"Where were you last night, around one a.m.?" Nicky asked him.

  Tommy frowned before he suddenly perked up, almost with excitement. "O-oh! I was at a party with my homies and coworkers! We were drinking mad beers all night, till at least three in the morning till I passed out on Jerry's couch! You want an alibi? There are lots of people there who know I never left!"

  Nicky raised an eyebrow, considering his words. It was possible he was telling the truth, but she couldn't just take his word for it.

  "Okay, Tommy," she said, "we'll need the names of the people at that party. And we'll need to talk to them."

  Tommy nodded eagerly. "Sure, anything you need. I'll give you their names and numbers and addresses and everything."

  Nicky leaned back in her chair, studying him thoughtfully. She wondered if he was really telling the truth or just trying to throw them off the trail. There was only one way to find out.

  "Alright, Tommy," she said, "we'll verify your alibi. But if you're lying, it's only gonna make things worse for you."

  Tommy nodded, his expression earnest. "I'm not lying, I swear," he said. "I didn't kidnap nobody."

  Nicky stood up, signaling to Ken that the interview was over. She still wasn't sure what to make of Tommy, but she knew they had to keep digging. They needed to find out who had really kidnapped Moira Gray, and they needed to do it fast.

  "Alright, Tommy," she said, standing up from her chair. "We'll look into it. In the meantime, you're still under arrest for insurance fraud and grand theft auto."

  Tommy sighed, looking defeated as Nicky and Ken left the room. As they shut the door, Nicky couldn't help but feel like there was more to the story. Tommy might not have been the mastermind behind the kidnapping, but she had a feeling he was involved somehow.

  As they walked down the hallway of the police station, Ken spoke up. "What do you make of him?"

  Nicky shrugged. "I don't know. He's clearly a liar, and not a very good one, but the alibi seems plausible. Once we find out if his alibi checks out, we can find out who he sold the truck to."

  The last thing Nicky wanted was to waste time getting more lies out of him.

  Step one: confirm the alibi. Then they'd handle the rest.

  ***

  After several phone calls, Nicky had determined it: Tommy either had a group of friends with a hive mind who knew to tell the same story, or his alibi was legitimate.

  Walking back into the interrogation room with Ken, Nicky caught sight of Tommy sulking in the chair. As Nicky and Ken took their spots, he didn't bother putting the tough guy act back on. Good. Nicky hoped he'd be honest from here on out—it would make life a lot easier for him.

  "Well, Tommy," Nicky said, "your alibi seemed to check out."

  "Yeah," he muttered, "I told you it would."

  "But we're not done with you yet," Nicky said. "Tommy, this is very important. We need to know who you sold the truck to."

  Tommy shifted in his seat, his expression guarded. "I don't remember," he said.

  Nicky raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember? That's funny, considering you seemed pretty sure earlier that you sold it."

  Tommy looked down at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers. "Look, I–I don't know. I sold it to some guy, okay? I don't remember his name."

  Nicky leaned forward, her voice low and intense. "Tommy, this is serious. A woman's life is at stake here. We need to find out who you sold that truck to, and we need to find out now."

  Tommy looked up at her, his eyes desperate. "I'm telling you the truth, I swear! I don't remember who I sold it to. It was just some guy, I didn't even know him, he just gave me a good price for it. You're not gonna believe me, but he was just some sketchy guy I met in an alleyway."

  Nicky narrowed her eyes, studying Tommy carefully. The alleyway story seemed too convenient, but she knew better than to get too aggressive. She needed to keep pushing, but not so hard that Tommy shut down or lied even more.

  "Do you remember anything about this guy?" she asked, her voice calm but firm.

  Tommy shook his head. "No, no. I don't remember much about him, really. He was just some guy who looked like he had a lot of money. He had a scar on his cheek, I think, but I didn't get a good look at him. That's all I can remember."

