Kidnapped (24 page)

He picked up one of the spiral-bound books and started turning pages of the negatives. Caroline stood at the doorway and watched for a minute, then she disappeared into the adjoining bedroom. “Luke, look at this.”

He stepped to the doorway. Caroline had opened the bedroom closet doors. There were four file cabinets inside. Caroline opened one of the drawers and pulled out a folder. “The folders are dated by date and locations. He's been taking photos for years. Do you want to take these photos with us?”

“Stay focused on things related to where he's traveled in the past and where he might go again. Or if we are lucky, any photos he has taken since Friday. Maybe he was back long enough to use his darkroom one last time.”

Caroline opened file drawers. “The most recent file I see is from last month.”

“The recent stuff is probably in here or possibly in his office.”

“I'll search his desk.”

Luke picked up the binders of negatives still in the darkroom. “Caroline, find a box or sack and gather up whatever papers or receipts you can find when you look through his desk. See if he has a Rolodex or a calendar book. We'll take them with us to review. He's going to be heading to somewhere familiar.”

She nodded, clearly relieved to have something concrete to do. “I'll bring you something to carry those in too.”

“Thanks.”

“Luke, what about the kitten? If Gary has fled . . .”

It took him a moment to catch up with what she was asking. He smiled. “Find as many of the kittens as you can, and hopefully their mother. We'll take them with us.”

Chapter Thirty

C
aroline ate a few fries because they were left from dinner but put the last two hamburgers in the refrigerator. She found paper towels and the cleaning spray and set about wiping down the kitchen table.

“Benjamin has the momma cat and her kittens safely tucked away for the night in the laundry room.”

She turned to smile at Mark. “That's good.”

“I can see I'll be buying both a cat and a dog when this is over.”

She offered him the pills Amy had set out for him after dinner, and he swallowed them dry. “Benjamin should be asleep soon; he was fighting to keep his eyes open even as I read his bedtime story. I think I'd better turn in too. Is there anything I can do for you before I go up?”

“I'm fine, Mark. I hope you're able to sleep well.”

“I'm the lucky one I think; those pills knock a person out.”

She knew he was in pain and running a slight fever again, that every breath had to feel like it was on fire. But she understood why he never said anything in complaint. “I refilled the ice bucket upstairs and left you a bottle of ginger ale. Sharon had the hot pad stored in the guest bathroom; I set it on the nightstand for you. It might help that shoulder some tonight.”

“Thanks. Amy's back at first light with the doctor, so I'd best be on the road to recovery by then. The last thing I need is to be prescribed more pills. If Benjamin cries at all and I don't hear him, please, wake me.”

“I'll do that. Good night, Mark.”

She watched him leave, using a cane and leaning a hand against the chair, then the wall, to keep his balance as he walked. He'd pushed himself coming out of the hospital earlier than was wise and dealt with the fact his wife didn't come home.

In his place, she would have cracked under the pressure a long time ago. She turned her attention back to the kitchen, keeping busy to help pass the long evening.

* * *

“Is there enough in Gary's files to help us find him?” Caroline asked.

Luke looked up from the papers he was sorting through. She looked ill from the lack of sleep. He'd hoped that she would lie down for an hour after dinner. He tugged out a chair at Mark's dining room table for her. “We've got credit card receipts, cancelled checks—” he held up the receipts he had taken from Gary's files—“tracing where he's been in the last year won't be so hard. We'll figure out where he might go again.”

“He had to have taken her somewhere within driving distance. He's not going to fly her somewhere. How far does he run?”

“I don't think he will try to go more than a day or two before he hunkers down. He'll need access to more cash, and that will help us spot him. Or the flyers will pay off and someone will report seeing them. How's the distribution coming?”

“Jackie has the new flyer out with the media, and the volunteers are starting to distribute it now.” Caroline's voice broke and she wiped at the tears. “Sorry.”

He nudged his sandwich her direction, silently encouraging her to try to eat some more. She was holding it together, but her emotions were fraying as the stress never abated. “You need to get some sleep.”

