Yuletide Abduction

by Virginia Vaughan

  She was surprised to realize how emotional Josh’s words had made her. She hadn’t meant to fall for the handsome soldier, but somehow she had anyway. That only served to prove to her how entangled her personal and professional lives had got. It was a good thing Lin had arrived with fresh eyes to go over her work. She needed to distance herself emotionally.

  Her phone rang and she reached for it, noticing Josh’s number on her caller ID. Her heart leaped. Had he changed his mind? Had he decided losing her now was greater than losing her later? Her heart raced as she hit the answer button.

  “Josh, hi.” She tried to keep her voice steady and calm instead of shaking in anticipation as it was.

  “I have news,” he told her. His words were quick and excited. “I got a call, an anonymous tip. Larkin has a shed in the woods. That has to be where he’s keeping the girls.”

  Elise perked up. “Who told you this?”

  “I don’t know. He said he didn’t want to get involved, but he thought we should know. I called Daniel. We’re going to drive out there and check it out.”

  “I’m on my way,” Elise said, hopping to her feet, excitement bubbling through her. This could be the break in the case they’d been hoping for. But she couldn’t help but wonder who’d called in the anonymous tip.

  She texted Lin and met him downstairs. Together they hopped into her SUV and drove to the police station. Josh and Daniel were waiting outside, a map spread across the hood of his cruiser.

  Josh looked up as they arrived. Surprise lined his face when he spotted Lin.

  “Josh, Chief Mills, this is my partner, Agent Lin Wildwood. He arrived in town this morning to help.”

  Lin offered his hand and Chief Mills took it. “Looks like you might have arrived just in the nick of time.”

  Lin nodded and offered Josh his hand. “Glad I didn’t miss the excitement.”

  Josh shook his hand then pointed them toward the map. “We’ve identified where the shed should be located based on the coordinates our anonymous tipster gave us. Daniel called the county clerk’s office and the paperwork was recently submitted showing a dwelling there under Larkin’s name.” Josh folded up the map. “I’ll lead the way in the Jeep. Daniel, you follow.” He turned his gaze her way. “Elise, you want to ride up front with me?”

  She hesitated. At this point, she would rather face an armed gunman than the blue of Josh’s eyes, especially after the way they’d left things. She had to keep her distance if there was to be no future for them.

  “I’ll ride with you,” Lin stated, giving her an out.

  She nodded and silently thanked him. “I’ll ride with Chief Mills.” She slid into the passenger’s side of the police cruiser and buckled in.

  Josh and Lin headed for his truck and got inside. Chief Mills stepped into the driver’s side of the police cruiser and started it up, following behind the Jeep as they headed out of town.

  As Josh turned off the highway and onto rougher road, Elise held on tight.

  The chief seemed to be in a talking mood. “I’ve known Josh for a long time. He’s a good man but he’s been through a lot recently. But I know him pretty well, Agent Richardson, and I can tell he’s falling for you.”

  She shook her head. “No, he’s not. Not anymore.”

  Ahead of them, Josh pulled up to a clearing containing a shed. He stopped his truck and jumped out. Elise, Lin and Chief Mills got out, too. A padlock was on the door, so Chief Mills went to the trunk of his cruiser and produced a pair of lock cutters. He handed them to Josh.

  “We’ll cover you,” Mills said.

  Elise pulled her weapon and trained it on the doors as the others did, mentally preparing herself for what lay inside. Was Larkin hiding out? It seemed unlikely since the lock was on the outside of the door. But what would they find inside?

  Josh glanced back at them before pressing down on the pliers and cutting the lock. In one swift motion, he pulled it off and pushed open the door.

  Elise swept the dark interior with her flashlight. She saw an old mattress on the floor and a stack of blankets. The smell was foul and the temperature cold. If someone was being kept in here they would be at the mercy of the outside temperature. December weather in Mississippi wasn’t as cold as in other parts of the country, but thirty-to-forty-degree temperatures at night would still be cold for someone locked inside here.

  “Agent Richardson?” The voice that called to her was small and still.

  Elise swept her light toward it and caught sight of a small frame huddled against the wall, her blond hair straggly and her clothes torn.

  Brooke!

  They’d found her.

  EIGHT

  Elise examined the shed further while Josh stayed with Brooke. In the distance, sirens loomed, closing in on their location, answering Chief Mills’s call. Elise spotted blood on the concrete and a mattress in the corner. This place was used to terrorize a young girl. Her blood boiled. Larkin would not get away with this.

  “The ambulance just pulled up,” Josh said from the doorway.

  Hopefully the forensics team would be able to find fingerprints, blood samples and other specimens to use against Larkin. Elise watched as two paramedics hovered over Brooke, taking her vitals. She was now their greatest evidence against Larkin. A victim who’d survived to identify her predator.

  Elise swept her flashlight over the inside of the shed again and spotted something in the corner. She moved toward it. She picked it up, recognizing it as the backpack Brooke had carried the day she’d tried to interview her. But the light shone on another object. Elise bent down and picked it up. Another backpack, this one gray and pink...like Candace’s. Elise unzipped it and found it loaded with a biology book and an algebra book. Her heart thudded against her chest. She didn’t call Josh over, not yet, not until she knew for certain to whom this backpack belonged. She pulled out a notebook and opened it, finding pages with Candace’s name scrawled on them.

