Free Out of Reach: A Novel by Patricia Lewin

willing to chase her crazy story. And made her like him, just a bit, and also made her wonder what kind of man made his FBI career in the Crimes Against Children Unit.
    She knew something of the CAC mission, which was to use multidiscipline and multiagency resource teams to investigate and prosecute crimes against children. Since 1997, at least two Special Agents in every FBI field office were designated as CAC coordinators, with the idea of maximizing the FBI’s resources and expertise in CAC investigations. It was an important job but hardly high profile. So was Donovan dedicated to helping children? Or was this just a stop on the career ladder, a chit he needed to acquire before moving on to bigger and more prestigious assignments?
    It didn’t make any difference, she realized, and turned away to stare out at the dark night outside the car’s windows. Either way, Donovan seemed intent on finding the man she’d seen today, and to Erin, that’s all that mattered.
    “You must have been pretty young when your sister was taken,” he said.
    She glanced back at him, knowing this was one of the weakest parts of her story—along with the amount of time that had elapsed since Claire’s disappearance. “I was twelve.”
    “Did the police question him?”
    “I couldn’t say.” She thought of the days and weeks following Claire’s disappearance. And the agony of waiting for news. That had been one of the hardest parts. The waiting. “They didn’t share their investigation with us.”
    “But you’re sure he’s the same man?”
    She fought down her impatience. If Donovan didn’t already believe her, they wouldn’t be here. “The man I saw this morning was in Miami the day Claire disappeared. Whether he took her or the girl today”—she shook her head—“I don’t know. But, in my opinion, the coincidence is too much to ignore.”
    If she told him she was CIA, it might help him understand. She’d been trained to pay attention, to notice the details that might mean her survival in some back alley or desert town halfway across the globe. If nothing else, revealing her Agency connections would give her more credibility and justify Donovan’s investigation of her information.
    Breaking her cover, however, wasn’t an option. And even if she could, her Company training didn’t account for a nineteen-year-old memory of something that happened when she was twelve.
    She doubted if words existed that could make sense of that.
    Though she could try. She could explain how that entire day had been seared in her memory; how sometimes at night she would close her eyes and relive every minute, remember every person she’d spoken to; how sometimes she believed if she willed it hard enough,
she
could change what had happened.
    Yeah, right, that would work.
    Tell Donovan any of that, and he’d turn around in a heartbeat while recommending she get a padded room next to her sister Claire. So Erin remained silent, counting on his interest in the man she’d described to spur him on.
    They drove north, following the police car, through McLean and into Great Falls, a deceptively unassuming-looking town of expensive homes on estate-size parcels of land. They passed Great Falls Park and the elementary school, then turned into a residential neighborhood where the houses sat well back from the road amid manicured lawns and mature trees. After winding through the quiet streets, they ended up on a cul-de-sac and stopped in front of a stately, three-story brick home with great white pillars flanking the massive portico.
    In actual miles, it wasn’t that far from the small house Erin had bought and could barely afford in Arlington, but it might as well have been a different universe.
    Evidently Kauffman Farms was doing well.
    Out front, a half-dozen cars lined the circular drive.
    “It looks like our friend has guests,” said Donovan. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
    Erin ignored the order and followed him out of the car. “It