Page 20 of Save Her Life (Sandra Vos #1)

NINETEEN

Sandra cracked Olivia’s phone case open and woke the screen. Staring back at her was a picture of Olivia and Avery smiling in red T-shirts with their school’s name and logo on the front in white. She traced her fingers over the screen. If only her desire to have her daughter back possessed the power to make it happen.

“Basis Independent?” Brice let out a whistle. “Nice school.”

She quickly flipped the cover closed, though it was too late to prevent his observation. “It is.”

Brice was looking back at her, his eyes dancing over her face. His mouth opened like he was going to say something, then closed again.

She gave him a few seconds, but he didn’t add more to his comment. That fact was a relief. It wasn’t a cheap school by any means, and she didn’t want him to treat her any differently. “We should call the K-9 unit.” She couldn’t think about them finding her daughter’s body, but they might turn up more of her things that may, in turn, give them a clue as to her whereabouts.

“I’ll handle that. You should probably call AD Rowe.”

“I will.” She stepped away, sliding Olivia’s phone into a plastic evidence bag Brice had given her and took hers out. She selected Elwood Rowe from her contacts. He answered on the second ring, and she got right to the point. “Olivia’s missing, possibly taken.”

“What? When?” A swift response like he’d been slapped.

“After school, sometime between four forty-five and five ten.”

“We’ll get out an alert for her.”

She was momentarily stunned. This is really happening… First, it was her brother, and now her daughter was going to leave her. No, she couldn’t think that way. Never give up! “Thanks. Brice is working with me, and we traced her phone to Key Bridge. We’re in Georgetown Waterfront Park now and have found her device. He’s calling in the K-9 unit, just in case…” Her mind betrayed her, skipping into the darkness. There was no way she could finish that sentence with what it had conjured.

“Dear God.”

“Yeah.”

“Sandra!” Eric was running toward her, and she worked to bridge the distance. One of Olivia’s favorite shirts was draped over his arm.

“Who’s that?” Elwood asked.

“Detective Birch, Metro PD.” There was no need to disclose she was seeing him.

“So they’ve been pulled into this before you even bothered to come to me?”

“Not like that, boss.”

“I’d ask what it’s like, but considering you’re going through a tough time right now, I’ll let it go.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you get the area locked down then?” Elwood asked.

“It’s in the works.” She planned to ask Eric to make this happen.

“I’m going to bring in more agents on this, Vos. We can’t ignore the possibility of larger things at play here. The daughter of a federal agent has been taken.”

Indistinct, separate… as if she isn’t mine. She’d store that away to pull up to help her step back, detach, and gain some objectivity. “Do whatever you can. I need to find her.”

“Will do, and keep me in the loop, as I will you.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She ended the call, and took the shirt from Eric. She buried her fingers into the fabric and sniffed the collar. Olivia’s Viva La Juicy perfume filled her nose with its sweet and fruity scent. “Thank you for bringing this. K-9’s being called as we speak.” She glanced over at Brice, who was on the phone.

“How are you holding up?”

“As well as can be expected.” She turned at the sound of footsteps behind her. “Eric Birch, this is Brice Sutton, a colleague from the WFO. Brice, Eric is a detective with the Metro PD.”

The men regarded each other, arms starting to extend for a handshake, but both settled for a head bob. It was odd circumstances to be meeting under.

“K-9’s on their way,” he told Sandra, but then turned to Eric. “I don’t mean to sound like a prick, but why are you here?”

Eric flicked his gaze at Sandra, who subtly shook her head. She didn’t really want him to know about their relationship. “I caught wind that a young woman is missing. As Sandra just told you, I’m a police detective.”

She breathed easier knowing Eric picked up on her unspoken message.

“Uh-huh, who just happens to arrive with her daughter’s shirt?” Brice’s gaze fell to the one now in Sandra’s hands.

“Nothing gets past you. We’re… I’m not sure exactly what we are.” Eric smirked, passed a mischievous look at Sandra. It was a devilish one that revealed his rebellious streak.

“Bed buddies?” Brice said.

Eric laughed. “I guess you could say that.”

Sandra had wished to be somewhere else before. This strange interaction intensified the feeling. “Okay, if you two are finished. Olivia.”

