Careless Whisper

by Stacy Claflin

  However, nobody could be cautious enough around here. People called their smallish town the Bermuda Triangle of abductions.

  And they weren’t wrong. Unfortunately, the year of peace was also over.

  Not just one kidnapping, but two. Both the exact same MO. The only real difference between the cases was that the second girl was a community college student instead of a high schooler. But she was a freshman, so still a teenager.

  His stomach knotted just thinking about it. If it turned out to be connected to the worldwide ring, he was going to lock up Ariana until the whole organization was taken down. She might hate him, but at least she’d be alive.

  He went to the coffee table, not so much because he needed caffeine but because he couldn’t sit still. Anderson had gone with Garcia to interview the new missing girl’s parents and friends, and Alex was staying at the precinct to compare cases and search for similar abductions elsewhere.

  Before Alex reached the table, Nick waved him into his office.

  Alex entered then closed the door behind him, but he didn’t sit. Too much nervous energy. “Anything new?”

  Nick shook his head. “No, but I’m about ready to ask the principals to close the schools. At least the middle and high schools—girls that age are the target. And I have two of them.”

  “Two?” Alex asked. “Oh, right. I keep forgetting Hanna’s in middle school now. How’s that possible?”

  “Don’t ask me.” Nick scrawled some notes on a paper. “I was—”

  The door burst open, and Chief Crawford entered like a tornado. “I need your office, Fleshman.”

  Nick didn’t bother hiding his disgust. “You were able to use it last year because I was on leave. As it turns out, when I’m working, I need it.”

  Crawford’s brows furrowed. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Let us handle the case?”

  Alex held back a chuckle.

  “The feds aren’t here yet, are they?” Crawford demanded.

  “On their way.”

  The chief glared at Alex. “What are you doing here?”

  “Discussing the case with the captain.”

  “I’m here now. Get out.” He pointed to the door.

  “I was just leaving, anyway.” Alex threw his friend a sympathetic glance on his way out.

  Everyone in the precinct was happier when the chief was at City Hall with the mayor and other bigwigs, which, thankfully, was most of the time. But if there was a juicy case, he liked to come to the precinct and throw his weight around—especially when the feds were involved.

  Alex went back to his desk to look for any similar cases. Nothing remotely close. There were a few ransom demands on the east coast, but two were for little kids and the third for a millionaire’s wife.

  He glanced over at Nick’s office. Crawford was waving his arm around so much, it was like he was trying to fly. A moment later, he stomped into the hall and barked orders at one of the new officers.

  Alex felt bad for her but glad Nick had stood his ground and kept his office. If the chief really wanted the only enclosed office space, he shouldn’t have given it up for the glitz and glamor of City Hall.

  Crawford yelled at another officer before storming toward the conference rooms. He’d probably turn one of those into his makeshift office. All the better for everyone else since those also had doors.

  Alex continued working while keeping an eye out for Anderson. As soon as the other detective arrived, he hurried over to him. “Is it the same guy?”

  “I’d be surprised if it weren’t. Very similar wording on the letter, also left with the parents. But this time the victim was taken from the community college campus.”

  “That’s bold.”

  Anderson powered up his laptop. “According to the other precinct, there are some woods behind the buildings. They found some of her things in there.”

  “Sounds similar enough to me. Taken from woods and a note left with the parents. On their door?”

  Anderson nodded and typed in his password. “The note claims she’s buried and has a week to live. He will give the location once he has the ransom, and without any police interference.”

  “Sounds like our guy. Any other similarities? Why is he picking the people he is? And how does he know they’ll survive a week buried?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to believe he does.”

  “Are the families rich?” Alex asked. “Or does the abductor, or abductors, think they can easily get the money? It seems they would hit the families in richer neighborhoods. Neither of these were from the local gated communities.”

  Anderson looked at something on his screen before turning back to Alex. “They must have a reason for not going after the extremely rich. I just emailed you my notes. See if you pick up any similarities I missed. And until the feds get here, we’ll work like we’re on our own. I’m going to start working with Garcia on the best way to set up a money drop for the first girl.”

  They discussed a few more details before Alex went back to his desk to look over the notes. His stomach knotted as he imagined what the girls must be going through. He’d had a hard enough time being locked in a small room, it had to be so much worse for those girls. He shuddered. Though his experience felt like a lifetime ago, he could close his eyes and go right back—the smell of dirt that clung to everything in the tiny room, his stomach rumbling, his hands aching from hitting the walls and door.

  Alex opened his eyes and focused on the screen in front of him. He’d survived, and so would the girls, if he had anything to say about it.

  Before long, a commotion sounded not far away. Whispers trailed from one desk to the next.

  The feds had arrived.

  Alex watched as the small group of men and women in suits marched through the precinct, heading toward the conference rooms. He recognized more than half of them from other cases. They were here not only to help bring the girls back to their families safely, but to figure out if these were related to the kidnapping ring.

