The Fourth Victim (27 page)

“T
hank you so much.” Maggie took one look at the woman dressed in jeans and a sweater and a dark blue insulated hoodie and slid into the car, closing the door behind her.

The woman smiled. Her hands were nice, like Kelly's. Soft-looking. Not all rough and chapped with broken nails like Mom's. “Where you headed?”

“Into town. I had a fight with my boyfriend and made him drop me off. He wanted to…you know. I never should've come out into the country with him.” The story Glenna had told her about the quarterback she'd broken up with over the summer just came out of Maggie without her really even thinking about it.

Did that make her like Mom? Mom was the best liar Maggie had ever heard. And she did it all the time. It was how she got things to work out the way she wanted them to.

Maggie hated the idea of being like her mother.

Could she go to prison for not telling on Mom?

What if Kelly died?

Shivering, Maggie zipped up the winter ski jacket Kelly had bought her a couple of weeks before. She'd worried about wearing it out to the barn, worried the light blue
would get dirty with the horses, but it had been cold out there.

And then, when she'd had to leave, she'd been glad to have it.

“Do you want to call your mom?” the woman asked, and Maggie hoped she wasn't going to insist on talking.

She'd run out of lies miles before they got to town.

“No, she's not home.”

“Would you like me to call the police? Did the boy do anything to you? Touch you in ways he shouldn't have?”

“No!” Whoa. She'd screwed up on that one. “It was nothing like that. He just asked me if I wanted to, you know, kiss. He's sixteen and has his own car and I… We've gone out a few times, but I didn't want to kiss him. And then I just didn't want to be in the car with him. That's all.”

“You're sure?”

“Positive.”

The woman nodded and Maggie started to breathe more regularly again. Once she got to town, everything would be fine.

Thankfully the woman didn't say anything for the rest of the ten-minute ride into town. Until the first houses and businesses on Main Street appeared and then she asked, “Anyplace in particular you need to be dropped? I can take you home.”

“No, downtown's fine.”

“What's your name?”

“Sarah Prince.” She said the first thing that came into her head. She didn't know any Princes in town. No one this woman might be acquainted with and want to talk to her about.

“Well, Sarah, if you're sure I can't do any more to help you…” The woman pulled up to the curb outside the courthouse, which was directly across the street from the office
building where Mac had told her she could find him if there was ever an immediate life-and-death emergency. She could only use it as a last resort. She was supposed to go to the women's bathroom at the end of the hall and talk into the duct in the ceiling. His office was right above that duct, he'd explained, and he'd hear her.

His office. Hard to imagine Mac in an office. It felt weird because he'd never talked to her about his job or what he did there… She understood, though, that he'd only been protecting her with his silence.

“I'm sure,” Maggie said, shaking now as she opened the door. She stumbled against the curb and then righted herself. “Thank you,” she said to the woman.

“You're welcome. Listen, my name's Sandra—”

Maggie didn't hear the rest because she'd already swung the door shut.

Edgewood, Ohio
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

“Barry, Leo, get in place,” Clay spoke softly, writing on the pages he'd set up in front of him as he looked between them and his map.

Barry and Leo were inside Abrams's office building. They hadn't known that was where Maggie would go. Sam had called in favors and there were teams at Abrams's home, his office, at their spot in the woods, at the department store in town and on standby, too, waiting to be dispatched wherever Maggie might go.

But they'd confirmed that Abrams was in his office.

I got up. Paced behind Clay. My hands were trembling. My stomach was queasy. I needed to do something.

I needed to be there. To help Maggie.

To stand between her and the creep who'd stolen her innocence, who'd changed the girl's life forever. Who'd
taken advantage of a young girl's vulnerability and gained control of her mind. Her heart.

“She went into the women's restroom at the end of the hall,” a male voice reported softly. “It looked like she knew exactly where it was.”

“You think she'd been told where to go?” Clay asked.

“Yeah. She didn't look around, didn't talk to anyone, just went straight back.”

Clay studied another map. A diagram of Abrams's office building. I waited. And chewed on my lip until I tasted blood.

Please, God, let Maggie be okay. Please.

I wasn't one who prayed a lot. But this wasn't for me.

And there was nothing else I could do.

“There's a cold-air return that leads from that bathroom to Abrams's office,” Clay said, and my heart froze.

“Barry, get upstairs. Now.”

