame her. They were so close to getting their baby back, and she felt the need to hold her breath for just a little while longer.
We followed them through the kitchen and into the living room where Jillian sat curled up on her father’s lap. Despite being surrounded by three adults who obviously loved her, there was a deep loneliness in the young girls’ eyes. If I could relive any part of my life, I would not choose my teenage years. When this was over, we would definitely offer her one of the English setter pups.
“Tell us everything the kidnapper said on the phone,” Charlie said. “Who spoke with him?”
“I did,” Carter answered. “I’m assuming it was a male although his voice was muffled and distorted. He requested the forty thousand dollars be brought in a plain navy blue duffle bag in small bills.”
/> “When and where?” Charlie asked.
“Tomorrow. Noon.” Carter handed him a note with the drop-off point. I looked over Charlie’s shoulder and read it. A busy intersection near a hotel and restaurant in downtown Seattle. “And he was very firm about something else. He said only the baby’s mother is to come. No one else. And no cops.”
Charlie sighed and looked over at Shelby, who stepped out from under her husband’s protective arm. “It’s okay. I can handle it,” she assured him.
Jillian climbed off her father’s lap and said, “But, Mom, your ankle.”
“Is fine,” Shelby insisted. “It’s a lot better.”
“You’re still limping.”
“Only a little. By tomorrow it will be fine.”
“No, Mom. I’ll do it for you. He won’t know the difference. I’ll wear your coat, the same one you were wearing when he—” She looked down at her bare feet. “When he took Ally.”
Shelby walked over to her daughter and placed her hand softly on her cheek. “Thank you, sweetheart, you are so dear to me. But I will do it.”
Tears ran down Jillian’s face, and I realized how much this ordeal had impacted the young girl as well as the adults. “Please, Mom, let me. I want to do it. For you.”
Shelby pulled the girl into her arms and held onto her for a long time while the rest of us looked on in silence. When she released her, she looked her directly in the eyes and said with a strength and resolve I had not heard from her before, “No, Jillian. After having this monster take one of my children, I am not about to expose my other child to him.”
She had an excellent point. But so did Jillian, unfortunately. Shelby was still limping and if the kidnapper decided to take the money and run without giving back Ally, she would not stand a chance. I wasn’t the best of runners, but I could move a lot more quickly than Shelby at this point.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “Chances are the kidnapper doesn’t know you that well and won’t know the difference, especially if I wear your coat and a hat.”
Jillian and Shelby looked over at me. Jillian’s eyes were open wide—relief? She was still her mother’s protector. Shelby took a deep breath and shook her head. “Thank you, Jenny, but I will do it. I have to do it.”
It was then that I realized that there was another reason for her determination to handle this herself. It might begin to absolve her for having not saved Ally from the kidnapper in the first place.
I glanced over at MacGregor and Charlie who both had resigned expressions on their faces. There was no point in arguing anymore. Shelby Elliot was going to get her baby back. But that didn’t mean we wouldn’t be somewhere in the vicinity when it happened.
“Will you be able to get the money from your bank?” Charlie asked.
Carter looked over at Greg who answered for both of them. “Between the two of us, we can put together twenty-eight thousand in cash now. Any more will take a while longer.”
MacGregor said, “I’ll get the rest for you today. Do you have a plain dark duffle bag?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Carter said.
“I do,” Jillian said. “I don’t think it has any writing or anything on it.”
“If not, I can pick one up,” MacGregor said.
“How will you get there, Shelby?” Charlie asked. “It’s important that you appear as if you’ll be alone.”
“Appear?” Jillian asked. “You mean Mom won’t really be alone?”
I couldn’t tell if it was fear in her eyes at the thought of her mother doing this, or relief that she would have support.
“You’re calling in the police?” Carter asked.
“Not unless you want us to.”
Greg and Carter exchanged looks again as brothers might. Brothers who were going through the same ordeal with the same investment.
“Probably not,” Carter said, “But I don’t want Shelby to be alone out there.”
“We’ll be with her,” MacGregor assured him. “Not noticeably, but we’ll be there.”
“Will you try to catch the guy? The kidnapper?” Jillian asked.
“Possibly,” Charlie said. “Definitely if he doesn’t have Ally with him.”
Shelby gasped. “There’s that possibility? That he’d take the money and not return Ally?”
“There’s always that possibility. But this appears to be a young kid,” Charlie said quickly. “If we’re right about that, chances are he won’t try to pull anything funny.”
Shelby exhaled and started breathing again.
“And, we’re relatively certain we know which of the runners it is.”
