The Kidnapping of Cody Moss

by Sara L Foust

  Zach cleared his throat. She was onto something. “Any questions, Officer Baker?”

  “What’s in the barn, Mr. Buchanan?”

  “Nothing much. Old tractor. I bale hay now. Make an honest living.”

  Oh, yeah, right. Such an upstanding citizen.

  “Keep my horses back there. You want to see ’em?”

  Pride laced Jimmy Vern’s words. But the concerned look on Annalise’s face hadn’t dimmed. What had she seen or heard?

  She shook her head. “That’s okay. Maybe next time.”

  “Don’t go far, Jimmy Vern. We may have follow-up questions.”

  “Murdered?”

  Zach nodded. He bit his tongue to keep from adding “by you.” “We’ll be in touch. You call us if you hear anything.”

  “Oh, of course, Officer. Wouldn’t dream of doin’ anything else but.”

  “Thanks.” Zach snickered as he slid back into the driver’s seat and turned to face Annalise. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Just thought I heard something.”

  “Maybe the horses in the barn.”

  “Yeah, maybe. Too bad we don’t have enough for a warrant. That old barn would be the perfect place for a still.”

  “No kidding. If I remember right, that’s where he hid it before.”

  “Come on, let’s get back and see if Captain Brooks has any leads now.”

  Zach winced at the hopeful tone of her voice. He didn’t want to be the one to remind her it was probably already too late for Cody to come home in anything other than a casket. The dogs broke out in an even louder ruckus as they headed down the driveway.

  SOMEONE WAS HERE. THE dogs wouldn’t be going nuts otherwise. If Cody had a window down in this wet, dirty hole of a cellar, he could get their attention. Now that the drugs the guy had given him had worn off and he could move again, he could flag the person down. Could get out of this terrible black. Could get home.

  Where he would clean his room every day and get As in math from now on. And hug his mother and respond when she said, “I love you.”

  He’d pounded on the wall when the dogs grew quiet a bit ago. A lot of good that did him, his aching hand reminded him. Though he couldn’t see them, he imagined the walls were old river stone. Smooth, cold. Soundproof.

  Earlier in the day, when the sun had positioned itself just so, Cody got one tiny little beam of light through a hole in the cellar door. He’d sat in that one pinpoint of light until it shifted away. If he’d been smarter, he would have stuck something through it. Something that would yell, “Hey, someone’s trapped in here!” to any passersby. Like people stuck in trunks did by poking their finger out the taillights.

  But now the dogs were barking again and sounding farther and farther away.

  “Help!” His voice sounded so loud in his prison, but he knew it didn’t make it through the floorboards. “Please! I’m here!” He pounded on the floor where he could reach it, near the door.

  But the dogs grew quiet again. He hugged his injured hand close to his chest and sighed. He’d missed his chance.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ANNALISE PULLED INTO Celine’s driveway just before dinnertime. She answered her jingling cell phone. “Officer Baker.”

  “Hello, ma’am. We have lab results for you.”

  Annalise exhaled. She knew they’d rushed the results because of the nature of the case, but it felt like it had taken them weeks rather than a day. “Go ahead, please.”

  “All evidence at the scene matches the missing child.”

  No. That wasn’t at all what she wanted to hear. “Okay, thank you.” She dropped her head to the steering wheel. Lord, I don’t know what to do. Every lead we have turns out to be a dead end.

  She stepped out of the vehicle and cocked her head. What in the world? Raised voices echoed around the house, from the rear. She jogged through the side yard and stopped at the corner. A man, head and shoulders taller than Celine, stood over her while she sobbed. Where was the officer assigned to the Moss home?

  “How could you let this happen?” he shouted.

  Celine cowered.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you move away,” Annalise said as she emerged from the bushes.

  The man spun, opened his mouth to speak but apparently changed his mind, and took a few steps backward.

  Celine turned round eyes Annalise’s direction.

  “What’s going on here?”

