Enigma (19 page)

Local Couple Suspected in Kidnapping of Popular Defense Attorney’s Only Child

Three-month-old, Matalyn Renell Holland, daughter of Kitrick and Evana Holland, was taken from her crib in her parents’ home early Sunday morning. Police made statements confirming that the alarm system had been set off and there were signs of forced entry to the front door of the home. Mr. Kitrick Holland, the well-known CA defense attorney, received a letter at his office the following day, demanding that he not involve police any further regarding the whereabouts of his child if he wanted her to remain unharmed. Miraculously, that afternoon, a resident who wishes to remain anonymous noticed a couple who was acting peculiar at a park. The couple, Cheryl Felesky and Damron Griswol, had an infant that was inconsolable, and the couple didn’t seem to know what to do with the child. The resident then made the instrumental call to local officials that lead to the safe recovery of the child. Felesky and Griswol told police during questioning that they found the child on the park bench where they had stopped to rest while traveling and were trying to console the child before taking her to the hospital. Shortly after being questioned at the police station, the two suspects could not be located after they’d been asked not to leave town. If you have seen these two individuals, please contact local officials, as they are wanted in an ongoing kidnap investigation.

As if the article had not said enough, there were photos of Cheryl Felesky and Damron Griswol underneath. I felt the color drain from my face as I saw the photos, recognizing both of them. I lost the ability to find my voice as I sat in shock. Avan must have sensed that something was wrong, as he stopped what he was doing to see me sitting rigid in my chair in complete disbelief; I realized the photos below the article were none other than the people I knew as Sharon Mumford and Damien Montgomery.

Grabbing a bottle of water from my purse and taking a drink, I noticed Avan was still staring at me with deep concern. Clearing my throat, I finally found my voice and explained to him what I had found. I moved my chair over to let him read the article and see the photos as I explained who the two people were. We copied down the information from the article, including the date of the newspaper and any other details that we would need to back up our story, and then gathered our things without even putting back the slides we had gotten out. We both started for the front door and headed to the car as quickly as possible. There is no explanation for how we both knew what the other one was thinking, but without a doubt, Avan and I both knew exactly where the next stop would be even though it had been unplanned.

Less than five minutes later, we pulled up in front of the Bridgepoint Police Station. We ran into the building to a small area with a window where a dispatcher sat; she also answered phones and did reception work. The dispatcher had stress lines on her forehead, minimal makeup, and her hair in a ponytail. She wore regular police attire but without a gun.

“What can I do for you?” she asked without looking up.

“I need to speak to the lead detective who worked a kidnapping case sixteen years ago.”

“Do you have a case number?”

“No, but you would probably remember the case. A defense attorney, Kitrick Holland, was involved. His daughter, Matalyn Holland, was kidnapped?” I asked, hoping to jog her memory.

“Yeah, I remember the case, it’s the only abduction we’ve ever had in Bridgepoint.”

“Do you know who was heading up the case?”

“Yeah, I think it was Jonesy,” she replied.

“Is he in? I really need to speak with him. It’s pretty urgent.”

“I think he’s back in his office. I can page him and see if he’s got a minute. Can I tell him your name?” she asked, still not raising her head from the computer screen.

“Sure, tell him Matalyn Holland is here to speak with him.”

As soon as the words came out of my lips, the dispatcher dropped the pen she had in her hand onto the desk, looking at me as though she was seeing a ghost. Without wasting a second more, she paged Detective Jonesy and let him know I was there to speak with him. Just as I thought he would, he agreed to see us. The dispatcher told us to have a seat and he would be right out to get us.

When the door leading back into the building opened a tall, athletic man with a crew cut looked at me as he asked me if I was Matalyn Holland. I nodded, and he asked us to follow him into his office so that we could discuss matters privately. Walking into the doorway, I noticed the walls were painted white. Lined one right after the other were framed photos of officers from the past and present. The frames had nameplates on them with the officers’ names and years of service with the force. Those who held rank had their position labeled on the plate as well.

Detective Jonesy’s office was the last door on the right. Going inside, the walls were the same color as the hallway, though decorated quite differently. On one wall Detective Jonesy had a display of awards he had been given for his exemplary work in the criminal justice field. On the wall adjacent to it was a display of several medals, awards, and plaques he had been given from the U.S. Marine Corps for his exemplary work for our country.

In each of the two corners behind his desk there was a flag, and on the wall above his chair was a wall hanging of the Marine Corps Semper Fi emblem. In the right corner stood the American flag and on the left was the state flag. His desk looked as if it had definitely seen better days. It was metal and painted a drab green color. The drawers squeaked when they opened and wouldn’t shut unless they were slammed. There were obvious stains from coffee mugs that had left their signature on the desktop. Stacks of folders sat on one end of the desk, and an outdated computer monitor sat on the other. Two older-looking yellow chairs sat in front of the desk where Avan and I sat quietly.

“Matalyn Holland, you’ve grown up quite a bit since I last saw you,” Detective Jonesy said as he closed the office door and made his way around his desk to sit in the chair.

“Yes sir, I have.”

“And what is your name, sir?” Detective Jonesy asked, looking over to Avan.

“My name is Avan Rork, sir,” Avan responded without a hint of the nervousness that I was being swallowed by.

“Matalyn, I understand you want to discuss a case?”

“Yes sir, the one where I was kidnapped.”

“Yes, we were very lucky we were able to find you before the suspects left town with you,” Detective Jonesy said as he picked up the coffee cup from his desk and took a drink.

“I wanted to ask a few questions about the investigation if I could,” I asked hesitantly.

“I’ll tell you all I know, but I have to warn you that it isn’t much,” he said as he looked over at Avan.

