by Geonn Cannon
Madeline wasn't listening. She had leaned closer to the picture and was staring intently at it. "Erica. Is... i-is that...?" She turned the picture around, holding it so her index finger was resting on the person's jacket. She tapped the man's chest with her finger and Ari thought she saw some sort of design.
Erica leaned in close and narrowed her eyes. "I don't... wait. The Boy Scout?"
"Yes." To Ari, Madeline said, "There's a man who works with us named Brandon Kent, and he wears this old jacket that has patches sewn onto the lapel. They look like merit badges, so we call him the Boy Scout. I think this could be him. But that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."
"Does Jenna know him?"
Madeline tucked her hair behind her ear only to have it fall back against her cheek. "No. Not... not really."
"Maddie," Erica prompted. "You have to tell her everything if you want her to help Jenna."
"We dated. For about three months last year. He met Jenna, but she didn't know we were... we kept it quiet. I didn't want her to get attached. And it ended amicably."
Ari glanced at Erica for confirmation and she nodded with a shrug.
"Would he have any reason to hurt Jenna or you?"
"Now? A year after we broke up? No. We've been friendly toward each other. It wasn't a bad breakup. Brandon's a good man, we just weren't compatible. He wouldn't do this to me."
Ari gave her a moment to accept the possibility. "I'm going to need Brandon's address."
Madeline nodded. "It's on my phone." She looked around. "Where's my phone?"
"I still have it," Ari reminded her. She took it out and scrolled through until she found Kent, then made note of the address. His contact information included a photograph of a reasonably attractive Asian man a few years younger than Madeline. He was smiling into the camera and looked harmless enough. Ari checked the time. "We have a few hours until the kidnappers call. I'll see what I can find out and be back here before that happens. About the money..."
"I spent the night on the computer moving money around in my accounts. I think I could get seventy or eighty thousand of it together today if I had to. Are you sure I shouldn't just give them everything? I can get a hundred and fifty if I have a little more time."
Ari shook her head. "There's a reason they didn't ask for a specific amount. Ten thousand dollars doesn't mean anything if you're rich, and if you're poor then a million dollars is just a number. They don't know what you're worth, so they left it up to you. They know you won't shortchange your daughter so whatever you give them will be a fortune in your eyes."
"But you're making me shortchange them."
"No. I know that you would give a million dollars to get her back. But there's no sense in mortgaging your future just to be honest with these pricks. And the amount doesn't matter. You're not going to pay them one red cent, but we may need to use it as a prop. We don't even need the full amount. We don't have to fill a briefcase with stacks and stacks of hundred dollar bills; a hundred thousand dollars doesn't look nearly as impressive in real life as it does in the movies."
Erica said, "I'll show you out." When they reached the front door, Erica stopped Ari with a hand on the arm. "I need to know if you'll really be able to bring Jenna back. She's so devastated right now that I think if she has any hope in what turns out to be a hopeless situation--"
"It's not hopeless. Keep her thinking positively and let me worry about panicking. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Okay. Good luck."
Ari thanked her and headed to her car. Brandon's address wasn't far, just on the other side of the interstate near a park she was vaguely familiar with. The difference between Brandon's neighborhood and Madeline's was startling, and Ari couldn't help but think the worst about the man she was looking for. She took out Madeline's phone and found a number listed as "Work" and dialed it.
"CenturyLink, how may I direct your call, please?"
"Hi, I was wondering if Brandon Kent was available."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, Mr. Kent isn't here today. I could direct you to another account representative if--"
"No, that's fine. Thank you anyway." She hung up and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Madeline, Erica, and now Brandon all skipping out of work. CenturyLink was facing a severe staff shortage.
His house was the fifth in a row of seven identical houses, its lawn a little shabbier than his neighbors. She parked and walked across the dead grass, scanning both sides of the street for the brown car the bus driver had reported seeing. She knocked and stepped back, hands in the back pockets of her jeans as she waited for an answer. After a few minutes she knocked again, then looked through the side window.