  “Officer Baker, this is Cody’s father, Brian.”

  Oh. Finally. “I’m going to need to ask you some questions.”

  Brian spun and thrust a finger toward Celine. “She let our son get kidnapped, and you have questions for me?”

  “What do you care?” Celine sprang around Annalise and returned the finger pointing.

  “He’s my son! Of course I care!”

  “Hey, hey, hey. You two are going to have to cool it.” She stepped in between them. “Celine go inside. Brian and I need to have a chat.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Annalise waited until she heard the door click, then asked Brian to join her at the patio table. “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”

  “No, you can’t.” He slumped into the seat she scooted back for him.

  “We need to focus on what we can do, not what we can’t.”

  He nodded. “Fine.”

  “We have been trying to reach you. Where have you been?”

  “On a cruise. As soon as we landed this morning, I turned on my phone and got all these messages from you guys and Celine. I got the first flight from Miami home and came straight here.”

  That would explain his lack of communication, and it would provide him an airtight alibi. She made a note to verify his travel arrangements. “Can you think of any reason why someone would want to take Cody?”

  He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “No. We aren’t rich people.”

  It was too soon to share her new theory with him. She needed to speak with Paul first. “Do you know who Cody has been spending time with lately, outside of school?”

  He shook his head. “I, um, haven’t been around much lately.”

  “Okay, well, we need you to remain close for now. Where are you staying?”

  “Hadn’t gotten that far. Cab dropped me at the curb and well, you know what happened next.”

  “Stay here.” Annalise let herself in through the back door. “Ms. Moss?”

  “In the living room.”

  Pictures of Cody when he was younger lined the hallway into the living room. They tugged at Annalise. One, in particular, of him when he was probably five or six, holding up a fish with a huge grin on his face caught her. If only they’d known then what they knew now, they could have kept him safe. “I’m taking Brian to a hotel. Have you heard anything more?”

  “No.”

  “Where is the officer that is supposed to be here?”

  “I sent him home. They aren’t going to call.” Her voiced hitched. “Besides, you can monitor it remotely. I don’t want the reminder staring at me every second. I lost my boy, and there’s nothing anyone can do to make me feel safe anymore.”

  Somehow Annalise could relate. Though it wasn’t her son missing, Annalise didn’t feel safe anymore either. The carpet was being yanked out from under her in slow motion. “Braden told me about a boy named Paul. You know who that may be?”

  Celine picked at a hangnail while she thought. “Paul Martin maybe? They played Little League together, but he was older.”

  Sounded like it could be right. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear anything.” Thirty-eight hours and counting. Were the minutes zipping by more quickly the closer they got to forty-eight? It certainly seemed like it.

  She dropped Brian at the Marriott and dialed Captain Brooks. “Any news, sir?”

  “I’ve been knocking on doors and talking to potential witnesses all day. I’ve got nothing.” He sighed. “TBI’s been chasing down every lead they could th
ink of too. Had an elderly woman tell us she saw a suspicious truck, and she even wrote down the plate numbers. Turned out to be one of those new delivery food drivers. It’s like the boy evaporated.”

  Annalise sighed. That’s exactly what it was like, but she certainly didn’t want to accept it. “Have you heard of the Moonshine Mafia?”

  “No. Why?”

  Annalise updated him on everything that had happened with Zach. “It’s the only potential lead I’ve got right now.”

  “Run with it.”

  “Oh, and I need an address for a high school kid, Paul Martin. You know him?”

  “Yeah. Plays baseball with my son. Lives out on Highway 61. I’ll text you the address.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Paul’s house was a low-roofed, one-story with an overgrown lawn and five half-pieced-together vehicles dotting the landscape. She’d never paid particular attention to it, but now that she parked in its pot-holed driveway, she had some questions. Paul was only sixteen. Was he living alone? If he wasn’t, why was the place so unruly? Flags shot up red warnings in multiple compartments of her mind.

