Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

of cocaine and heroin. From what we could tell, the kid was living in the house with him. There was a bedroom at one end with a bunch of toys and drawings.”

I made a note of that detail. All the children that had been found living in the upstate neighborhood had been made to sleep in basements or kitchens. Apparently, Atkins had been kind enough to give the little boy, Dajuan, his own bedroom.

“Thank you, officer,” I replied. “That’s very helpful to know.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, I stepped into the interrogation room. Collin looked up at me as I entered, and recognition flashed across his face.

“Hey,” he frowned. “You’re the cop that arrested me.”

“I’m not a cop,” I replied as I sat down in front of me. “I’m a federal agent.”

“Whatever,” Atkins rolled his eyes. “You busted me for the drugs, so same difference, right?”

“No, not really,” I answered. “To be honest, I’m not concerned about the drugs. I’m a lot more interested in the boy we found living with you.”

Atkins’s expression turned serious.

“What about him?” he asked.

“For starters,” I began, “why don’t you tell me how you got ahold of him?”

Atkins rubbed the back of his neck nervously and opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally spoke again.

“The internet,” he replied. “Off of this black-market type of website. I guess there’s no harm in admitting that now, right? You already caught me red-handed with the stuff. So yeah, that’s where I got him.”

“Were you specifically looking for a child?” I asked, a little confused by his explanation. “To use as a drug mule?”

“What? No,” Atkins snapped, looking genuinely shocked by my question. “I was just trying to hawk my wares. This website I’m talking about, it’s a bit like an open marketplace, but for stuff that’s not exactly legal, you know? Drugs, guns, services. All that stuff.”

“So you were there to sell,” I began slowly. “And you just happened upon someone selling kids?”

“Well, it sounds unbelievable when you put it like that,” Atkins scoffed. “But yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.” My mind was reeling. This wasn’t at all the picture of Atkins I had painted in my head.

“So you just decided to buy a child?” I asked. “On a whim?” Atkins began to fidget with his hands. His shoulders were hunched, and his entire body language exuded discomfort.

“What do you think happens to people on those kinds of websites?” he finally asked me quietly. “You’re a fed, right? You must know that it ain’t good. I usually don’t bother looking at other people’s business. I just sell my stuff and mind my own business. Something about that post caught my attention, though…” His eyes were steely as he trailed off.

“What did the post say?” I prompted.

“It was a lady,” he explained. “At least, that’s what the post said. Some lady couldn’t afford to take care of her two kids anymore, and she wanted to offload them onto someone like some kind of underground adoption. I was just going to ignore it, but then I happened to see some comments the post was getting.”

His nostrils flared, and his face contorted in disgust. “People were asking how small the kids were, if they were obedient, some other stuff I can’t even say out loud. I don’t know what came over me, but I just couldn’t ignore the post knowing that these creeps were trying to get their hands on some innocent little kids. So I contacted the original poster.”

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She told me to call a number,” he replied. “It was a woman’s voice, but it was a guy who turned up with the kid a few days later. Anyway, I had originally told her that I wanted to take both of her kids, but she said the little girl had already gone. That made me feel sick, but I decided I could still take the boy. She told me I’d have to pay her ten grand for him.”

Atkins laughed as he buried his face in his hands. “I only had eight. It was literally all my savings, but I couldn’t back down now that I’d come this far, so I talked her down. Two days later, this huge dude shows up with the kid and takes the money. And that was basically it. I went out and got a bed and some toys from this charity drive near my house and gave him the spare room.”

“And you made him deliver drugs for you,” I concluded. Atkins scowled.

“Hey man,” he groaned, “I had to make money. Especially after I spent literally all my savings buying him from that crazy lady who probably would’ve given him to some creep if I hadn’t come along.”

“Weren’t you concerned about his health?” I asked. “You were cooking meth in your kitchen, just feet from where he was sleeping every night. Don’t you know what those chemicals can do to a growing child?”

“What do you want me to say?” Atkins snapped. “What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t go to the police without ratting myself out. And I never sent the kid anywhere dangerous. Only to repeat customers that I knew were cool. We were perfectly fine until you and that other lady came knocking.”

For a long while, we were both silent. This hadn’t been what I’d expected at all, and I felt conflicted. Atkins did have a point. It would have been impossible for him to contact the police without giving himself away. After all, the only reason he even found the post was because he himself was conducting black market deals on the website. Overall, it didn’t seem like he’d acquired Dajuan for any nefarious purpose. On the contrary, it seemed like he’d been trying to save him from being exploited by someone who might have done something much worse than having him walk drugs and money between houses. That being said, I couldn’t just ignore that he had purchased a child