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“Oh my God!” my mom said. “Kidnapped.Why would someone kidnap Connie?”
“It’s complicated,” I said. “A special coin passed through the bail bonds office. The kidnapper is holding Connie hostage until the coin is found and returned to him.”
“What if it’s not found?”
“It’ll be found,” I said. “In the meantime, we’re keeping the details quiet.”
“Poor Connie,” my mother said. “This must be terrible for her. Is she okay? Has anyone talked to her?”
“She’s okay,” I said.
“That’s why we’re going to snoop around at the viewing tonight,” Grandma said. “Viewings are always good for picking up information. People have a couple drinks to fortify themselves, and then they get loose lips.”
I grabbed my messenger bag. “We have to get back to work now,” I said to my mom. “Things to do.”
“I don’t see where we got any useful information out of this visit,” Lula said when we buckled ourselves into Ranger’s Porsche.
“We know there isn’t any information being passed on the Burg gossip line. That tells us something. Whoever has Connie is being very careful and is probably not keeping Connie in the Burg or surrounding neighborhoods.”
“So, we know where she isn’t, but we don’t know where sheis,” Lula said. “I have to tell you I’m feeling a lot of anxiety about this.”
I was trying to stay focused and ignore the anxiety. Ranger was at the home invasion, but I knew someone in his control room was working to find the kidnapper. They were attempting to trace the call the kidnapper had made to my phone, and they were looking at downtown security and traffic cameras, following the path of the drone. Ranger has ways of tapping into systems that aren’t supposed to be available to him.
I drove to State Street and turned toward Third. “Keep your eyes open for Carpenter Beedle,” I said to Lula. “He used to hang here. And look for his car. Rusted Sentra. The license number is written on the top of his file.”
I concentrated on State Street, but I also hit some other hot spots for vagrants and panhandlers. After two hours I gave up and took Lula back to the office.
“Call me if you need help or if anything good happens,” Lula said.
I gave her two thumbs up and went home. Rex was asleep in his soup can den, but I said hello to him anyway. I got a bottle of water from the fridge and took a seat at my dining room table. I never have company, and I eat most of my meals standing at the kitchen sink. If Morelli is over, we usually eat in front of the television. So, the dining room table has become my desk, and the only time I eat at it is when I’m working.
I opened my laptop and checked my email and socials. Nothing exciting there. I called Morelli.
“Connie is still missing,” I said. “Have you heard anything?”
“A notice went out to look for her. Almost everyone knows her. That makes the alert more personal, but nothing’s turned up so far,” Morelli said. “Anything on your end?”
“No. I’ve got Ranger looking, too. I thought I had a lead, but it hasn’t worked out.”
“Anything you want to share?” he asked.
“No.” A part of me wanted to join forces with him. He was smart and he was a good cop. Problem was that a kidnapping would bring feds into the equation, and I worried that the investigation would get big and messy. Plus, I’d already tarnished the case by committing a felony while gathering evidence. “How about you?”
“Nope.”
There was a long silence.
He’s holding something back, I thought. And he knows I’ve got something.
“Okey dokey then,” I finally said. “I have to get back to work.”
“Are you free tonight?”
“Sadly, no. I promised I’d take Grandma Mazur to the Leoni viewing.”
“Lucky you,” Morelli said.
Morelli was possibly the only person I knew who hated going to a viewing more than me.
