Jennings made a snorting noise. “This woman may not be asking now, not yet. But once you’ve flown all the way out there—Cassie! I’m on the phone! I’ll be up in a minute!” A sigh. “Once you get out there, that’s when she’ll suddenly come up with a reason why you need to pay her. Or she’ll be asking about a reward. You’ll think, you’ve come so far, you’ll give her whatever she wants. I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”
“I don’t think it’s like that. It doesn’t feel like that.” I didn’t want to believe this was a shakedown. “A few hours ago, when we went up to see my daughter’s car, I started thinking, maybe things aren’t looking so good. Syd’s car abandoned… the blood. But this, this is good news. This is solid.”
“How?” Jennings said. “You’ve got the word of a woman you don’t know who… How did she even connect up with you?”
“She checks websites about missing kids, sees if they match up with any of the kids in her shelter.”
“It sounds fishy,” Jennings said.
I refused to let her defeat me. “What would you do,” I asked, “if it were Cassie?”
A long pause at the other end of the line. “Mr. Blake, did you call just to tell me you’re heading out there, or is there something specific you want me to do?”
“Call the Seattle police. Have them put out an APB or whatever it is on her.”
“I’ll call them, but I have to be honest. A runaway teen isn’t going to be a high priority for them. I’ll tell them about finding the car, that this may be more than a simple runaway, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up that they’re going to jump all over this.”
“That blood,” I said. “That was on Syd’s car. Did you find out whose it is?”
“That’ll take a while, Mr. Blake. Maybe, by the time you get back from Seattle, we’ll know something. And if your daughter ends up coming home with you, maybe it won’t matter.”
* * *
I WENT DOWN TO THE KITCHEN , cleaned a container’s worth of chow mein off the floor. The boxes Kate hadn’t dumped contained some breaded shrimps, beef with broccoli, and some plain rice.
I ate it cold.
Then I went back upstairs and packed a small over-the-shoulder case. Something I could carry straight onto the plane. I didn’t want to be waiting around for checked luggage.
I had a little room left over in my bag, so I went into Syd’s room and looked at the stuffed animals she had on display in various places. In her chair, on her bookshelves, tucked in around her pillows. Tiny dogs and bunnies. A small, once-furry moose given to Syd, when she was two, by my late mother. It had endured so many years of snuggling it was nearly threadbare. Some things little girls never outgrow, even when they’re leaving the house in fishnets with studs in their nose, purple streaks in their hair.
Her stuffed friends weren’t arranged this way the day she disappeared. She’d gone to work leaving her bed unmade. The animals had been tossed all over the place. But when a week had gone by, I made the bed and put the animals in position to welcome Sydney home.
They were probably as tired of waiting as I was.
I thought one of them should accompany me to Seattle.
I picked the moose. His name, according to the tag, was Milt. He wouldn’t have been my first choice. His puffy antlers made him more difficult to pack. But I knew he was Syd’s favorite.
I got under the covers, expecting not to sleep. But I guess the tension I’d been living with for the last few weeks had ebbed slightly with Yolanda’s news.
I just hoped her husband would sort out sending the picture in the morning, as promised.
I WAS UP BEFORE SIX , checked the computer before doing anything else. No news. I showered and shaved, went back to check the computer again.
Still nothing. Then I remembered it was only a little after three in the morning in Seattle.
That didn’t stop me from checking every five minutes.
Shortly after nine, there
“I don’t think it’s like that. It doesn’t feel like that.” I didn’t want to believe this was a shakedown. “A few hours ago, when we went up to see my daughter’s car, I started thinking, maybe things aren’t looking so good. Syd’s car abandoned… the blood. But this, this is good news. This is solid.”
“How?” Jennings said. “You’ve got the word of a woman you don’t know who… How did she even connect up with you?”
“She checks websites about missing kids, sees if they match up with any of the kids in her shelter.”
“It sounds fishy,” Jennings said.
I refused to let her defeat me. “What would you do,” I asked, “if it were Cassie?”
A long pause at the other end of the line. “Mr. Blake, did you call just to tell me you’re heading out there, or is there something specific you want me to do?”
“Call the Seattle police. Have them put out an APB or whatever it is on her.”
“I’ll call them, but I have to be honest. A runaway teen isn’t going to be a high priority for them. I’ll tell them about finding the car, that this may be more than a simple runaway, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up that they’re going to jump all over this.”
“That blood,” I said. “That was on Syd’s car. Did you find out whose it is?”
“That’ll take a while, Mr. Blake. Maybe, by the time you get back from Seattle, we’ll know something. And if your daughter ends up coming home with you, maybe it won’t matter.”
* * *
I WENT DOWN TO THE KITCHEN , cleaned a container’s worth of chow mein off the floor. The boxes Kate hadn’t dumped contained some breaded shrimps, beef with broccoli, and some plain rice.
I ate it cold.
Then I went back upstairs and packed a small over-the-shoulder case. Something I could carry straight onto the plane. I didn’t want to be waiting around for checked luggage.
I had a little room left over in my bag, so I went into Syd’s room and looked at the stuffed animals she had on display in various places. In her chair, on her bookshelves, tucked in around her pillows. Tiny dogs and bunnies. A small, once-furry moose given to Syd, when she was two, by my late mother. It had endured so many years of snuggling it was nearly threadbare. Some things little girls never outgrow, even when they’re leaving the house in fishnets with studs in their nose, purple streaks in their hair.
Her stuffed friends weren’t arranged this way the day she disappeared. She’d gone to work leaving her bed unmade. The animals had been tossed all over the place. But when a week had gone by, I made the bed and put the animals in position to welcome Sydney home.
They were probably as tired of waiting as I was.
I thought one of them should accompany me to Seattle.
I picked the moose. His name, according to the tag, was Milt. He wouldn’t have been my first choice. His puffy antlers made him more difficult to pack. But I knew he was Syd’s favorite.
I got under the covers, expecting not to sleep. But I guess the tension I’d been living with for the last few weeks had ebbed slightly with Yolanda’s news.
I just hoped her husband would sort out sending the picture in the morning, as promised.
I WAS UP BEFORE SIX , checked the computer before doing anything else. No news. I showered and shaved, went back to check the computer again.
Still nothing. Then I remembered it was only a little after three in the morning in Seattle.
That didn’t stop me from checking every five minutes.
Shortly after nine, there
Similar Books
![The Sextet Presents… By Male Order [In Days of Olde] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)](https://fs.ageofbook.com/617035/thumbs/152x264/the-sextet-presents-by-male-order-in-days-of-olde-siren-publishing-menage-everlasting.png)