  She stared out of the shed at Josh sitting by Brooke’s side, her protector. This news would devastate him, but perhaps it would also bring him and Patti a sense of closure.

  As she walked toward him, Josh spotted the backpack in her hand. All the painful emotions he’d tried hard to contain forced their way into his expression. “Where did you find that?”

  Brooke looked up at her, sadness lining her young face. “That’s Candace’s backpack.”

  Elise nodded then knelt beside the girl. “I found it in the shed. Was Candace in there with you? Did you see her?”

  Brooke shook her head. “He said he killed her. He told me he killed her and he would kill me, too, if I didn’t do what he said.”

  Elise saw a tear escape Josh’s eye. He swiped at it as he raked his hand over his face and turned away.

  She wanted to rush to him, wrap her arms around him and offer him comfort, but she didn’t. Instead, she focused on the cuts and bruises and the cigarette burns on Brooke’s arms. She’d been tortured and beaten and possibly more.

  “He can’t hurt you anymore, Brooke. You’re safe now. Can you tell me who did this to you?”

  She needed her to say his name. She needed her to identify him without confusion. Brooke was now their greatest piece of evidence against Larkin.

  The girl fingered a lock of hair then looked at Elise, her chin quivering with fear. “It was Mr. Larkin. He grabbed me while I was walking to meet you. He locked me in the shed. He did terrible things to me.” She broke into sobs and Elise immediately reached to hug the girl.

  “You’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you again.” The paramedics motioned that they were ready to transport Brooke to the hospital. She was in for more poking and prodding and examination there, all in an effort to gather as much evidence as possible against Larkin. “These paramedics are going to take you to the hospital. T
hey’ll take good care of you and I’ll meet you there.”

  She grabbed for Elise’s jacket. “Can’t you come with me?”

  Elise longed to get over to Josh, to offer him comfort and sympathy. She knew he was hurting, having got evidence that Candace was not coming home. She wanted to be there for him...but as she looked into the trusting eyes of Brooke and realized the girl was bonding with her, she knew she had to accompany her to the hospital. Brooke needed to be questioned about her ordeal, and Elise needed to be the one to do it.

  “I’m scared, Agent Richardson,” Brooke whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”

  Elise squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’m not going anywhere.” She would do whatever it took to put Larkin away for what he’d done.

  “Brooke!”

  Elise looked up at the call as did Brooke. Her father was rushing toward them. However, instead of being relieved to see him, Brooke tensed and inched closer to Elise.

  “Brooke, are you all right?” Rick Martin reached his daughter and swept her into a hug.

  “I’m fine,” she told him.

  “Who did this, Brooke? Who hurt you?”

  She glanced at Elise then back to her father. “It was Mr. Larkin from school.”

  Rick Martin turned a hard stare on Elise. “The man you let go? Surely now you have enough evidence to lock up that maniac.”

  Elise nodded. “Chief Mills has a team headed to his house right now. If he’s there, they’ll take him into custody.”

  He took Brooke by the shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

  “Wait, Mr. Martin.” Elise rushed after them. “Brooke needs to be evaluated by a physician. There are tests they need to perform on her.”

  “My daughter has been through enough already. I’m not putting her through a bunch of unnecessary medical procedures.”

  “The more evidence we collect against Larkin, the longer they’ll be able to keep him locked up. Don’t you want to know if Brooke was assaulted—” she glanced at Brooke “—sexually?”

  “My daughter’s statement that he abducted her will be enough to put him away.”

  “Mr. Martin, please be reasonable.”

  He stopped and turned to Elise. “I’ve made my decision, Agent Richardson. I need to get her home and get her cleaned up. She needs a chance to have a normal life. Can’t you understand that? This ordeal is over. It’s your job to catch the bad guys, so go do your job.”

  He walked to his car and opened the door for Brooke. The girl glanced her way before getting into the car, and Elise thought she saw a look of fear on her face.

  She pulled out her phone and called Lin, who’d gone with Chief Mills to Larkin’s house. Today had been a victory in that they’d found Brooke, but how could they celebrate when Larkin was not yet in custody?

  “Please tell me you have good news,” she said when he answered.

  Lin sighed wearily. “I’m afraid not.”

  “You didn’t get Larkin?”

  “No, we got him all right. Elise, Larkin is dead.”

  * * *

  When Elise arrived at Larkin’s house, a crowd had already gathered on the street. Josh and Elise got out and moved through the crowds, beneath the police tape toward the garage where Lin and Chief Mills were waiting for them.

  “What happened?” she asked the chief, who pointed inside the garage. Elise spotted Larkin’s car parked there, with a figure slumped over the steering wheel. Exhaust fumes still filled the garage, and Elise had to cover her mouth and nose to keep from inhaling the toxic stench.

  She examined the body, disappointed by this event. She’d hoped to have Larkin taken alive. Now would they ever know what had happened to Candace? Would her whereabouts be forever hidden because of Peter Larkin’s cowardice?