“We’ll find her.” Eric put an arm around her. He took the shirt and the phone from her and handed them over to Brice. “I trust you can handle all of this and get the shirt to the K-9 handlers once they arrive?”

“Sure.” Brice took them and walked a few feet away to give them space.

“You can’t say the guy doesn’t read the room or pick up on subtle cues,” Eric said to her.

“That’s if you call handing everything over to him a subtle dismissal and not a neon sign.”

“Whatever works. That’s what matters.”

What mattered was getting to Olivia before it was too late. She took a deep breath, coaching herself to approach this from a detached viewpoint. If only she could convince herself the missing girl wasn’t her beautiful Olivia but someone else’s daughter. Just like Elwood had said. The daughter of a federal agent… After all, that was a situation she was trained to manage and navigate. She just had to approach this as she would any manhunt or crisis negotiation.

“What do you know so far, Sandra?” Eric’s question cut through her thoughts.

“Avery was with her at DiversaBlend, about five minutes from home. That was about four thirty or so. Olivia left at four forty-five, but apparently there was this man who was watching her. He gave the girls the creeps. Avery said she thought he left not long after Olivia. It just seems too coincidental to me. My gut tells me he took her or…” She couldn’t finish the rest of it. While there was hope of finding Olivia alive, she could hold herself together. For now, she couldn’t even entertain an alternative. Her energy would be better spent focusing on what could help. She could even apply the basic principles she used for hostage negotiation and manhunts. “We need to figure out what this man wants.” The base starting point. “And don’t say he’s just some sick pervert taking advantage of an opportunity. I can’t even think that way.”

Eric was silent for a few beats, then, “Well, it might have appeared random, but Olivia could have been targeted. This could be a ransom thing. You do have money.”

“It could be, I suppose. Elwood raised another point. I’m FBI. This could be some act against the Bureau.” Not that she had a clue how that progressed things.

Eric smiled tightly.

“What?” she asked him.

“Don’t take offense at this but the FBI, as a whole, tends to overreact.”

“For good reason. We make a lot of enemies.” Now the subject was raised, the sheer volume of people who could harbor ill will toward her was nauseating.

“Okay, now that right there might be helpful. Has anyone threatened you recently?”

“I piss people off on a daily basis with my job.”

“Well, so much is online these days if people know where to look. This person could have found out your personal information and how to get to you.”

That thought was terrifying. She did what she could to stay offline, even warned Olivia to watch what she did. After this, she was going to pay someone to make all digital traces of them disappear, though she wasn’t sure that would go over with Olivia.

“They’d go for your most vulnerable point. Olivia,” he added when she didn’t respond. “The only good news is if this man’s beef is with you, you’ll likely be hearing from him.”

“If that’s the case,” she reiterated in a mumble. “It’s just hard to wrap my head around who this guy could be. I’ve put my fair share of bad guys away in my twenty-five-year career as an agent.”

“Making revenge a possible motive. You said he was at DiversaBlend. Well, they’d have security cameras. Let’s go down there and take a look. You can see if you recognize this guy.”

“If we’re going down this road, I should get someone looking into who was recently released that I had a hand in putting away.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.”

“It’s just sickening to think whoever took Olivia planned this. They likely know where we live, her schedule…” She shivered at the thought of strangers paying such close attention to her precious girl. It also made her angry. “I’m just going to make a call.” She picked Elwood from her contacts, and he answered right away. “It’s Vos. I need your help.”

“Just name it.”

“I need someone to look at my past cases, and see if anyone I had a part in putting away may have recently gotten out.”

“Good thinking. How far back do you think I should go?”

She was going to suggest her entire career but reconsidered. “Just during my time with the WFO.”

“That narrows it down some, but not a lot. I’ll get some agents on this right away.”

“Thanks.” With that, Sandra hung up and turned to Eric. “It’s time to piece together Olivia’s last movements and follow them through. Obviously, we’ll start with DiversaBlend and go from there.”

“Let’s do it. I’ll drive.”

Eric’s voice was drowned out by a lumbering transport truck rumbling overhead. The sound was almost deafening. But it drew her gaze upward and filled her with a new fear. Key Bridge carried US Route 29 out of the city and the state. Olivia’s phone was found at the side of the bridge. Had it been tossed from a moving vehicle? If so, Olivia could be long gone.