Vanished (3 page)

“Isn't it likely if there was a kidnapper, that he took her
out that way since none of the neighbors saw anything unusual?” Madison asked Kirk as she trailed after him.

In the living room away from Kim, J.T. caught Madison's arm and halted her progress. Another rumble of thunder vibrated the air. Tension whipped down his length. “There's no
if
in this. Ashley has been kidnapped.”

Madison glanced down at his hand on her then back up into his eyes. He instantly dropped his arm away as though touching her had burned him.

“I agree this is most likely a kidnapping, J.T. Until we discover otherwise, our standard procedure is to assume a child is in immediate danger and act accordingly. It's better to do that rather than think she's missing or a runaway. We don't want to miss any clues.”

She was giving him information he already knew, but he realized it was her way of keeping a rein on his emotions, which could so easily run rampant if he allowed them. “I want to make sure we're on the same page.”

She stepped closer and laid her hand on his arm, the touch meant to reassure. Strangely it did. “We are. I promise you we'll do everything humanly possible to bring your daughter home.”

Day one, 5:00 a.m.: Ashley missing for ten and a half hours

Madison scrubbed her hands down her face. Her eyes stung from the sleepless night spent at the sheriff's office, now the command center for the missing child case. The rest of the FBI agents had arrived right after
they had moved to the station to set up the new command post away from the victim's house.

Just the mere thought of the word
victim
, in reference to J.T.'s little girl, chilled Madison. She couldn't even begin to imagine the anguish J.T. and his family were going through, and yet he was in the middle of the investigation as though the child missing was someone else's. Professional. Staunch.

She'd tried to get him to back off and let his deputies and the FBI work the case, but he wouldn't. Since he was the sheriff as well as the parent, he wanted to be in on it every step of the way. There was a part of her that understood his need, and yet she also knew the danger of being so emotionally invested in a case. Ashley wasn't her child, but she knew the little girl from the summer before. J.T. and his family had made her feel welcome when she had been here with this department working on the murder. Her emotions were involved more than she wished.

Madison found J.T. standing in front of the time line her boss had constructed on a large dry erase board. At the moment there was little information about Ashley posted. The bleak look in J.T.'s expression spoke of how taxing the situation was for him. But he was going over the information on the board with Matthew Hendricks as though this wasn't his daughter they were discussing.

J.T.'s faith was strong like hers. Was that what was holding him together? What a test of his faith! Throughout the past night she'd prayed silently on a number of occasions for Ashley's safe return. From the distant look that would appear from time to time in J.T.'s eyes, she suspected he had, too.

Heavenly Father, give us some kind of direction. We've got everything set up and ready to go but no leads to speak of. Where do we start? Where do we go from here?

“I made some fresh coffee.” Susan placed a steaming mug in front of Madison. “That's the least I can do since I returned to the station. There's no arguing with J.T. when he sets his mind on something. I didn't want to go home to sleep.”

“A few people needed to get some sleep. I hope you were able to.” Madison put her hands around the warm mug.

“Not much, but I did manage to close my eyes for a while. Then I'd see Ashley's face and I just couldn't get any sleep. She is so dear and sweet. J.T. dotes on her. You should see them together when she comes down to the station. Such patience, showing her what he does. I just don't understand how someone could take—” Distress on her face, Susan shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn't go on like that. And certainly J.T. doesn't need to hear me carrying on. He's got enough to deal with.”

“I don't see how anyone could ever take a child, but it happens and the parents' lives are never the same.”

“Even when the child is found?”

“Their sense of security is stripped away.”

A thoughtful expression appeared on Susan's face. “Ah, I never considered that.”

The aroma of the brew flavored the air and for a few seconds Madison shut her eyes and relished the smell. “Thanks for the coffee. I was about to tape my eyelids open.”

J.T.'s secretary chuckled. “I know the feeling. It's been a long night for everyone here.”

“And today will be a long day.” Madison rose from the desk she had commandeered from one of the deputies. “How's J.T. holding up?” She'd been reviewing the neighbors' statements and had been working on a list of people to interview again while J.T., her boss and Kirk had finalized the search protocol and gone over the case to date.

“I don't know how he keeps going. I would have fallen apart hours ago.” Susan walked to the next desk to hand one of the FBI agents a mug of coffee.

Madison again searched for J.T. in the large room, realizing that periodically throughout the night she had done that very thing. By the time she'd left last summer they had become friends. She hated seeing a friend going through such pain. She wished she could do more for him.

J.T. moved away from the dry erase board and stopped in front of a table where a map of the region was spread out. He pointed to an area and said something to Matthew. The lead agent nodded, then gestured to another place.

Exhaustion carved deep lines into J.T.'s face—a face that under normal circumstances had a lot of character. At the moment it just looked plain tired. Even in the middle of the murder investigation last year, J.T.'s gray eyes would sparkle with life and humor. What she saw now was a dull pewter color. A sudden urge to comfort him flooded her. Surprised by the emotion, she turned away and picked up her list to give to Rachel.

“These are the people I want to interview again, with Mrs. Goldsmith at the top.”

Rachel glanced up. “She usually gets up early.”

“So six-thirty won't be too early then?”

“Nope, and knowing Mrs. Goldsmith, she wouldn't mind being awakened—if she even got any rest.”