“On my way…”

“Just a minute.” Another male voice came over the line. “He's coming down.”

“She called to him,” Clay said. He might only be guessing, but I believed him. “They had this prearranged.”

Just as Clay had thought. David Abrams wasn't leaving Maggie alone. He couldn't. She was his weakness.

Waiting for him to reach my little girl was making me sick.

 

He'd answered on her first call. And Maggie started to cry. He told her to hang on and he'd be down. He told her to unlock the bathroom door, which she'd locked when she hurried inside. So she did. And she waited.

And as soon as the doorknob turned, she threw herself at the man she hadn't been able to touch since he'd made love to her four months before.

“I was so afraid,” she said, her arms around his middle
as she hid her face in his sweater and bawled like a baby. She just couldn't help it. The sobs hurt her ribs so much she could hardly breathe. She'd been so scared. And so alone. And…

Mac's hands were all over her, rubbing her back, in her hair, on her backside, pushing her up against him. He'd missed her as much as she'd missed him.

She was his now. All his. He'd take care of her. She was safe.

Looking up at him, she saw that he had tears in his eyes, too….

“Dear, sweet Maggie. Little love, you can't be here. The hall was empty, no one saw me come in, but we can't stay here. Not together.”

“We have to go, Mac. We have to get away from this town. It's not safe anymore.”

“Hey, wait a minute, little one. We can't just pick up and leave. Where would we go? How would we live? And most importantly, how would you get to school?”

“I don't care about school, Mac. I care about
you.
About us. They want me to believe you have a whole other life. They told me lies just like you said they would. They said you're this other guy. But I told them you're mine. My Mac.” She looked up at him. “You are, aren't you?”

“Of course I am, my sweet Maggie.” He hugged her tight. “You're my life. But you have to finish school. We can't go like this. On the run. Hiding from the law. I'm not going to have you living like a hunted animal.”

“I don't care about that, Mac.” Maggie started to feel desperate again. Scared to death. She couldn't stay here. Not once she told them about Mom. And Kelly. They were going to ship her off. To a foster home. Or to prison. She raised her arms, bringing his head down to her lips, kissing him with her mouth open like he'd taught her to do. Touching her tongue to his.

And when he growled, deep in his throat like he had when he'd been inside her, she knew she'd be okay.

She was special.

Mac was going to take care of her.

And if that made her her mother's daughter, she couldn't do anything about it.

Edgewood, Ohio
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

“Go.”

My entire body was paralyzed as Clay gave the order. I stopped breathing. I couldn't move.

I heard a door crash in.

“What the hell…” David Abrams's voice.

“Mac?” And Maggie's.

“David Abrams, you're under arrest—”

“No!” Maggie's scream penetrated my heart and it was a sound I knew I was never, ever going to forget. Not in a hundred lifetimes.

“No-o-o-o!” Maggie's terrified, heartbroken cry tore through the air, masking all the other noise.

“Come on, sweetie, let's get you out of here….” My gaze flew to Clay and he mouthed the word
JoAnne.

“No! I'm not going with you. I'm going with him! I'm not leaving him! Ma-a-c!”

I wasn't sure what happened during the commotion that followed. I just knew I had to get to her.

Grabbing the keys off the hook, I was in the garage with the car door open, before Clay caught up with me.

“I'm driving,” he said, snatching the keys out of my hand.

It was a good thing he didn't try to stop me from going.

 

David Abrams was being taken to a jail in Dayton.

Until he'd had a chance to interrogate Abrams regarding Kelly's kidnapping, Clay had jurisdiction over the prisoner. After that they could cut his balls off for all Clay cared.

JoAnne was bringing Maggie to FBI headquarters. Which was where Clay was taking Kelly.

Abrams could rot in a cell for as many hours as it took Clay to get to him.

He'd arranged to hold the press at bay. As of yet, no one knew he had Kelly, but they'd know soon.

“They were in and out so quickly, no one has any idea that Abrams's arrest had anything to do with your disappearance,” Clay told Kelly as they drove. “Until we get a confession out of Abrams or Maggie, I want to keep your whereabouts under wraps.”

“What about Samantha?”

“She's meeting JoAnne at my office. My plan is to take you in the back way and into a room downstairs. I'll tell Sam antha and JoAnne that I found you and bring them to you. I'll be letting the other law enforcement officials involved know, as well. We're keeping you from the press until we're absolutely certain that Abrams is our man.”

