AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stopped pacing, locking eyes with me. "You better, Evelyn. I can't lose her like we lost Diego."
The weight of his words hung heavily in the room. I nodded, determined to bring Janet home safely. I could at least prove my usefulness with this one thing.
Hours passed, and when the unaltered footage finally arrived, I couldn't believe what I saw. The faked loop had masked the real events leading to Janet's abduction.
A shadowy figure, their face hidden, had approached her just outside the school gates. It was a chilling revelation. They grabbed her and pulled her into the waiting vehicle. They sped off. No wonder an altered version of the file had been sent over, it had probably been altered and faked.
The school didn’t realize they were not sending the original footage. This makes me wonder if the kidnapper is part of theschool.
"Find whoever that van is registered to. I want them found right now. My baby girl is out there and we can’t let anything happen to her." the Sheriff growled, fists clenched.
"I don't know yet, but we're going to find out. Let's run the face through our databases and see if we get a match. We need to act fast."
We collaborated with the tech team to enhance the image of the mysterious abductor, hoping to unveil any details that could lead us to Janet. The tension in the room was palpable, an invisible force urging us to move quicker.
As the image processing continued, the Sheriff turned to me. "Evelyn, I want to be there when we find this person. I want to make them pay for taking my daughter."
I understood his anguish, and his request resonated with my determination to bring justice to those who deserved it. "You'll be there, Sheriff. We'll find her, I promise."
Finally, a match appeared on the screen. The tech team identified the shadowy figure. A name, a face—our first tangible lead.
"Richard Barnes," I read aloud, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. "Let's find out everything we can about him. Address, connections, known associates—leave no stone unturned."
The Sheriff's eyes gleamed with a mix of determination and rage. "I'm going with you, Evelyn. We'll bring Janet back together."
We delved into Richard Barnes' background, uncovering a history of criminal activity as a hacker, certainly with the ability to alter footage, but nothing specifically that directly pointed to Janet's abduction. The Sheriff, fueled by parental desperation, grew more restless with every passing moment.
"He's a damn ghost, Evelyn. No solid connections to anything," the Sheriff muttered, exasperation etched on his face.
"Butghosts leave traces, Sheriff. We just need to look harder," I replied, my own frustration simmering beneath the surface.
The tech team worked tirelessly to track down any recent activities related to Richard Barnes. We combed through databases, and surveillance footage, and questioned anyone who might have crossed paths with him. The Sheriff's impatience fueled our collective determination.
Finally, a lead emerged. A pawnshop Barnes used to work at. We rushed to the location, adrenaline pumping through our veins. The possibility of finding Janet at the end of this trail drove us forward. Maybe he was holding her there.
The pawnshop owner, a stout man with wary eyes, identified Barnes as a man that used to work for him but he had no idea where Barnes worked now since he resigned.
"Where is he?" the Sheriff demanded, his voice a low growl.
The pawnshop owner provided us with Barnes' last known address, and we wasted no time. The patrol cars raced through the streets, sirens wailing in the night, echoing our urgency.
As we approached Barnes' residence, a sense of foreboding settled over me. What if we were too late and he already did something to Janet?
We entered and the entire house sounded too silent for our liking. We started to search around, and we found Richard Barnes in a wheelchair. There was no way he could have been at the school to grab Janet at the time of the incident. His plates had been stolen over six months ago, but since he was unable to drive anymore anyways, he decided to not report it.
Sheriff Callum hit the wall in anger before returning to the car. The killer had played us all and had us running around town for a wildgoose chase. Now he was hours ahead of us and we were back to square one.
Just great!
***
The station hummed with heightened activity as the Sheriff set up a tip line to aid in the search for his missing daughter. Phones rang incessantly, each ring carrying a glimmer of hope that this call could be the one call that led us to her.
The Sheriff, desperate and determined, manned the phones, his eyes never straying from the flickering hope of reuniting with his daughter.
Amid the chaos, a call broke through the noise. The Sheriff's face tensed as he listened desperately, absorbing the information. His eyes flickered with a mixture of hope and apprehension.
"I saw her, Sheriff. I'm sure of it. She was heading towards the old warehouse near the edge of town," the voice on the other end conveyed urgency.