  Blue and red lights flickered at a seizure-inducing pace from one of the windows farthest from the front door. She knocked twice but, getting no response, made her way slowly to the window and glanced in. The strobe of colors made her head hurt, and she wasn’t even in the room with it. “Paul? Paul Martin!”

  The curtain jiggled, and a pale face flashed briefly through the window.

  Oh, great. He was going to run. She could just feel it. Annalise bolted for the rear of the house in time to see a skinny, shirtless boy fly through the screen door and race down the rickety back steps.

  “Stop! I just want to talk.”

  “That’s what they all say!” he hollered over his shoulder as he made a break for the trees behind the house.

  Innocent people didn’t run from police officers. Unless they were scared kids. In the brief moments while she watched him flee, before he disappeared into the shadowed forest, Annalise had the sudden urge to scoop him into her arms and hug him. Had the poor boy ever had that kind of motherly affection?

  She shook her head, and lifted her cell phone. “I’m going to need some backup.” If he had the courage—or the terror—to run, he knew something she needed to know.

  With her spotlight in hand, she slowly made her way closer to Paul’s last location. “I swear, Paul, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m just trying to find Cody. I was hoping you could help me.”

  Silence.

  “Braden said you all went hiking last weekend. I think you may have stumbled onto something that got Cody in trouble.” She panned the light across the tree trunks again. Could he even hear her anymore? “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. Please come out.”

  Clearly this wasn’t going to work. He could be halfway to the next county by the time her assistance arrived.

  She pulled up information on the residence at her car’s computer. Orrin Martin, age twenty-four, was listed on the deed. Far too young to be Paul’s father. Brother, maybe? Something wasn’t right here. If Paul lived with his brother, where were their parents? And why wasn’t DCS involved?

  Maybe they already were. She dialed the number for the local child protective services agent. “Cathy, Officer Baker here with Norris Police Department. I need some information on a family. The Martins at 1381 61 West, Norris.”

  “What now?”

  “You’re familiar with them then?”

  “Orrin and Paul. Parents died six years ago. Orrin took custody of his little brother. Nothing but trouble since. What have they gotten themselves into now?”

  “I’m not certain yet. Do you have contact information for Orrin?” Annalise wrote down the number Cathy provided. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”

  “If you need my services, just give me a jingle.”

  Cathy sounded far too happy about that prospect. “I will. Thanks again.” She dialed the number Cathy had given her, but it went to voicemail. “Orrin Martin, I need you to call me when you receive this message.” She left her name and number. She didn’t expect to hear from him.

  Captain Brooks and a Clinton City officer pulled in from opposite directions just as she hung up the call.

  “Hey, guys. Thanks for coming.”

  “What’s going on, Baker?” Captain Brooks tugged his hat on.

  “Paul ran.”

  “Great.”

  “Did you know DCS was involved in his custody and that he lives with his older brother?”

  Captain Brooks shook his head. “Guess I shoulda paid better attention at the games. Well, let’s find him.”

  Annalise pointed. “He disappeared there.”

  “Sure hope we don’t have to get the dogs out.”

  “Me too.”

  The Clinton City officer nodded and stepped in behind the captain.

  They fanned out, each with their own spotlight, and formed a line as they entered the trees. Good thing this section wasn’t huge. And the rear border, if she remembered correctly, was a broad, swift creek. Hopefully, Paul had more sense than to try to ford it on foot.

  “We just want to talk, Paul,” she repeated. “You and Orrin aren’t in trouble.” Yet. Maybe the boy was really running out of fear and not guilt.

  “Got something!”

  Annalise turned in the direction of the Clinton City officer’s voice. There was the sound of a scuffle and then a moan.

  “Got him.”

  She broke into a jog and found Paul handcuffed, sitting at the officer’s feet, and Captain Brooks hovering over them both. With his downcast face and his scrawny, pale torso, he looked as if he were twelve rather than sixteen. Her heart lurched. What had this boy faced in his short life?