“And Maggie? I have to talk to Maggie.”

“We have to talk to her first, Kelly. We need her to think you're still gone—at least long enough to try once more to get the truth out of her. I want this one wrapped up clean. No loose ends. No more surprises. We're pretty convinced Abrams is behind your kidnapping, but we also know he didn't do the job himself. We need to find out who did. And get him in custody.”

“And then you'll bring Maggie to me?”

“Yes, I promise you, before this night is over, you'll be back with Maggie.”

Edgewood, Ohio
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I watched the bare trees go by, feeling as though I was from another planet. In another world. It had only been four days since I'd seen daylight. It felt like years.

I wasn't the same woman I'd been when I'd walked out of my office to go skating the previous Friday morning. I'd left her far behind and knew I'd probably never see her again.

I wasn't all that familiar with Edgewood so didn't recognize much as we drove out to the freeway. Fast-food places were all the same. And gas stations. Some of the older homes reminded me of homes in Chandler.

And none of it seemed real to me.

“You said you have to question Maggie. She's not going to be in trouble, is she?”

“I have no interest in charging Maggie with anything.”

Which didn't really answer my question. He was all business now. Had been since this morning. I didn't like this man as much as the one I'd been living with for the past couple of days.

“She's a minor, Clay. You can't question her without her guardian present. Or another adult.”

“Sam's responsible for her right now. She'll be there.”

I could fight that. I could present myself at any time. I knew that. And he knew it, too. I was going along with this because I thought he was right.

But just because I believed we were doing the right thing didn't mean I felt good about what we were doing.

“Whatever Abrams did, Maggie had no part in it.”

“She knew more than she was telling us. I have to find out what that is.”

I couldn't let it go. I was worried. “And if you find out
that she knew about the entire plan? If she knew where I was and who took me, then what? Is she an accomplice to kidnapping?”

He looked at me and I had a glimpse of the man I'd trusted with my life. And Maggie's life, too.

“I have no intention of making that child suffer any more than she already has. Besides,” he added, his gaze back on the road, “what would be the point? With you as an expert witness, no jury in the world would hold her accountable, considering the circumstances. She's in a fragile emotional state and simply following the dictates of a man who's brainwashed her.”

“She's a pawn in a sick man's game,” I said. “A victim, more than I am.”

“Agreed.”

I wasn't comfortable or satisfied with the plan for the upcoming hours. I needed to help. But again, I had to sit and wait.

“Hey.” Clay reached over and grabbed my fingers, avoiding the scrapes on my hand with his grasp. He let go as soon as I looked at him. “I'm not going to hurt her, Kelly, I promise. I know how much Maggie's suffered. I care about that.”

I believed him.

But I was still worried.

C
onscious of Kelly's wishes, Clay went in immediate search of Maggie the second he had her foster mother safely locked in a holding room. He'd managed to get Kelly into the building without anyone seeing her. He'd had her put on a cap and a coat he kept in the trunk so no surveillance cameras would give her away. And he turned off the camera in the room where he'd left her.

At that point he'd acknowledged, at least to himself, that Kelly Chapman was more than a job to him.

His “more than a job” was almost done. And he couldn't be happier about that. He needed a night at home, alone with a case of beer and sports on the TV. Make that two nights.

Maggie was on a couch in the family waiting area closest to Clay's office. Samantha sat on one side of her, JoAnne on the other.

Her look as Clay approached was encouraging, since fear outweighed belligerence.

“Mac didn't do anything,” she said. “You're making a big mistake.”

“You ladies want to come to my office?” Clay asked.

He led the way and then stood back as JoAnne took one armchair and motioned Maggie and Samantha onto the
couch. He'd chosen the gray upholstery because it didn't require much—hardly any cleaning, no decor or even any attention.

Unlike his job, which usually required too much. Of everything.

“Maggie, did they offer you a drink?”

“Yeah.”

Clay took the other armchair. He sat back. And then forward, elbows on his knees.

“Okay, first,” he said, his focus totally on Maggie, “you and I need to get something straight here.” He wasn't being mean, but he wasn't going to coddle her, either. He couldn't. Not if he was going to get to this kid. And he
had
to get to her. He couldn't give her back to Kelly until he did. He couldn't save her from herself until he did.

“We're going to be completely honest with each other,” he continued. “That means I'm going to tell you exactly what's going on, and you're going to tell me the whole truth about whatever you know. Understood?”