  What Alex needed to find out was if they still thought there was a mole in the police department.

  Would the informant turn out to be the chief?

  Chapter 7

  Owen paced the length of the messy room.

  “Stop that!” Sam glared at him.

  “Nobody’s gotten back to us about the money!”

  Sam took a drag of the joint. “They’re probably trying to get it together. Even rich people probably don’t have thousands of dollars sitting in piles around their house.”

  “Something’s wrong.” He continued his pacing. “They’ve called the cops. We’re going down. This was stupid. We never should’ve—”

  “Shut up!” Sam put out the joint. “It’s going to be fine.”

  Owen stopped pacing. “You call the burner phone!”

  “What? No. I’m not stupid. It’ll connect me to the kidnappings.”

  “We should call them. Remind them time is ticking.”

  “They know.”

  He brushed some dirt from the window and looked outside to the empty alley between the two buildings. “You’re sure they have a week?”

  Sam groaned. “We’ve been over this. Yes! I studied that old case from the sixties, and I did everything those two goons did. I double and triple fact-checked everything. I don’t want to kill nobody either, okay? I just want a fresh start at life, like you.”

  “Okay.” Owen closed the blinds, not that it did much good with half of them broken. “Maybe we should get the third one.”

  “I have a better idea.”

  “What?”

  A slow smile spread across Sam’s mouth, showing his nicotine-stained teeth. “We should take a guy.”

  “Why?”

  “That way if the cops are involved, it’ll throw them. We’ve taken teenage girls from upper-middle class families. A guy would throw them off for sure, especially if we take one who’s from a poorer family.”

  “A dude will fight ba
ck.”

  Sam pointed to his black eye. “So do the girls. We picked ones tough enough to handle being locked and buried.”

  “But dudes are stronger!”

  “Look, you’re the one so worried about the money. If we go through our list faster, we’ll be more likely to get someone who’ll pay up quick.”

  Owen clenched his fists and went back to pacing. This was getting out of hand. They’d already taken two girls and didn’t have one person call about making the drop off. More victims would make the whole thing messier.

  “Getting cold feet?” Sam lit up again.

  “No!”

  Sam chuckled.

  He glared at him. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Maybe we should just let them go, and then try someone else on the list.”

  “You’re so impatient. Chill.”

  His chest felt like icy daggers. He’d been an idiot to get involved with this, and now there was no turning back.

  Sam threw the list at him. “Tell you what. You pick who we go after next.”

  Owen barely caught it before it could land on the squishy, slightly moist carpet. “Where did you find this place?”

  “Quit changing the subject and decide before I do.”

  The paper shook in his hand. He turned before Sam would notice how nervous he was. The list had a dozen more names. All kids of middle-class families of varying ages and locations to throw off the authorities if anyone did call the cops.

  His stomach lurched at the thought. He didn’t want to go to jail. In fact, he hadn’t fully wanted to participate. But Sam had convinced him the rewards would be much greater than the risks. And he’d assured him nobody would get hurt.

  But he wasn’t so sure. They’d buried two people underground. Taken them against their will and left notes threatening their lives.

  If they got caught, he would spend the rest of his life in prison. How could he not? Even if everyone survived, they’d threatened the lives of the girls. No money, no location given. A death sentence for them. They’d be tried for what they planned to do, not just what they’d actually done.

  Why hadn’t he just said no? Now there was no going back.

  “Decide yet?” asked Sam.

  “Give me time.”

  Sam laughed.

  The letters seemed to dance around the paper.

  Owen took a deep breath and tried to focus. Walked around some more. Poured himself some coffee to get rid of the cold feeling in his chest. It didn’t work.

  The next time he paced in front of the couch, Sam snatched the paper from him. “Eeny, meeny, miny, mo …”

  He took the paper back. “I’ll pick, okay?”

  “Hurry up, because we’re going to need to plan before we make our move.”

  “I know that.” He scanned the list again, and thankfully this time, the letters stayed in place.

  “You decide yet?” Sam tapped his foot.

  Owen lowered the paper, his entire body icy cold. “Yes. Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 8

  Alex stared at the closed conference room door. On the other side, the federal agents discussed the case with Crawford, and Anderson. The chief wouldn’t allow Alex or anyone else involved in the case to the meeting. He’d barely given permission for Anderson, and the look in his eyes made it clear he wasn’t happy about that.

  The man wanted to keep everyone on the force away from the feds. The agents hadn’t fallen for it before, and hopefully they wouldn’t for this case, either. In fact, they’d given a lot more respect to the officers than to Crawford and asked for their opinions and help on the previous cases.

  Alex trudged out of the hallway, his mind racing. He should be in there. He’d been with Anderson when they interviewed the first family. Not only that, but he was heavily involved with the kidnapping ring. He’d be able to spot similarities like no other because his family specifically had been targeted by them—Cal had personally gone for Zoey, and he’d sent his son after Ariana, though that had backfired on him—all to send messages to Alex.

