Shadow of Suspicion

by Christy Barritt

  Jim shook his head. “Sarah’s not in the house now. If that’s true, where did she go? Where could Laney have taken her?”

  “Our guys are checking out the backyard now to see if there’s any evidence of a scuffle back there, right?”

  “That’s right. But what about motive? That’s what doesn’t make sense.”

  Mark thought about the conversation he’d had with Laney in his sedan. “It’s hard to say, but she didn’t sound very impressed with Sol’s parenting skills. Maybe she was trying to help the girl in some kind of twisted way.”

  “We need to bring her in until we can thoroughly investigate,” Jim said.

  “I agree. I’m not sure we have enough evidence to keep her in custody, though.”

  “We can stall for as long as possible, until something turns up.”

  Mark turned back to the sedan and watched Laney for a moment. He hadn’t known what he’d expected, but certainly not the beautiful woman who’d been led out in handcuffs. The petite woman had light brown hair that was cut level with her chin. She was bookish and looked smart. Her green eyes had a hint of firecracker behind them while her voice had sounded soft and kind.

  None of those things meant anything, though. The only thing that mattered was finding Sarah Novak. He wouldn’t let another girl disappear forever.

  Just like Lauren had.

  He’d never gotten over the loss. It was one of the reasons he’d requested to be on the Missing Persons Unit here with the Richmond PD. He didn’t want other people to go through what he had.

  Just then, Sol began shouting into his phone from across the yard. His demeanor went from defeated to wired.

  “Sarah? Is that you?” he yelled.

  Mark rushed toward him. The man put his phone on Speaker, a frantic look on his face—a frantic expression Mark understood all too well. He’d lived it before.

  “Dad?” The line was broken and only bits of sentences were getting through. “Help...me.”

  “Darling, I want to help. Where are you?”

  “Dad...don’t know...” Static filled the line. “But Laney...”

  Sol’s face turned red. “Laney what? Laney took you?”

  “I’m...” Garbled words filled the silence until she ended with “Please help.”

  “Please, honey, can you tell me where you are? Who took you?”

  “...Laney,” Sarah said again.

  The line went dead.

  TWO

  An hour later, Laney sat across from the handsome yet cold detective at the police station. Since they’d been in the room, he’d been even-keeled—not friendly, not angry. In fact, he’d been so calm that it was almost unnerving. He had eyes that didn’t easily trust. A gaze that was assessing. Body language that screamed cautious.

  She might be trained as a computer programmer, but her entire life she’d practiced reading people. She’d always preferred to stay on the fringe, in the places where she could observe and study others. Her peers had thought she was strange in high school because she’d been so quiet, but she’d always thought that she was being the person God created her to be. She’d rather be different than compromise her authenticity.

  Her gaze flickered around the room now. The space reminded her of the detective: stark and neat. There was no table, nothing to use as a barrier to separate herself from the man across from her. There were only two chairs. The setup left her feeling exposed and vulnerable.

  Laney was sure they’d planned it that way.

  She was the police’s number-one suspect, she realized. They weren’t focusing on anyone else right now—just her.

  That was a mistake.

  That meant that the real person who’d abducted Sarah was getting farther and farther away. The thought made her gut turn with disgust.

  Earlier, when she’d been given a phone call, she’d tried to reach Nicholas, her boss with the CIA. He hadn’t answered—and he always answered. What did that mean?

  Panic tickled her gut, her nerves, her thoughts.

  At the moment, silence filled the room—probably another method of trying to get Laney to talk. It was working.

  “You’re focusing on the wrong person.” Laney had already repeated that several times, but no one seemed to care. How could she get through to them?

  “Ms. Ryan, Sarah called. She said your name.” The detective leaned toward her, his gaze like a laser.

  Her heart lurched. She knew how it sounded. But she also knew the truth. “She was probably calling out for my help. She trusts me. She knows I’d never hurt her.”

  “Which makes it even worse that you would betray her like this.”

  “But I didn’t betray her!” Tears rushed to Laney’s eyes, and she pulled her sleeve-covered hands over her face as despair bit deep.

  This system seemed so messed up, and she was helpless to do anything about it. She was at the mercy of this detective. Of the justice system.

  She’d just started trusting again. After her husband’s murder, it had been difficult. Panic attacks had plagued her, as well as nightmares. She’d been making progress, but now this. Her therapist had his work cut out for him when all of this was over.

  Detective James leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Just tell me what you did with her.”

  Laney closed her eyes, exhausted from repeating herself. “I’m sure witnesses told you that no one saw me leave the house with Sarah. Because I didn’t leave the house with her. I don’t know why she came over while I was on my walk. I don’t know how she got inside or where she went from there. But I didn’t do anything with her.”

  He sighed and leaned back as if weary from the conversation. “Anyone else have a key?”

  “No.”

  “You sound concerned about her. Were you desperate to get her away from her father?”

  Laney shook her head more adamantly. “No. Not at all. Why won’t you believe me? I’ve been framed for this. I’m innocent here. Check my record. It’s clean.”

