Payback by Jacobs Jonnie

Author:Jacobs, Jonnie [Jacobs, Jonnie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

They waited until eight the next morning, then called the police again. It was a different dispatcher this time—a woman—but she offered the same reassurances before taking their information and advising them that runaways weren’t a priority, particularly those who were approaching their eighteenth birthday.

“Two and a half million kids,” she told them. “That’s how many runaways there are each year. If we chased after them all, we’d never have time to go after the bad guys.”

The number was staggering but Marta refused to believe that Jamie was one of them. “What about an Amber alert? Aren’t they used for missing kids?”

“For abducted kids. And not even all of those. I suggest you check with her friends to see what they know. And call the runaway hotline.” She gave them the number. “Parents can sometimes do more to find a missing teen than the cops.”

“But—”

”She’s not armed, is she?” the dispatcher asked.

“No.”

“Or in danger?”

“Of course she’s in danger,” Marta said angrily. “She’s a seventeen-year-old with a man in his thirties.”

“But she went with him willingly?”

Marta reluctantly conceded that was the case. “Are you saying there’s nothing you can do?”

“We’ll add her to the list of missing kids and spread the word to neighboring jurisdictions. You’ll need to come to the station and file a report. Bring a recent photo and any contact information you have for her friends.”

When the call ended, Marta looked bleakly at Gordon. “What are we going to do?”

She’d assumed that reporting Jamie missing would be a first step, a big step, in finding her and bringing her home. She’d thought the police would mobilize their resources and mount an all-out effort. She realized now how naive she’d been.

“We’re going to begin by filing a police report,” Gordon said. He appeared hollow-eyed and pasty, and had yet to meet her gaze directly.

She was sure Gordon hadn’t slept any better than she had. He was dealing with the double blow of a missing daughter and an unfaithful wife. Marta supposed that the torment of her regret and guilt didn’t hold a candle to that.

“I’d better call Carol to tell her I won’t be in today. And I’ll ask her for the name on Todd’s cell account.”

Gordon turned. “What do you mean?”

In her worry about Jamie, Marta had forgotten to tell him that Todd’s phone was registered to a sixty-four-year-old man by a different name. “Carol’s P.I. traced Todd’s cell account,” she explained. “It’s registered under a different name but I can’t remember what it is.”

Picking up her phone, she noticed she had unread texts. She hadn’t even checked since leaving work yesterday. What if Jamie had been trying to reach her?

Quickly, Marta scanned the list. No Jamie, but there was a message from Carol.

Very interesting discovery about our friend! Call me if you get a chance, otherwise I’ll explain in the morning. I may know more by then, anyway.

“Carol left a message,” she told Gordon. “She discovered something interesting about Todd. Maybe it will help us locate him.

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