by K. T. Tomb
They made another stop just outside of Augusta late that afternoon. The city would still be bustling with the activity of a major border town so they had to lay low until nightfall. Rae had been to almost every major city in the country, and certainly every town worth mentioning in the state of Georgia, but Augusta was one she’d always noted for being spotlessly clean in comparison to any other. They’d parked at a truck stop just west of the town and with Emmitt close to her at all times, they allowed her to roam around a little and stretch her legs while they ordered some supper. It didn’t take Rae long to single out the person in the convenience store that she thought might be the most helpful.
She took the five dollar bill that Emmitt offered her and went to the counter.
“Could I bother you for some change, ma’am,” she said, loud enough for him to hear, then whispered, “and a pen, please.” As the woman started to count out the dollar bills, Rae grabbed the first one and scribbled quickly across the back of it. She took the other four dollars and then pressed the bill into the woman’s hand. “Call police and tell them you’ve seen me. They’re taking me to Columbia. Give them this note when they get here,” she whispered again, cocking her head toward where Emmitt was standing. Then raising her voice again, she said, “Thank you ma’am. I really need some ginger ale for my stomach; now I can get it from the vending machine.”
After her ginger ale, Rae’s appetite came back voraciously. She ate steak with mashed potatoes and coleslaw, then climbed into the back seat of the Cadillac and stretched out, exhausted. They didn’t get to the abandoned house on the edge of town until midnight. They’d stopped to clean out Moore’s house in town and spotted police prowling around the streets, clearly keeping an eye out for them and the car. When they finally got into the house, Steve had Anita take her upstairs and settled her into one of the bedrooms. Emmitt kept watch outside her door. She was too tired to fight anymore that day. All she could do was hope that the woman at the truck stop had called the police for her.
Downstairs, the two siblings sat at the dining table arguing.
“What do you mean, you won’t bother with a ransom letter? We need that money and we certainly don’t need her!” Anita shouted.
“You may not need her, but I want her. She was supposed to be part of the deal, but Thorn shafted me. He thinks he’s so smart. That he can threaten me with calling the police. I’m not afraid of the cops, never have been. By the time we reach the mountains, she’ll disappear off the face of the earth. Rae Thorn will be so grateful for the life I give her in the clean nature of the ranch up there that she will learn to love me for it.”
“You’re crazy. She’ll never love you. She’ll always want to go back to her husband. I don’t think you can break her.”
“You’d be surprised at what I can do, Anita. It’s happened before.”
“I know, but you also remember what happened to Julie. She didn’t last long up there.”
“That wasn’t because she didn’t want it to. It was because Emmitt was afraid for her and you were jealous.”
“Yeah, that is the truth. Emmitt was weak and your woman was a damn slut.”
“There was nothing going on between them, Anita. You’re just a crazy bitch.”
“Look who’s talking? The man who steals people’s wives?”
“Shut up! She wants me... she just doesn’t know it yet.”
“So I guess you’re going to enlighten her on that fact?”
“I am... by any means necessary.”
Rae slept like the dead that night; appreciating the soft goose down mattress and pillows on the bed. It was clean and smelled like lavender which reminded her of her own garden. She dreamed that John kicked down the door and picked her up in his arms. Placing her in their big Buick, he drove her home, but when Rae woke up, she wasn’t in John’s car, she was back in the Cadillac and they were on their way to South Carolina.
Chapter Eleven
Augusta, Georgia
Well known Alpharetta attorney kidnapped in Midtown Atlanta
Only a few Piedmont Park area merchants had opened up shop for the day when a man with short-cropped black hair wearing a gray suit grabbed Mrs. Rae Thorn of Stone Mountain, Georgia and threw her into the back of a black Cadillac sedan.
It happened this morning at around 8 a.m. as Mrs. Thorn crossed the street to her car from her doctor’s office. She had been to an early morning appointment to see the family physician and was leaving the building to make her way as usual to work at the law offices of Thorn & Lexington in Alpharetta. Across the street in Piedmont Park, the company driver Mr. Richard Everton, had parked their Buick and was waiting for her to emerge from the building.
“I didn’t see when Mrs. Thorn came out to the street, but just after 8 a.m., I heard screaming coming from that side of the road and I rushed to the edge of the park. When I got there, I saw her being pushed into the back of the car and then it sped off down to the corner and turned east. I didn’t know what to do. All I did was start shouting, “They took her. They took Mrs. Thorn!”
The 35-year-old employee of Thorn & Lexington never usually let his charge far out of his sight. He had been parked almost directly across from the doctor’s office on the park side of the road. When the doctor’s staff suggested that perhaps she had taken a taxi, Richard insisted she’d been forced into the vehicle by a man he thinks he may have seen at the Thorn residence recently. The doctor and his receptionist immediately grew frightened.
Richard immediately placed a telephone call to John Thorn, the victim’s husband, at their Alpharetta office, and told him of the kidnapping. Quickly, Deputy Merrill Brown of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office was assigned to the case.