“I tried. It doesn't come.”

She picked up the sandwich to nibble at a bite. “Mark doesn't look so good. You need to speak with him, Luke. He's been going through the negatives we brought over, seeing how many locations he can identify where Gary was watching Sharon or me. He can't do that kind of thing to himself, not when he needs to be recovering. He went up to bed, but I'm afraid he'll just get back up again soon and go back to it.”

Luke set down the papers he held. “I've tried, Caroline. He needs to do something, and to be out searching the roads is beyond his strength right now. I had a hard time convincing him not to pick up his car keys and drive through the night.”

He leaned over and rubbed her hand. “Right now we make progress by generating and dispersing information, increasing media coverage, and following up on leads.”

“It's so hard, this part of your job. Sharon's out there somewhere, and we're helpless to end this without a break coming our way.”

“We'll get that break through a lot of hard work. How's Benjamin holding up?”

“He's frightened, scared, trying hard not to cry in front of his dad. I'll take him out tomorrow to pass out more flyers. That seemed to help him, having something tangible to do.”

“Keep up your courage, Caroline. Sharon is out there, and we will find her.”

She offered a smile that faded and set aside the sandwich. “I thought I might go back to my place for a couple hours and see if I can sleep there. Benjamin finally nodded off and Mark's resting.”

Luke pulled out his car keys for her. “Call me when you get there, okay?”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Luke.”

She headed toward the door.

He watched her go. He'd been afraid she wouldn't have the strength to make that decision to step back for a couple hours, the wisdom to make it. He should have known she'd do the smart thing.

Luke sighed, wishing he could give Caroline something, anything that would be positive news. He looked at the spread-out papers. If Gary had a place he was heading to in mind, he either owned it, had stayed there before, or could easily access it on short notice. It wasn't obvious in the first look at his accounts where that place might be.

Gary obviously bought a lot of film and development supplies. But the cash trail for those hadn't been discovered yet either, which suggested there was another bank, another account somewhere. But where? Luke returned to the search.

* * *

It felt odd being home. Caroline took a mug of hot chocolate out to the back deck and sat down to watch the night sky. The forecast spoke of rain in the next few days, but tonight the sky was clear and the stars bright. The sleep she desperately needed was so far away.

Where was Sharon? Caroline had sat out here with her sister so many nights, talking about life and laughing together.

Jesus, I've survived the first punch of this storm, but it is not letting up and it's like being in a hurricane. I don't know how to cope anymore. I'm losing hope that this will ever end.

Luke kept moving through this, one step at a time, his emotions held just below the surface. She, on the other hand, just felt overwhelmed. She couldn't match Luke's control, but she had to find a way to do so.
How long, Lord? Will we find Sharon tomorrow? in a few days? Does this go on for weeks?
She didn't know what to prepare for.

Luke will do anything he has to in order to save my sister. For that matter, so would I. And I'm scared for him, for what this might require before it's over.

The awareness sat just below her conscious thoughts through the days, as she watched Luke, as she saw him focused on finding Sharon. Caroline knew with each unexpected turn in this case, the odds increased that Luke might be hurt before this was over.
We need this to end, Lord. We need Sharon home.

What happened if Sharon didn't come home? Caroline thought about Benjamin, about what it would be like having to step into Sharon's shoes for a while—to help Mark with the day-to-day routine, to watch Benjamin after school. What did she know about being a mom?

She could be an aunt, keep an eye on Benjamin, help him with schoolwork, listen to his day and help take him to events. But when it came down to the important things—it would never work. Benjamin had to have his mom come home. He'd already lost his dad to an accident and was having to adapt to a new dad. If Sharon didn't come home, Caroline feared Benjamin would withdraw into his shell and not let himself love anyone for fear he'd lose that person.