  Nicky made a mental note of the scar. It wasn't much to go on, but it was something. She also thought of the chocolates he'd left behind, the expensive ones. If this guy had a lot of money, then that would make sense, and it would align with the potential profile of the man they were looking for.

  "We need a bit more than that, Tommy," Nicky said. "His clothing. His voice. Did he pay you in cash? How did that work out?"

  Tommy was visibly rattled. "I thought he looked like someone who had cash, so I took a shot in the dark and asked him if he wanted to buy my truck and he said yeah, that he'd meet me that night with the cash. I have it at my house! He have it to me in an envelope, but I got rid of it, then just put all my cash in my safe."

  Nicky leaned in, her voice softening. "Tommy, if you want to help us find Moira, you need to think hard. Is there anything else you can remember about this man? What was he wearing? What made you think he had money?"

  Tommy looked up at Nicky, his eyes filled with fear. He seemed to be struggling with something as if there was something he wanted to say but couldn't.

  "Tommy, look at me," Nicky said, her voice firm but gentle. "We need your help to find Moira. If you know something, anything at all, please tell us."

  Tommy took a deep breath, his hands shaking. "I–I don't know," he stammered. "I don't remember much about him. He was wearing a suit, I think, and a red tie. And he had a fancy watch."

  Nicky nodded, taking note of the details. A suit. That was extremely odd. She leaned back in her chair, thinking hard. They had a description of the man who had bought the truck, but it wasn't much to go on. She needed more.

  "Tommy," she said, "did this man say anything to you? Anything at all that might help us identify him?"

  Tommy shook his head. "No, he didn't say much. I could just tell he was loaded, so I went up and asked if he was looking to buy a truck for a good price. I'm telling you, he was real. I can show you where I met him, but that's all I can tell you."

  Nicky nodded. She wished Tommy could say more, but if he could point to where the meeting happened, they could try to find some footage, at the very least.

  "Alright, Tommy," Nicky said, standing up from her chair. "Show us where you met him on the map. We'll see what we can find."

  ***

  An hour later, Nicky was no closer to finding out the identity of the kidnapper. They had Tommy's meeting location, but there were no stores or businesses nearby that had footage of that particular alleyway.

  Now, she was sitting alone in the briefing room while Ken dealt with the police, getting them fully updated on Tommy's situation so he could be processed. He may not be the kidnapper, but he was guilty of fraud and more. He was still going to get put in jail, and it wouldn't be the first time. Nicky wondered if Tommy would ever break his cycle of trouble if this would be a wake up call for him, or if he'd just fall back into his old ways, worrying his family sick.

  She sighed, staring at her laptop, unsure where to go next. She checked her phone, only to see another message from forensics:

  DNA came back. It's a match for Moira Gray. No others.

  Nicky sighed. So they had more proof Moira had been in that truck, but that didn't exactly help them get closer to the kidnapper.

  She tried to get her mind on track, to figure out where to go from there. They knew more things about him now. For one, he must have had money. And he met Tommy late at night to buy his truck and was hanging around that seedy alley during the day, so Nicky wondered what his work hours were, or if he worked at all. It wasn't much to go on, but it had to be worth something.

  Just then, Ken walked back into the room, looking just as tired as Nicky felt. It was getting later into the day, and they were barely closer to this guy.

  "Hey," Ken said, sliding into the seat beside her. "Tommy's gonna be charged with the insurance fraud. Thankfully, he's keeping his poor grandmother out of it. She won't get in any trouble."

  Nicky breathed out a sigh. "Good."

  Ken glanced at her blank laptop. "Any luck?"

  Nicky laughed and pushed it shut. "What do you think? No, I was just thinking, trying to come up with some kind of thread to pull on." She sighed. "I was thinking, this guy must work strange hours, or maybe he doesn't work at all. He's also obviously wealthy. It's not a lot to work with, but maybe we should look up cases with suspects that fit that criteria."

  Ken nodded thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea, but it could still be a pretty long list."

  "Yeah," Nicky agreed. "I just don't know what else we can do at this point."