  Paul slowly raised his eyes and gazed at her. The purple and green bruise ringing his eye spoke volumes.

  “Who did that to you, Paul?” she whispered.

  He pressed his lips together.

  “Listen,” she knelt in front of him, “I promise I want to help you. And I want to help Cody too. I know you know him.”

  Paul’s eyes darted away and then back to meet hers.

  “If we take the cuffs off, can we trust you to walk back to the house with us?”

  He shrugged his shoulders but then nodded.

  She tipped her chin to the officer, and he released him. Captain Brooks and the officer flanked her. True to his word, Paul didn’t fight them as they made their way back to the house.

  “Guys, can you give us a minute alone?”

  Captain Brooks and the Clinton officer nodded. “We’ll be close,” the captain added, pinning Paul with a fierce, protective look. “Don’t do anything dumb.”

  Paul sank onto the top step, and Annalise took a position at the base. “You know Cody’s missing, right?”

  He nodded.

  “I think you can help me.”

  “Don’t know nothin’.”

  “Look, I already know about the hike. I understand you not wanting to tell me anything, but whatever you say goes no further than me. Got it?”

  He nodded again.

  “Can you tell me anything that might help at all?”

  “Nope.”

  She mentally growled. Of course not. I get it, kid. You’re stubborn and scared, but come on. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Cody took a gun from the campsite. Did you take anything?”

  Paul’s gaze darted away and back.

  His tell was very telling. “What did you take?”

  He glanced at the front door.

  “Something inside?”

  “No. Nothing. I swear.”

  “You’re inspiring a lot of confidence, Paul.” She didn’t mean for the sarcasm to seep into her words, but he was trying her patience. “Can I come in?”

  Fear flashed across his eyes. “Don’t have to let you in, lady.”

  “No, I suppose you don’t.” She hated to threaten the kid, but what choice did she have
? “But I can call Cathy, and I guarantee you do have to let her in.”

  His face paled. “Fine. Help yourself.”

  She slid past him. “Stay put.” And let herself in through the front door. The stench of old cigarettes and burnt food greeted her. Not to her surprise, dirty laundry and ragged carpet sprawled the expanse of the small living room. When Paul ran, apparently he forgot to stop whatever video game he’d been playing. The hyped, loud music spilled down the hallway. The boys lived in squalor. How had Paul put up with it for so long? And how could DCS possibly think these were good living conditions?

  The bedroom sported nothing but a bed, clothes baskets full of laundry, and sheets draped over the one window instead of curtains. A brand-new Nintendo Switch and several games sat on a crooked table in the corner.

  She made her way back to the porch. “Did you take money from that campsite, Paul? Is that why you ran and left Cody and Braden behind?”

  He dropped his head between his knees.

  “Listen, I’m not mad. I don’t know you from Adam, so your behavior can’t disappoint me. But what I do feel is scared. The owner of the gun Cody took killed a man, with that very gun. And now Cody’s missing. Looks awful suspicious the two are related, don’t you think?”

  Paul didn’t move.

  “What if he comes looking for you next?”

  “Can take care of myself.”

  “Clearly.” There was that unintentional sarcasm again. “Where’s your brother?”

  “Dunno. Ain’t seen him in two days. He took the car and took off.”

  They both knew what the next step would be. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to place that call to Cathy. Paul couldn’t stay here in this nasty house, with a murderer on the loose and his “caregiver” missing. A foster home would have to be better, wouldn’t it? She knew Paul wouldn’t think so. She didn’t have a choice.

  “Did you spend all the money?”

  Paul nodded. “Needed food, and paid the electric and water and house payment. Not that this dump is worth the money we pay.”

  This poor kid! Life had forced him into adulthood before he was ready. Before he could possibly be mature enough to handle it.

  Lord, what do I do?

  What if she stood in for a foster parent for a few days? Just until a good place could be found.