The story of Rae’s abduction made the evening news. Newspaper stands all over the city were glaring with the headline even though there wasn’t any meat to the story yet. It was obvious that it would be a high profile case and John’s only hope was that media coverage would help to fuel the police toward finding her quickly and alive rather than feed the criminals information as to how much the police actually knew.
From the note on the dollar bill, it was clear that Rae was positive John and the police would be on their tail searching for her. The truck stop cashier was even more helpful than the clerk at the 7-Eleven and described Emmitt Farmer as the man who was with Rae.
“Yes, sir, they hung around the truck stop for a good while. Ate at the restaurant right over there, so maybe those folks could be of help too. I called the police as soon as she’d left the store, but they didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. An hour or so after they’d left is when the chief came in and I told her everything I just told you.”
“Huh! So much for the sheriff’s office advising Augusta police about the case. Too little, too late,” John muttered.
“They might still be in Augusta, sir. They only left about an hour ago headed that way. I was surprised how long they hung around. Based on the timing, I really doubt they could have left town by now.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” John said.
Not too far down the street John saw a group of police cars and as he approached them, a tall blond woman in brown and black uniform stepped out of the car and put her hat on her head. She walked toward him with a solemn look on her face, then stretched out her right hand.
“Catherine Cameron, police chief, Augusta P.D.,” she greeted.
“John Thorn. I am very glad to see you,” he blurted out.
“What’s the matter, John? You know we’ll catch them, right?”
John was surprised to meet the first female police officer he’d ever seen... and she was chief of police to boot! Catherine Cameron was stunning. She looked tough as nails in her uniform, but had the face and body of a corn-fed, true-blue Midwest American beauty pageant queen. Her long, blond hair was pulled back in a low, bouncy ponytail and her blue eyes shone like a clear Georgia sky when she took off her sunglasses and shoved them into the breast pocket of her shirt.
“Rae was taken this morning and even though Atlanta police assured me that the other police departments had been alerted and were on the lookout for them, she spent almost three hours seated in this truck stop and no one was here to catch them. How is that even possible?”
“When Mrs. Reece called the station, we didn’t even know what she was talking about. The bulletin was sent over to us by fax and our clerk wasn’t paying attention. It ran out of paper. I called and got the information myself, sir. Now I promise you that the department is looking everywhere in town for your wife.”
“They may already be on the way to Columbia. If she gets on that train, we may never find her again.”
“I have ten squad cars combing the town as we speak and we have surveillance on Moore’s house. We have a feeling he may try to switch cars there or collect some possessions. Either way, if they try it, we’ll catch them. I’ve set up road blocks on the east side of Augusta as well, so if they try to head out to Columbia, we’ll intercept them on the roads.”
“Don’t blame me for not having much faith, ma’am. I expected you to have them in custody already.”
“That would have been a better scenario, but for now we’re doing the best we can. Perhaps you should go home. We’ll let you know as soon as we find them.”
“I have business in Augusta. We just took over a site from Moore and Farmer. There’s a possibility they may try to torch it or rob it.”
“Yes, we are aware of the steel mill. We have officers posted there too.”
“I see,” John said, dejected. “I guess me and my friend will check into a hotel for the night. We’ll be at the Regent. Call me if you hear anything at all.”
“I will, sir,” she replied, then handed him her card. “Call us if you learn anything more or if they contact you. I understand they haven’t stated any demands and we still find that odd.”
“That’s why I’m so worried about finding her, Chief Cameron. Steve Moore has no demands to make; he’s already got what he wants. He’s got Rae.”
John turned away from the woman and tucked the card into his shirt pocket. He and Raleigh needed to regroup and come up with a plan for their next move. They weren’t needed at the factory and there was no telling where Moore and the others would pop up next.
“Raleigh,” John said as he got back into the car, “I’m starving and I’m filthy from being on the road. The police have all exits out of Augusta and the factory covered. They’re watching Moore’s house in town and patrolling the streets, so I say let’s go to the Regent and regroup.”
“Yeah, I heard. I doubt they’ll be getting out of town tonight. Come on, let’s go.”
The two men drove into downtown Augusta and checked into the Regent. Over dinner, the conversation about recovering Rae continued.
“Who was the note on the dollar bill for?” Raleigh asked.
“It was for us.”
John was deep in thought as he tried to eat the steaming broth that was in front of him.
“So, she knows where they’re taking her but still no reason why?” Raleigh queried.
Then suddenly it hit him. “John, did those three have anything in their background referencing the north at all?”
“I can’t be sure, why?” he asked and then a thought occurred to him too. “Do you think that’s where they’re headed?”
“Can’t be sure, but there’re some gnarly mountains and wilderness between Georgia and New York. If they have any links to the Appalachians...”
“The north mainline runs the entire coast.”
“Exactly.”
“If they get on a train in Columbia, they could get off anywhere between the Carolinas and Maine.”
“We’ve got to get to her before she gets on that train, John!”
