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“That maybe Frank is Claire’s biological father. Rose was married at the time Claire was born—naturally she’d put her husband down as her child’s father. But what if she and Frank had already been seeing each other? And what if she’d told him, just before Claire was abducted, that she was breaking things off with him, that she didn’t want to marry him? She sure was quick to persecute him after the fact—and to terminate the relationship. Maybe he’d planned to take Claire all along, but the plan went bad when Cal reported having seen her in Frank’s car.”
He was still a mile from the ocean and cold as hell. With one hand in his pocket, he turned back toward his car. “But if he was going to go to all of the trouble of stealing his child, wouldn’t he also try to raise her?”
“Maybe that was the original plan. He could’ve planned to hide her away with the intention of hanging around through all the interrogations, playing the part of the grieving stepfather and then, by the time the case went cold and he and Rose were at odds he’d cut his losses, take Cal and go. And meet up with whoever had Claire. If there was another woman, he’d then pretend Claire was her daughter and take the child on as his own—like a stepdaughter. If he wasn’t a suspect, no one would be looking at him anyway. It would seem that he’d just moved on with his life. Except that Cal skipped school, saw Claire in his dad’s car and told the police before Frank cold stop him.”
“He’d have to have a pretty convincing explanation for Cal about why Claire was suddenly living with them and they weren’t telling her mother she’d been found.”
“Look at how many cases we see where a child remains silent. It wouldn’t have been far-fetched for Frank to believe he could scare Cal into silence or convince him that Rose was somehow bad. Or gone. Even killed. In a car accident or something. How would a seven-year-old boy know any differently? Then Cal skips school, sneaks home, sees Claire in his dad’s car. He talks to the police before Frank gets t
o him, and the gig is up. Except that Frank already has Claire stashed away someplace.”
Ramsey’s blood started to heat up. So much so that he slowed down his pace. “Right. Cal had asked if he could stay home that day. Begged, from the way I understand it. And Frank had been adamant about the boy going to school.”
“Yep. The police talked to Cal before Frank even knew that the boy wasn’t in school. Before he’d been informed that Claire was missing. Before he could get to Cal to convince him not to tell the police what he saw.”
“You might be on to something, Luce. Great work.”
“I just got to thinking about what you said about Jack being a blackmailer. What if it’s both? What if Frank has his original plan. He waits until Cal leaves for school, Emma’s in her room getting ready and Rose is on the phone. Then he takes Claire. Jack sees him with Claire, thinks nothing of it at the time. Then Frank’s plan is foiled. Jack sees it on the news, remembers noticing the child and tries to blackmail him to keep silent, and Frank agrees to pay with the caveat that Jack help him hide Claire away until he can figure out what to do. Obviously if he’s a suspect, he can’t get back to Claire later. He would have known at that point after his plan fell apart, that no one had ID’d Jack’s truck in the area.”
Ramsey walked, but was no longer seeing his surroundings. “And Jack just happens to know about Gladys Buckley,” he takes up. “He hears Frank’s troubles and offers to get Claire into a good and loving home. Frank has to think of Cal now, too, about what will happen to his seven-year-old boy if he goes to prison. He figures that at least this way both of his children are being raised in good and loving homes—”
“Or maybe, when Jack approaches Frank he gives him no choice. Maybe part of the blackmail is that Frank turns over Claire so that Jack can sell her to Gladys, and Frank agrees for the very same reasons you just gave.”
“We may be on to something here, Lucy.”
“I think so, too.”
“I’ll get the sample on its way to Lori within the hour.”
“I’ll text you the address and let her know it’s coming.”
“Good.”
“Okay.”
Things were getting awkward. His butt was cold. And he was low on patience.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
He still felt awkward. Worse, he didn’t mind feeling awkward if she’d look at him the way Kim Pershing did.
And that was why Ramsey hung up without saying another word.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
L ucy knew the second that she walked into work on Wednesday and Lionel, Todd and Amber Locken all watched her come toward them that something bad had happened.
“What?” she asked, dropping her purse on the top of her desk. Todd wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t on shift. She was.
“Come into my office, Lucy,” Lionel said. Like an automaton she walked into his office, not sure who was following her. Just Lionel?
It was Lionel and Todd. Todd was the last one in the room and shut the door behind him.
“Have a seat,” the plainclothed captain said.
She did. And wondered why they hadn’t just had whatever conversation they were about to have in the squad room. It was obvious Amber Locken knew what was going to happen, and she was the only other one on their small team of four.
