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Jordan jumped up. “What? Tell me.”
On the way out to the truck, Ely told him about the woman. He’d printed the photo of her, hoping he could determine if she really was the missing child.
“They wouldn’t let one of those children, even if they were grown, come back, would they?”
“No,” Jordan said. “I would think they’d kill her. I’m wondering if she escaped or if she could be a con artist who heard about Marta being taken and decided to capitalize on the attention. Either way, we’ve got to find out.”
Ely agreed. “I’m trying not to get my hopes up.”
“Except she’s not a little girl any longer,” Jordan said. He picked up his radio. “Robin, check to see where this girl’s parents lived and where they are now. Kaitlyn Meander.”
Ely should have thought to find her parent’s address. All he’d been thinking about was getting to this woman.
“Call Camila and tell her we have a lead,” Jordan said.
Jordan turned onto the street. It was a lower-middle-class section of town. A nice area, just the frame homes were smaller, probably two or three bedrooms with one bath.
He pulled up in front of the house just as the radio crackled. “The Meanders moved out of the area two years after Kaitlyn went missing. The mother couldn’t live there and worried about more of her children going missing. They now live in Chicago.”
“Thanks, Robin,” Jordan said and they both stepped out of the truck. “Put a call into them just in case this is a lead. Tell them we’re not certain and that we’re checking it out now.”
“Yes, sir,” she said and the radio went dead.
“Come on, let’s see if we have a break in the case or if we’re being duped,” Jordan said.
The neighbor met them at the door. “She’s resting. She said this was the house she lived in as a little girl before she was abducted. She’s making all kinds of accusations against Jim White.”
The woman looked terrified. “I don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but I thought I should call. Could she really be a missing child that’s returned?”
Ely sighed. “I don’t know. We don’t want to scare her. Would you wake her and bring her out so we can talk to her? If I go in there, she’s going to be afraid.”
The woman nodded. “Sit down on the couch. That will make you look less intimidating. I accidentally touched her and she shivered, so don’t try to touch her or make any quick moves around her.”
That was a given. If she was really Kaitlyn Meander, then she probably had suffered terrible things.
“Tell her we know where her family lives and we’ve contacted them,” he said thinking that would make her excited if she was telling the truth.
Sinking down on the couch, they glanced at one another. They had worked together long enough to know what their expressions meant and this look saidbe careful and cautious.
Voices could be heard from a back bedroom and suddenly the woman was running down the hall toward them.
“You know where my family is?”
Ely held the photo of the missing child in his hands and he glanced at the woman. Yes, her features were different, but this was the missing child. She was an older version of the little girl who’d been taken.
“What is your name?” Jordan asked the young woman.
“Where is my family?”
“Sit down and we’ll tell you once we verify who you are.”
“I’m Kaitlyn Meander. I was taken from the front yard of this house when I was eight years old,” she said. Tears began to run down her face. “I was sold into slavery in Mexico. I escaped and if they find me, they will kill me.”
Ely held up the photo of the little girl. “This is you?”
“Oh my God, yes. They did look for me. My kidnappers told me over and over again that no one was searching for me, but I didn’t believe them.”
Jordan glanced at Ely and sighed. “We have another little girl that was taken just a few days ago. We’re trying to find her. Can you tell us what happened to you so we can locate her?”