  They sat in silence for a few moments, both lost in thought. Nicky's mind kept returning to the alleyway where Tommy had met the man. It was a seedy part of town and probably not where someone with a lot of money would normally be hanging around. What could this guy have been doing there? Was it possible that he had some connection to that part of town? Tommy said he had offered the truck, not that the man had been looking for one, so what had he been doing there in the first place?

  "Maybe we can narrow it down to that part of town, the one he met Tommy in," Nicky said, standing up. "I think I should go see where Tommy met the man myself."

  Ken nodded. "Got it. I'll see if I can cross-reference any cases with that area."

  Nicky smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Ken. I don't know what I'd do without you."

  Ken chuckled. "You'd be lost, that's what."

  Nicky rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. It was true. Even before things had turned romantic, Ken Walker had become her rock. She hadn't realized it had been happening right under her nose ever since they'd started working together on the top ten list of missing girls.

  Focusing on work, Nicky pulled up a map of the area on her laptop. She studied it for a few moments before zooming in on the alleyway where Tommy had met the man. She couldn't stop thinking that something here would lead them to him. There had to be something in here, somewhere. This man wasn't a ghost. He was a real, breathing person, and he was out there somewhere with those girls. Nicky didn't know who he was—not yet—but this was her best chance. She'd go back to where he bought the truck and stand where he once stood.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Nicky took in the sight of the alleyway, shadowy and long under the late-afternoon sky. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, a mix of fear and determination. This was where it had all started, where the kidnapper had met with Tommy and taken his truck. She had to find some clue here, something that would lead her to the man responsible for the disappearances of those girls.

  She walked slowly down the alley, scanning the ground for anything out of place. It was a seedy part of town, and there was a lot of trash strewn about, but nothing caught her eye at first. She reached the end of the alley, where the street opened up into a wider road. Nothing. She turned back to the alley, trying to see the area through the kidnapper's eyes. She felt a chill run down her spine, goosebumps forming on her arms as she thought about the girls who had been kidnapped. What had they seen and felt at his hands? Had they been scared, alone, and desperate for someone to help them?

  She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts away. She needed to focus to see if there was anything that she might have missed. Her eyes wandered up, looking for any sort of security camera, but there was nothing.

  She let out a frustrated sigh. Maybe it was too much to hope that they would find any useful footage from this area. But then she remembered that the kidnapper had come here for a reason. He had specifically chosen this location to meet with Tommy. That must mean there was something here that had drawn him to this spot. Maybe it was just the fact that he knew there would be no cameras around here or in the area.

  Nicky's eyes scanned the graffiti-covered walls, the rusty dumpsters, and the broken bottles that littered the ground. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  She made her way back to the middle of the alley, getting down on her hands and knees to inspect the ground more closely. That's when she saw it. A small, silver object glinting in the dim light. She picked it up and held it between her fingers. It was a suit cuff. A gold-plated circle. Tommy had said the man had been wearing a suit. In an alley in a part of town like this, Nicky doubted these were just getting dropped. No. This could belong to him.

  Nicky's heart quickened as she examined the cuff more closely. It was expensive, that much was obvious, with intricate detailing etched into the gold plating. She turned it over, looking for any other identifying marks, but there were none. She felt a surge of excitement. This was something tangible, something that could lead them to the man they were looking for.

  Putting the cuff in her pocket, Nicky stood up, looking around the alley again. Now that she had something to go on, she wondered where to start. There were no other clues in the immediate area, but maybe someone had seen something. She decided to check at stores, even up the street, and see if anyone saw anyone matching the man's description.

  The street was lined with businesses that had seen better days, derelict, crumbling buildings with broken windows and boarded-up entrances. The faded paint was chipping away from the walls while thick cobwebs and layers of dust seemed to coat every surface. The only thing keeping out the elements were the wooden boards nailed into the doorways. But up ahead, at the end of the street, a pawn shop sign was erected. Nicky made her way towards it, her heart racing with anticipation. She pushed open the door, and the bell on top jingled to announce her arrival. The inside of the shop was dimly lit, with rows of shelves filled with an assortment of items such as guitars, jewelry, and electronics. A balding man with a thick beard and tattoos covering his arms sat behind the counter, engrossed in a magazine. He looked up when Nicky approached.