Looking him straight in the eye, Maggie nodded. Which surprised the hell out of Clay.

“Good,” he said, not breaking eye contact, not even for a second. He had her. He had to keep her.

He just had to figure out how.

“You seem mature for your age,” he said, going with instinct when logic drew a blank.

Maggie didn't say anything.

“Mature enough to realize that Mac lied to you.”

“I love Mac and he loves me.”

“His name is David, Maggie. You know that now. You were standing there when he produced his identification for the arresting officer. JoAnne told me you heard him confirm his name. David Abrams is an attorney in Chandler. And he has a wife and kids.”

He took Maggie's silence as a near miracle. Dared he hope they were getting through to the young woman? Or had today's episode handed them David Abrams on a platter but shut Maggie further inside herself?

Knowing that Kelly Chapman would be far better at reading Maggie's emotional state, Clay went on. He could call in the department shrink, and would if he had to. But he'd rather leave her to Kelly, or someone of Kelly's choosing. “You said David didn't do anything. That we're making a big mistake.”

“You are.”

“You sound sure about that.”

“I am.”

Clay could feel the eyes of the other two women on him, but he tuned them out until it was just he and Maggie sitting there. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I was there. Mac didn't even touch me. I reached up and kissed him, that's all. He didn't do anything.”

She'd glanced away.

“I'm not talking about you and David, Maggie. My jurisdiction is the missing persons case. We think David Abrams had Kelly kidnapped.”

Maggie's shock couldn't be faked. Her eyes flew wide-open and her head snapped forward. “No way! Why would he do that?”

“Because he knew that you cared about Kelly. And you were living with her. Eventually Kelly would win your loyalty and you'd tell her what you and Mac did in the woods that Saturday.”

“Kelly already knows all about that.”

“But you wouldn't tell her that Mac was David Abrams.”

“Mac is Mac.”

“And he's also David Abrams.”

She shook her head and tears filled her eyes. Clay had a tough time sitting there watching the child's heart break. And he knew he couldn't give her a chance to re-erect her walls. “You know something about Kelly's disappearance, don't you?”

Maggie nodded. Clay was aware of the slight movement from both officers of the law sitting there with him. He was coming in for the final landing.

“I need you tell me what you know, Maggie.”

“I was going to, as soon as Mac and I got away. I just didn't want Mac to get into trouble because people don't believe he loves me.”

“David probably does love you, Maggie,” Clay said, even as Kelly's voice in his head told him to shut up. “But he's a married man with a wife and kids who love him.”

Maggie's silence made him uncomfortable. He had to be careful not to push her too far.

“He made promises to his wife. Can you imagine how hurt she's going to feel when she finds out what he did with you?”

Tears were falling down her cheeks.

“You feel older, Maggie, I understand that. But David is older. And you're only fourteen. It's against the law for anyone to have sex with you.”

“My friends all do it.”

“It's statutory rape.”

“No one does anything about it.”

“They do when the other party is an adult. David Abrams is a lawyer. More than that, he's a father. He has daughters of his own not that much younger than you. One of them is nine.”

More silence. And more tears. He'd never felt like such an unfeeling lout.

“He knew he was breaking the law, Maggie. He knew what he was doing with you was wrong. And he knew
he was involving you in something illegal, but he did it, anyway.”

Shoulders hunched, the girl didn't say a word.

“I need you to tell me about Kelly's kidnapping.”

“Mac didn't do it. My mother did.”

 

Life was over.

Maggie didn't see much reason not to tell them everything and just let whatever they did to her happen. She couldn't fight them. Couldn't fight any of them. She'd never been able to.

Not Chuck Sewell or her mother or people who treated her like trash because of where she lived and because of whose kid she was. She hadn't been able to help Glenna, to keep her from getting killed.

She'd ruined her mother's life by being born, which forced her to quit high school. It was Maggie's fault Kelly was gone.

And now they wanted her to believe Mac was married. And that she, Maggie, had hurt his wife. He'd just told her again that he was
her
Mac. Only hers.

She'd thought she and Mac were like a fairy tale. A dream come true. Had she been crazy or what?

“Your mother's in jail, Maggie. She couldn't kidnap Kelly.”

Agent Thatcher's voice had changed, like he was talking to a little kid. Or an adult who'd lost her mind.

