Through the Darkness

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Book: Through the Darkness by Marcia Talley Read Free Book Online
Authors: Marcia Talley
Tags: Suspense
his pocket. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Since we don’t have a suspect vehicle, we can’t post anything to the changeable message signs on the highway that allow us to communicate with motorists. But we’ll issue a ‘Be on the Lookout,’ and we can prepare a description of Timmy and the circumstances of his disappearance and fax it to the media. They’ll put the BOLO out on all area radio, TV, and cable systems, where it will be seen and heard by millions of listeners.”
    I’d seen those messages before—other people’s children, never ours—sad details about their abduction crawling along the bottom of our television screen. A school picture, a candid photo of the child, slightly out of focus. I wondered how many of those stories had happy endings.
    â€œAnd we’re bringing in a tracking dog from Baltimore County.”
    â€œWhat kind of dog?” Paul wanted to know.
    â€œWe’ve requested a bloodhound. Bloodhounds will be able to pick up Timmy’s scent even if he was carried away in somebody’s arms.”
    â€œWhat good will that do?” Emily was sobbing again. “If the kidnapper took Timmy away in a car, the trail will stop at the parking lot, right?”
    â€œBloodhound noses are many times more sensitive than German shepherds’,” Powers pointed out. “It was a bloodhound that tracked Laci Peterson’s scent down the center of a highway, if you remember, proving she left the house in a vehicle, not on foot, as her husband had claimed.”
    Laci Peterson. Another victim who didn’t make it. This wasn’t encouraging.
    Dante slouched in his chair, hands pressed tightly between his knees. “You know what really bothers me?” he told the officer. “I never asked Emily to sign for anything today. As far as I know, there was no delivery.”
    Emily looked up, face blotched from crying. “Then who…?”
    â€œYou didn’t recognize the voice on the telephone?” I asked.
    Emily bit her lower lip. “Just a woman’s voice. I assumed it was one of the staff.”
    â€œHey, everybody!” The head of a white stuffed tiger lunged into the room, followed immediately by the equally white head of my sister, Ruth. “What’s with all the police cars, anyway? I had to sneak in through the loading dock. Look what I brought for Puddle Ducks,” she chirped, not pausing long enough for anyone to answer her question. She galloped the super-sized toy along the chair rail. “This will solve the problem.”

CHAPTER 7
    Greeted by a silence so heavy it was palpable, still cradling that ridiculous white tiger, Ruth froze. “What? What did I say?”
    â€œTimmy’s missing,” Dante snapped.
    Ruth looked from Dante to the tiger and burst into tears.
    I wasn’t due at Hillsmere Elementary to meet Chloe until three-ten, but I decided I couldn’t bear another torrent of tears when I could barely control my own. “I need to pick up Chloe and Jake,” I announced, suddenly rising from my chair. I was desperate to get outside. Maybe breathing the fresh salt air would revive me. I consulted Officer Powers. “Is that okay?”
    â€œWho are Chloe and Jake?” he wanted to know, as if they were suspects he needed to add to his interview list.
    After I explained that Chloe and Jake were my grandchildren, he nodded permission. With a reassuring squeeze of my hand from Paul, and a barely audible thank-you from my son-in-law, I managed to escape the spa.
    Getting out of the grounds wasn’t as simple. As I stepped onto the concrete apron that surrounded the parking lot, someone said, “It’s Hannah, isn’t it?”
    I turned. Roger Haberman.
    I had been charting a course straight for my trusty LeBaron, and I didn’t want to be delayed by Roger Haberman or anyone else.
    â€œIs everything all right?” Roger

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