Taken by Dee Henderson

know if someone in Shannon’sfamily set her up to be abducted, or if someone arranged it to pressure her family,” he told Adam quietly.
    “The kids she’s given me—the oldest was ten. Shannon was sixteen when she was taken. That’s old for a custody dispute.”
    “Maybe they shifted to only custody disputes and younger children after what turned out to be a debacle with her. Shannon said she was grabbed, taken by these people to a specific address where she was to be delivered, there was a problem at that location, and she was forced to stay with them. So someone paid them to take her, gave directions on where to take her. We need to identify that person.”
    “Who’s working this in Chicago?”
    “Paul Falcon and his wife, Ann, are involved. Paul’s going to need a look at this envelope’s contents.”
    “He’ll have it tonight.” Adam gathered up the photos. “If someone paid to have Shannon grabbed, if they are still around, they’re going to react badly to the fact Shannon turns up. I’d be careful about the ones you trust.”
    “That’s what we’re trying to sort out now. The fact that her brother’s running for governor of Illinois isn’t going to help matters.”
    “Politics and crime make for very interesting press,” Adam agreed. “I need to talk with Shannon, and sooner rather than later,” he insisted.
    “That’s not going to happen in the near term,” Matthew replied flatly. “Neither of us can afford to cut off the flow of information. If you push, she’s going to stop talking.”
    “Are there more kids to rescue?”
    “She says no.”
    Adam pulled out a business card, wrote a number on the back. “I looked you up. I’m sorry about your daughter.”
    “Appreciate that.”
    “Becky’s the reason Shannon found you?”
    “Yes.”
    Adam pushed the card across the table. “I’ll keep that in mind when we butt heads on the timing of things.”
    Matthew smiled and offered a card of his own. “I might come to like you, but don’t take it for granted.”
    “Ditto. I’ll call when I’ve got something useful on these five. Tell Shannon thanks.”
    “I will.”
    Matthew waited until Adam had left the restaurant before he paid the bill and exited with a carryout order for Shannon. He drove south for ten minutes, watching to see if he was being followed, then turned north and headed back to the hotel. Rooms had been booked for them by Ann under names she’d selected at random from the phone book.

    Matthew wasn’t surprised to find Shannon still up. They had adjoining rooms at the hotel, and the connecting door between them stood open. Shannon was curled up on his couch, watching television. She didn’t ask how the meeting had gone, but he offered something anyway. “I like Adam York.”
    “I figured you might.”
    Matthew set down the bag he carried in. “I brought you a meal if you want to add something further to that room-service tray.”
    She uncoiled from the couch. “Yeah, thanks, I am hungry again.”
    “Becky taught me early on that food started to taste really good to her again in the first months she was home.”
    Shannon lifted the lid on the container, and her pleasure was obvious. “This is great.” Matthew pulled out a chair for her at the table, then stepped out to retrieve beverages from the vending machine. He settled in across from her at the table while she ate, working on a package of M&M’s as his dessert.
    “Did you enjoy being a cop?”
    He was surprised at the unexpected question. “Yes. I was good at it. I liked solving robberies.”
    “You didn’t aspire to something else . . . maybe like homicides?”
    “No. I liked property crimes. All too often it was someone poor stealing from someone equally poor. It mattered that the theft be solved.”
    “You quit because of your daughter’s case?”
    He nodded. “I needed more income than my salary could provide in order to hire people to stay on the case full time. Starting my own private