A Deadly Influence (Abby Mullen Thrillers #1)(40)

“Does David Huff still live at Tillman’s farm?” Griffin asked.

“As far as Eden knows. She hasn’t been in contact with him since she divorced him and left the cult.”

“Why did she leave the cult?”

“We haven’t had the time to talk about it yet.”

“Cult or not, I need to talk to David Huff tonight,” Carver said.

“You should avoid rushing in there,” Abby said quickly. “These guys don’t like cops, and there’s a good chance they’re heavily armed. Showing up in the middle of the night, lights flashing, will get you a lot of itchy trigger fingers.”

“I’ll talk to the police commissioner in Suffolk County; I know her,” Griffin said. “We should coordinate this with them. You’ll go tomorrow morning.”

“Can you brief me on how to approach these people?” Carver asked Abby.

“Why don’t I join you?” Abby suggested. “I can brief you on the way.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Sure.”

“Hey, Abby,” Will called from his seat. “You guys should see this.”

Abby walked over, Carver and Griffin following behind her.

“What is it?” Abby asked. There was a paused video on Will’s screen.

“Gabrielle just posted this Instagram story,” Will said. He clicked play.

Gabrielle sat on her bed in her room, her face tear stricken. She wasn’t wearing the same clothes she had before. She had changed to a white dress, her feet bare.

“Hi, all,” she said, her voice trembling, cracking. “Yesterday afternoon, as my brother returned home from school, a man took him.”

Abby’s gut sank as she watched Gabrielle wiping the tears with the back of her hand.

“We got a phone call,” Gabrielle continued. “The kidnappers told us they want five million dollars to give him back. We don’t have that much.” At this point she broke down, hiding her face in her hands as she sobbed.

“What the hell does she think she’s doing?” Carver asked angrily.

“Quiet,” Abby said, tense.

Finally Gabrielle got a hold of herself and with a shudder said, “We will raise whatever we can to get Nathan back, of course. But for now, I wanted you all to know that this is what I’m going through, and this is why I haven’t been around.” Then she blinked and straightened. “And if the kidnappers are watching this, please don’t hurt Nathan. He’s a little boy. He likes drawing and swimming, and he still loves to cuddle. Keep him safe, and we’ll get you your money, okay?”

She let a few seconds go by as she sniffled and then, with a barely audible whisper, said, “Thank you.”

The video ended.

“Well, the shit just hit the fan,” Griffin said. “How many people watched that?”

“Gabrielle has over sixty-five thousand followers on Instagram,” Will said. “About seven thousand on YouTube and Facebook, though some are duplicates. And obviously not everyone saw it just this minute, but the video is live, and she pinned it.”

“Pinned it?” Griffin asked.

“It means it isn’t removed after twenty-four hours. Also she posted about it, see?” Will pointed at a new image of Gabrielle’s tearstained face. The caption read, terrible news, just posted story about it. Your prayers are needed.

“So a shitload of people are about to see it, is what you’re telling me,” Griffin said. “We need to tell her to pull it down.”

“I’m not sure she would, and I’m not sure we should either,” Abby said. “It’s what the kidnappers wanted. He told her to use whatever resources she has to get the money. He knew she would do that. She’s going to raise the money from her followers.”

“But she didn’t ask in the video for money,” Carver said.

“Because she’s smart,” Will said. “Someone else will start a fundraiser for her. And it’ll seem much more heartfelt.”

“They knew from the start,” Abby said. “This is why they demanded to talk with her. This is why they never told Eden not to contact the police—they wanted this to be public. That man had told her he was sure she would find people who would be glad to help her.”

“Due respect to her followers, she won’t raise five million dollars from seventy thousand randos online,” Carver said skeptically.

“Seventy thousand right now,” Will said. “I’m betting news will be out pretty fast. This number will shoot up, no doubt.”

Abby stared at Will’s screen, at Gabrielle’s tortured expression. “They targeted her all along. It was never about kidnapping Eden’s son. It was about kidnapping Gabrielle’s brother.”





CHAPTER 26


Nathan tore through the darkness, gravel rattling under his feet. He glanced behind him, spotted the silhouette of the man in the doorway of the cabin on his knees, like a predatory beast. The man screamed after him incoherently, a string of furious syllables that froze Nathan’s heart in fear. Whimpering, he dove left, farther into the darkness, away from the gravel road, away from the light that came from the cabin. Deeper into the night.

Soon, he couldn’t see the ground, couldn’t see anything around him. He let his feet fly, thinking of how he always did so well in gym class, was always one of the fastest kids. He needed that speed now. Needed to get away from—