Sister, Missing Read Online Free PDF

Jam’s presence that had always made me feel better. I took a deep breath, smelling his familiar scent: part soap, part unique Jam-ness.
    ‘I thought you were still in London,’ I said, astonished.
    ‘Nah, I was on my way when I called you. I was about to explain, but my battery died.’ Jam slicked back his dark hair and hugged me hard. ‘What on earth are you doing,
Lazerbrain? I got to your holiday home and saw Annie . . . man, I couldn’t believe she’d let you come here alone.’
    ‘I’m not alone,’ I said, looking up the ravine to where Rick was now running towards us. ‘Annie’s friend Rick is watching over me.’
    ‘Yeah, Annie said.’ Jam hesitated. ‘Still, anything could have—’
    ‘I’m fine,’ I insisted. ‘The kidnapper said it had to be just me . . . alone. Oh, Jam, I think it’s Sonia Holtwood.’
    Jam’s eyes widened. But before he could say anything, Rick grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him away from me.
    ‘Who are you?’ Rick demanded.
    ‘He’s my . . . my boyfriend,’ I said, blushing at having to explain. Rick and Jam hadn’t met before, of course. I mean, I’d only met Rick a few times. I
quickly told both of them what the kidnapper had told me to do and the three of us walked back to the holiday home. We didn’t say much. Rick called Annie as we strode along. I could hear her
on the other end of the line, totally freaking out. She was waiting anxiously at the front door when we arrived, Shelby skulking like a shadow behind her.
    It took about thirty minutes before Annie stopped crying long enough for the five of us to have a proper conversation. Annie herself did most of the talking or, rather, most of the hysterical
wailing. She leaned against Rick as if he were all that was stopping her from falling to the floor and alternated between extreme anxiety over Madison and profound terror at having to deal with
Sonia Holtwood.
    Rick, Jam and I examined Madison’s phone carefully, but it gave us no clues about anything. The video message showing Madison had obviously been filmed in an empty room. All we could see
behind Mo’s head was a plain painted wall. And the sender’s name was, again, withheld.
    Annie gasped when I told her how much money the kidnapper was after.
    ‘The whole two million pounds from Sam’s life insurance?’ she said, her hands trembling. ‘But that was our future. I was going to invest it. I was . . .’
    ‘That’s not all,’ I said, explaining next how I was sure Holtwood was behind the whole thing.
    ‘Oh my God,’ she kept saying, over and over, her hands fluttering to her chest. ‘Then it really is happening again. I can’t believe it. Not Sonia Holtwood.’
    ‘Never mind her now,’ Rick said in a soothing voice. ‘You need to focus on getting the money together. The sooner you do that, the sooner we’ll get Madison back and this
whole thing will be behind us.’
    ‘That’s right.’ Annie gripped Rick’s arm more tightly. ‘I’ll call my bank back home. The money went into my account last week so—’
    ‘The kidnapper must know that,’ I said. ‘It’s too big a coincidence otherwise.’
    ‘But how could she?’ Annie said shakily. ‘How do they know the exact amount?’
    ‘Maybe she was able to hack into the bank’s account details,’ Rick said.
    ‘Or maybe she has someone on the inside at the bank, keeping her informed,’ Jam suggested.
    ‘Or maybe she just followed the story of Sam’s death in the papers,’ I offered. ‘If she knew there was going to be an insurance payment, and she knew where you lived, it
wouldn’t be that hard to track you to the bank and get the details. She could have bribed someone to tell her.’
    ‘Oh my goodness.’ Another fat tear rolled down Annie’s cheek. ‘I can’t bear this.’
    I shivered. However Sonia Holtwood had done it, it was horrible to feel she’d been watching and waiting, following the progress of Sam’s money into Annie’s bank