Midnight Abduction, page 10
part #1 of Finnegan First Responders Series
“Stop it there!” Brady said urgently. Jeremy did as he was told. “I can see the license plate, EPR 708.”
Marc lifted his phone to his ear. “Lieutenant Krull? We need a BOLO on a four-door black Honda with the following Wisconsin license plate.” He rattled off the three letters and the three digits.
Brady knew they’d find this guy now that they had his license plate number! He wanted to hug Martha for her quick thinking but wrapped his arm around Grace’s shoulders instead.
This was exactly the break in the case that they needed!
Chapter Eight
“I don’t like this,” the mean man said. “I think that woman stared at you too long and took note of this car.”
Caleb was finishing his ice-cream cone, so he didn’t say anything. He’d been afraid the mean man would notice what he was doing when he’d used the help sign-language sign to get the woman’s attention. The way she’d stared at him had made him worry she had no idea what he was trying to say.
“I need to change out the license plate.” The mean man was still talking to himself. Caleb frowned. If he did something with the license plate, would that make it harder for his mom and the police to find him?
After talking to his mom on the phone, he’d felt better knowing she was looking for him. He’d cried when the mean man grabbed the phone away, and he had wanted to kick him. But he didn’t. Right after that, the mean man took his Avengers pajamas away and made him wear these old stinky clothes that didn’t fit.
Now the mean man looked upset again.
Caleb frowned when he noticed they were driving through a wooded area. It looked like the park where he’d gotten out to use the bathroom, although there were more people out now. Maybe the mean man would let him go to the bathroom again?
“That could work,” the mean man said. Then he smiled in a way that made Caleb worry. “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”
The mean man pulled over to the side of the road, behind a long line of other cars that were parked there. Then he shut off the engine and turned to glare at him. “Don’t try anything or I’ll smack you, understand?”
“Yes.” Caleb tried not to be afraid. He knew he needed to be brave until his mom could come find him.
The mean man got out of the car, slammed the door, then pulled something out of the trunk. Caleb thought he saw a tool in the mean man’s hands, but then he was gone.
Caleb was alone in the car for the first time since the mean man had taken him from his bedroom. He quickly unbuckled the belt holding him in the booster seat and climbed into the front.
Peering out the window, he didn’t see the mean man. What was he was doing? Caleb had no idea, but the woods were located just a few yards away.
Without taking the time to think it through, he opened the car door and slid out. Then he ran across the grass toward the woods as fast as he could despite the too-big shoes the mean man had given him.
Hoping the mean man wouldn’t know he was gone until he was far, far away.
Grace clung to Brady as he led her back to the SUV. Seeing Caleb’s blurred image provided a renewed energy. He hadn’t looked mistreated from what she could tell, although it had been a shock to see that he wasn’t wearing his Avengers pajamas.
Of course, the kidnapper would make Caleb wear different clothes. It may have even been done when they stopped at the park restroom where Duchess had tracked her son’s scent.
“How soon will the police find the black Honda?” She had been glad her identification of the vehicle had been correct. Knowing the vehicle’s license plate should help track the kidnapper down.
“Marc made sure that every law enforcement agency in the entire metropolitan area is on alert for the Honda.” Brady gave her a gentle squeeze before opening the SUV passenger door for her. “We’ll find him.”
“Before the one o’clock deadline?” She knew better than to ask for something Brady couldn’t tell her. Having all the cops on alert for one specific vehicle was more than they’d had before. “Never mind, I know you can’t answer that.” She blew out a breath. “It just feels like we’re so close, yet so is the time the kidnapper set for the exchange.”
“Waiting is the hardest part.” Brady flashed a reassuring smile. “Let’s put our faith in God’s hands.”
Way easier said than done, but she didn’t voice her concern. Especially since she’d been leaning on prayer throughout this ordeal. She silently vowed to continue praying for Caleb’s safekeeping.
Maybe she didn’t deserve God’s grace, but surely her son did.
Their son.
She wouldn’t have any idea where Caleb was at all without Brady’s skills and support. The fact that he was being so kind to her after the way she’d treated him was also amazing.
Seven years ago, she’d loved him. Now she found herself even more impressed with the man he’d become. He’d been admirable even back then. Now he was even more so.
In truth, Caleb deserved a father like Brady. No matter how difficult it would be for her, she’d make sure Brady had plenty of time to get to know his son.
Once they had him back from the kidnapper.
“Where are we headed?” The brief spurt of energy began to fade. “Back to the office?”
“Not yet. I hate to be far away if the kidnapper’s vehicle is found.” Brady shrugged. “I’ll drive around for a bit; he can’t be that far from here.”
She was relieved they weren’t going back and opened the laptop computer. “I’ll keep searching for Dominic Powers.” She frowned at the black screen. “Although I need the log-in information.”
Brady called Ian, who answered on the first ring. “I’m still going through the list of Joe, Joey, and Josephs,” he said in a defensive tone. “The guy on the boarder isn’t the one we were looking for.”
“I know, that’s fine. Give Grace the log-in information for the laptop, will you? She wants to work as we drive.”
