The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4)

by Remington Kane

  “There’s absolutely no proof that the girl was abducted by the Mitchells, but the Press have repeated it as a fact.”

  “They also love Summer Gray, I think she’s been on every talk show there is since that incident.”

  “Enough about that woman, her and that husband of hers irk me to no end.”

  “Did you, ah, notice who else was on the list of attendees for the meeting? One Thomas Lawson will also be there.”

  “Meaning what?”

  Smith shrugged.

  “Perhaps you two can discuss things over dinner?”

  “I’m not interested in Lawson, except as a source of help on this case.”

  “He is handsome, and single, I think, at least he doesn’t wear a ring.”

  “Russ, let it go. I’m not looking to hook up with anyone.”

  “You could do worse; the man’s got a lot of pull,”

  Dyer grinned.

  “His ass isn’t bad either,”

  ***

  Daytona Beach, Florida

  Emily Carson looked at the key in her hand with dismay as she waited for her sister to arrive.

  The key was the same shade of green that it had always been, and it did fit the locks on her doors, but it was definitely not the same key that she had been using for years.

  Emily lived in a ranch-style house, which until recently she had shared with her husband, Billy, but that was before the divorce.

  Now the home was listed for sale, and Emily was days away from moving to Orlando, where she would start her new job at a theme park.

  A car pulled into the driveway and Emily smiled when she saw her younger sister.

  Emily was two years older than her sister, Cassandra, and yet, Cassandra always seemed the elder and the more mature of the two of them.

  Emily knew that Cassandra’s maturity and worldliness came from the horrific events her sister had suffered through years before, and it saddened her.

  Cassandra greeted her as she always did, with a hug and words of love.

  When they separated, Cassandra smiled.

  “So, why did you need me to bring my key? Did you lock yourself out again?”

  “No, it’s something else, but first, use your key to open the door.”

  Cassandra gave her sister an odd look, but then slipped her spare key into the lock. The key went in with ease, but then refused to turn.

  Cassandra removed the key and stared at Emily.

  “Did you change the locks?”

  Emily answered her in a whisper.

  “No.”

  “Let me see your key.”

  Cassandra took the key from Emily’s hand and compared it to her own. Both keys were green, both had the same name of their manufacturer stamped into them, however, their ridges and grooves differed.

  Cassandra looked around, and after spotting no one on the quiet street, she used Emily’s key to open the front door.

  Emily took a step forward, assuming that they were going inside, but Cassandra relocked the door and asked Emily for her phone.

  “Why do you want my phone? Did you forget yours?”

  “No, but let me have it.”

  Emily handed over her phone and then looked on in perplexity as Cassandra placed it atop the porch railing.

  “Come sit in my car with me.”

  Once inside Cassandra’s car, she asked Emily to empty her purse. It didn’t take long because Emily was using the bag she carried when she went out to bars, and not the large pocketbook she normally had with her. Cassandra checked the purse and its contents and found nothing unusual.

  “What were you looking for, Cassie, drugs? I don’t do that.”

  “I wasn’t looking for drugs, and I know you smoke pot. I was looking for a listening device.”

  “What?”

  “Someone changed your locks and that same someone may have planted listening devices in your home, car, or phone. Wait here until I check things out.”

  Cassandra plucked Emily’s keys from the pile of items that had been in her purse and headed for her car. She found the first listening device beneath the dash and a second one in the back seat.

  Once inside the home, Cassandra moved stealthily and found eight more bugs in strategic locations throughout the house and also suspected that her sister’s laptop had been tampered with, while the cell phone had an interesting addition adhering to the inside of its back panel. It was something that Cassandra had never seen before, and it appeared to be sophisticated.

  Cassandra returned to her car and asked Emily a question.

  “How did you notice that the key was different?”

  “My key, the real key, it had a burr on it, just a slight one, but I had a habit of running my thumb over it, and this morning I noticed it wasn’t there.”

  “You just arrived home? Where were you last night?”

  A smile crossed Emily’s lips.

  “I met a guy at a bar.”

  “Em, a one-night stand? Haven’t I told you how dangerous those can be?”

  “I was lonely, Cassie.”

  Cassandra sighed, and then brought the conversation back to the key.

  “When you locked the door to leave yesterday, did you feel the burr on the key?”

  “I don’t think so, but I didn’t give it much thought because I was running late to meet a girlfriend.”

  “All your locks are keyed the same; does that key unlock all of them?”

  “Yeah, I tried the back door before you came, but Cassie, who would change my locks, and why? Do you think it could be Billy?”

  Cassandra shook her head.

  “This isn’t your ex; this is something else, something a lot worse.”

  “What should I do?”

  “Does anybody else know about your locks being switched?”

  “No.”

  “You didn’t call anyone, one of your girlfriends maybe?”

  “No, I just called you and then I sat on the porch and played a game on my phone while I waited for you.”

  Cassandra recalled the earlier conversation they had on the phone and remembered that Emily had only asked her to bring her spare key by, as if she’d lost hers and been locked out.

  “I want you to pack a bag, you’ll be staying at a hotel, but first, first we have to put on a little show.”

