The Red Light Girls (Unsolved Mysteries Book 2) by Kim Knight (most romantic novels TXT) 📗

the inbox of emails you printed, we’ve followed up on,” Denz continued. “We placed calls to all the women who left a number. Those who answered, said the same thing, that they had either used the website, still used it, or have come off it. But they were all consistent though. They found the men creepy.”

“Right. Keep in contact with them. I hope you told them to keep a low profile on there for now.” Janssen looked him up and down.

“Of course, Detective,” Denz replied. “They’re all aware.”

Janssen softened her voice, fully aware her impatience with showing. “Okay, anything else?”

“No, that’s it for now.”

“Good. Chris Visser’s laptop should arrive soon. Push that through with the forensic team. I need you to verify the statement he gave this afternoon against his online usage. Right now, that’s his only alibi for being at home.”

“Will do.”

Denz turned to leave the office, closing the door behind him. She turned back to the caseload of girls to cross check information.

Ring.

Ring.

“Yeah,” she said into the receiver.

“I just spoke with Mrs. Chan,” Gibson’s voice came over the line sincerely.

“Really,” said Janssen. “How is she? The poor woman. What she must be going through.”

“She’s okay. She identified the pictures sent. It’s her daughter.”

“It’s so sad. And to think she sent her all this way to study.”

“Yep, the body is being flown back over to Hong Kong this week. Dr. Cleveland has all the DNA, evidence, and everything he needs. But the evidence he found, the hair, might lead somewhere.”

Janssen sighed down the line. “Yeah, only if we find a suspect, that is.”

“We’ll push Chris’ DNA and prints through and see if we get a match, if not, don’t worry, Janssen. We’ll solve the case.”

“Yep, no doubt. No new emails have come in. Denz went over to the house of one of the women who came forward after Madeline’s appeal. There was no response.”

“Which one?”

“Lucy Hansen, she had a date lined up and had been active on the site. The rest of the women, Denz followed up. They all said the same thing.”

“Which was?”

“The guys came across creepy and seemed to like girls from the district.”

Janssen heard Gibson start tapping on his keyboard. On her end, she clicked her mouse to unlock her screen and refresh Madeline’s inbox.

Still no new mail.

“All right, so our main actions of the day—check out Chris’ story and keep an eye on those emails,” Janssen said after a beat. “Whoever it is, is careful, very careful. No IP address. No evidence left. No witness nothing!”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it, Janssen. While we’re waiting on the DNA and forensics results, let’s do some door knocking around the Amsterdamse Bos area,” Gibson said.

Janssen checked her watch, there was plenty of time.

“Okay, I’ll meet you in your office in an hour. Let me just go over a few more things here.”

She placed the phone on the receiver cradle and prayed forensics would come up with something solid, a lead to something tangible.

30

Return to Sender…

Madeline Sloane

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Madeline jumped out of a sound sleep. Her head felt heavy after a near sleepless night.

A crick in her neck, from laying on the arm of the couch, made her groan. Snowy static danced on the television. She pulled herself up, then glanced at her phone screen, noting the time, eleven at night.

Ring.

Chris’ name flashed across the screen.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped.

She put the phone on the coffee table, got to her feet, and then backed away from it, standing over by the window.

Peeking through the blinds, her gaze moved up and down the road, looking for Chris. But he was nowhere to be seen.

A few cars lined the curbs. She wondered if any of them held the plain-clothed officers on surveillance outside her building.

In the background, the phone continued to ring.

Moving away from the window, she made her way back over to the table, then pressed the red X to send Chris’ call to voicemail.

He called back, seconds later.

Madeline flinched at the ringer. Panic hit her, making her chest constrict, and her body temperature rose.

“Go away. Chris,” Madeline shouted in her apartment at the ringing phone. “Just leave me alone.”

She paced the small living space, and sent his call to voicemail once again.

He immediately called back.

Shit. What the hell? You can’t take a hint, or what, she thought.

Finally, she snatched up call and faced her fear head on.

“What do you want?” Madeline said into the phone. “You need to stay away from me.”

“Madeline, listen, please, about yesterday, I never meant to—”

“I don’t care, Chris,” Madeline cut him off. “I don’t give a damn about that other girl. Just stay the fuck away from me!”

Madeline cut the call, but Chris called back.

When the phone wouldn’t stop ringing, she switched it off, then headed to her front door, checking the lock.

What the hell do I do now, she paced the room and recalled the phone conversation she had with Stacey.

Daddy? What does she mean?

That one word stuck out to her mind like a sore thumb. She just hoped she was mistaken by what she thought Stacey had meant about Chris being her so-called Daddy.

Her fingers itched to scour the Internet—namely, the Sugar Daddy’s website.

Just a little investigative research before bed, or so she reasoned.

System powered up, she clicked on the Sugar Daddy site again and studied the pages. Nothing looked out of place. It seemed like a dating website dedicated to rich men finding women.

A thought came to mind, and she couldn’t help herself. And against her better judgement, she set up a fake profile. One with her picture and waited to see if anyone would contact her.

Man, Janssen’s gonna hit the roof when she finds out. She cringed a bit. Well, that is if she finds out.

If any guys did contact her, she’d play along and see if anything was out of the ordinary with the men who contact with her.

A handful of women had confessed to her that they had used the site. Her conversation