Gone - v4 by Lisa Gardner

Author:Lisa Gardner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Quincy/Rainie
Published: 2010-07-30T20:36:44+00:00

26

Tuesday, 9:01 p.m. PST

KINCAID KICKED OFF THE TASK force debriefing by having Shelly Atkins go first. It was a subtle but effective dig at the Bakersville Sheriff’s Department, as Shelly had already admitted she had nothing to report.

“We’ll go round the table,” Kincaid announced at promptly nine p.m. “Catch everyone up on where we’re at with our individual efforts. Then we’ll discuss protocol for tomorrow’s exchange. Shelly, what do you have?”

Shelly, sitting across the table from Kincaid, blinked in surprise. She stared at Detective Spector, sitting to Kincaid’s right, then at the hostage negotiator, Candi Rodriguez, sitting on Kincaid’s left. Finally, she sighed, knowing an ambush when she saw one, and got on with it.

Kimberly walked into the conference room just as Shelly stood to make her report. Quickly, she slid into the chair Quincy had saved between him and Mac, using her hand to wipe the rain from her face. Only one other seat remained empty, for OSP Detective Alane Grove. Apparently, Kincaid wasn’t in the mood to wait for even his own people. He made a motion with his hand, and Shelly started talking.

As discreetly as she could, Kimberly nudged her father’s elbow and sketched a quick update on the yellow legal pad in front of him. She wrote: Luke Hayes = no. Lucas Bensen’s son???

Quincy stared at that notation for a long time.

“So, as per the last meeting,” Shelly was saying roughly, “the sheriff’s department has had two primary tasks. One, we’ve been checking local offenders’ alibis, as well as rattling some cages. Two, we’ve been involved in the search for seven-year-old Douglas Jones. As for our first mission, we drew up a list of twenty-seven ‘people of interest.’ As of this time, we have personally visited twelve of these individuals. Eight have been definitely ruled out as having alibis. Three we have moved to the ‘unlikely’ category. One remains a ‘person of interest,’ as well as the other fifteen, whom we hope to visit shortly.

“Now, during one of these visits, the individual in question volunteered a list of names he thought might be willing to kidnap a woman for ransom. Several of these names were already on our list. But three more emerged that I have added to the ‘people of interest’ column, bringing that total to nineteen local males.”

She glanced over the table at Kincaid, cleared her throat. “I’ll be honest. Given the late hour, and all of the other responsibilities my people have, it is doubtful we can clear nineteen names by ten a.m. tomorrow. We’ll keep at it until midnight, then I’m going to start sending my officers home in five-hour shifts, so that everyone can grab at least a little shut-eye by morning. What names we don’t have cleared — I’m guessing it’ll be a good dozen — I’ll flesh out into mini-profiles for Ms. Candi. Yes, I’ll use bullet points.”

Shelly gave the hostage negotiator a droll look. Candi responded with a sickeningly sweet smile of her own.

“Now, in regard to Dougie.

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