“I understand you never arrested the suspects. Is that correct?”

“That is correct.”

“I know where they are. They are going by different names and living in Oceanview!” I said, feeling myself getting worked up.

“Matalyn, what all do you know about the investigation?”

“Only what I found in an old newspaper article.”

“Well, I’m just going to tell you like it is, okay? I don’t have much information due to circumstances surrounding the investigation. We couldn’t move forward with anything. Everything we tried led us to a dead end. Your parents actually dropped the case, leaving us empty handed. It was shut on us before we even got started with it. I understand that your parents are no longer here, and unfortunately, with you being a minor and not having memory of the event, we would need your parents to press charges against these people. Statute of limitations says they would have to be charged with the crime by your twenty-eighth birthday. The problem here is that other than your parents and the mystery citizen who made the phone call alerting us to the park, there were no other witnesses to prove anything.

“Nobody saw them take you, and even the person calling in reported all they saw was two people at the park acting weird with a baby. We couldn’t prove that their story was a lie. The only thing they actually did wrong was leave town before the investigation was wrapped up. Since your parents dropped all charges and shut the case for us, we didn’t have a right to arrest them anymore. At this point a case against them would be circumstantial at best, and I don’t see a judge or jury putting two people away for circumstantial evidence,” he stated without sugar coating anything.

“Why would my parents drop the charges and shut the case?” I asked, blown away that my dad, infamous for his career in law, would just back down without a fight.

“Matalyn, I have asked myself the same question for years. If I could come up with even a halfway decent answer and make you feel better, I would.”

“Well, thank you for all your help,” I said as I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what else to say.

“Anytime, Matalyn. You’ve really grown up to be a beautiful young lady. It’s hard to think the last time I was this close to you how tiny you were. I bet you didn’t weigh much more than ten to fifteen lbs.”

“Oh, I do have one more question before I go.”

“I’ll try to answer it the best I can,” Detective Jonesy said. He kept glancing over at Avan.

“When did our old house burn down?”

“That happened last year. An older couple had been living there and left for vacation. Forgetting to blow out a candle, they took off on a road trip to Iowa to see their daughter. They hadn’t been gone for over an hour when the candle set the living room curtains on fire and it went up like a bonfire.”

“Oh okay, well at least no one was injured,” I replied sadly as Avan and I made our way to the door.

After exiting the station, we got back in the car and headed down the highway back toward Oceanview. I now had interesting new information about Sharon and Damien or whatever their actual names were. I just couldn’t figure out what they could have wanted with me or what they thought they could possibly gain by kidnapping me. I really felt uncomfortable staying in the Montgomery house at all now. Avan offered to find me a place to stay, but after thinking about the circumstances at hand, I thought it would be more dangerous for everyone if I gave them any inclination that I had dirt on them.

I still needed more answers before I made any kind of move. This was like a game of chess that I was playing with my life, so I had to be careful. The rest of the ride home was quiet due to me being too tired to focus on conversation. Avan told me to relax and get some rest, which would have been a great idea if I could find some way to avoid ever having to go home. I could feel my life starting to unravel, and I did not like it one bit.

CHAPTER 9

It had been two weeks since Avan and I had made our little day trip to Bridgepoint, and no one had seemed to notice. I was very careful not to let on that I had found anything out. I did not even think about the trip unless I was inside my room, feeling safe under the protection of the angel my mother had left me. Lena had come home acting as if nothing had happened with Ian, making me wonder if she was still leading him to believe that something could come out of nothing when it came to him and me. I just chose to go on about my business.

Lena had to know it was obvious that I found ways to stop hanging around with her as much, unless it was because we were both at home, but she pretended not to care, even though I could tell my new posse that I started hanging around was not of her approval. Every time Avan would come get me in the morning, I would look up to see Lena’s face staring out her window with a look that I was afraid might just melt his pretty car into a puddle on the driveway. She had stopped going to Spirits at all. I guess she wanted to stay away from having to see with her own eyes that all the staff members treated me as if I was part of the crew.

Over the last month they had all started to look at me as a sister since I was with Avan. In fact, I was so close to all of them now that I never felt threatened if any of them were close by. I knew they would protect me without a second thought. I even started learning how to make things on the menu at Spirits and helped out when things got busy. I still had not made an effort to go on a Saturday night for the concert because now that I fit in as part of the Spirits family, I really did not want them to try to drag me on stage. I actually never even tried to sing, aside from the times alone in my car, but I definitely had no desire to debut myself in a room full of people.

School was an obvious change for Lena as well when she came back. When she left she had been the center of attention with all eyes on her. Not that we gave a rip, but now every eye was on me and Avan. All eyes were on us because Avan was always seen as unattainable and I was the girl who got him. Not to mention, everyone had noticed the way my appearance had gone from being pretty (what I heard rumored in the hallways) to stunning since I received the gift my mom had left for me. Lena became the backup conversation to me, which was something she was never going to get used to. Like every other girl who had ever tried to get Avan’s attention, her desperate attempts had failed time and time again.

She could never even get any of his friends and coworkers to glance at her. I was still in shock to know that anyone, especially Avan Rork, would choose me over the girl that most guys doted on as being some kind of goddess. I really was not used to all the attention it drew from others yet. I knew people talked about me all the time for being Lena’s best friend and living in her house, but this was a completely new level of news coverage. It was as though I had gone from being the run-of-the-mill actress in Hollywood to getting the lead role in the biggest box-office hit of the year!

I could care less that people had moved me into the number-one spot. I had no intentions of being the royalty of Oceanview High School to begin with, but it just happened without me trying. Lena reacted completely different than I thought she would. Rather than trying to get closer to me, I felt like she was just standing off to the side unnoticed and watching from a distance, strategizing.