"Mr. Kent? My name is Ariadne Willow... I'd like to speak with you, if I could." She turned and looked down the street. If he was working with a partner, they could have taken Jenna to a more secure location. They wouldn't want to try keeping a kid somewhere she might draw attention. Ari knocked one more time before she stepped off the porch and went around to the back yard.
A barbeque grill stood next to the back door, and at the far end of the property stood a small shack with white paint flaking off the wood. It looked like it hadn't been disturbed since the previous century but she approached it anyway, cupping her face and looking through the dirty and weather-warped glass. Even in the dim light she could see only thick piles of tools, sporting equipment, and what looked like a bicycle missing tires hanging upside down from the ceiling.
She saw no evidence of kids, and little chance anyone was being held hostage there. Still, she remembered the case in Ohio, the three teenagers held in the middle of a suburban street, and took another pass around the perimeter of the house. She cupped her hands over every window, but the interior seemed empty and quiet.
She took out Madeline's phone again and scanned for Brandon's number. It rang three times before going to voicemail and she sighed. She took out her own phone and dialed Detective Lorne's number. He answered on the second ring.
"Miss Willow. Is it too forward to ask what you're wearing today? I'm only curious because you have such a wonderfully eclectic fashion sense."
"I wouldn't win any awards today, Kyle. Sorry. I was hoping you could do me a favor."
"You want a favor? Well, gee, this is such an unprecedented shift in our relationship, I'm not quite sure I know how to process it."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, I'll owe you. I want to know if any of the boys and girls in blue have been called out to this house in the past day or so." She gave him the address. "Suspicious activity or weird sounds coming from inside."
He sighed and then, a moment later, she heard him typing. "Going back six months... no calls to that house. Or that street, even. Hell, I want to move there."
"You're probably better off where you are."
"Now that isn't an informed opinion. If you ever wanted to see for yourself, get all the facts before you make a decision."
She chuckled. "Pass. Thanks for the assist, Detective Google." She hung up before he could protest the name and walked to the back door. It was locked, so she peeked through the windows again. She could see a messy dining room, mail scattered across the top of the table with one space cleared for eating, and about two-thirds of a relatively tidy living room.
Disappointed that the trip hadn't borne more fruit, Ari walked back around to the front of the house. There was still plenty of time before the scheduled call, so she had nothing to lose by waiting around for a while to see if he showed up. She walked back to her car and settled behind the wheel to watch and wait.
#
Dale got lunch delivered from the Other Coast Deli and ate at her desk. She still had the blocked call information from Madeline Morris' phone, and she went through the usual routes of trying to find out where it had originated. Before she started working for Ari, she had never even heard of Deep Web searches. Now she accessed their search engines on a regular basis to track down information that would ordinarily have been out of reach.
Today she had an actual phone number she could use to track down the phone used to call Madeline. She had just finished her sandwich when she discovered it was a defunct number. It had been disconnected six months ago.
"Hm. Weird..." Then again, Madeline did work for a telecommunications company. If the kidnapper was a coworker, maybe they had access to defunct accounts.
She was in the midst of sending another request when there was a knock on the door. She looked up as Milo stuck her head inside. Today she was wearing a sweater over black leggings, brown boots, and a green scarf. Her hair was down and a few curls clung to her cheeks, which had been reddened slightly by the cold.
"Hi. I think I'm a bit early."
Dale shook her head. "No, actually you're right on time. I just finished lunch and it's going to take a while for this request to be processed." She put the computer to sleep and began gathering her things. "Have you eaten?"
Milo nodded. "Yes, I stopped at a delightful little bistro not far from here. I'm afraid Seattle may be terrible for my waistline."
"If you're anything like Ari, you'll work it off in no time. Being a canidae is very good for the metabolism."
