Independence & Consequences - M J Marlow (manga ebook reader txt) 📗

informed them. They had crept in the night before and tapped the woman’s phone. “I have Max checking it out now.” He bent down to ruffle the ears of the puppy that was chewing on his shoe laces. “Our new team member is already earning his way.” “Someone is going to a lot of trouble to make us believe Hancock was innocent of any involvement in Miss Chambers’ kidnapping,” Dennis said as he went to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Either of you want some?” Alexa and Sam shook their heads and Dennis sank down into a seat nearby. “They must think we’re simpletons to buy into that line.” “If we’re going to get the girl back,” Alexa spoke up, “we’re going to have to make them believe we did buy it.” She smiled as she had a thought. “So we’re going to have to send a team to chase one of those dead ends down; make a real production of it.” “Jeff Tolliver, please,” Dennis said a moment later over the phone. He nodded to his teammates. “Jeff? This is Chaney. We spoke with Hancock’s cousin. She believes that he is on his honeymoon with a woman named Antoinette Dubois.” He was smiling as he spoke the lie; on the off chance that they had been bugged, their targets would think they were giving up. He ran his hand through his hair and gave Jeff the code words for ‘they lied to us’. “It was a waste of time, sir. The Doctor knew absolutely nothing of value to us.” He hung up and turned to Sam. “Call the airfield and have the jet ready for us. Alexa and I will go to West Virginia. You and Buddy join Max back at our office.” As the team went about their mission, Jeff and Morgan were seated in his office, sharing a cup of coffee. The investigation into Isabel’s abduction was going through Jeff’s private security force. Any appearance of the FBI looking into it would jeopardize Isabel. It had been the only demand made by the kidnappers so far: no authorities involved. They knew that there was more to the girl’s abduction than that. Gordon would be forced to play along with whatever her kidnappers wanted or risk losing his niece. So Morgan had volunteered to be the liaison between the feds and Jeff’s people. Only Gordon knew that the ‘dates’ between his agent and Jeff were more than they appeared. “When we get Isabel back,” Jeff said as he moved closer to Morgan and kissed her on the cheek, “we’ll have to thank her.” “Are you saying that our spending this much time together is not all because of a kidnapped child?” Morgan asked him, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Why Mr. Tolliver, I am blushing.” “You knew better than that, Morgan,” Jeff said quite seriously. He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “I am growing quite fond of you, Ms. Forrester.” “Ditto, Mr. Tolliver,” Morgan smiled at him. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, enjoying the feelings he was reawakening in her. “I’d better go. Gordon will want to hear how things are going.” “Dinner tonight?” “Are you sure you want to spend so much time with me?” Morgan teased. She laughed as he pulled her to her feet and kissed her. When they parted, they were both stunned. “Wow!” “I couldn’t agree more,” Jeff smiled back at her. “I’ll pick you up at 8:00.” Morgan left his office, smiling. She nodded to Alison as she went to the elevator and actually blushed when Alison sent her a knowing look. She returned to her office and knocked on Gordon’ door. He called her in and she saw that the man was not alone. She closed the door and nodded to Ricardo Alvarez and Winston Tolliver. Very quickly she filled them in on what Jeff’s team had found out. The phone rang and Morgan picked it up. “Federal Bureau of Investigation, Director Talbot’s office.” She nodded and put the call on speaker. “Go ahead.” “You were warned, Talbot,” a man’s angry voice sounded over the speaker. “You are responsible for what happened.” The caller laughed. “You’ll find your niece’s remains on one of the beaches south of Norfolk.” The caller hung up and the four of them exchanged shocked glances. Morgan hung up and sent a query down the pike regarding accidents involving yachts with the name Persephone. When the answer came back forty minutes later, it confirmed what the caller had said. The yacht had washed up on a beach south of Norfolk. The preliminary report said that the engines had blown. There was no trace of Isabel. Morgan called the airfield and ordered the plane to be ready to go for the agents Gordon was signaling to. * The boy watched as Doctor Charles walked out of the farmhouse, frowning. He had just pulled up and it was evident he had expected someone to be there when he arrived. Charles saw the boy and waved at him. He waved back and turned to go. He looked back as he heard a car pulling up. Charles went towards it, a hopeful look on his face. The door opened and two men got out. They put Doctor Charles in his car and drove off with him. The boy got the license plate of the second car as it drove off. Then he turned away and ran into town. The woman behind the desk at the Sheriff’s Office smiled as he came in. “Hey Tony,” Beth Hardy smiled as she saw the boy. “How’s our junior deputy today?” She saw his frown and knew this wasn’t a pleasure call. “Something wrong?” “I need to talk to Sheriff Dave,” Tony told her. “Doctor Charles is in trouble.” “What kind of trouble, Tony” Beth