A Deadly Influence (Abby Mullen Thrillers #1)(18)

Gabrielle was the first to break the silence. “Why not? If they got what they want, why wouldn’t they let him go?”

“Because maybe the money isn’t what they want at all,” Abby said. “Maybe they took him for a different reason, and they are using the ransom demand to buy time.” Unless they twisted her arm, this was as close as she was willing to get to saying, Maybe your brother has already been raped and murdered.

“But he asked for the money,” Eden babbled. “He kept talking about the money.”

“Which I find strange,” Abby said. “He took Nathan in a very limited time window, which makes me think he’d been planning this, probably watching, scouting ahead of time. He knew who you were. And you don’t look like you have that kind of money. I think there’s something he’s interested in beyond the ransom.”

The streets were much emptier now. They would get back to Eden’s house in no time.

“It’s also possible Nathan can identify them,” Abby added. “He was taken in broad daylight from a city street. I’m willing to bet they didn’t wear ski masks when they grabbed him. Why would they let him go if he saw their faces?”

“Why are you telling us this?” Gabrielle raised her voice. “Just to scare us?”

“I’m telling you this because, like I said, we will do what we can to get Nathan back,” Abby answered. “But that’s not the same as saying we will do whatever the kidnappers say to get Nathan back. Because doing what the kidnappers say doesn’t guarantee us anything. Instead, we can use the conversations with the kidnappers to buy time, to learn more about what they want, about who they are and where they are. And meanwhile, we also talk them down. Lower the ransom. See if they’re willing to let us talk to Nathan. It probably won’t be a quick process. But I’ll help you through it. And I’m very good at what I do.”

Eden’s eyes welled up, and Abby drove on in silence, giving the woman some time to adjust. She glanced in the rearview mirror, checking on Gabrielle. Only the top half of the girl’s face was visible in the mirror’s frame, and her eyes seemed vacant. Abby couldn’t figure out what was going through the girl’s head. She focused on the road, running the next steps forward in her mind. The kidnappers would call again, probably tomorrow, and it would be best if she or one of the other negotiators took the call. She would know exactly what to say and when to stay quiet, how to prod the subject and keep him talking while giving him a growing sense of control.

The problem was that the kidnappers probably didn’t even know the police had been contacted. And it should stay that way for now.

“We need to talk about the next call,” she said. “How you should talk. What you can and can’t say.”

“When will he call?” Eden asked.

“I don’t know. It’s best to be prepared as soon as possible.” Abby’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “First of all, I want your voice to remain steady when you talk to him. When this kidnapper calls, he’s stressed and wary. If you fall apart, start screaming at him, or if your voice is tense, it’ll only make matters worse. He might react badly.”

“Badly how?”

“It might cause him to hang up,” Abby said—and didn’t add that Nathan might suffer from that loss of control. “We want him to stay on the line, right? So we can try and trace his phone, send police to where he’s calling from. And so that he keeps talking to us, giving us information.”

Eden nodded, her lips trembling.

“When the phone rings, I don’t want you to answer immediately. I want you to take a few breaths. You can let it ring a few times, maybe eight rings.”

“What if he hangs up?”

“He won’t; he wants to talk to you. Remember, both of you want something, not just you. He’ll want to make it seem as if it’s all about getting your boy back, but he’s got a huge stake in this. He’ll wait for you to answer. Let it ring, breathe, prepare your calm voice, okay?”

“What if he asks me why it took me so long to answer?”

“Tell him you’re sorry, but you were in the bathroom. Be apologetic but not hysterical. We want him to feel in control, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I want you to take a breath before every sentence you say. Use this breath to think about your next sentence and to maintain your voice.”

“He might get mad if I don’t answer fast enough.”

“He won’t. People don’t get mad at someone taking their time. Trust me. The most important part is for him to feel like you’re listening to him. So you need to sound like you’re attentive. It’s good to say things like ‘I understand,’ or ‘Okay,’ or ‘I see.’ You can repeat the last few words he said. So for example, if he says, ‘We want five million dollars,’ you can say, ‘Five million dollars.’”

“It’ll make her sound dim witted,” Gabrielle said from behind.

“That’s not a bad thing,” Abby said firmly. “He’ll feel more in control and talk more to make sure you understand. And to make him talk even more, we need you to ask him questions that start with how or what. These questions are open ended and will make him talk his way out of it. They are also very nonaggressive questions, so they’ll make him calmer. So you can ask him, ‘How can I pay you the ransom if I don’t know my son is okay?’ Or ‘How do you want me to pay you?’ Or ‘What if I can’t get the money in time?’”