Ultimate Fear (Book 2 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) (11 page)

“Re-file,” she echoed, and looked to the messy card table. “Are you going to take care of it?”

“No.”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Well, I would if I had the time. But I’m—”

“Too busy.”

“Right.”

Wrong. She was stalling and avoiding, and he was good with that. If he could make her understand that he shared her hurt and grief, that they could lessen each other’s suffering by being together and working through the pain of their loss, there might be hope for them. He’d been in love with her for seventeen years, and that wasn’t something he could let go of without a fight. Rather than crack through her barriers with an argument like they’d had last night, he’d fight for his wife in a different way. He looked to the newspaper clippings and missing children posters, and knew exactly how he’d begin his battle.

“What are you working on that’s keeping you so busy?”

“Shouldn’t you leave and go back to work?” she asked instead.

“Lola’s taking care of our current investigation.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Damn it, Jessica. Just tell me what you’re up to.”

Her eyes widened and she drew in a shaky breath. “Fine. Then you’ll leave, right?”

“Sure,” he lied. He didn’t know what he’d do. After finally seeing the inside of her apartment, his curiosity had been piqued.

“Do you remember the program Rachel created for me?”

“Yeah, I remember,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation. He’d been pissed off about it. Rachel had just started working for CORE and hadn’t known him or Jessica well. She’d had no way of knowing that creating this program only added fuel to the fire, giving Jessica another way to keep up with her obsession.

She sent him a smug smile. “Thanks to the program, I have a serial kidnapper to find.” She shrugged. “Now that you know, you can leave.”

Her case intrigued him. What drove someone to take not one, but multiple children? What was there motivation? Their history? And how could he stop them?

What fascinated him even more was his wife. She hadn’t showed any signs of disappointment when he’d told her they would remain legally married until one of them re-filed for divorce. She hadn’t even jumped at the chance to take the initiative and put an end to their marriage once and for all. He’d take that as a good sign, that maybe she wasn’t ready for them to part ways in every sense. She’d also been hiding a side of herself from him, obviously using her skills as a detective to help other parents who had their children stolen from them. He could think of healthier ways to cope with their daughter’s disappearance, but also saw an opportunity here. Maybe if he joined in on her investigation, which would force them to spend time together, he could find a way to bring Jessica home.

In a split second, he pictured them in
their
home, talking, laughing and later making love like they used to. Those memories, those special moments hadn’t faded and he doubted they ever would. She owned too much of his heart and soul. Although he’d rather romance her, he’d use hunting a serial kidnapper to help save their marriage.

He grabbed a folding chair and set it next to the one in front of the laptop.

“I told you to leave.”

“I know,” he said, opening her laptop.

“Then why are you still here?”

I want my wife back.

Chapter 4

“I WANT YOU to tell me more about this case.” Dante settled his big body in the folding chair, and tapped the empty chair next to his. “Sit. Show me Rachel’s program.”

Jessica momentarily closed her eyes and wished she hadn’t opened her big mouth. She didn’t want him here. Her crappy apartment was one place that didn’t remind her of Dante. She didn’t want the scent of him lingering behind and making her ache for something she couldn’t have. Well, she probably could have sex with him, but she needed more than that. She longed to have him hold her, make her forget and, at the same time, give her strength, give her a reason to wake up in the morning. Greeting the day had become harder and harder. Between her job as a homicide detective and her side investigations into the disappearances of children, she’d surrounded herself with darkness. There was no longer a bright light, no longer anything to look forward to, only death and the understanding that happiness was a gift that should be embraced and not taken for granted.

“I might be a bitch, but I’m not a dog,” she said, not bothering to hide her irritation. He had no right to insinuate himself in her business. “I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t give me commands.”

He grinned and a teasing glint brightened his dark eyes. “I’m going to refrain from commenting.” He thumbed toward the vacant folding chair. “Would you please sit next to me and show me how Rachel’s program works?”

Because she was rather proud of what she’d discovered, and because she could use an extra set of eyes to review what she’d found, she took a seat, pulled the laptop closer and typed in a command. Plus, between Dante’s ability to track and hunt, along with CORE’s resources, he might even help her find a way to catch this serial kidnapper.

“Rachel’s program grabs data from a number of private and government agencies.” She began scrolling through the information on the screen to show him the various agencies. “National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Operation Lookout, Child Watch. Plus, I’ll get alerts from the U.S. Department of Defense, the FBI, Homeland Security and hundreds of state and locals law enforcement.”

“That’s… Hell, Jessica, you could spend every waking hour going through all of this. Tens of thousands of kids go missing every year.”

Didn’t she know? “It’s worth it to me, and to the parents I’ve helped.”

“You’ve found missing kids? That’s…I had no idea. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks,” she said, sadness settling in her heart. “Unfortunately, those kids were found deceased.”

“But at least the families have an answer, even if it wasn’t the one they were hoping for.”

Bringing closure to those families had been rewarding, but short-lived. Finding the kids only to discover they’d been murdered had been heartbreaking, and had muddied her hopes of ever locating her daughter.

Don’t go there
.

“Anyway, you’re right. I could spend hours going through the massive number of missing children, but Rachel has the program set so that the alerts I receive are for a certain age range—infant to age seven. I wish I had the time to look into every case I come across, but I’m specifically looking for cases that have similarities to ours.”

“Sophia’s, or the serial kidnapper?”

She stared at the screen. “You know exactly what case I’m referring to.” Dante had been right last night. She couldn’t say their daughter’s name, she couldn’t even think it. He had no problem. For him, remembering their child and the joy she’d brought them was his way of celebrating the time they’d had with her, a way of keeping her memory alive. For her, remembering her, acknowledging her by name reminded her of everything they’d lost. Their daughter and their marriage.