  She tried not to move the body, to preserve the integrity of the crime scene, but she checked for marks along his wrists and ankles or anything to indicate he was bound and then placed into the car. She saw none. It appeared this was just what it seemed—an accused man taking the easy way out.

  Elise followed the chief into the yard, taking a deep breath to dispel the gagging harmful gas from her lungs and nostrils.

  “Looks like suicide by asphyxiation,” Lin stated. “He was in the car with the engine running and the garage door closed. The car was still running when we arrived.”

  “How long had he been in there?”

  “Don’t know yet, but there was still a quarter of a tank of gas left according to the gauge. Who knows if it was full or not.”

  “I didn’t see any marks indicating he was bound.”

  “Any chance he was already dead when he was placed in the car?” Chief Mills asked.

  She knew he asked the question purely for the purpose of covering all the bases. He wanted this to be just what it looked like and, for once, she was able to accommodate him. “He has bruises around his eyes indicating carbon monoxide poisoning. I imagine that will be his cause of death. And I saw no indication he was bound, but an autopsy may find differently.”

  She heard the crowd murmuring around the house. Peter Larkin had committed suicide—nearly as good as a confession, as far as the townspeople were concerned.

  And to Chief Mills, too. “He knew he wasn’t getting out of these charges.”

  He was satisfied. Larkin had kidnapped Brooke, and the backpack they’d found suggested he’d kidnapped and killed Candace as well, then taken the easy way out when his crimes were discovered.

  It all made sense.

  It was simple and logical. Chief Mills seemed satisfied. Lin seemed satisfied.

  Why, then, did it seem to Elise that this loose end had been hand tied just for their satisfaction?

  * * *

  Josh parked his truck in Patti’s driveway and cut the engine, but he made no move to get out. “How can I go in there and tell her Candace is dead? I don’t know how to do that.”

  Elise covered his hand with hers. “You don’t have to do it alone.”

  His shoulders shook as he fought to control the emotions she knew were flowing through him. It wasn’t fair for this family, for Josh, to have to go through this again. They’d already lost Max. Why did they have to lose Candace, too?

  She was angry. Angry at God for allowing this. Angry at Larkin and those like him who used people for their own corrupt needs and then discarded them. These were the kinds of people she’d devoted her life to fighting against. These were the people who needed justice, and she vowed she would get vengeance for them.

  She leaned over and hugged Josh, and he took her into his arms, his grasp strong and pressing as his ragged breath. She held him. It was all she could do for him now.

  He broke their hold when the porch light came on and the front door opened. Patti stood at the door. Obviously recognizing the car, she headed toward them, but stopped as if realizing something was wrong when they didn’t get out right away. Josh wiped his face, opened the door and stepped out. Patti must have seen the truth written on his face because her eyes widened and a retching sob shook her entire body so violently that Elise worried she might hit the pavement. But Josh rushed to her and held her as she cried.

  Elise’s anger continued to burn against Larkin and against God as she watched. What kind of God allowed such evil to win? Both Josh and Patti believed God guided their lives, but what kind of plan could God have that involved the murder of this child and the further devastation of this family?

  * * *

  Elise holed up inside a spare office at the police station and scanned through the evidence against Larkin again—Brooke’s statement, the processing of the shed, Taylor Johnson’s death. Something was wrong and she couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling that this entire situation was too well wrapped up. There were always questions remaining after an invest
igation ended. The motives, the undiscovered evidence. Where were they? The only piece of evidence unaccounted for was Candace’s body. After the Allie Peterson case, she’d promised herself she would follow her gut, and now her gut was shouting volumes.

  Lin knocked on the door and she waved him inside. He’d been there with her tying up the case. “I’m sorry it didn’t turn out better.”

  The building was quickly filling up with volunteers ready to help comb the woods for Candace. But they were looking for only a body now. No one expected to find her alive. “Chief Mills is calling in search dogs to scour the area around where they found Brooke.”

  He gave her a sideways glance. “Elise, we can’t save everyone.”

  “I know that, but lately it seems I can’t save anyone, Lin.”

  “You saved Brooke. Your gut told you she was in trouble and you were right.”

  “But I interviewed Larkin. Why didn’t I see what he was capable of?”

  “He fooled you. That’s all.”

  “He didn’t strike me as all that smart.”

  “Perhaps that’s part of his persona. He may actually have been smarter than he looked. That’s how he’s scraped by all these years. Either way, I’d say this case no longer fits the criteria for your human smuggling ring.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “What are you going to do now?”

  She understood his question. What were her plans now that this case had exploded in her face? She hadn’t uncovered any evidence of a trafficking ring. She hadn’t been able to save Candace. She hadn’t even been able to protect Brooke from Larkin. She’d failed on all accounts. Was it time to return to the FBI? To what extent? She was a failure. What would the FBI want with her now?

  “Elise, it’s time to come home. Your theory hasn’t panned out. It’s time to come back to the Bureau and do some real good.”

  She saw his insistence. He still believed in her, wanted her back. Still, she hesitated. “I may take another couple of weeks.” This case had left a stench around her and she needed to distance herself from it. She’d got too close to this case, to this family, to Josh, and it hadn’t been good for anyone.