Milo seemed to consider Dale for a moment before she shook her head. "You know, it's kind of amazing. I didn't notice it until I met you, but most people who know about us don't bother to use the proper term. They like werewolf, even when it's not accurate. Werefoxes and all... But you actually go to the trouble to use the right word. It's respectful. I like it."
Dale shrugged. She locked the office door and led Milo outside. "Ari doesn't particularly like werewolf unless she's being facetious, so I guess I just responded to that and got in the habit."
"So you deal with us a lot? Canidae?"
"Not a lot, but not infrequently. She's run across one or two. There's a canidae bar she likes to go to called the, uh, Bull & Terrier."
Milo nodded. "I'll have to ask for the address, see if she doesn't mind me horning in on her territory a little bit more than I already am."
"The more the merrier, I'm sure. Is this your car?"
She couldn't think of another reason for a brand new Mini Cooper Roadster convertible to be parked in front of the office, and it shouldn't have been a surprise after seeing where she lived. But it was still an amazingly nice car.
Milo said, "I picked it up as soon as I got over here. It was between this and an Aston Martin, but a bit too Bond for my taste. I'll let you give it a spin later on, if you want."
"Sounds like fun."
"I went through my bags last night, ones I brought over from home, and culled the herd a little. So instead of just scouting we can actually create a few stashes I can use tonight if necessary."
"Nice planning." Dale got into the passenger side and waited until they were on the road before she started giving directions. "I'm going to start up in your neck of the woods. Ari will sometimes wander up north, but she tends to stick around Downtown and in the eastern part of the city. So there are some good stash locations up there I've never taken advantage of."
"Okay. And speaking of taking advantage, if Ari ever needs to use one of my stashes, she's more than welcome to."
Dale nodded. "I know she'll appreciate that. We have nine right now, so we should be set. But in case of an emergency where she ends up by the University, it'll be a load off her mind I'm sure."
Milo smiled. "How far north has the wolf taken her?"
"One time she got to Port Townsend. But she had a little help on that one. A Good Samaritan thought Ari was a runaway, and it was cold out, so she took Ari home for safekeeping. Good intentions."
"I've been there myself. Has she ever been forced to eat kibble--"
"--given to her by well-meaning animal lovers? Oh, yeah. She'd tell you that the raw steaks are worse. She loves steaks, but to have them thrown onto the ground uncooked... she thinks that's just being wasteful." She noticed their pull-off. "Okay, turn here. Find a place to park. Hope you're wearing shoes you don't mind walking in."
"I expected we'd have to hoof it a bit, so I got my trainers."
She parked in front of a church, where Dale was confident it would remain unmolested. She took a duffel bag out of the backseat and Dale looked around to make sure no one would witness them tromping off into the woods.
"We're going to be walking pretty close to the golf course, so watch out for bogies. Literally and figuratively, I guess."
"Should've brought a helmet. Lay on, Macduff."
Dale saluted and led Milo into the shadows under the trees.
Chapter Eight
Ari was back at Madeline's house with time to spare before the call. Brandon had never shown up, which she found more and more peculiar as the minutes ticked by. He wasn't at work, and he wasn't at home, so where was he? Had he taken Jenna to some out of the way place, a stronghold where he didn't have to worry about his neighbors seeing him with a struggling child? The more she thought about it the more likely it seemed that he was involved. Now if only she could find him. She reported her suspicions to Madeline, who took the information without emotion.
"Do you still have anything of Brandon's in the house?"
"Why?"
So I can isolate his smell from everyone else's if it becomes necessary probably wasn't an acceptable answer. "It's kind of a quirk I have. Right now Brandon Kent is just a name and a photo. If I can touch something of his, like a sweater or a jacket, it would help make him into a real person in my mind."
Madeline was on the couch, chewing on her thumbnail. She had the beginnings of a true thousand-yard stare, but she finally nodded. "Yes. He left a-a T-shirt behind. Sometimes I wear it to bed, but will that work?"
"It could."
