Childfinders Inc - Hero For Hire Part 32

possessions when he'd been growing up.

Rusty dug into his pocket. "Never without it." He handed it to Chad.

Quickly Chad ran the length of it along the back wall. The barrier gave way. Chad swore, closing the knife. "Every magic trick has a secret. We were all watching the front because that's where he told us to watch. n.o.body bothered watching the other set of lockers. The kidnapper must have gotten in here earlier, rented this locker and weakened the wall just enough to be able to remove it and grab the briefcase.

Perfect setup."

He was explaining the mechanics, only Veronica didn't care about the mechanics.

She wanted her son. "But where's Casey? Oh, G.o.d, Chad, where's Casey?"

As if in response, Chad's cell phone rang.

He pulled it out immediately, not sure what to expect or hope for. The caller could even be the kidnapper. The man was certainly resourceful enough. "Maybe we'll find out now."

But instead of a tinny sound, it was Megan's voice on the other end of the line.

"Chad, I just intercepted a 911 call on Ben's shortwave."

Megan wouldn't be telling him this if it wasn't somehow related to the case. Chad purposely avoided looking at Veronica. "About?"

"The call came in from Neil Reinholt's apartment. He's been shot. I know he's on your suspect list, so I went there and arrived just as the paramedics were taking him to the hospital. He was barely conscious, but he was trying to get someone to listen to him. I heard him say 'Casey,' but he lost consciousness before he could say anything more. It could be he was worried about the boy, but I think it was something more."

"d.a.m.n." Had someone wanted Neil out of the way? Or had it just been one of his shady creditors out for blood?

Veronica felt as if she was going to leap out of her skin at any second. Hearing Chad swear sent her over the edge. "What is it? Chad, tell me. What is it? Is it about Casey?"

"I'm not sure."

He was about to break the connection when his sister called, "Chad, wait!"

"Neil's been shot," he told Veronica as he brought the phone to his ear again.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"There might be more. I don't know if this is anything, but you know Neil's girlfriend, Josephine?"

Those hairs were standing up at the back of his neck again. "What about her?"

"Savannah tried cross-referencing everything she could think of this morning, and she came across something really odd. Josephine's last name is Sharpe. So is Anne Sullivan's maiden name. There might be a connection. Oh, and one more thing. Rusty sent your tape out to the lab for a final breakdown early this morning. That voice on the tape belongs to a woman."

Bingo. "Thanks, Megan. You've been a great help." He flipped the cell phone closed.

Veronica grabbed his arm, determined to get his attention. "What is it?"

"Our kidnapper's a woman." He looked at Rusty. "Megan said the lab results came in." His hand to the small of her back, Chad began to usher Veronica out of the terminal. "I'll fill you in on the way." He glanced over his shoulder at his brother and Sam as he left. "Thanks for your help, anyway."

"On the way to where?" Veronica asked as they hurried through the parking lot to Chad's car. "Do you know where Casey is?"

"No," he answered, "but I think I know someone who might." He opened his door and got in.

Veronica slid in on her side. "We're going to Anne Sullivan's house."

The seat belt slipped from her fingers, and she grabbed for it. "Anne? But we've already talked to her about the caterers." This wasn't about the caterers, she realized. This was something a great deal darker. "What does Anne have to do with Casey's kidnapping?"

It hurt him to break apart the few illusions she had allowed herself, and he didn't even understand why it hurt. He just knew it did. "Maybe everything." He

glanced at her quickly, trying to read her expression. She looked numb. "Did you know that her maiden name's the same as Neil's girlfriend's?"

"No. I told you, Neil never told me Josephine's last name, and I didn't bother..."

The mention of her brother-in-law reminded her of what else she'd heard. "Chad, you said Neil was shot."

"He was." Her pale complexion turned almost alabaster. "That was Megan calling from his apartment. There's a police-band radio in the office. She heard a 911 call come in from Neil. No details. She recognized the name and took off. Someone apparently shot your brother-in-law. Megan said the only thing she heard him say was your son's name."

She didn't want to believe it. How could Neil be involved? He loved Casey. There had to be some mistake. Afraid that there wasn't, Veronica covered her face with her hands, praying for strength, praying for her son, and most of all, praying they would be in time to save him.

She wasn't saying anything. Concerned, Chad allowed himself another glance in her direction before looking back at the road. One o'clock was still lunchtime, and the streets were crowded with people hurrying to squeeze in a day's worth of errands into an hour or less. "Are you all right?"

She emerged from behind her hands, her expression stony as she struggled to reconcile what he'd told her with what, until a few moments ago she'd felt she knew.

"No, I'm not all right. But I will be the minute we get Casey back." Determined, she sat up, leaning forward as if that could somehow add to the momentum and get them to Anne's house faster. "Step on it."

He didn't point out that they were already weaving in and out of traffic, flying across intersections whose lights had turned amber and were about to blush into red. "Consider it stepped on."

The speedometer strained forward as he kept an eye out for other speeding vehicles that could impede them-and for the police. The latter would only be a plus. They could use police backup right about now.

It was beginning to fit together, albeit with gaps. He'd been right all along about Casey knowing his kidnapper. They'd just been looking at the wrong gender.

"When you saw that photograph of Casey, you said he looked happy."

It took Veronica a second to focus, and then she nodded. "He did. I thought... I was hoping that the kidnapper told him they were playing a game."

"Maybe," he allowed. "And maybe the reason Casey looked unafraid was because he knew his kidnapper."

"You mean Neil."

"Neil figures into it somehow," Chad replied, "but Megan said it was a woman's voice on the tape. That doesn't make any sense if Neil was behind the kidnapping scheme." He didn't care for the man, but Veronica's brother-in-law had seemed genuinely surprised when she had told him Casey had been kidnapped. The man just didn't strike him as that good an actor.

He was thinking out loud. The more he talked, the more things continued to drift into place.

"When you went to pick Casey up from the party and found he wasn't there, did you try looking around for him?"

"I was going to, but then the kidnapper called, asking for me."

Just before she was going to start looking, Chad thought. Which could mean that the kidnapper was watching her the entire time. That placed Casey's kidnapper somewhere on the property.

Chad hadn't had a very good look at the Sullivan place. He should have. "If you had looked for him," Chad pressed, "where would you have looked?"

She tried to think. "Andy's room, I suppose. The grounds-most of the party was held outdoors." She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to visualize the premises.

"Maybe the guest house."

The light was red a full second before he reached the intersection. Chad stepped down hard on the brake. The car fishtailed before stopping. He looked at her. "The guest house?" He didn't remember noticing one.

"Way in the back," she told him. "It's little more than a pool house, really.