Grace quickly typed in the information Ian provided. “Don’t go memorizing that, okay? Otherwise I’ll have to change it when you get back.”
“I won’t. Thanks, Ian.”
“You’ll have to change it anyway,” Brady pointed out. “I don’t suppose there’s any other information from the investigation?”
“Not yet.” Ian sounded apologetic. “I’ll bug the cell companies again if they don’t get back to me soon.”
“That would be great, thanks. We’ll be in touch.” Brady ended the call.
“It seems like we should have more to go on,” she said as she began searching through the social media site again. “Considering how many professionals are working the case.”
“If this guy had a criminal background, it would be easier,” Brady said dryly. His phone rang again, and the name on the screen in the dashboard was Rhy. “Hey, bro, what’s the word?”
“We’ve got the ransom,” Rhy said with satisfaction. “Bax came through for us, although it was no easy task. I think he had to use all of his connections to get this money extricated from the various funds he had them in. But the entire five million will be ready to be transferred when we know Caleb is safe.”
“I’m impressed,” Brady said.
“I have the second mortgage paperwork going through the banking system, too, but I don’t think we’ll be able to get the funds by the deadline,” Rhy added. “It’s only a drop in the bucket of the five-million demand, but I wanted us to contribute something. So far Bax has refused to take it, but we’ll worry about that later. I have to admit, the kidnapper using an offshore account is smart. It won’t be easy to make the transfer, get Caleb back, then find a way to track the money to get the funds back.”
“I know, we’ll need to think this through,” Brady agreed solemnly. “I can’t stand the idea of Bax losing this much money.”
“He said he doesn’t mind as long as we get Caleb back.”
Grace didn’t personally know Bax, but she wanted to give him a big hug and a kiss of gratitude.
“That’s nice of him, but we’ll find a way to protect his funds.” The expression on Brady’s face reflected his determination. “We don’t have a location yet where this guy is going to allow us to take Caleb. I’m assuming he must have a computer, too, to track the transfer of ransom funds into his designated account.”
“That seems logical,” Rhy agreed. “If we could get the ISP address, we can try tracking him that way.”
“I wish,” Brady said with a sigh. “So far he hasn’t given us much of anything to go on. Although we do have a license plate number.”
“I saw that, good work.” Rhy’s voice rang with satisfaction. “All officers in every precinct have been put on alert to grab this guy.”
“That’s the plan. Thanks, Rhy. Stay close to your phone, as soon as we hear from this perp again, we’ll let you know.”
“Understood. Just as an FYI, Bax is sticking with me too. Thankfully, he’s not in court today.”
“Great. I’ll be in touch soon.” Brady disconnected from the call.
“I cannot believe Bax offered up his personal funds for this,” Grace said. “And really, as wonderful as that is, what is this kidnapper thinking? How did he expect me to get this money? We live in a single-bedroom apartment.”
“He must assume your brother still has funds stashed away somewhere.” Brady held her gaze for a moment. “Are you sure he doesn’t?”
She frowned. “How would I know? He’s in federal prison. It’s not like I can walk in and ask him.”
“No, but it is something we can dig into later. I would like to think the SEC did that already, but it can’t hurt. Not that losing an entire retirement fund justifies kidnapping, but I feel for the victims.”
“I do too.” She hated knowing what her brother had done. “But nothing justifies scaring a six-year-old boy. Nothing!”
“I know.” He reached over to take her hand. It was surprising how often he did that, as if maybe he needed some support too. “We’ll find him. And we know he’s been given breakfast and lunch.”
“That and seeing him in the video are the only things holding me together,” she confided. “I’d be a bigger wreck if I thought this guy had hurt Caleb. Or worse.”
“He won’t. We’ll find him.”
She desperately wanted to believe him. She continued working through the social media sites, but it was difficult to concentrate. By the time they identified this guy, it would be time for him to call with more information.
Now that they had the ransom set, thanks to Bax’s generosity, she wished he’d just call and give them the information.
She couldn’t wait to hold Caleb in her arms once this nightmare was over.
Driving around looking for the black Honda probably wasn’t the best use of his time, but Brady couldn’t help himself. Not when he knew without a shadow of a doubt this kidnapper had been at the ice-cream and burger place just twenty minutes ago.
He circled the block, then went around another block. As he continued driving, he realized they weren’t that far from Greenland Park.
Matt and Duchess had already searched the place, but that didn’t mean their perp hadn’t headed over after getting an early lunch. But before he could turn to head that way, his phone rang again. Ian’s name flashed on the screen.
“We have a possible phone number,” Ian said in lieu of a greeting. “Obviously, it’s a cheap disposable phone, but we ran it through the system, and it was purchased at a discount store not far from the day care center owned by Ms. Ramsey.” There was a pause before Ian continued. “Here’s the address. I thought you’d want to head over there ASAP.”
“We do, thanks.” He repeated the address in his head as he turned to head in the opposite direction. “Are you familiar with the discount store Ian mentioned?”