  Messages he’d received loud and clear.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Alex turned to see Nick. “I should be in that meeting.”

  “So should I. Half this force has dealt with the ring, but we don’t know this case is related.”

  “How could it not be?”

  Nick frowned. “It’s possible it’s unrelated.”

  “Crawford shouldn’t be the one in there,” Alex muttered. “Not when—”

  “I know,” Nick said quickly.

  Alex’s blood boiled. “The feds are on to him. Several of us definitely are.”

  “If he’s guilty, it’ll come to light. We have to be patient.”

  “But how much damage will he inflict before that happens?”

  “It’s going to be difficult with the growing size of our department and the number of agents sent here.”

  Alex clenched his fists. “He’s working with the ring!”

  Nick glanced around. “Maybe we should take lunch. Want to try that new pizza place we were talking about?”

  Alex’s stomach churned. “I’m not hungry.”

  His friend stepped closer. “We shouldn’t discuss this here. Meet me at my car in five.” Without another word, he went into his office.

  Alex muttered under his breath while glancing down the hallway. Empty.

  Maybe Nick had the right idea. Alex could use something to eat—it might help him to think straight.

  He was certain Crawford was the mole. The guy only voluntarily showed up when it involved getting recognition, and it wasn’t a coincidence that separately, Nick and Anderson had also suspected the chief to be working with the kidnapping ring.

  It was a different matter altogether to get the proof to make such an enormous accusation. It would be easier if any of them could speak with the feds.

  Alex went to his desk before letting his partner know that he was taking a lunch. When he got to Nick’s Mustang, his friend was already waiting.

  “I don’t think we should discuss Crawford in the building.” Nick started the car.

  “You think he has it bugged?”

  “You think he doesn’t?”

  Alex didn’t respond.

  “I’ve been speaking with one of the agents regularly since they left last time.”

  “You have? You didn’t think to tell me?”

  “It’s nothing major, and she hasn’t given me much, but in many of the towns like ours where there are numerous abductions, there tends to be someone working on the inside.”

  Alex raked his fingers through his hair and squeezed. “Is there anywhere else that has had this many cases over the last few years?”

  “I don’t have exact numbers, but they haven’t taken their eyes fully off our town despite the year-long reprieve of cases.”

  “Not quite a full year. And it still bothers me that he’s right in there.”

  “All the better for them to watch him.”

  “Maybe.”

  Silence settled between them until Nick pulled into the full parking lot.

  “Looks like a popular place.” Alex noticed a line out the door. “Sure you want to eat here? We can’t really talk privately.”

  Nick shrugged. “I’d rather talk about something else, anyway.”

  Alex shot him a glare before getting out of the car. The only thing he wanted to discuss was the chief.

  They got in line, which moved surprisingly fast, and ordered personal pizzas after only a few minutes. It took even less time to find a table, though loud music blasted from nearby speakers.

  “How’s Genevieve?” Alex took a bite of his barbecue chicken slice, and a bunch of other flavors exploded in his mouth. It was only then he realized just how hungry he actually was.

  Nick sipped his soda. “She’s doing great. The baby’s already sleeping more at night.”

  Alex swallowed and wiped his mouth. “That’s always nice for both of you. She’s
three months now?”

  “Just about.” Nick beamed. “G could tell you how many days and hours old she is.”

  “And the kids are still excited?”

  He nodded. “Hanna helps out every chance she gets, and Parker and Ava have taken to her more than I expected.”

  The music suddenly got louder, making it so Alex couldn’t hear the next thing his friend said. Once the volume lowered, Alex spoke. “I’d love to bring the family over again soon. Ari has been asking when she can see the baby next.”

  The two families usually got together on a regular basis, but it had been cut short since the arrival of the baby, who for most of her three months had been keeping her parents on a completely backwards schedule.

  Nick smiled. “Yes, we need to make that happen soon. G and I really appreciate the meals Zoey and Ari have brought over. I’ll ask her when’s a good time.”

  Alex started to say something, but then his phone alerted him of a text.

  Nick pulled out his phone at the same time. They exchanged a curious glance before Alex looked at his screen.

  Could it be another abduction?

  The message on his screen was from the precinct. It wasn’t another missing child, but the feds were setting up a conference for everyone at the station in a half hour.

  Alex would finally get his chance to speak with one of them, maybe even get paired with one for the duration of the investigation.

  Chapter 9

  Alex finished the last of his lemon water and set the stainless steel bottle on his desk. What he wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee, but he and Zoey had agreed to give up their afternoon caffeine fixes in the name of health.

  “You ready?” Anderson asked.

  He rubbed his temples. “The only thing I’m ready for after that meeting is a nap.”

  His partner chuckled. “I hear you, but Trina has called me twice in the last ten minutes.”

  “About what? Do they have a new clue?”

  He shook his head. “They’re extremely anxious to contact the abductors despite not having collected the full amount. She’s freaking out about how long it’s been since they last heard from them.”