“You do? Then why don’t we just go after him?” Greg asked.
“Because we don’t know where Ally is. And we don’t want to risk messing this up. Especially now that we’re so close.”
“How do you know who it is?” Jillian asked.
“Well, in following Malcolm’s theory, we’d narrowed it down to the three steeplechasers. But now we don’t think Drew Reed would be involved. Nor for forty thousand dollars. He has plenty of money. Whereas that amount of money would be helpful to the other two boys.”
And if my three children were correct and Rob Carlyle was to be trusted, we had our man. Shane Brubeck.
“Of the two others, we have a strong hunch which it would be, but I’ve already put tails on all three of them. We did that as soon as Malcolm realized it was most likely a steeplechaser.”
“I assume they’re being careful not to be seen,” Greg said.
Charlie groaned. “Och, not an easy task considering that the lads live in dorms. My men are watching their cars. It’s not ideal but if they went into the dorms, they’d stick out like sore thumbs. But at least we’ll know which one it is when they go to meet Shelby.”
Assuming they drove their car.
I lay in my fiancé’s arms, more content than I’d been in a long time. If all went well, which I was convinced it would, Ally Elliot would be home with her family tomorrow. Adding to my serenity was the fact that I’d finally had a meal with my daughter. If things continued this way, she might sit at the same table with me for Thanksgiving dinner.
She had even talked during the meal. Not only to Matt and Charlie and Josh but to MacGregor and me on occasion. First she had asked about the rescue of the puppies. Then she had asked MacGregor where he had got the fish and chips that he had picked up after his trip to the bank. It was her way of saying thank you and that they were up to her standards.
It was the meal we had planned for dinner the night before, but after rescuing the puppies, and building their barricade and an over-sized box in which they could cuddle up together, we had settled for left-over onion soup.
So, tonight had been fish and chips night with six of us instead of three. It was the first time since MacGregor and I were together that my whole family was present at his dining room table.
“You were quiet tonight,” he whispered in my ear.
He must have been following my train of thought. “I was just taking it all in.”
“I enjoyed seeing you so happy.”
“Mmm. The most pleasant Holly has been since her arrival.”
“It’s amazing what magic puppies can work.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
MacGregor raised himself onto his elbow and looked over at the spot where Rocky’s bed normally was except when Josh stayed with us. “You don’t think Rocky’s bent out of shape, do you, because the puppies are getting so much attention?”
I laughed. “I might believe that if he weren’t giving them so much attention himself.”
“He does seem taken with them.”
I could feel the energy rising. He was building to something. And it had to do with the puppies.
He didn’t disappoint me. “Do you, uh, have any plans for them, darlin’?”
“Tiring of them already?”
“No, not at all. I’m rather enjoying them. I was just thinking we either need to think about
finding them homes or start training them. At what age do you start training puppies?”
“You never had a dog?”
“I’m afraid not. My parents were preoccupied with other things.”
“Such as?”
“Raising their son to be brilliant.”
“Modest, aren’t you?”
He chuckled alongside of me. “I didn’t say they succeeded. But they were certainly determined.”
I kissed him softly on the cheek. “I’d have to say that they succeeded.”
He rolled his eyes. “Back to the wee rascals. Any plans?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking about that. I think one of them has Maureen’s name on it. We’ll let her decide which one that is. What do you think?”
“I think you’re absolutely right. After what she’s been through, a puppy would be perfect for her. And the others?”
“Not sure yet. I was thinking I might take one up to Jasper Rosenthal on the island.”
“Your reclusive artist friend.”
“Right. He seems so lonely sometimes. I think a puppy would make a great companion, but we’d have to train it first.”
“You’d have to train it first, experienced dog owner that you are.”
“Hey, until Rocky came along, I hadn’t had a dog since I was a kid, living with Charlie and Catherine. And Rocky came already trained.”
“Ah, so we make Charlie train it.”
Perfect idea. “And if it’s okay with her parents, I think Jillian could use a dog in her life.”
“I think you’re right. And the other one?”
“Still working on that.” I had a feeling the solution would come to me once I stopped searching for it. That was, after all, the way the Universe seemed to work.
I woke up early Tuesday morning with the theme from High Noon running through my mind. It didn’t take long to figure out why. Assuming all went well, Ally would be returned to her family at noon.
MacGregor was still sleeping so I tiptoed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. After showering and dressing in a loose pair of jeans that would allow me to move quickly if necessary, I went to the kitchen to put on the coffee. Josh had beaten me to it. He was sitting at the kitchen table, his history book open in front of him.
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