  “We did check it. You’re right. You have no priors. Stranger things have happened, though.”

  She leaned back, determined to think everything through. Something wasn’t making sense to her, and she needed to pinpoint just what that was. Finally, it dawned on her. The way everything had played out today didn’t make sense.

  The situation had escalated too quickly. The police had just barged into her home and deemed her guilty. She realized the urgency of the matter, but something was missing.

  “Don’t you think sending a SWAT team to my house is a little extreme?” she started. “You could have just questioned me.”

  “In situations like this, time is of the essence. An Amber Alert has already been issued. Sarah mentioned your name when she called, a neighbor confirmed Sarah showed up at your house, and financial records show a large sum of money was recently taken from your account.”

  Her jaw dropped open. “A large sum of money? I sent that to my in-laws to help with some medical bills.”

  “We’ll have to confirm that.”

  “All of that was enough evidence to get a no-knock warrant?”

  He stared hard at her. “Yes, it was, as a matter of fact. We couldn’t risk you harming the girl.”

  This was getting old. How long were they going to keep her there? Were they going to lock her up? Would they question her until she confessed purely out of exhaustion to a crime she didn’t commit?

  Her head ached, her mouth was dry, and her muscles cried out for relief. She had to try a different approach here. She shifted, determined not to be defeated. “Please, you’ve got to listen to me. I’m innocent and the real bad guy is getting away with this.”

  “Who do you think the real bad guy is, Ms. Ryan?” Detective James leaned toward her again, obviously changing
tactics himself.

  His broad shoulders, she would guess, could either bulldoze someone or offer a landing place for tears. Muscles rippled beneath the material of his button-down shirt, confirming that he was not someone she wanted to mess with. His jaw was strong and tense with thought.

  But right now, he leaned back, as if softening.

  Her guard went up. This man wasn’t her friend, and he would do whatever he had to in order to get answers. She’d be wise to remember that.

  “I have no idea. But she didn’t seem happy this morning. Maybe this was random. Maybe she ran away. Maybe she’ll check in at any minute.” Her voice escalated with each new sentence. “There’s nothing else I can tell you.”

  Someone tapped on the one-way glass that composed half a wall. The detective excused himself and stepped out of the room.

  She sucked in some deep breaths. Detective James had perceptive eyes. He was watching her every move, just waiting for her to mess up. But she had no reason to walk on eggshells, she reminded herself. She’d done nothing wrong.

  Would he ever believe her? She wasn’t sure.

  When he came back into the room a few minutes later, his face looked grimmer than before. The lines on his forehead had tightened. His eyes cooled. His shoulders were rigid. Something was in his hand.

  He sat across from her and held up a device. Her phone, she realized. How had he gotten her phone? Had they gotten her computer, as well? She hoped not, although the classified projects she was working on should be safeguarded by the measures she’d put in place.

  “Do you recognize this?” he asked.

  She nodded stiffly. “Of course I do. It’s mine.”

  His eyes flickered. “Do you recognize the message on the screen?”

  She peered closer and sucked in a breath as she read the text message.

  Meet me at 11:30. It’s urgent.

  Those were Laney’s words. Written from her phone. Listed as coming from her. And the message was being sent to Sarah. She recognized her number.

  Sarah replied:

  I have school.

  The person pretending to be Laney had written:

  It’s urgent.

  Laney backed harder into her chair and shook her head. Someone was framing her—and they were doing a good job at it.

  “I didn’t send that,” she muttered, knowing she was wasting her breath.

  The detective’s blue eyes were unyielding. “So you’re saying someone took your phone and sent this for you?”

  “I know it sounds far-fetched. But yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” But, in her gut, she knew this was far worse than she’d ever imagined.

  * * *

  Mark met his police captain in the hallway outside the interrogation room an hour later. Captain Hendricks was a stoic man who was twenty years Mark’s senior, putting him at around fifty years old. The man had a light brown mustache and thick hair that matched. He was well respected in the department and was known as a man who could get the job done.

  In the hours since her arrest and the interrogation, Laney hadn’t caved in the least. If anything, she seemed even firmer in her insistence of her innocence. Honestly, he felt a little sorry for her. It was his job to get answers, but the woman seemed downright frightened.

  “Let her go,” Captain Hendricks said, staring through the glass at Laney.

  Mark followed his gaze. She looked so innocent and unassuming. Like a computer geek—the cutest computer geek Mark had ever laid eyes on. But beneath all of that, who was hiding? Someone manipulative? Out for herself? Drowning in her own delusions?

  “Let her go?” Mark asked, certain he hadn’t heard correctly.

  The captain put his hands on his hips and frowned—though the man always looked like he was frowning. “We don’t have enough evidence to hold her.”

  Mark thought back to his sister. If the police had stayed on top of the case, she would still be alive right now. He never wanted that to be the case for one of his investigations. He’d vowed to be better than that.

