by Joyce
"Maybe, but I'm sure you know that they want to try."
"They put in a take-over bid.” He ran a hand over his tired eyes. “You sensed all that?"
"In a manner of speaking.” Rae knitted her hands together in her lap. “Edna told me some of it. The rest I'm guessing."
"Guessing?"
"It wasn't a secret. Edna didn't mind telling me her theories. But they don't involve the kidnapping. Not surprising since they don't know about it."
"Are you sure? They're our biggest competitors. They stand to gain a lot with this friendly take-over."
"If there were any secrets she was hiding about Bryce or the kidnapping, I couldn't tell."
"I'll probably never see Bryce alive again."
"Don't say that! Bryce needs you to stay strong for her! She's still alive. With a little more time, we'll be able to find her."
"But will she be alive when we find her?” Steve's question was anguished. “It's already been so long. This is the fourth day."
"She's alive right now. That's what's important and—"
"Rae?"
It was that silken thread again. Like a siren's call in the distant recesses of her mind. The thread began to pull at her. It drew her slowly, inexorably, towards the source. Bryce.
"Damn! They're moving her!"
They took four armed security men with them. Rae knew she was following the same feeling that took her to the coffee shop. It was late. The city streets were nearly empty. The coffee shop was closed. The tension between the men was as thick as the smog. Why were they here?
Steve looked up and down the street. “Are you sure about this?"
Rae felt certain of her information ... and her mistake. “She was here. That's what brought me here this afternoon. I realize that now. She was here. I couldn't see it. She's gone now."
The security men looked at Steve for a decision.
Steve decided quickly. “Do it!"
Watching the street for city patrol cars, they quietly broke into the coffee shop. There was no alarm. They were able to open the backdoor and slip inside without notice.
"Where?” Steve waited for Rae.
She tried to focus. “I'm not sure. I can feel her here. In my dream there was something big and heavy in front of the room where they were keeping her. They moved it each time to let her in and out."
Ten minutes went past while Rae looked around the coffee shop with her flashlight. The security men doused their lights and sat down in the booths, waiting for Steve's orders. Steve walked behind Rae like a man possessed. There was nothing unusual in any of the dark corners.
After another ten minutes of fruitless searching, Steve decided to call an end to it. “I don't think she was here, Rae. Let's go."
"No.” She was possessed by Bryce's image, certain the girl had been there. “It was bad enough that I didn't realize it earlier. I let them slip away with her. I don't want to leave until we find something that leads us to where she is now."
Steve followed her for another few minutes while she poked and prodded various pieces of kitchen equipment. “We have to go, Rae. If the police find us here and arrest us for breaking and entering, that won't help Bryce."
Rae wasn't listening. She was kneeling down next to the rusted bed on the cold, dirty floor. The two masked people brought her back into the room. She begged them not to leave her alone. And the scent of onions was so strong ... “Here! She was back here! There's a room here behind the freezer."
Steve looked at the freezer with the big bags of onions set beside it. It didn't look like it had moved in the last ten years. He tried to push it. Surprisingly, it slid easily on large rollers. “Al!"
Two of the four men joined them while the other two stayed up front to keep watch on the quiet street.
"The freezer moves.” Steve pushed aside the onions and shoved it.
It took two of them to move the freezer, one to push and the other to steer. It glided along the wall until a roughly cut doorway was revealed. The floor was slick with grease and debris.
"Footprints.” Al glanced back at Rae. “Someone's been back here recently."
Steve impatiently pushed at the makeshift door in the wall. The door squeaked open on rusty hinges. It barely stayed together as Steve knocked it aside. The flashlight beam caught on a small bed with rusty metal springs and a dirty half tile floor. There was a string in the ceiling. Rae pulled it and the naked light bulb shone down in the little room.
"My God!” Steve knelt down beside the bed. “They kept her here like a dog."
Rae wanted to cry. “She was here this afternoon. These footprints look fresh.” Maybe Lynn was right. You're out of practice, overwhelmed by the situation.
Steve turned to Al. “I want to know tonight who owns this place. I want to know whatever you can find out about them, including where they are right now."
"I'll get on it,” Al replied quickly. “And we'll go over this place for prints. We'll find her, Steve."
"Is there anything else?” Steve took Rae aside as the men started going over the coffee shop. “Anything that might give us some idea where they took her?"
Rae shook her head. “I wish I could tell you that there was. I knew they were moving her. I felt that she was gone. But I don't know where, Steve. I'm sorry."
"You've come closer than anyone else so far. You've definitely got some kind of connection with her."
"Maybe as soon as they find another place to keep her. I don't know."
"I'm sorry I gave you a hard time today. I'll have someone take you home. We'll probably be here most of the night."
"That's okay. I'd rather stay. Being here might be a good thing. I want to pick up on her as soon as I can. Besides, under the guise of a psychic mind reader, I really am a trained agent. I can probably find more here than any of your men."
Steve didn't argue. “All right. Excuse me, I have to make a phone call."