Maggie wished she'd lost hers. If she could just forget…

“She knows someone,” Maggie said. “She told me she was going to take care of Kelly. That she'd be out of jail soon and then we'd be together again.”

“Is that what you want?”

Maggie finally glanced at Sam, who hadn't said a word. She could take the woman's hatred. She deserved it.

Sam reached over and took Maggie's hand. Kind of like Kelly had done the night Sam and Kyle had come to tell Kelly lies about Mac.

If…
Were
they lies?

Maggie started to cry again. And then to sob. Worse than when she was with Mac a couple of hours ago. Her chest hurt and her body hurt. But most of all, her heart. All she'd ever wanted was to love and be loved. That was all.

How had she messed up so badly?

 

Samantha Jones walked on one side of Clay as he took her and JoAnne to what they thought was a private conference with him. After Maggie's breakdown, he'd called in the staff psychologist, who was trying to get her to eat something.

And to talk more, if she could.

Clay hoped to have her back with Kelly by the end of the day. He had these next minutes to get through and then he was leaving to take a stab at David Abrams. Barry had phoned and said the man had lawyered up and didn't say a thing.

Clay was going to talk to the guy, anyway. The lawyer's lawyer could be present. Clay didn't give a rat's ass who was in the room.

“What do you think of Lori Winston being behind the kidnapping?” he asked.

“She specifically requested Kelly as Maggie's legal guardian,” Samantha said. “That's partially why the initial paperwork came through so quickly.”

That, and because Kelly was…Kelly, Clay figured.

“But what Maggie says about her mom turning on Kelly, changing her mind and deciding that Kelly orchestrated this whole situation to steal Maggie away, sounds feasible,” JoAnne said.

“Lori's a professional victim,” Samantha said. “I know—I conducted the initial interrogation. Even when she confessed, she had someone else to blame for every single thing she did.”

“I guess if she sees her kid wearing nice clothes and doing well without her, she has to blame someone besides herself,” Clay said, going with the theory.

“Only problem is, the woman has no money and no real connections,” Samantha told him. “I don't see how she could possibly have arranged for a hit on Kelly, no matter how badly she might have wanted one.”

“But she's in jail,” JoAnne said. “She's with the people who know the people who'd be willing to take money to ensure that Kelly Chapman never sees the light of day again.”

“Abrams went to Lori,” Clay surmised. “He got her all riled up. Told her how Maggie's loyalties were switching, and that Kelly was stealing her daughter. He probably swore up and down that he really loves Maggie. That he was going to do right by both of them. He reminded her of his power. And he promised to help her get out of jail….”

Samantha shook her head. “I don't know. The whole reason Lori Winston confessed was because she couldn't bear the thought of Maggie and Abrams together. She didn't mind selling her daughter into the drug trade, but she couldn't bear the thought of Maggie ending up like she did—another teenage pregnancy statistic.”

“Right, but Abrams has money. Position. He could give Maggie everything. And if he promised to do that—
and
get Lori out of prison so she could watch over Maggie…” JoAnne started down the stairs first.

“And all she had to do was ask around inside to find someone who knew someone who'd be willing to kidnap a popular psychologist and dump her body for a wad of
cash,” Clay finished for her. He was sure David Abrams had used Lori Winston to find someone who'd take care of Kelly. The pieces were falling into place. Now all Clay needed was a confession.

They were downstairs, the only people in the seldom-used hallway that at one time had housed an FBI fraud unit, which was moved to Cincinnati when Dayton's big businesses started moving out of state. Clay stopped outside a locked door at the end of the hallway.

“I…” He glanced at JoAnne. Lying to her hadn't been easy. And she wasn't going to forgive him easily, either.

“What's going on, Clay?” she asked, while Samantha Jones looked curiously from one to the other.

“I have something to show you two,” he said, knowing he sounded lame as he opened the door.

Clay barely had the door closed behind them, muffling Sam's scream as the detective saw the room's lone occupant.

“Kelly!” Rounding the table, Sam knocked over a chair as she reached Kelly, who'd just stood. “Oh, my God! Kel!” Kelly's body was engulfed in a crushing hug as tough girl detective Samantha Jones started to cry. “I can't believe it. You're alive! I thought we'd lost you and I never told you that you're the best friend I've ever had. I never thanked you….”

Clay looked away. And his eyes met the hurt gaze of the woman who used to be
his
best friend.