Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(46)

“I didn’t think there would be,” Josie sighed.

“But we did match the prints on the compact at the nanny’s house to an unknown print in Lucy’s room.”

Josie felt a small thrill of excitement. While it wouldn’t help them find the kidnapper or his accomplice, it linked the two crime scenes. “So the female staying at Jaclyn Underwood’s apartment was also in Lucy’s room. Amy said that Lucy had never met any of Jaclyn’s friends though—that she knew of.”

“Well, I asked her again if Jaclyn ever brought any friends over, and she said never. Why do I feel like these assholes are right under our noses?” Oaks asked, raking a hand down over his face and then rubbing at his eyes.

“Because I think they might be,” Josie said. “Are we missing something big?”

Oaks shook his head. “I don’t see how we can be. I’ve got dozens of agents working leads around the clock plus the work your department is doing.”

Before Josie could say anything more, Amy’s cell phone rang. Oaks and Josie turned and stared at the screen. The name read ‘Wendy’.

Amy raced in from the kitchen and Colin appeared in the other doorway just behind her, having come from the living room. Josie had noticed the couple hadn’t been speaking to one another much since the evening before.

“Who’s Wendy?” Oaks asked.

Amy looked from the phone to him. “Wendy Kaplan. She’s a friend from yoga.” Her hand hovered over the phone. “I’ll tell her I need to keep the line open.”

She picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

There was a moment of perfect silence before the kidnapper’s voice sent a wave of revulsion through the room. “Hello, Amy.”

She took a sharp intake of breath and pressed her hand to her chest. “How is Lucy?” she asked, and Josie could tell she’d thought long and hard about what she was going to ask him when he called next.

“How do you think she is, Amy?”

“I want to talk to her. Can I talk to her, please?”

Laughter filtered through the line. “Oh, Amy,” he said. “Sad, silly, brainless Amy.”

Undeterred, Amy said, “Have you hurt her?”

“Well, that depends on what you mean by hurt.”

Amy gasped. Tears gathered in her eyes. Colin squeezed past the agents and went to Amy’s side. He held out a hand for her to give him the phone, but she turned away, her voice cracking as she begged the kidnapper to let her talk to Lucy.

One of the agents waved Oaks over and pointed to the screen. Oaks beckoned for Josie, and she went over to take a look at the address. “I’m not sure of the exact address,” the agent whispered. “But I did a property search for Wendy Kaplan and this one here” —he pointed to a house on the screen as shown from Google’s satellite map—“belongs to her.”

Unfortunately for them, Wendy Kaplan lived on the outskirts of Denton. “Fifteen,” Josie whispered, indicating how long it would take to get to Kaplan’s house. “At least.” She started to move toward the doorway, but Oaks whispered back, “Stay with Mrs. Ross. I’ll take Mettner. He’s right outside.”

As Oaks departed, Josie turned back toward Amy. Tears streaked her face. “What do you want?” she sobbed into the phone. “Just tell me what you want.”

Josie expected more taunts but instead, the kidnapper said, “A million dollars.”

Everyone in the room went perfectly still. The two agents looked at Josie and then at one another before turning their attention back to the computer. As if on a switch, the kidnapper had gone from taunting Amy to making his demand.

When she didn’t answer, the kidnapper laughed. “Oh, you didn’t really want to know what I wanted? Were you only asking because you think that’s what a distraught mother is supposed to ask?”

Amy opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. Colin grabbed the phone from her hand and barked into it. “We want proof of life.”

Amy tugged at Colin’s arm, trying to wrestle the phone away from him. “No,” she wailed. “Just give it to him so we can get Lucy back.”

Colin pulled away from her. “Prove to us that Lucy is alive and you can have the money.”

Josie heard anger in the kidnapper’s voice when he spoke next. “You don’t get to make the rules. Any rules. You give me a million dollars, and I give you Lucy back. That’s it. That’s all.”

Amy was practically hanging from Colin’s arm, shouting to be heard. “You can have whatever you want. Just give me my daughter back. Please.”

Colin said, “Alive. I want her back alive.”

There was a long moment of silence. Josie thought for a second that the kidnapper had hung up, but then she heard him exhale. “A million dollars,” he said. “Not a penny less. No conditions.”

Then the line went dead.

Colin tossed the phone onto the table and pressed his palm to the top of his head. Amy started hitting him with her open hand, slapping him and screaming, “You bastard. Why would you do that? Why?”

Colin didn’t fight her. He kept his hands up, blocking her blows as well as he could. “What if she’s already dead?” he said.

“Don’t,” Amy shrieked. “Don’t you even say it. Why would you ask for proof of life? Just give him whatever he asks for so we can get Lucy back.”