Could Mark even go on with his life if Sharon was never found? How long did they search before making the painful decision to stop? How long would it be for the courts to consider Sharon dead, making Mark a widower by decree? Would he even stay in Benton or would the memories be so hard he'd take Benjamin to Atlanta to live? The sickness in her stomach grew acute. They couldn't go there; they just couldn't. Somehow they had to find Sharon.

The phone rang inside. Not willing to take another call from a reporter and find herself quoted on the news, she listened to it ring until the machine picked it up.

Chapter Thirty-One

L
uke shifted the skillet onto the heat. “Benjamin, how do you want your eggs?”

“Scrambled.”

Luke cracked four eggs into the hot skillet, dumped in a bit of milk, and stirred hard. “Put in more toast for me, and find the grape jelly. Caroline prefers just toast and coffee for breakfast.”

Mark came into the kitchen walking slowly. Luke recognized the signs of intense pain. “Rough night?”

Mark just grimaced. “I want to go with you today.”

“So do I,” Benjamin added.

“Then you'll both need a good breakfast.” Luke held up two eggs to Mark and got a nod. There was no way to talk his cousin out of going along, and Luke didn't bother to even try. “You both want orange juice?”

“Just milk for me,” Benjamin said.

Luke shoveled eggs onto plates and pointed a spatula to the glass jar of chili peppers as Benjamin passed by him doing the toast. “You want to join me for some hot help this morning?”

Benjamin laughed. “No way.”

Luke tugged out two of the peppers to add to his plate. “Jackie, come grab a plate. You need to eat.”

“I am.” His partner appeared from the dining room, carrying a carrot stick and half a bran muffin. “I brought mine along, remembering your cooking.” She poured herself a coffee refill. “The morning briefing got moved to the Benton sheriff's office in forty minutes. Where's Caroline?”

“Sleeping in, hopefully. Her toast will keep.” Luke pulled out a chair for himself.

“I hope Mom is getting a good breakfast.”

Mark leaned over to his son, spoke quietly, and Benjamin nodded and dug into his eggs. “I'm taking Pop-Tarts along with me for Mom.”

“Good idea,” Jackie concurred.

Luke looked over at his partner and hoped for everyone's sake they had a lead on Sharon's location by nightfall.

* * *

Luke refilled his coffee and carried the mug into the dining room where Jackie was gathering up the area maps.

“I'll take Benjamin and Caroline with me this morning to do more flyer distributions, if you and Mark want to spend a few hours with the task force to brief them on what you found so far from Gary's files,” Jackie offered.

“I'll take you up on that.” Luke looked at his watch. “I hate to wake Caroline up, but leaving without her isn't worth the fireworks that would happen later.”

“Call her.”

He sighed. “Yeah.” If she was too tired and failed to set the alarm or had turned it off and was sleeping again—waking her with a phone call only to tell her he had no news wasn't something he wanted to do. The day was going to be long and hard enough without starting it off with disappointment.

“You loaned her your car last night. Walk over to her place. You can see how she's really doing before she has to put on a steady face for Mark and Benjamin's sake.”

“Would you go ahead and take Mark and Benjamin in with you? We may be a few minutes behind you.”

“Sure.” Jackie paused beside him and set her hand on his arm. “Are you doing okay?”

Luke half smiled. “Remember that weekend when you shot me in the foot?”

Jackie smiled. “I'm not likely to forget given you never will.”

“True.” Luke's smile faded. “I feel like I'm walking around with a gut wound right now. Are we missing something, Jackie?”

“I spent the night wondering about that too. But what? I don't know. Henry James doesn't miss much. He's got the task force exploring every idea folks have had.”

“I know. I'll go get Caroline and we'll meet you shortly.”

* * *

Luke retrieved Caroline's newspaper from the box at the foot of her driveway. He tucked it under his arm and walked toward the house.

Luke saw his car parked off to one side; Caroline had parked so that she could still get to her own car in the garage. Officers had brought it back from Atlanta for her. Luke stepped up onto the porch. The wind had blown leaves into a pile before the front door. He shifted them aside with his foot and rang the doorbell. “Caroline, it's Luke.”