Beth filled in the shocked silence that followed Meghan’s revelation as she briefed the two cops on what Maddie had told them.
‘Ms. Hunnicker knew about this all along?’ Pizaka asked, his face white.
‘Yeah. She brought Maddie to us today, to get her to tell us.’
Chang exchanged a silent look with his partner, excused himself and left the room. No one broke the silence in his absence and when he returned fifteen minutes later, his sleepy look had left him.
‘No complaints were filed by Amy Kittrell in the last five years. A couple of cops are calling the Baybush PD. We will know soon enough.’
‘What about hospitals?’ his partner reminded.
‘I have that covered. Another couple of cops are calling hospitals and clinics in the city. If Mrs. Kittrell was hurt or injured –’ Chang didn’t complete his sentence.
He went to a water cooler in the room, filled plastic cups and handed them around. ‘That child. Carrying that within herself. No one to speak to.’
He lowered himself heavily in a chair. ‘We have requested a meeting with Mayo and Kane. Will you ladies wish to come along?’
Meghan nodded, but before she could reply, Pizaka cut in. ‘The girl didn’t see anything. She just heard stuff. She could be mistaken.’
Meghan placed a calming hand on Beth’s shoulder before her sister could flare. ‘Yeah. That doesn’t mean we should discount it.’
‘No one is discounting anything.’ Chang’s soft voice was calming. ‘We will investigate it. If it’s true, there could be a motive for the husband to run away with his daughter.’
‘Right now, all we know for sure is that the daughter has been kidnapped and the husband is missing.’
Meghan turned her head and watched Beth for a long moment when Zeb, who had returned just as they exited One PP, was driving them back.
Her sister was watching the traffic silently, stony faced, her fists balled. She was still fuming at Pizaka’s insinuation.
Nothing more had been discussed with the cops. Chang had promised to get back to them as soon as he heard from the law firm. The twins, in turn, would share their CCTV feed with the NYPD.
Pizaka said he would look into how Maddie’s claim could be investigated.
‘Beth.’
‘BETH,’ she called louder when her sister didn’t look at her. ‘We will talk to Amy Kittrell, okay?’
Beth nodded, still not meeting her eyes, and resumed her silent watch on the city as it blurred past.
It was evening. Traffic was thick, loud, and angry. People were in a hurry to get to wherever they were headed. Cars cut in and out. Traffic snarled. Lights winked and high rises lit up.
‘Maddie could be anywhere.’ Beth’s eyes were bright with unshed tears when she finally looked at Meghan.
‘What must be her mom going through?’
Meghan was in the office early the next day. A coffee to start the day right, a tap on the keyboard to bring her screen to life, and the hunt started.
She glanced once at the clock on the wall. It had Mickey Mouse on its face; it was the one item Beth and she had brought from their home in Wyoming.
Not quite twenty-four hours, but close enough. Still no clue where she is or who has taken her.
She was querying the CCTV feed when Beth wandered in an hour later. Her sister mumbled a greeting, she returned it without raising her head.
There were four cameras at the front of the building which caught the street from various angles. There was a fifth camera mounted discreetly on a lamp pole on the opposite side.
There were several cameras inside the lobby and a couple inside the elevators.
Beth joined her and they watched the feeds in silence.
Relentless traffic. Then a figure emerging from the building. Beth. More figures. The rest of them.
The first figure raised a hand. A vehicle arrived, a cab. People clambered in. At the edge of the screen a figure appeared. Grew larger. Became a man.
He hurled Beth aside, grabbed Maddie and ran.
For a micro-second nothing happened.
Then figures emerged from the opposite end of the cab. Tiny figures clambered out from inside.
Another figure joined them. Zeb. There was pointing, gesticulating, and then Zeb bent and lifted Beth easily and carried her inside.
Gramma made calls, the cops arrived and at that point Meghan froze the feed.
She ran it a few more times, checked the other cameras, but realized with a sinking feeling that none of them had caught the assailant.
All they could see was a gray sweatshirt, a hoodie, gray track pants, and white sneakers.
The man’s face was indistinguishable. They could make out he was white, but that was the only feature they could spot.
Meghan rose, brewed herself another cup of coffee while Beth typed furiously. She returned, stood over Beth’s shoulder and watched as her sister commanded Werner to trace any Maddie related chatter on the internet. She attached several pictures of the girl to her commands.
Werner would sniff out social media posts and blogs. It would go to chat programs and look into emails. It talked to hundreds of databases all over the world. Secret databases guarded zealously by government agencies, and public repositories. Werner had access to them all.
Beth slid her chair back, rose, and stretched.
‘What now, sis?’
‘Let’s talk to Amy Kittrell.’ Meghan replied and when she turned to head out of the office, Zeb was there.
He led them out silently, down the elevator, to the SUV which roared and lunged forward as if it too could join the search.
Amy Kittrell wasn’t alone. Gramma was with her and the two women were sitting in silence when Meghan and Beth entered the Kittrell home.
Meghan didn’t wait for pleasantries. She caught Gramma’s eyes and signaled her to stay quiet and then pounced.
‘Maddie told us.’
‘About your husband hitting you.’