Abduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

happened?”
    “Someone
kidnapped Jessica.”
    Walter reached
out and placed his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “Oh, dear heavens. What can I do to
help?”
    Karen eased
out of her father’s arms and sank down on the sofa, clutching her arms around
her stomach. She could hear the sound of the detective’s voice as he directed
questions at her father and Ted, but she turned inward, tuning them out. Please,
God. Help them find Jess. Doubts assailed her as the pain welled up,
choking her. She clenched her fists against her stomach as she began to wonder, Oh, God, what could I have done?
     
     
     

 
     
     
    chapter
3
     
     
    Tuesday, April 11
     
     
    J J
stared up at the wall where two young faces on glossy paper stared back at him.
Two beautiful, helpless children. Six-year-old Gina Sarentino: black hair,
brown eyes, a missing front tooth, pierced ears. Seven-month-old Jessica
Matthews: light brown hair, hazel eyes, small mole or birthmark on her cheek.
    Both of them
gone without a trace.
    Gina Sarentino
had been walking home from a neighbor’s shortly after four in the afternoon on
April 3 when she disappeared.
    Jessica
Matthews had disappeared from her crib, in her home, in the middle of the
night, with her parents just down the hall.
    This newest
case had him scratching his head.
    And looking
twice at the parents.
    The sight of
the empty crib had set his stomach churning. He knew that had caused him to be
unusually rough on the parents. The baby might still be alive. This could be a
simple kidnapping case. Someone might call with a ransom demand.
    The Matthews’
house was an unassuming ranch in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. The
furnishings were simple but moderately expensive. There was no sign of forced
entry. No sign of an intruder. And no sign of seven-month-old Jessica Matthews.
    JJ’s instincts
were still screaming that nothing was the way it appeared. After eighteen years
on the force, he’d learned to listen to his instincts. No one had broken into
that home and stolen the baby. He’d stake his badge on that.
    Had they
killed the baby by accident? Shaken it to death? Dropped it? Or had it been
deliberate? Tired of the crying and the diapers, had they simply smothered it
and buried it?
    Oh, they had been properly upset. Karen Matthews
had been sitting on the edge of the sofa, her bare feet primly flat on the
floor, her face buried in her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably. Academy Award
material. The husband, Edward “Just Call Me Ted” Matthews, sat next to his
wife, appearing visibly shaken, upset, disturbed.
    He’d spent most of the previous day with them,
taking reports, gathering evidence, talking to neighbors, and studying the
parents. They had cried, pleaded, begged. They wanted him to find their baby.
    He just
couldn’t get a good read on them.
    JJ leaned back
in his chair and frowned at the crowded room. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department
was a three-story brick building right across the street from the courthouse.
Built in the early 1950s, it was once a modern, state-of-the-art facility.
Fifty years later, it barely kept up with safety standards.
    The first
floor housed the patrol officers and processing. The second floor accommodated
Narcotics, Vice, the detective divisions, and the chief’s office. The third
floor consisted mainly of holding cells and interrogation rooms.
    The elevator, installed in 1955, was a
temperamental piece of machinery that broke down more often than not and
managed to run just perfectly as soon as elevator repair showed up. After
getting stuck in the elevator a few times, most people opted to use the stairs.
    The second
floor was divided into four areas. Narcotics and Vice were arranged on the
south side of the floor. Homicide and Criminal Investigations took up the north
side.
    When Gina
Sarentino was reported missing, Chief Harris had called JJ into his office and
handed him the case file. “Vince Sarentino is a close personal friend of the
mayor.