  “What about the phone call Mr. Novak got?” Mark reminded him. “The neighbor across the street who saw Sarah go into her house?”

  The captain’s gaze flickered to Mark, a touch of annoyance there. The captain didn’t take kindly to being questioned. “It’s all circumstantial. Keeping her here won’t help us find the girl.”

  Mark drew in a deep breath, trying to pace his thoughts and remain respectful. “What are you thinking?”

  The captain continued to stare at Laney, his eyes narrowing with thought. He was calculating something, Mark realized. But what?

  “I want you to keep an eye on her, stick by her side,” he finally said. “Hopefully she’ll slip up and lead us right to Sarah.”

  “Did you check the records? Did Sol call her?” Many times in situations like these, the parents were the first suspect. Even though Sol’s coworkers had verified he’d been at work all day, the detectives still needed to follow up.

  “We confirmed he called her house phone.”

  “Her house phone? She said she was out walking. Why didn’t he call her cell?”

  “He claims he couldn’t find the number. Anyway, we’re going to focus on Laney in this case. There’s more evidence against her.”

  Mark didn’t like the way this was playing out. Though he was reserving his judgment on Laney’s guilt, everything was pointing to her. Still, he had to follow the evidence. The team had just finished up at her house, but processing everything would take longer.

  However, he’d been pressing her hard for answers. She hadn’t once asked for a lawyer. She hadn’t broken under the pressure.

  That took a lot of strength.

  Mark shifted, grateful he could speak openly to his captain. “What if she’s not guilty, Captain?”

  He raised a shaggy eyebrow. “Everything is pointing to the fact that she is guilty. The text message. The money. An eyewitness. If you weren’t able to break her, I doubt she’s going to at all.”

  Mark wasn’t ready to let this drop. “Maybe she didn’t break because she’s innocent. She has no motive.”

  The captain’s jaw flexed. “Her motive is there. Maybe it’s buried down deep. But it’s there. We’re going to figure out what it is. Drive her home. See what you can get out of her. Play the good cop for once. See if she’ll open up.”

  The problem was that Mark wasn’t one for being fake. But he knew better than to argue with the captain. He nodded instead. “Yes, sir.”

  As he walked back toward the interrogation room, his shoulders felt heavier. Feeling even more brisk than before, he threw the door open and charged into the room. Laney jerked her head up from where it had been buried in her hands. Her eyes were red rimmed, as if she’d been crying. He inwardly flinched at the despair on her face.

  “You’re free to go,” he announced.

  Laney blinked. “What?”

  “You heard me. You’re free to go.”

  She stared at him a moment before quickly standing, almost as if she feared he’d change his mind. “Okay, then.”

  “I’ll drive you home,” Mark said.

  “That won’t be necessary. I can—”

  “I insist,” Mark said. “It’s for your safety.”

  “My safety?” She blinked again. “You think I’m in danger?”

  “People don’t take kindly to child abductors. We need to take every precaution possible.”

  She stared at him another moment before nodding. “I see. That’s fine, then.”

  Mark escorted her outside and into his car. Awkward tension crackled between them as he started down the road. Laney crossed her arms and stared out the window. She was obviously uncomfortable. So was he, for that matter. But he would do whatever it took to find th
e missing girl.

  Rush hour traffic was in full swing, and the sun was already sinking low enough to cause a blinding winter glare as he headed west.

  What if Laney was innocent? Allegations like these could turn her life upside down in a way that was hard to recover from.

  Then he remembered the text message. He couldn’t overlook that.

  “Tell me again what you do for a living, Ms. Ryan.”

  She continued to stare out the window. “I work for a company called CybCorp.”

  “What exactly do you do for them?” They’d been over some of that already, but it seemed like a safer—friendlier—conversation than bringing up Sarah again.

  Build trust. That was what he needed to do if he wanted to find answers. He’d had the opportunity to do that very thing with the man who’d killed his sister. If he could go back, he would go through whatever means necessary to make the man open up. Maybe Lauren would still be alive if he’d tried a little harder, if he’d pressed a little deeper, if he hadn’t given people the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t been a cop back then, but he’d been in contact with the perp all along; he just hadn’t realized it.

  “I’m a programmer. CybCorp handles security for various businesses throughout the country. They’re a smaller company, but they’re reputable and they allow me to work from home.”

  “Must get lonely working at home.”

  She cut a sharp glance his way. “Let me guess—you’re trying to trap me into confessing I abducted Sarah because I was lonely.”

  He shook his head. He actually hadn’t been. He’d just tried to imagine what it would be like being single and also working alone. “I was just making conversation.”

  Her shoulders slumped slightly. “I like solitude, believe it or not.”

  “You said earlier that you’re not married.” He already knew the answer, but he needed to develop some rapport with her. He’d read the police report—these details didn’t appear relevant to the current investigation but were essential for putting together a psychological profile of Laney.

  Laney frowned, staring out the window and rubbing her hands together. “No, I’m not. Not anymore. I’m widowed.”