“Yes, I shop there all the time.” She shivered. “It’s creepy to know the kidnapper went there too.”
“He must have staked out your day care center for a few days,” Brady mused. “Longer than you realized.”
“I try to stay vigilant because of the children.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “It hurts to know that my son was taken because of my inattentiveness.”
“That’s not the reason, Grace. You know that this guy is looking for restitution for losing a retirement fund.” He didn’t want her to keep beating herself up over this. “How could you expect that to happen?”
She didn’t answer, her gaze pensive. Finally, she said, “You’re right, no mother can expect their child to be taken. Even teaching our kids about stranger danger didn’t help in this case. It takes Caleb a few minutes to wake up; he was probably already out of the apartment and in the car by then.”
The kidnapper had done that part right. Using the old help me find my puppy trick may not have worked with Caleb.
“Turn left at the next light.” He noticed she’d closed the laptop computer, maybe realizing this phone number might give them the name of their UNSUB quicker than searching endless variations of names. “Do they track serial numbers on these phones?”
“The numbers are listed on the receipt.” He paused, then added, “If he used cash, we may not get very far.”
Grace sighed. “Well, this is fruitless, then. I’m sure he used cash.”
“Maybe not. He’s going through cash with the hotel and fast-food places. Don’t underestimate the possibility of his using a credit or debit card.”
“It’s going on noon,” she said. “Why hasn’t he called back yet?”
He knew she was talking out loud rather than expecting an answer. He parked in the discount store lot and pushed out of the SUV. “Let’s go. I have a good feeling about this, Grace. If we can get this guy’s number, we’ll call him about the exchange while tracking his current location.”
“I pray you’re right.” She hurried along beside him. “I keep telling myself that no matter what happens, we’ll have our son back within the hour.”
“Our son,” he echoed, glancing at her. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too.” She caught his hand. “You’ve been a rock, Brady. Thank you for being such a great FBI agent. We wouldn’t be this far in the investigation if not for you.”
“It’s a team effort.” Her kind words meant a lot to him. They didn’t take back the fact that she’d kept Caleb a secret from him, but going through this ordeal together had brought them closer.
In some ways, it was as if the seven-year gap between them hadn’t happened.
Something to discuss once they had Caleb back. For now, he planned to follow up on every possible lead. Until they got the call about the exchange.
Brady flashed his creds to the first employee he saw. “I’m Special Agent Finnegan. I need to speak with your manager as soon as possible.”
The young man’s eyes widened in shock. “Ah, sure.” He reached up to push a button on his headset. “Um, Ms. Wellington? There’s an FBI agent here to talk to you.”
Several customers walking by stopped to gape. Brady ignored them, his gaze sweeping the store for the manager.
A round woman who appeared to be in her late fifties hurried over from where the cashiers were located. “I’m Mary Wellington. What can I do for you?”
“Special Agent Finnegan,” he repeated, giving her a moment to see his creds before sliding the pack back into his pocket. “You sold a disposable phone here four days ago. I want to find out who bought it.”
“Do you have a time frame in mind?” She frowned. “We sell a lot of phones.”
“Can you pull up all phone transactions?” He wasn’t sure what technical skills this woman possessed. “Or can you pull up all transactions for that day? I can always send the entire list to my office so our IT expert can go through it.”
“Let me see what I can do.” She turned and gestured for them to join her. “My office is this way. Oh, uh, shouldn’t you have a warrant or something?”
He nodded. “Yes, I’ll have one faxed over ASAP. A missing six-year-old boy’s life is at stake. We appreciate your cooperation.”
“I have a five-year-old grandson.” She frowned and waved a hand. “I’ll get you whatever you need, Agent Finnegan. People who steal children are the lowest scum of the earth.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Grace muttered.
“Thank you.” He wished all witnesses were so helpful. He used his phone to get the search warrant sent over, then followed the manager.
Her office was cramped, but she logged into the computer and began working. “Four days ago, here we are.” She looked up at him. “We sell a lot of products in a day, it would really help if you had a time frame.”
“I don’t have one, sorry. If you can’t separate the list by item, then print everything out for me.”
“Wait a minute, I think I can run a report of all electronics that were sold.” She worked as she spoke. “Yep, here you go. It looks like we only sold one phone that day.” She printed out a sheet of paper and handed it to him. “Does that help you?”
He scanned the list until he saw the phone sale. His pulse spiked when he saw a phone number with a local area code, along with the last four digits of a credit card number. “He used a credit card; I need his name and the entire card number.”
“Hmm.” She frowned and stared at her computer screen. “I’m not sure how to get that information.”
“May I take a look?” It was all he could do not to wrench the woman from her seat so he could take over. “Please? It’s really important.”
“Sure.” She shrugged and rose to her feet, scooting out of his way. “Have at it.”
“How are you going to figure out their system?” Grace asked.
He wasn’t as much of a tech whiz as Ian, but he knew his way around basic operating systems. He doubted the discount store used anything super fancy. He took a moment to familiarize himself with the various tabs of the spreadsheet she’d pulled up, then searched for a transaction detail page.