A blue security van pulled up to the back of the shop a few minutes later. Other men and women brought in computers and equipment. They picked up and analyzed samples of everything from the dirt on the floor to the pieces of the food on the small table near the bed. There were fingerprints on everything. Some were smeared with grease and unrecognizable. Others were partial prints that were impossible to match together.
"I found the owner.” One of the investigators in the dark kitchen called out. “Mary Francis. Her name is Mary Francis."
"Mary was the waitress's name when I was here yesterday,” Rae told Steve.
"Mary Francis?” Steve puzzled over the name. “Who is she?"
The other man shrugged. “I don't know yet. I'm checking. She has an address listed a few blocks from here. Should I send out a team?"
"Trouble,” a voice warned on the radio. “Cops."
Everyone sat very still. All the voices and computers went silent. The two officers got out of their car and shined their flashlights into the coffee shop. There were only a few men in the front part of the restaurant, hidden behind the booths. The rest were in the back, in the kitchen and storage area.
The officers looked in through the windows and tried the door. When nothing moved, they got back in their car and drove away. Everyone let out a collective sigh then went back to work. The computers and printers hummed.
"This spot was probably an old storage room that the city wouldn't let them use anymore because of health regulations,” Al conjectured.
Rae listened as the team tried to piece everything together. Steve was on the computer. She spent most of her time in the tiny storage room where she saw Bryce in her dream.
Jeff was a forensic whiz that Steve hired to help find Bryce. He was taking fingerprints from the kitchen area and the room where Bryce was kept. “So, you're with Steve?"
Rae smiled, glad of the ruse. “Yes."
"How does he do it?"
"Do what?"
He slid closer to her. “Always pick the gorgeous ones."
"Does he?"
&
nbsp; "Oh yeah. But I'm surprised at him bringing you here. Could be dangerous.” His fingers whisked powder on the metal bed frame.
"I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Anything?” Steve asked them.
Jeff looked up at him, red faced. “A few prints. They look like a child's so they might be Bryce's. We should know pretty soon."
"Thanks.” Steve glanced at Rae. “How about you?"
She held up a small bag. “I have some hair samples and some paint flecks that might help."
He drew her away from Jeff. “I guess I meant psychic stuff."
"No.” She pushed back the immediate rush of erotic images that filled her at his touch. Concentrate! “I can still feel Bryce's presence here but nothing yet on where she's gone."
There was a loud crashing noise from the other room. Steve turned to look at what happened.
"All right,” an authoritative voice told them. “Everybody grab the floor. Put your hands behind your heads and don't bother looking up. This is the Atlanta Metro Police. All of you are under arrest for breaking and entering. Line ‘em up, Danny. It's gonna be a big night at the station tonight!"
There were fifteen of them arrested all together. Ten laptops were confiscated and a host of guns and monitoring equipment.
Rae was taken into a small room and questioned by a police lieutenant. She refused to speak to anyone until she heard from a lawyer. She knew Steve would handle the whole thing. There was no point in giving herself away. If the newspapers got her name and looked her up like Steve did...
The lieutenant put her into a cell for the night since she wouldn't cooperate. A short while later, they called her. She was escorted back to the interrogation room. This time, Steve and his lawyer were both present. They all sat down around the big table.
"I don't know what was going on in that coffee shop tonight.” The lieutenant who questioned Rae stared at all of them. “But somebody better start talking or a bunch of PI's are gonna lose their licenses and the rest of you are flat out going into the system."
"Mr. Williams realizes the gravity of the situation.” Steve's lawyer was calm in the face of the lieutenant's storm. “And he'll be willing to explain everything if he has your promise of discretion in this matter."
The lieutenant sat down. “I'm not promising anything until I know what's going on."
The door opened and the deputy police commissioner entered the room. He was wearing a blue-striped pajama top thrown on over dark slacks and dress shoes with no socks. He pulled his brown overcoat closer when they all looked at his pajama top. Then he called the lieutenant into the hallway.
"Good call,” Steve's lawyer commended.
"I'm upset that it wasn't the commissioner,” Steve replied in mock arrogance. “I was at his party at the country club two weeks ago."
The lawyer nodded and smiled.
"Are you all right?” Steve asked Rae.
"Fine. What's going on?"
"I explained what was happening to the commissioner and he agreed to help out."
The door opened again and the three police officers, along with the deputy commissioner, re-entered the little room.
"Mr. Williams.” The deputy commissioner held out his hand. His hair looked like a scrub brush sticking up all over his head, taking something away from his dignity. “I'm sure this can all be worked out. The lieutenant has instructions to work with you however he can. Good luck, sir."
"Thank you.” Steve shook the man's hand.
"You're quite welcome. If there are any other problems, please let us know."
"I appreciate your cooperation."
The deputy commissioner gave the lieutenant one last long look and then walked out of the room.
"Well that's a fine kettle of fish!” The lieutenant tossed the documents he was holding on the table.
Steve took his seat again.
"So, I'm supposed to release all of you. No one gets charged for the break in. And I look the other way while you careen around the city doing something too secret for the rest of us to know about. Is that it?"
"I don't want to tell you how to run your department, Lieutenant."
