“Did you contact the police?”
“Hell no. Look, I told Bailey to pack her things and move in with me. She was going to, the next day. She called me Thursday night, said she had their things packed and loaded in her car. She said she’d see me the next day. But she never came to work.”
“So you went to the house and found Hope in the closet.”
“Yes. The house was trashed and Bailey was gone. There’s one other thing. Bailey told me that she’d mailed you a letter. That I was supposed to tell you that.”
“A letter. Okay.” Alex’s mind was spinning. “Why didn’t she just come that night?”
“She said she was meeting someone. That she’d come when she finished.”
“You don’t know who she was meeting?”
Sissy hesitated. “She was seeing a man. I think he might have been married. She said she needed to say good-bye. I have to go now.”
Alex looked at Meredith, who was impatiently waiting. “Bailey mailed me a letter the day before she disappeared.”
“Who’s been getting your mail?”
“One of my friends from the hospital.” She hit Letta’s speed dial on her cell phone. “Letta, it’s Alex. I have a favor to ask.”
Dutton, Thursday, February 1, 2:30 p.m.
Daniel’s conversation with the Woolfs had not gone well. Jim Woolf had lawyered up and Marianne had just slammed the door in his face. He’d gotten back to his car when his phone buzzed. “Vartanian.”
“Leigh told me you called,” Chase said. “I’ve been in a meeting with the captain for the last two hours. What’s the news?”
“I went to Sean Romney’s house and interviewed his mother. Apparently Sean was below average in cognitive ability as the result of a birth defect. He was too trusting and willing to please, according to Mrs. Romney. Because of this, she kept closer tabs on him than her other kids. Guess what she found in his room two days ago?”
“I have no idea, but you’re going to tell me right now, aren’t you?”
Chase sounded cranky and Daniel guessed his meeting with the captain had gone even less well than his visit with Marianne Woolf.
“A disposable cell phone. It wasn’t in his room and the cops didn’t find it on his body, but Mrs. Romney had written down the numbers in his call log. The number for his incoming calls matches the call Jim Woolf got Sunday morning.”
“Yes,” Chase hissed. “Does it match any of the incomings on the cell you found on the pizza parlor guy, Lester Jackson?”
“Unfortunately no, but we finally have a solid connection.”
“I wish you’d told me this before I went into my meeting,” Chase grumbled.
“Sorry,” Daniel said. “How bad is it?”
“They wanted you off the case, but I convinced them otherwise,” Chase said dryly.
Daniel let out a breath. “Thanks. I owe you.” His phone beeped and he glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Ed. I gotta go.” He switched calls. “Hey, Ed. What do you know?”
“Lots,” Ed said, clearly pleased. “Come to Bailey’s and you’ll know lots, too.”
“I’m just leaving the Woolfs’, so I’m not far. I’ll see you in twenty.”
Atlanta, Thursday, February 1, 4:50 p.m.
“Alex. Wake up.”
Alex twisted out of sleep, a warm mouth meeting hers. “Umm.” She kissed him back, then leaned back against the sofa in the break room where she’d drifted off. “You’re back.” She blinked her eyes open. “What time is it?”
“Almost five. I have a team meeting, but I wanted to find you first.” Kneeling on one knee next to the little sofa, he gave her an appraising glance. “Did you get your clothes back from the bungalow?”
“No. Shannon, the agent who was there last night, said they’d been slashed.” She shrugged. “So I went shopping.”
He frowned. “I thought-”
She patted his cheek. “Relax. Chase had one of the agents ‘accompany’ me.”
“Which one?”
“Pete Haywood.”
Daniel smiled, relieved. “Nobody messes with Pete.”
“I should think not.” The man had been bigger than Daniel and built like a tank.
“Nobody tried anything?”
“Nobody even looked at me cross-eyed.” She struggled to sit up and he easily lifted her. “I got a call from my friend Letta.” Alex had called him with Sissy’s revelation earlier in the afternoon. “She said there was no letter from Bailey.”
“It should have arrived already.” His brow creased. “How long since you moved?”
“A little more than a year. Why?”
“The post office only forwards mail for about a year. Did Bailey know you’d moved?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s probably at Richard’s house. I’ll call him.”
“Where are Hope and Meredith?”
“Back at the safe house. Hope was exhausted after she and Mary were done, so Meredith took them both back. Hope was able to pick out two of the pictures, then Mary showed her a bunch of different hats and asked Hope to pick out one that matched the hat she drew on Bailey’s assailant the other night. Hope picked a hat just like the one they wear in the Dutton sheriff’s office.”
He nodded soberly. “I know. I stopped by the team room on my way to find you.” He rose and held out his hand. “Come. We need to talk to you.” He pulled her to her feet and, sliding his arm around her waist, walked her to a conference room with a big table. Around the table were Luke, Chase, Mary, and a woman she hadn’t yet met. “I think you know everyone except Talia Scott.”
Talia was a little woman with a sweet smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Alex.”
“Talia’s been interviewing all the women in the pictures.”
And Alex could see the day had taken its toll. Although Talia’s smile was sweet, her eyes were weary. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” She looked at the table and saw the two pictures Hope had identified.
Garth Davis, the mayor, and Randy Mansfield, the police deputy.
“What did they say when you arrested them?”
Chase shook his head. “We haven’t arrested them.”
Alex’s mouth fell open in disbelief, then anger started to rise. “And why not?”
Daniel smoothed his hand over her back. “That’s what we wanted to talk to you about. We don’t know which of them abducted Bailey. Maybe both.”
“So arrest them both and sort it out later,” she said from between gritted teeth.
“At this point,” Chase said patiently, “it’s the word of a four-year-old against two men who are respected in the community. We need evidence before we can bring them in.”
He said the words as if she were four years old herself. “This is insane. Two men can abduct a woman and beat her head in and you won’t do anything?” She whipped her gaze up to Daniel. “You were there at the pizza parlor. Garth Davis walked up to our table and a minute later, Hope’s smearing sauce all over her face like blood.” The memory had surfaced as soon as she’d seen the picture. “Garth Davis kidnapped Bailey. Why is he walking free? Why haven’t you even brought him in for questioning?”
“Alex-” Daniel started, but she shook her head.
“And Mansfield… he’s a cop. He has a badge and a gun. You can’t just let him roam free while you figure all this out. Everything he’s ever done has to be suspect. I mean, he shot the guy who tried to kill me after the guy killed Sheila Cunningham. Isn’t that enough evidence? What does it take to get arrested in this goddamn state?”
“Alex.” Daniel’s voice was sharp, then he sighed. “Just show it to her, Ed.”
Ed moved a box filled with books, revealing a silver flute. Alex’s mouth dropped open. “You found the flute Bailey was playing.”
Ed nodded. “We sent out a team with metal detectors and found it behind a fallen log. It had been buried under about a half inch of dirt and a pile of leaves.”
“Where Bailey hid Hope.” She glared at them all, her breath hitching in her chest. “While those men beat her senseless, until her blood soaked the ground.”