Childfinders Inc - Hero For Hire Part 33

Anne had it converted about a year ago. Casey loved hanging around the construction site. He said it was a house just his size." A light dawned. "Oh, G.o.d, you don't think he was there all the time, do you? But he couldn't have been. I was with Anne when the kidnapper phoned. She couldn't have been the one who made the call."

The light changed and he hit the gas. A sense of urgency refused to release him.

"She's not in this alone." The woman was far too high-strung to have done this on her own. "She had a partner. Someone who could keep Casey occupied." He looked at her as they took a sharp turn. "Someone like Neil's latest girlfriend."

The voice on the machine had been distorted. She had naturally thought it was a man. The possibility that it had been a woman had just never occurred to her. Now that they knew it was, the thought filled her with horror and revulsion. "Neil said Josephine played in a band. He bragged that she was an expert with audio equipment.

I thought he meant in setting up the speakers."

"Don't blame yourself. These days, almost any amateur could distort their voice.

All it takes is a little software, a synthesizer and a computer."

It was all so clear to her now. "Neil came by a couple of times to take him to the ballpark, and she was with him. Casey likes her-" she cried.

"He'll grow up to have better taste," Chad a.s.sured her. If we get to him in time.

He had the uneasy feeling that the money had been taken without exchanging it for the boy for a reason. Casey could identify his kidnappers. Which meant he was a liability and had to be disposed of.

Chad felt his blood run cold as he pressed the gas pedal harder.

"Can't this car go any faster?"

"Not unless we're willing to cause a major accident." He pulled out his phone again, hitting Rusty's number.

"Rusty, I need you to get to Josephine Sharpe's apartment. If she's there, hold her any way you can. Savannah's got the address for you. I'm on my way to Anne Sullivan's house. Nearly there, in fact." He glanced at Veronica's face, conveying encouragement as best he could. "I think between the two of us, we might be able to wind this up today."

"You got it, Chad."

Chad dropped the cell phone onto his lap as the connection ended, grabbing the wheel with both hands and swerving to the left to avoid being hit by the car that was barreling down Anne Sullivan's driveway.

A small blond child twisted around in the back seat and waved gaily at Veronica.

Chapter 14.

"OmiG.o.d, that's Casey!" Veronica cried. She rose in her seat as if to leap out of the car.

"Hang on," Chad warned.

He swung the wheel all the way to the right, turning his car a full 180 degrees.

Tires screeched and the brakes groaned in protest as he brought the car forward again. Pressing down hard on the gas pedal again, he began to chase the maroon Mercedes. The other car had already made it down the winding hill and was flying into the main flow of traffic. Cars swerved right and left to avoid a collision.

Veronica watched in horror as Anne's car careened in and out of traffic. "She's going to get him killed. Do something!" she begged.

"Call Ben for me on your phone," he ordered.

Chad couldn't risk taking his eyes off the road to make the call himself.

Swerving to avoid the nose of a Honda that had just swerved to get out of the Mercedes's way, Chad rattled off the phone number to Veronica.

Frantically pawing through her purse, she located her phone. The numbers danced through her head. "What is it again?" Chad repeated Ben's number and she punched it in. A sound finally buzzed against her ear as she prayed. "It's ringing." Veronica thrust the cell phone into his hand.

"h.e.l.lo, Ben? Chad. I'm traveling south on Deerfield, just pa.s.sed MacArthur, and I've got the kidnapper's car in my sights. Maroon Mercedes, California plates." He

recited the numbers he could no longer see but had committed to memory. "I think

she might be on her way to the airport. I need squad cars as fast as possible."

"You're sure it's the kidnapper?" Ben asked.

Chad had seen Veronica's stricken face when she'd recognized Casey. "The boy's in the back seat. I'm sure."

"I'm on it." Ben didn't even bother signing off.

Every second counted. Chad knew Ben was already calling the plate numbers in to one of his friends on the force. Now all they needed was luck. A lot of it.

He could feel Veronica's disbelief being eaten away by tension.

She was hardly aware of taking the cell phone back from him. "Anne was in the driver's seat, wasn't she?"

"It might have been. The woman had auburn hair, but I didn't get a good look at her." He'd been too busy trying to get out of the way. "Could have been Josephine."

Now that he thought of it, their hair color was similar.

It seemed incredible, yet she'd seen Casey in the car with her own eyes. A brief glimpse was all she'd gotten, but there was no mistaking that grin. It was her son.

"How could Anne have done something so awful? Our kids are best friends. We've been close friends for ten years."

"Obviously not as close as you thought."

He was going more than fifteen miles over the speed limit, and the kidnapper was still getting away. Thoughts of cars cras.h.i.+ng into one another in his wake had Chad's adrenaline pumping to new heights.

The distant sound of sirens became audible. The cavalry was coming, he thought, relieved.

Veronica was leaning forward, straining against her seat belt, her fingers digging into the dashboard. She gasped as the Mercedes narrowly avoided cras.h.i.+ng into a city bus.

"Is Anne capable of doing something desperate?" he asked her.

Her mouth twisted in a half smile at the irony of the question. "You mean, other than kidnapping my son?"

"Point taken." Chad left it up to her to answer or not.

"I don't know." She never took her eyes off the maroon car, scarcely breathing.

It felt as if her heart was 'lodged in her throat. "I didn't think she was capable of doing anything desperate at all. Until now." Afraid, Veronica turned her gaze to Chad. "Why?"

"Because we're closing in on her, and unless my hearing's off, so are about three squad cars."

The Mercedes was driving erratically, abruptly turning into the parking lot of a small shopping mall. People scattered right and left as the driver tried desperately to elude pursuers and get away.

Suddenly a squad car pulled up directly in front of the Mercedes, turning so that its hood faced the fleeing car. Chad slammed on the brakes, stopping directly behind the Mercedes. Between them they cut off any avenue of escape for the Mercedes. Two more squad cars pulled up on either side of it. Policemen poured out of all three vehicles, their service revolvers drawn and trained on the occupants of the Mercedes.

Chad leaped out of his car. Veronica was less than a heartbeat behind him.