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Maybe Cord could go to Beaver Pond and find him. She turned to Jasper. “Is there anyone else who might want to hurt you by abducting Ava? Anyone you owe money who might ask for a ransom?”
“No,” Jasper said. “And you can look at our financials. We were in debt, but I was slowly paying it off.”
“Did you ever notice anyone watching Ava when you were with her?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“No one in a white van?” Ellie asked.
“No.”
Ellie gestured to his hands. “How did you get those scratches and bruises?”
Jasper lifted his hands and looked at them with a shrug. “I work construction.”
Lara gasped. “Your construction company uses white vans. Did you loan one to your girlfriend?”
“No. But we leave a couple parked at the construction site sometimes.” Anxiety radiated from him as he made the connection. “Let me call Autumn.”
Ellie held up a finger. “Sure. But don’t be confrontational. Just talk to her. Maybe suggest that you want to see her.”
He heaved a labored breath, then murmured agreement and took his phone from Derrick.
“Put it on speaker,” Ellie said.
He followed her instructions and rang Autumn. Ellie, not expecting her to answer, was surprised when she did.
“It’s Jasper.”
“I thought you were on a fishing trip,” she said, her tone razor sharp.
Jasper sucked in a slow breath. “I was, but I came back early. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and wanted us to talk. Where are you?”
“At the spa. What’s going on, Jasper?” she asked. “Some detective left me a message asking me to call her.”
Ellie chewed the inside of her cheek. So Autumn had received her message, but she hadn’t bothered to return Ellie’s call. Why?
“I know, I’m here with that detective now,” Jasper admitted, his voice strained. “Autumn, we think someone kidnapped Ava.”
A strained silence stretched between them for a second, then Autumn spoke, her voice edgy. “What do you mean? Someone took her?”
“Yesterday morning, on the way to the bus stop,” he said. “Ava never made it to school, and we haven’t heard from her since. I… thought you might know something.”
Ellie heard Autumn tapping her nails on a table. “Why the hell would I know anything?” Autumn asked.
Another tense heartbeat. He glanced at his wife then Ellie then Derrick. “I thought you might have picked her up. Maybe to surprise me,” he said, the lie rolling off his tongue.
“I told you I’m not into kids, Jasper. And if you’re implying what I think you are, you can go to hell.”
“Please, Autumn, if you took her, tell me,” Jasper replied. “I’ll do anything to have Ava back.”
“Then run back to Lara. Now, I need to get back to my massage.”
The line went dead. Lara pressed her fist to her mouth as if to stifle a scream, and Jasper cursed.
Ellie considered Autumn’s harsh tone. She certainly didn’t have a soft spot for children.
But was she capable of kidnapping her to punish Jasper for choosing Ava over her?