asked as she put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him seriously. “Not like the time you saw an elephant in the old mine? “No,” Tony shook his head firmly. “I was out hunting on the old Monk farm and Doctor Charles was just arriving. He was looking for someone. A car pulled up as he was leaving, and two men grabbed him and drove off in Doctor Charles’ car.” “Dave!” Beth screamed as she grabbed the boy’s hand and led him to the back office. She opened the door and saw the two other people inside. “Tony here says he’s just seen Dr. Stoner abducted.” “Tony,” Dave Hardy smiled as his wife closed the door and the boy remained in the office. “I’d like to introduce you to my cousin, Alexa, and her husband, Dennis Chaney.” He nodded to the chair. “Sit down. Catch your breath. Tell us what you saw.” “I was out by the old Monk farm,” Tony told them all, lowering his head as he saw Dave’s look of censure. “I know I’m not supposed to be out there, Sheriff Dave, but the rabbit I was hunting headed that way and Mama wanted some for stew tonight.” When Dave didn’t say anything, he knew what he had seen was important. “I looked towards the house when I heard the door open and Doctor Charles was there. He looked very worried, as if he was expecting someone to be there and wasn’t. He waved at me. Then a car came down the road and two men forced him into his own car and drove off.” He pulled a notepad around, grabbed a pencil, and jotted down the license plate of the second car. “The car they were in had this license plate number.” “Are you sure it wasn’t just someone who needed to see the Doctor on business, Tony?” Alexa asked the boy. “I didn’t recognize them,” Tony told her. “The sanitarium would send Doug if someone needed him. He’s in trouble. I know he is.” “Not for much longer, thanks to you,” Dennis smiled at the boy and saw his chest puff out proudly. “We’ll look after this right away.” “It’s time you were getting home, boy,” Dave said as he wheeled himself out from under the desk and went to open the door. “Beth,” he called to his wife, “see Tony home. And have his Dad join me at the diner for a talk.” He saw Tony’s fearful expression and shook his head. “No, boy. I’m not going to rat you out. This is about something else.” He turned to his visitors. “Tony’s dad is the local fed in these parts. He’ll be able to run that plate for you faster than I could.” He felt the signs of low blood sugar and wheeled around the desk. “It’s time for me to eat. Join me at the diner?” They left the station and followed Dave across the street. The town was as it always had been, Alexa noted. This could have been any day from her childhood for all the changes that had occurred since she had left town. That was one of the reasons she had left. Alexa was not the type of person who could be happy living a small town life. Since the day she had left, she had joined the Army, attended Medical School, met and divorced and remarried the same annoying man, and become one of the best detectives anyone had ever known. The same woman, though older, was even behind the cash register, Alexa noted as they went inside. “Hey, Dave!” Ada Branson smiled as they entered the diner ten minutes later. “Who are your…” Her eyes widened as she recognized Alexa. “Lexi!” She crowed and came around the desk. She gave Alexa a big hug and then looked at Dennis. “Yours?” she asked as her eyes took in the man. “Yum.” “You wouldn’t say that if you had to live with him, Ada,” Alexa replied. “It’s good to see you.” “So you in town for a family visit?” Ada asked as she grabbed three menus and led them to a table. “Dave and Beth couldn’t make our wedding,” Alexa nodded and took a seat. “So I brought Dennis here to meet them.” “As I recall you were married on some obscure little island near Cuba,” Dave laughed as he lifted himself out of the wheelchair and slid into the booth. He looked at Ada. “We’re expecting Sam, Ada.” “I’ll start a pot then,” the woman nodded. She smiled briefly at Alexa, looked Dennis over a bit too familiarly and then moved away. “She’s quite the predator,” Dennis said as he looked at his menu. “Divorcee?” “Quite the opposite, my dear,” Alexa laughed. “Ada is a very happily married woman with seven children. She and her husband, Frank,” she nodded towards the kitchen to where a gray haired man who had to be near 7 foot in height was looming, “own the diner and several other businesses along main street.” The bell rang over the door and they turned to see an extremely tall, square-built man with glasses and the vacant stare typical of scholarly types looking around. He smiled briefly as he caught sight of Dave and came to join them. He slid in next to Dave and his eyes widened briefly as he recognized Alexa. She smiled at him in welcome and he visibly blushed. Alexa remembered that the man had suffered a crush on her during their years in high school. Obviously, some of the old feelings were still there. “Alexa and her husband need your help, Sam,” Dave said as he looked at his old friend. “Seems someone has abducted Dr. Stoner. They need you to run the plate of his abductor’s vehicle.” He slid the paper across the table. “Tony was there when it happened.” “And you told him you wouldn’t tell me he was at the Monk farm,” Sam smiled briefly. He pulled his cell phone and called the plate in to this office. “Director Talbot told us Dr. Stoner would be