Ben stood on the porch with his partner and Officers Ford and Oakley. “Roger and Tyrell, you are assigned to my detail. Tyrell, I want you to protect the scene. Keep McBride under your thumb until Crime Scene gets here. He can call his lawyer and that's it. I'm sending the polygraph guy here unless somebody squawks.
“Phone crew will set up for a ransom call. They'll take over the babysitting and you can join Roger.”
He turned to Roger. “You head to the station, later Ford will join you. I'll get a couple of other officers on it. You'll be in charge of the group. Do interviews. Concentrate on the school. Friends, teachers, counselors.
“It's Saturday—that's going to slow it down. Call the principal and counselors first and arrange for the kids to come to the school for the interviews. Make ‘em more comfortable. Interview close friends, boyfriends, names you get from the father, at their homes, talk to their parents too. Bring her best girlfriend and current boyfriend to the station. If anybody finds a diary, a journal, a what-do-you-call-’em—” He snapped his fingers at Scott then turned his palm up in question.
“Blog,” Scott answered. “On her computer. A Web site.”
“Right, one of those. Get the techs on her computer. Anybody finds something like that—I want to know yesterday.”
Ben checked his watch. Frowned.
“I'll get Adam checking phone records and the father's finances. Scott, use that snazzy little cell phone and get us on a flight to Louisiana. You've got your first Amber and we're at least twelve hours into the first forty-eight.”