  ***

  After time spent rehearsing, they entered the house.

  Cassandra stomped through the doorway as she pretended to be angry.

  “Of course I’m pissed; I don’t enjoy being dragged over here for no reason. You should have looked harder for your key before you called me.”

  Emily froze for an instant, but then remembered her line.

  “Well, I’m sorry, it was at the bottom of my purse and I didn’t see it right away. I tried to call you back and say nevermind, but then I couldn’t find my phone once I came in the house, and I looked everywhere.”

  “Everywhere except the porch steps, where I found it.”

  “Don’t be mad, Cassie, and go grab a beer while I find that blouse you want to borrow.”

  Cassandra sent her sister a thumbs up signal.

  That should settle things for whoever was listening and allay any fear that their lock switch had been discovered. It also gave Emily a reason to rummage through her closets as she packed a bag to leave.

  Emily returned a few minutes later with a suitcase and they ran through the second part of their act.

  “Why don’t you come hang with me today?” Cassandra said.

  “All right, but I want to get back here before dark, and then I plan to crash early; I didn’t sleep much last night.”

  “You’ll be lucky if I don’t throw you out after making me drive over here for nothing.”

  “I said I was sorry, Cassie, now give it a rest,” Emily said, and then the two of them returned to Cassandra’s car.

  Emily wiped at tears.

  “That was scary, knowing that some creep was listening to everything we said
. How long do you think those bugs have been there?”

  “A day or two; he probably placed them there the same time he changed the locks,”

  Cassandra took out her phone.

  “Who are you calling, the police?”

  “No, they would likely say that we were confused and got our keys mixed up, and maybe blame the bugs on your ex, no, I’m calling someone else.”

  “Who?”

  “My boss, but do me a favor and stand outside for a moment.”

  “Why? You’ll be talking about me, right?”

  “Just do it, please?”

  Emily huffed, grabbed her cigarettes, and stepped out of the car. A moment later, and Cassandra heard a pleasant voice answer her call.

  “Hello, Cassandra. Are you enjoying your time off, dear?”

  “I think that’s ended... and... I just might have a line on a serial killer, possibly even Numerical.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then Dr. Elena Colt spoke again.

  “Tell me what you know.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Summervale, North Carolina

  Deputy Rob Bolan entered the Summervale diner and immediately looked about for the new waitress, Alice, and when he spotted her, he had to suppress a grin.

  Although Alice had been at the diner for months, Bolan still thought of her as the new waitress, since the other women that worked there had been doing so for many years, including Alice’s widowed aunt, Dawn Cramer, who owned the diner.

  Alice worked the counter, and Bolan was greeted by name or nodded to by everyone he passed as he made his way over to it, where he took a seat on a stool. A town native and war hero, Bolan was well liked.

  He watched Alice as she chatted with her aunt, and as always, he felt his heart beat faster.

  Alice Johnson was about Bolan’s age, thirty, and beautiful, with long blond hair and amber eyes. Her figure looked good even in the shapeless waitress uniform, and her voice, tinged with the sound of Oklahoma, always gave Rob Bolan a tingle, but then, everything about Alice made him tingle.

  Rob was six-two, weighed 195lbs., and had dark-blond hair, with ice-blue eyes. He had been told how handsome he was since he was a boy, and had never had trouble attracting women. And so it not only disappointed him, but also perplexed him that Alice Johnson seemed to have no interest in him.

  She was polite to him, even laughed at his jokes, but whenever he asked her out, she invariably told him no.

  After her fourth refusal, Rob decided to stop asking, but as he looked at her, he knew that he was going to give it one more try.

  ***

  Alice sneaked a glance at Rob Bolan and her heart fluttered. When she turned back to look at her Aunt Dawn, the older woman was shaking her head at her.

  “Look at you,” Dawn whispered. “You want that boy so much that you’re ready to walk over there and rip his clothes off.”

  Alice blushed a shade.

  “If only he wasn’t a deputy, but he is, and so I can’t take the chance.”

  “You’re drawing more attention to yourself by not getting involved with anyone. People are starting to wonder why you’re so standoffish.”

  “I know, but I have to be careful. If I get caught, they’ll take my daughter away.”

  “You won’t get caught; everyone accepts that you’re my niece and that Kimmy is my grandniece. It’s time to stop running and put down roots. That’s the only way that Kimmy will have a normal life.”

  Alice grabbed a carafe of coffee.

  “I’ll go take Rob’s order.”

  Dawn stared into Alice’s eyes. The older woman had seen enough of life to know that you seldom get a second chance, and that, while regrets endure, disappointments wither.

  “If he asks again, say yes. It’s just one date, and you might have fun.”

  Alice didn’t say anything in reply, but turned and began walking towards Rob Bolan. When she reached him, she gave him a smile.

  “Good morning, Deputy,” Alice said.

  “Good morning, Alice.”

  “So, what will you have today, the usual?”

  “Ah, yeah, I suppose.”

  “Okay, two eggs over easy, with bacon and rye toast, I’ll be right back with that.”

  Alice turned to walk away, and Rob called to her.

  “Alice.”

  “Yes?”