She pushed herself up, moving quickly now that she had a task she could easily complete it. "I'll go see if I can find it."
Once she was alone with Erica, Ari said, "You know Brandon. Do you think he's capable of doing something like this?"
Erica crossed her arms over her chest, clutching her elbows with both hands. "I want to say yes. I want there to be a bad guy, you know? But Brandon? He was sweet to her. He wears vests and ties to work. Even after they broke up, there was never... h-he was never vindictive. I remember thinking how grown-up they were being about the whole situation. I can't believe he would do something so horrible."
"What about Madeline's ex-husband? Jenna's father."
"I never knew him. I didn't meet Maddie until after he left."
They stopped talking as Madeline came back into the room with her hands wrapped in a T-shirt. She looked at Erica, then Ari, and her shoulders sagged. "I'm not that fragile. You don't have to tiptoe around me and talk behind my back." She handed Ari the T-shirt. "What do you want to know about Jenna's father?"
"Anything you're willing to tell me. If he's still alive, there's a chance he was involved in this. I don't want to dismiss anything out of hand."
Madeline walked to the couch. "He left when Jenna was two. We met in high school and he had a crush on me. After college I came back and he was still around, and he still carried a torch, and by that time I was just flattered to have the attention of a nice, normal guy. I dated him to save myself from bars and blind dates and the internet." She rubbed her face. "He acted like getting me was winning a trophy. Like he'd worked hard and finally got the reward. That turned into jealousy, and that turned into trying to control everything about my life. I finally got sick of it. I wasn't going to have Jenna growing up in a house like that. So I filed for divorce and moved out here to get a fresh start."
"Jenna wasn't born here?"
"Well, I moved here from Spokane. It's not exactly cross-country. Gerry still lives there. I can't imagine him making the trip here and back just to take Jenna."
Ari conceded the fact for the moment, but she filed it away in case it came in handy later. Erica offered to make lunch for them all, utilizing bread and lunchmeat that Ari knew would otherwise have been used to make Jenna's lunch that morning. Ari was almos
t finished with her sandwich when Madeline's phone rang.
Madeline rose off the couch as if she had been jolted, eyes on the table where the phone was lying. Ari held up both hands to signal her to remain calm and then answered the call on the second ring. She turned it on speaker and leaned forward.
"Hi. To whom am I speaking?"
"Cut that out." The nervous guy was back. Ari looked at Madeline, whose eyes were closed. Erica pointed at the photo and nodded as the kidnapper spoke up again. "You don't ask the questions, I ask the questions and you answer them. Got me?"
"Sure, Brandon."
A sharp intake of breath that was exhaled as a whimper. "I said shut up."
"No, actually, you didn't. You said no questions and that wasn't a question. It's nice to finally speak to you. I waited around outside your house all morning and you never showed up. Where have you been, Brandon?" She tsked herself. "Sorry. That was a question. I forgot myself."
"My name's not Brandon."
"Denial only works in the first few seconds, guy. If you have questions you want to ask, you better get to them. I think Jenna's gone long enough without seeing her mother. Now, Madeline has to move some funds around. She has to liquidate some assets. When all is said and done, she can pay you a hundred thousand dollars for Jenna's safe return. She can have that money for you..." She looked at Madeline who mouthed her response. "...she can have it ready by tomorrow. But you have to do something for us."
"What?"
"You have to prove to us that Jenna is alive and that she's safe. I want to hear her voice in the next five minutes. You got that, Brandon?"
"Stop calling me that. My name isn't Brandon. And she's... she's not here. She's somewhere else. I can't get her to the phone in five minutes."
Ari said, "Then you hang up, call whoever is with her, and they can call from that phone. This is non-negotiable, Brandon. We're not paying for someone you can't deliver. This is just a business transaction for me, so don't try to make it complicated. I'm going to hang up now, and when I've talked to Jenna you can call me back so we can discuss how we're going to do the exchange. Goodbye, Brandon."