Whisper in the Night (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Mind reeling, Jenna turned to Kane. “Give me something, Kane. I’ve never dealt with this kind of crazy before; if he doesn’t call back, how do we negotiate with him?”

“We can’t. His message only gave us a time limit to find her. You’ve offered negotiation and we’ll have to wait and see if he responds.” A nerve in Kane’s cheek twitched. “My first instinct would be to divert the volunteers to the old buildings as well but that might cause a problem. We don’t know what game he’s playing.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Right now Lindy’s alive, and if a search party stumble over his hiding place he might panic and kill her. It’s a catch-22 situation. I suggest you make it clear the teams must approach all suspicious places with caution.”

Worry for Lindy’s safety cramped Jenna’s stomach. The image

of the poor girl flashed through her mind in a constant rerun. “The kidnapper would’ve already seen the search and rescue chopper in the air, so it’s a bit late to worry about that now. I’ll send Rowley and Webber out with them. They’ll be able to reach more properties in the shortest time.”

“As long as they have a place to land.” Kane took a backroad and accelerated, bypassing downtown and heading for Wolfe’s house. “We’ll need more information to pinpoint the location. It’s almost noon now. I hope Wolfe finds something we can use.”

“It would sure make life easier.” Jenna scrolled through her list of contacts on her cellphone. “I’ll tell Maggie to feed the list of suspect properties to the search parties as she finds them – it will save time – then I’ll call the FBI and see if they can send assistance, but we’d be lucky to get one field officer at such short notice.” She made the calls, then sucked in a deep breath and contacted Mr. Rosen. “Mr. Rosen, this is Jenna Alton. I’m afraid to tell you we’ve received a video of Lindy from her kidnapper. She’s alive and we’re doing everything possible to discover her location.”

“Oh my God.” Rosen cleared his throat. “Did he make any demands?”

“Not yet.” She glanced at Kane. “I’ll contact you the moment we know anything.” She disconnected. “You know, this case seems familiar to me in an odd way. I worked a case involving a drug dealer. He’d send images of himself in a Halloween mask selling drugs outside cop stations, schools and churches. It was as if he wanted us to catch him, and then one day it all stopped. We never discovered his identity.”

“Classic narcissistic tendencies. He wanted to make sure he received all the attention so he made a game of catch-me-if-you-can with the cops. He would’ve loved being mentioned in the media, it fed his ego.” Kane pulled up outside Wolfe’s home. “Likely he overdosed on his product.”

Jenna sighed. “Maybe, or escalated into something else.”

“Possible.” Kane turned in his seat. “Ah, here’s Wolfe. If there’s anything on that video, he’ll find it.”

* * *

Huddled around Wolfe’s desk, Jenna and Kane watched Wolfe manipulate the film. His equipment came straight from the FBI and was the latest design with all the bells and whistles. Jenna listened intently to Wolfe’s narration.

“There’s not much to see. The camera is on a tripod angled down to give the narrowest of images. With only one small dim light source the background becomes pixilated.” Wolfe zoomed in on the floor. “Plastic sheeting on the floor and the chair is straight-back wooden, like one found in most homes. It’s reasonably old, maybe twenty or more years.”

Jenna peered at Lindy. “Can you see if she’s injured?”

“There’s no apparent bloodstains on her clothes and her face appears untouched. From what I can see, her lips aren’t blue. The ligature marks on her ankles and arms indicate the ropes around her are very tight but, where her arms are bare, she doesn’t have goosebumps.” Wolfe glanced at her. “So we’re looking for an occupied house or one with heating.”

“Can you isolate the background sound?” Kane leaned forward. “I thought I could hear machinery.”

Moments later, the humming sound of a motor came through the speakers. Jenna listened intently. “Generator?”

“I don’t think so.” Wolfe’s brow wrinkled into a frown. “More like an air conditioner used to heat the cellar and change the air, so this place is used frequently.”

“Maybe not.” Kane pointed at the screen. “Look at the rungs on the bottom of the chair. If someone had sat on the chair recently, there wouldn’t be dust on them.” He moved his attention to Jenna. “Most kids would put their feet on the rungs, this makes me believe she was unconscious when he placed in the chair and tied her up.”

Jenna reached for her cellphone and called Rowley. She could hardly hear him with the noise of the chopper. “We believe the building where the cellar is located is occupied.”

“It’s hard to hear you, ma’am.”

“I’ll text you.” Jenna thumbed in a message and waited for him to respond. Once his reply came through she looked at Kane. “They’re doing a grid search north of Stanton Forest and working back to the Rosens’ property. The wardens are working through the forest checking cabins heading north and they have two rangers on horseback heading south. Blackhawk and a team are heading west.” She scrolled through the file Maggie had sent to her earlier. “We’ll head south into the grasslands, I have a list.”

“Roger that.” Kane pushed to his feet. “Come on, Duke, let’s get that nose of yours working.”

Jenna stood and turned to Wolfe. “I’ll leave you to it. If you find one shred of evidence to narrow this search, call me.”

“I always do, Jenna. I’ll keep the track on your phone as well but I doubt he’ll use the same burner twice. Finding him via the calls will be impossible but I’ll keep trying.” Wolfe frowned. “I suggest you put out a media report saying you want people to call in if they live in an older home with a root cellar and you’re sending out deputies to check each one.” He shrugged. “You’d eliminate a whole bunch – no way would the kidnapper be calling from his hideout.”

As usual, Wolfe’s cool-headed way of looking at situations gave her an advantage. “Sure, I’ll call it in now.” She put through the call and updated her team with the new situation, then hurried to Kane’s truck.

She climbed inside and explained. “I figure calls will start coming in real fast.” She glanced at her watch. It was close to two. “We’ll head south and wait for Maggie to update the list.”

“Roger that, where to?” Kane started the engine, and then frowned. “I think Emily wants a word with you.”

Jenna buzzed down her window and smiled as Emily, Wolfe’s eldest daughter, ran toward them. “Do you need to speak with me?”