  Rob started to ask her out again, but as he glanced into the long mirror behind the counter, he saw that most of the people at the tables were watching the two of them; he also realized that the diner had grown quiet.

  “Rob?” Alice said. “Was there something else?”

  “Ah, yeah, make that sausage instead of bacon,”

  A small smile played on Alice’s lips.

  “Okay,”

  She altered the order in her pad, and then turned towards the kitchen. She made it only three steps before walking back and leaning on the counter near Rob, while speaking in a voice loud enough for others to hear.

  “You asked me out to the movies last week, does that offer still stand?”

  Rob blinked in surprise and then nodded his head.

  Alice sent him a bright smile.

  “Good, because I’d like to go out with you tonight, if you’re free?”

  “Sure, yes, tonight,”

  Alice reached over and gave his right hand a squeeze.

  “I’ll go get your breakfast.”

  When Alice walked into the kitchen and handed off the order, her Aunt Dawn spoke to her in a corner of the room.

  “Good girl, it’s time you started life over.”

  “I just wish he wasn’t a cop.”

  Dawn smiled.

  “Cop or not, you like that boy, don’t you?”

  “Yes, from the moment I first laid eyes on him.”

  “Well then, go have fun tonight, and leave the past behind.”

  Alice gave her aunt a hug, while saying a prayer that the past didn’t catch up to her, because if it ever did, she would spend the rest of her life in a federal prison, for the crime of murder.

  CHAPTER 4

  Jessica walked into her kitchen and found Amanda wiping away tears, and went to the older woman with concern showing in her eyes.

  “Amanda, what’s wrong?”

  Amanda shook her head.

  “I’m not sure you’d understand.”

  Jessica led her over to the table to talk, and then took her hand.

  “At one time I was a professional listener, and I know for a fact that it’s not good to keep things inside.”

  Amanda grabbed a napkin from the holder atop the table and wiped at her eyes, and afterwards, she gazed over at Jessica.

  “I was mourning Jeffrey, not the man he became, but the boy I loved, the little boy I so loved.”

  While still holding Amanda’s hand, Jessica gave it a squeeze.

  “I can fully understand your grief, and I imagine that it’s been especially difficult knowing that one son had a hand in the death of another, still, I hope that hasn’t changed your feelings in any way towards—”

  Amanda’s grip tightened so much that it silenced Jessica in mid-sentence.

  “Oh God, Jessica, no, no I don’t blame him for killing his brother. Jeffrey was an absolute monster and had to be stopped, I know that.”

  “But he was also your baby,”

  “Yes, and I loved him all the same, and... it’s made me want to find Michael, to find my lost boy.”

  Jessica released Amanda’s hand.

  “I thought that you were afraid that he could be another Jeffrey.”

  “I am to some extent, but I also feel a great aching need to find him, to find my sweet boy, my Michael.”

  Jessica rose from her seat and poured a cup of coffee. When she sat back at the table, she stared at Amanda.

  “I’m willing to help you, but I still think it’s a decision that all three of us should discuss, all right?”

  “Yes, but if we search for Michael again, there’s n
o guarantee that we’ll have more luck at finding him then we did before.”

  Jessica shook her head in disagreement.

  “No, if we decide to do this, this time we’ll go public with the search, and if Michael is out there, eventually we’ll find him.”

  Amanda took her hand again.

  “Thank you, for understanding,”

  “I have two children of my own now, and I know that if one were lost, I’d move heaven and earth to find them.”

  “And, God forbid, what do we do if he’s like Jeffrey?”

  “One thing at a time, Amanda, one thing at a time,”

  ***

  Maggie sighed as Jace removed his lips from hers, and then laughed as he pecked her on the nose.

  They were outside her brother’s house, which was now also her home, and they had just loaded Jace’s duffle bag into Jessica’s car.

  “I wish that you could keep living here,” Maggie said.

  “Me too, but I know your brother wouldn’t like it. He’d probably think that I’d be sneaking into your room every night.”

  Maggie looked away, but took his hand.

  “I wouldn’t mind that.”

  Jace placed a finger under her chin and gazed into her eyes.

  “Have you ever...?”

  “No, but I’m not a little girl, and I think I’m ready.”

  Jace looked her over and smiled.

  “You’re definitely not a little girl, but I ain’t going nowhere, so we got plenty of time.”

  “I know, but it sucks that you’ll be moving to Hamilton. That’s so far away.”

  Jace reached into his pocket.

  “See this? It’s the key to my new apartment, and it’s only a few minutes from here.”

  “What? You got a new apartment?”

  “Remember I went to see Tyler and Kari yesterday? There’s an apartment over their garage. It hasn’t been lived in for years, but the plumbing, lights, and heat work, so I’m taking it. I move in today.”

  Maggie lit up in a wide grin.

  “Are you serious? Oh that’s so cool, and so close.”

  “And cheap, they’re letting me rent it for almost nothing, but I gotta fix-it up, you know, paint and stuff.”

  “I’ll help.”

  “You can pick the colors. I don’t know a thing about that, and I also have to buy some furniture. The only thing the last tenant left behind was an old futon.”