  "Can I help you with anything?" he asked, eyeing her curiously.

  Nicky took a deep breath, pulling out the cuff from her pocket. "Have you seen anyone wearing this recently? Maybe someone who came in trying to sell it?"

  The man took the cuff from her, examining it closely. "Can't say that I have, but I can keep an eye out for you. What's it worth to you?" He glanced her up and down, taking in her appearance. Nicky was dressed in her usual business casual suit, and she knew she stank like a fed.

  "I'm looking for a man who may have been in this area, wearing this." Nicky held up her FBI badge, gaining a knowing look from the man. "Have you seen anyone around here who seems like they have a lot of money?"

  The man laughed. "I think they'd stand out pretty hard in this end of town, just like you, missy. I don't think I've seen anyone like that."

  Damn, Nicky thought. She knew this was a long shot, but still, she had to keep trying. "Do you have any security cameras out front of your store?"

  The man shook his head. "Nah, sorry. We can't afford that kind of thing."

  Nicky sighed, preparing to leave. But then the man spoke up again. "You know, there is someone who might be able to help you."

  "Who?" Nicky asked, her interest piqued.

  "There's a guy who hangs out around here sometimes, goes by the name of Lucky. He knows a lot of people, maybe he's seen something that can help you out."

  Nicky hesitated. She didn't know if she trusted some random guy on the street, but she also knew she didn't have many other leads. "Where can I find him?"

  The man shrugged. "I don't know exactly, but he usually hangs out around the abandoned building down the street. You can't miss it, it's the one with the broken windows and graffiti all over it."

  Nicky thanked the man and left the pawn shop, making her way toward the abandoned building. As she got closer, she could see that it was even more run-down than the other buildings on the street, with broken glass and garbage littering the entrance. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was a good idea, but then she reminded herself that she was a federal agent, and she couldn't let fear hold her back. She needed to find the man responsible for those girls.

  Nicky pushed open the door, the hinges creaking loudly in protest. The inside of the building was just as dilapidated as the exterior, with moldy walls and graffiti covering every available surface. She cautiously made her way deeper into the building, her hand resting on her gun. She couldn't see anyone around, but she could feel eyes on her, watching her every move.

  "Lucky?" she called out, her voice echoing through the empty room. "Are you here?"

  There was a rustling sound from behind a pile of broken furniture, and a man emerged from the shadows. He was tall and wiry, with dark hair and a scruffy beard. He wore a leather jacket and jeans, and Nicky could see the faint outline of a tattoo on his neck. He must have been squatting here.

  "What do you want?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

  "I'm looking for information," Nicky said, holding up her badge. "I'm with the FBI. I'm investigating a series of kidnappings, and I think the man responsible might have been in this area."

  Lucky snorted. "There's a lot of bad dudes around here, lady. You're going to have to be more specific."

  Nicky took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. She had to be careful with what information she had revealed. "I'm looking for a man who wears a suit, high-end clothes. He's been seen in this area."

  Lucky scratched his chin, considering her words. "I might have seen someone like that. But what's in it for me if I help you out?"

  Nicky's teeth clenched. This guy might be a sleazeball, but she had to work with it.

  "I don't have anything to offer you," Nicky said. "But I'll tell you this: the man I'm looking for is the Casanova Kidnapper."

  Lucky paused. "The guy from the news," he said.

  "So you've heard of it." Good, Nicky thought. She hoped it would be enough to encourage him to work with her, even a little.

  "I have, yeah," Lucky said. He took a breath, then glanced over his shoulder. "Look, sorry, lady, but I can't help ya. You'll have to ask someone else."

 

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