With that, the two men hurried through their supper and paid the bills. Sleep would have to wait for them to get to South Carolina. Without a train schedule handy and no time to call the train station, they were running wild and blind. They hadn’t even stopped to let Chief Cameron know what they were doing.
“Let her concentrate on keeping Augusta locked down. We’ll explain to the Columbia police when we get there. Hopefully they got the information and are already keeping an eye out for them as well.”
Raleigh pointed the car in the direction of the state border and gunned it. They wouldn’t have a chance if they didn’t get to the station before the kidnappers boarded the train with Rae. As they passed through the blockades on the eastern side of town, John left a message for Catherine Cameron and continued toward Columbia.
***
Police Dragnet Fails to Apprehend Kidnapping Suspects in Augusta
Yesterday, Police Chief Catherine Cameron and the officers of the Augusta Police Department staged a comprehensive operation within the Augusta city limits that failed to turn up any sign of Alpharetta attorney, Rae Thorn, or her abductors.
Mrs. Thorn was snatched off the streets near Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta yesterday morning by an unidentified man, who then sped off with her and two accomplices. The kidnappers are said to be driving a black Cadillac sedan with Richmond County, Georgia license plates.
Chief Cameron told reporters that her attention was brought to the case when a cashier at a truck stop on Route 20 called the police station to say that a distressed young woman had written a note to her on a dollar bill she had received as change and then asked her very quietly to call the police. The cashier later described to police officers on the scene a woman that fits the description of Rae Thorn and added that she had been in the company of two men and a woman. The woman was said to have very red hair.
Later that afternoon, the woman’s husband, John Thorn, showed up at the truck stop to meet with police officers.
Augusta police set up checkpoints on all roads in and out of the city as well as street patrols to keep an eye out for the vehicle that had been described as being used by the perpetrators. Officers also mounted surveillance on the Augusta home of one of the alleged kidnappers, but when the sun came up this morning, it was evident that the group had slipped through.
The search for Rae Thorn started yesterday in Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs, where Mrs. Thorn, nee Lexington, has lived her whole life and the couple have operated their law office for the past 6 years. As fixtures of the social and economic scene in the county, the Thorns are well-liked and well-respected, and viewed as a hard-working couple who presently have no children.
Rae gained her traveling legs faster than any other person on board the train, including Emmitt.
She’d decided it was probably because she had been nauseous for almost a week already and there wasn’t much more that motion sickness could do to incapacitate her. She stood on the rear of the train in the morning sunshine, engaging in easy conversation with whomever came out there to enjoy the scenery or smoke cigarettes. The warm sunshine on her face always turned what should have been another dismal day in captivity into a brief escape from the dreariness and confinement of the cabin she shared with Anita. Steve had agreed to Emmitt’s request for more freedom for her. After all, they were on a train. What did he think she was going to do, throw herself onto the tracks? There was no escaping and they knew Rae wouldn’t do anything to harm herself or her baby.
The air was clean and crisp, with just the faintest scent of salt when they were closest to the coast; Rae found that extremely calming to her stomach. The briskness of the breeze as it came around the edge of the fast moving railcar left her face tingling and her cheeks touched with a pale pink blush.
They had been on the train for a full day already and though the experience had been altogether pleasant, Rae still preferred to spend most of her time looking out at the scenery or sleeping. Surprisingly, Emmitt had turned out to be the best company of her three kidnappers, but it seemed he spent most of his evening hours with the women who drank and smoked in the bar while their husbands caroused in the games car or stuffed their faces at dinner and then co
llapsed into bed.
She wrote letters while she was on the train. Every day, she wrote one to her unborn child and another to John. It was soothing to put down the thoughts she was having and the emotions she felt for them instead of dwelling on the circumstance that she was truly in. Rae still had no idea what Steve was planning to do to her once they reached where they were going. In fact, after slapping Anita across the face for telling Rae too many details about their business, she hadn’t even found out what their destination actually was.
Outside of her time on the rear balcony of the train, Rae tried her best to keep calm and just go along with the ride. If she showed that she wasn’t afraid of them, then perhaps they would let her in on their plans again.
Chapter Twelve
Columbia, South Carolina
FCSD Probes Links Between Kidnappings in Fulton County, Georgia.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department is investigating potential links between the kidnapping of a pregnant Atlanta attorney who was taken out of state by three abductors and two other attacks that saw two women and a 1-year-old boy being held for ransom.
Suspects in Rae Thorn’s disappearance are Steve and Anita Moore, siblings from Augusta, Georgia and Emmitt Farmer, Mr. Moore’s business partner in the now defunct Southern Metal Works Company. The abduction took place on the streets of Midtown Atlanta just days after the takeover of Southern Metal had been negotiated between the suspects and the Thorns.
If apprehended, the three could be charged with three felony counts related to the attack on the 28-year-old socialite, including kidnapping, extortion and assault. If the case is pressed further, and due to recent revelations about Mrs. Thorn’s delicate condition, attempted murder or intention to cause grievous bodily harm could be added to the charges in relation to Mrs. Thorn’s unborn child, according to a complaint filed by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.