Runaway Read Online Free PDF

somehow find a way to get it.
    Peet pulled into the parking lot of the Winnetka police station. It was past seven o’clock and they didn’t expect to see the detectives who’d taken the call from Mrs. Harrington, but they needed to let the department know as soon as possible that they’d been hired to find Maddy. The police would be only too happy to share information and offload as much of the work as they could on to the private investigators.
    The desk sergeant made a call to the back of the shop and pointed them toward some folding chairs lined up along a wall. He never said a word directly to them. Jan hated the scorn that some police felt toward private investigators, the kind she now saw on the sergeant’s face. She started to say something to him, but Peet took her arm and pulled her over to the waiting area.
    “It’s not worth it,” Peet said. “We want them to cooperate.”
    “We’re surrounded by assholes,” Jan said. She put her elbows to her knees and stared at the floor while they waited. Within a few minutes, a very short and very sharply dressed detective came to get them. If Winnetka had a minimum height requirement for its officers, this man had found a way around it. Peet towered over him as they shook hands.
    “Donald Hoch. Glad to meet you both,” he said. He led them down a hall and into his private office. It was small but painted a tasteful cream color and furnished in wood and leather. A new computer sat on his desk.
    “I talked to Mrs. Harrington this morning. Frankly, I’m glad they’ve called you in on this. We’re getting a late start if the girl’s really been gone two days.”
    “She’s likely to be far away by now,” Peet agreed.
    “Or she may be right here, just seeing whether her parents care enough to try to find her,” Jan added.
    “That too.” Hoch pulled a slim file off a stack on his desk and opened it.
    “She’s never been in trouble with us. Her teachers say she’s a good student, especially in the sciences, but not really working to her potential. They describe her as withdrawn. I haven’t met the father, but they seem like the kind of parents a kid would run away from.”
    “Exactly. Do you intend to keep trying to track her down?” Jan asked.
    “We don’t want to duplicate your steps or get in your way,” Peet said. “I used to be on the job. I know what a pain PIs can be.”
    “Oh yeah? Where did you work?”
    “Chicago. Homicide.”
    Jan knew Peet always worked this in for a reason. Cops were cops and the brotherhood ran deep. It pissed Jan off as a general rule, but she couldn’t deny the benefits. Peet often got information much more quickly from the police than she did. As Peet and Detective Hoch talked for a bit about cops they knew, what their shops were like, and who had the best benefits, Jan wondered where Maddy Harrington had disappeared.
    “Let me give you the bullet points,” Hoch was saying. He pushed a piece of paper across the desk. “Here’s her complete physical description. Pretty nondescript, no tattoos, piercings, scars. But that’s according to her parents. She may have tattoos and piercings in places they don’t see anymore. We’ve put out a BOLO on her car. The vehicle identification information is included here. We’ve gotten nothing back on any of it. We put her name and description in the NCIC, so we will be contacted if she’s picked up for any reason.”
    “I’m not familiar with all of the hangouts in Winnetka,” Peet said. “Tell me where the drug activity takes place.”
    “That’s back on your turf,” Hoch said. “The kids here buy their drugs in the city. Clubs on the north side for meth and coke, West Side for heroin, though there isn’t a big heroin problem around here.”
    Hoch stood to end the meeting.
    “If you find her you can call me and I’ll arrange to have her picked up. Other than that, I’m not sure our department will put much in the way of resources into this. You’re right