Although at this point they were, and would remain, married until one of them did something about it. She wouldn’t. She could and she should, but she wouldn’t. She’d been the one to file the first time around, and it had messed with her head and her heart. She didn’t want to make that decision again and go through the range of emotions that had left her living in hell for months afterward. Besides, she was too busy.

Refocusing, she said, “The cases that interested me the most were ones that had to do with missing infants, as well as the children who were found. Especially kids thought to be around six or seven.” Her daughter would have turned seven two weeks ago. She immediately pictured the party she would have thrown, but quickly shook the image from her mind. “I’m interested in infants, because I was hoping to find a pattern that matched our case.” She glanced at him. “And you know what I’m talking about, so quit giving me a hard time. My .38 is within arm’s reach.”

He cracked a smile. “Noted.”

“Good. Okay, so last night after our
stimulating
conversation I came home and checked the program.” She took a manila folder off the card table and handed it to him. “I came across this about a year after I started using it. A little boy, around two-and-a-half, was found outside of a fire station in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was healthy and someone had obviously taken good care of him.”

He opened the folder. “Is this him?”

She looked over his shoulder and stared at the picture of a cute, blond haired, blue-eyed toddler. “No. That’s a different boy. He was found three years earlier. Before I get into his case, let me finish. So this boy found outside the fire station was strapped in an umbrella stroller, drinking from a sippy cup. When the New Brunswick detectives were called to the fire station, the boy was already inside chatting up a storm with the firemen and all excited about their fire trucks. While the kid was busy checking out the trucks, the detectives asked him his name.”

“Would a two-year-old know his own name?”

She rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you read any of the parenting books I gave you? Never mind. Yes, he would know his name. But some kids’ speech development is slower than others.” She pointed to the folder he held. “This particular boy wasn’t on the slow end and knew his name was Elton.”

“Elton? That’s different, but helpful. Were they able to locate the parents?”

She nodded. “Eventually, only his real name was Max, not Elton. And Max had gone missing when he was six months old.”

He leafed through the papers stacked in the file. “And this other kid?” he asked, pulling out a photo copy of another blond haired, blue-eyed toddler.

“Including Max, there’re actually three cases. Each boy was found in an umbrella stroller outside of a place where they’d be quickly discovered. All of them fitting the same description, and all but two called themselves by the same name.”

He met her gaze. “Elton?”

“Right. I found this boy last night.” She motioned to the laptop. “I think he’s connected to the other three.”

When he scooted closer to her, she caught a faint hint of his earthy cologne. As he silently read the Attempt to Identify bulletin, she did, too.

Lamoni, Iowa police were called to Graceland University, 9:47 PM Central Daylight Saving Time, when students reported a male toddler outside of a residence hall. Authorities haven’t been able to ID the boy and his parents remain unknown. He is currently with Child Services. The estimated age of the boy is 2 to 3 years. Description: blond, blue eyes, found wearing a dark blue sweatshirt, Thomas the Train t-shirt, jeans and yellow and blue Garanimals sneakers. When discovered, the boy was in a Roll-Baby brand umbrella stroller and holding a Playtex purple and orange sippy cup. The boy talks, but cannot identify his parents. He claims his name is—

“Elton,” he murmured, sending a chill through her. Whoever was behind kidnapping these kids, then later releasing them, had a strange and twisted agenda. Was the kidnapper trying to clone the children or maybe their experience with them? Were there more kids out there whose real identity hadn’t been discovered yet? The question that bothered her the most—would the kidnapper ever stop?

“So what do you think?” she asked. She’d been working hard on some of these missing children cases. While she wasn’t looking for a pat on the back, she respected Dante and his opinion. Maybe a part of her wanted him to realize that her obsession with finding their daughter wasn’t as bad as he’d thought, that her hard work could pay off and help other families.

“We need a map of the U.S.”

Her belly fluttered with excitement. He was going to help her. She stood, went to the corner of the dining room and looked through one of the brown accordion folders stacked on the floor. After finding the map, she brought it to him.

He unfolded the map, which was larger than she remembered and approximately four feet by two. “Can we hang this?” he asked, looking around the dining room, specifically at the walls.

She collected a handful of push pins from a junk box filled with paperclips, highlighters, and pens and pencils. “We can hang it over these newspaper clippings,” she suggested, taking the map from him.

He rose and helped. “Do you have any more of those pins?”

“Here.” She handed him the junk box. “What are you thinking? Pinpoint the locations where the boys were found?”

“That, and where they were taken.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Or do we need to uncover that info?”

“Only for the most recent boy,” she said, and went back to the card table to retrieve the folder she’d given Dante to look through. When she found the first kidnapped child in the file, she approached the map. “Okay, about nine years ago, the first boy, whose case description fit with the others, was found in Shreveport, Louisiana.”

He pressed the red push pin on Shreveport. “But you didn’t have the program until five years ago.”

“After I discovered Max’s case, I remembered this one. I’d come across it when I initially began using Rachel’s program. At that time though, there were no other cases connected and I was busy working on…our case. Plus, Max had called himself Elton. And the boy prior to Max, couldn’t say his name properly. So again, I didn’t make a connection.” She pulled her notes on the nine-year-old investigation. “Last night, when I came across the Attempt to Identify bulletin from Lamoni, it jogged my memory and I went back and looked at the two cases I knew about, then started digging backward looking for anything similar. That’s when I found out about the boy from Louisiana.”