“I suspect there are a lot of townspeople who aren't sleeping right now.”

“Yeah, J.T. is a good sheriff and friend to many.” Rachel clicked the computer program she was working in shut. “You aren't going to participate in the search of the lake area?”

“Not until I've interviewed all these people. They may remember something they didn't last night.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I'm sure even with the added volunteers from Central City J.T. could use everyone possible to help in the search. He'll need you there.”

“First, I've got to finish up here. Then I plan on being in the thick of things. I'd do anything for J.T. He believed in me when no one else did.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, I'd always wanted to be a law enforcement officer, but no one around here thought I would be any good. Too petite, not to mention the fact I'm a woman.”

“I always wanted to be in law enforcement, too.”

“It wasn't easy at first. I had to prove myself, but each one of these guys is my friend now. Everyone at the station would do anything for J.T. and his little girl.”

She knew what Rachel meant. She could feel the respect and friendship when she watched J.T. work with
his staff. She hadn't been with the FBI long enough to form that kind of bond yet. She was the one who was the new kid on the block and had to prove herself.

Madison peered over her shoulder at J.T. He now stood at the window with the blinds open. With his coffee mug cupped between his hands, he stared into the dark, as though holding vigil until dawn appeared. His lonely vulnerability drew her across the room. They had less than an hour until the sun came up and everything that could be done had been done. Now they just had to wait for dawn.

His rigid stance told Madison more than words what a toll the past hours had taken on J.T. Susan might think he was holding himself together, but Madison knew it was a very fragile connection that any second could give way.

She came up beside him with her own mug nestled in her hands, relishing the heat that warmed her cold body. She faced the darkness and saw their reflections. He was only a few inches taller than her five feet eleven inches, but where she was slender, almost reed thin, he was broad shouldered and muscular.

Madison remembered J.T.'s two older children reluctantly agreeing to go home with Reverend Colin Fitzpatrick and his wife, Emma, to get some rest. She'd also seen the silent struggle waging within J.T. Did he allow his children to go or stay with him where he could keep an eye on them, possibly protect them from whomever had taken Ashley? J.T. was sure his youngest daughter had been kidnapped, and after going over what evidence they had, she agreed. Deep down it felt like an abduction.

She turned toward him, her arm brushing against his. The brief contact riveted her attention on him, causing a catch in her throat. “I'm glad the rain finally stopped a while ago.”

“Yeah.” J.T. sipped his coffee.

“Did you have a chance to talk with Colin when he picked up Kim and Neil?”

“Just a few minutes. He's bringing my son back at dawn, so Neil can help with the search.”

“How about Kim? I want to talk to her again.”

“Emma will stay with her at Grace's house. Between those two they should be able to—” he cleared his throat “—take care of her, keep her safe.”

“If I recall correctly, Grace was a drill sergeant in the army before she retired.”

“Yes. I have to know Kim's in good hands or—” He worked his mouth but no other words would come out.

A tightness clogged her own throat. She put her mug on the windowsill and faced him. “Let us take care of everything. I don't know how you're keeping yourself together.” She reached out and touched his arm, wishing she could take his pain away, wishing she could do so much more.

His muscles tightened beneath her fingertips. His gaze bore into her. “No! My daughter is missing. I will bring her home.” His mouth firmed into a fierce expression. “You don't need to worry about me falling apart. I won't allow it. I have the most important job of my life to do and nothing will stand in my way.” His savage tone, directed more at the situation than at her, never rose above a loud whisper.

When he brought his mug to his lips, her fingers slipped from his arm, but not before she noticed the hand holding his coffee quivered slightly. “We all have a breaking point.”

Over the rim of his cup, he glared at her but didn't say a word.

Determined to make him see he had his limits, she didn't back down from him. “I'm available if you need someone to talk to. And I'm sure Colin is, too.”

“I know.” The hardness in his features melted some. “I know you're worried, but don't be. I haven't been a sheriff of a small town all my career. I've seen bad situations before.”

“But none that involved your own family.”

A distant look flared in his eyes as though a memory surfaced, best left in the past. “I know what I have to do, Madison. I won't fail Ashley.”

His professional facade, locked in place, shut down any further discussion about how this was affecting him. Madison drew in a calming breath. “Okay. Then let's talk business for a moment. I see Eric Carlton on the list of people you interviewed, but nothing was written down under his name. Why?”

“Because we couldn't find him. I have two deputies out looking for him right now. He's the only person in Crystal Springs that has been convicted of a sex crime. He lives outside of town near the lake. One of the teams with a dog from the K-9 unit will be concentrating around his cabin.”

“Then he's your prime suspect at the moment?” Although she felt out of the loop, she had to remember she
was just one agent and could do only so much. For the past hours she had concentrated on going over what physical evidence they had, then looking at all the logs of the interviews so she could talk with each person and possibly discover something that could help the investigation.

“The only suspect at the moment unless you count all the people I've put away who are now out of prison. Your boss has one of your agents over at Carlton's cabin waiting for him in case he decides to return home.”

“Do you think he will? Or will he flee?”

“I think he's long gone. I put an APB out on him and his black Ford truck. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will pick him up.”

“How about any other sex offenders from the surrounding towns or Central City?” He flinched as she asked the question which had to be asked. The thought of a sex offender having Ashley terrified her, so she could imagine how J.T. felt.