"Thanks so much.” The man glanced at Rae. “I guess a man like you can have the best money can buy."
Steve didn't reply. He put his arm around Rae.
His lawyer stepped in between them. “I assume they're free to go now?"
The two men exchanged looks. The lieutenant was the first one to look away. “All right. I can't fight city hall. But I think you're making a mistake in trying to do whatever this is on your own. You're likely to get yourself killed."
The lawyer was left behind to sign some papers. The small group that went into the station house together left the same way.
"I have an address,” Al said to Steve.
Steve got into the car. “Where?"
"Two blocks from the coffee shop."
"Are you sure?"
Al's breath was frosty in the night air. “I checked it out on the computer. Mary Francis came here five years ago. She bought the house, worked at various restaurants around the city, then bought the coffee shop last year."
Steve opened a car door for Rae. “Let's go."
The security team took the van and two cars to the small house that was listed as Mary Francis’ residence. They waited outside, watching the house on the quiet city back street.
It wasn't much. Shingles were missing from the roof and a window was cracked in the front door. There were a few plastic chairs on the front porch. They were faded from the sun and had broken legs. A few straggling pansies were barely alive in a bucket by the door.
Duke Barneby joined them with the other security team. “Who'd have thought? I've gone to that shop every day since it opened. Mary seemed like a decent person."
"I've been in there, too,” Al admitted. “They have good donuts."
They watched the house for about half an hour from a vantage point on a hill beyond the drive. The van was around the corner but cell phones interlinked them.
"I think we should go in, Mr. Williams.” Duke seemed eager to make a move.
"Rae?” Steve sat back and consulted her quietly. “What do you think?"
Rae focused on the house but she couldn't feel anything. If Bryce was in that dingy house, she couldn't tell her presence. She whispered, “I don't know. One thing I can tell you from observation, Mary Francis hasn't spent any of the money you gave her."
Steve turned to her. “What makes you say that?"
"Look at her house. Unless a man is telling her what to do, a woman would be likely to spend some money on her house. Even if she had to be discreet about it."
He nodded to Al and Duke. “Okay. Let's go in. Be careful. There might be someone else involved besides the woman."
Ten men advanced on the house. Steve asked Rae to stay in the car and keep the cell phone ready to speed dial the police. If they found anyone in the house, he was going to call them in on the case. Rae agreed. Except for the part about staying in the car. She wanted to be there if they found Bryce. And what good was she going to do in the car? As far as danger, she'd been in spots that made this look like a ride on a roller coaster.
Guns drawn, the men went to each of the three entrances to the house. Duke knocked on the door. There was no response. He checked the doorknob. “It's open. What do you want to do?"
"Let's go in,” Steve told him briefly.
Al and another security guard pushed open the front door. It was obvious from the mess that the woman left in a hurry. She'd only been gone for a few hours. She left everything but what she absolutely had to take with her. Clothes were scattered everywhere, including children's clothing. Food was left on the kitchen table, untouched. A pot of coffee was still plugged in on the stove.
"She was here.” Duke crouched down to look at the children's clothing in the dining room. “And she had a child with her."
"Probably Bryce.” Al worked quickly on his laptop. “Mary Francis’ r
ecords don't show a child so far. But I'm showing a twenty-thousand dollar deposit made to her account last month."
"Try to trace that deposit,” Duke told him. “And get us some DMV records."
Rae pulled on some gloves and picked up a bottle of men's cologne from the bathroom sink. “I think there was a man here with her."
Al's fingers raced on the keyboard. “I don't show anything about her being married."
"Could be a boyfriend or a brother,” Steve suggested.
"Talk to the neighbors.” Duke dispersed them. “Let's find out if anyone saw Bryce. Does everyone have a picture?"
They all looked at Steve. He nodded in agreement.
Duke went to brief the others. They searched the house thoroughly but there was no information about where Mary Francis went with Bryce.
"They didn't disappear.” Steve was watching Al who was looking for an airline reservation for them.
"There's nothing in her name,” he told him. “If she went out that way, she used another name."
"Credit card receipts,” Jeff called out after looking through a jacket pocket.
Duke returned with the rest of the team who was canvassing the neighborhood. “She left a few hours ago in her van."
"What color?” Rae asked him.
"Tan,” he replied, consulting his notes.
Steve faced him. “Was Bryce with her?"
"The neighbors said she took her niece with them,” Duke replied. “She's been staying with Mary for the past few days. A quiet little girl, about four or five, with dark hair and blue eyes."
Steve slammed his fist into the wall immediately on his right. “Did they mention a man being here with her?"
"Not a word. What makes you think there might be?"
Rae held up the bottle of cologne.
"I'll check,” Duke growled. “Let's get a registration on that van and see if we can track it. She must be driving it."
"Unless they ran to ground somewhere else by now.” Rae wanted to cover all the possibilities. Duke wasn't happy about her being there. He was less happy that she found something he missed. Not surprising. She was Steve's bimbo.
They left Duke behind with a team of men. They were combing through everything they could find in the house for any idea of where Mary Francis could have taken Bryce. Steve and Al joined Rae in the car.
