"Yeah, I'm still here," said Tom.

  He pulled a notepad from his pocket and started scribbling. When he was finished, he thanked whoever he had been talking to and hung up.

  "Anything we can use, sir?"

  "I'd say so," he said as he dialed another number.

  "Stevens, yeah, I have a name to connect with that padlock we're seeing on the screen. Tyler Boyd."

  He listened for a few seconds and then hung up.

  "They found a corpse early this morning, in a ditch not far from that bridge."

  "Don't tell me. Tyler Boyd."

  He barely nodded.

  "Scraggly looking dude, John Deere hat and a pentagram tattoo on the wrist."

  "So, they killed the guy they think might have made one too many mistakes," I said.

  I looked up at Tom and he just nodded.

  One by one, any lead we came up with seemed to be getting snuffed out right in front of our eyes. I didn't know how much more of this I could take and I'm sure Tom was feeling it even more than I was.

  He opened up his own laptop and connected to the police department's computer system and started typing in some information. I watched as he input Tyler's name in and we were rewarded with quite a bit of information about him.

  "Not exactly one of this city's finest," I said.

  "No. it appears Mr. Boyd is relatively well known to the department."

  "Known associates?"

  He looked at me and gave me a half grin.

  "You've been watching police shows or something?"

  "No, sir. I read a lot of John Grisham and James Patterson."

  "Good choices," he said as he pressed a few keys and the screen changed.

  It was a history of the life and times of Tyler Boyd, right down to a list of people that he was known to associate with. He was a total scumbag and the pictures of the people he ran with showed they weren't any different. I even recognized a couple of them from school.

  "How old was Tyler?" I asked.

  "Twenty."

  "Okay, that makes sense."

  "What's that? Don't hold back, Mal. Any thought that gets inside your head is worth saying out loud."

  "It's just I knew a couple of these people from school. They were both seniors last year, so not really the crowd I run with."

  "Which ones?"

  I pointed to the two that I had seen before. A guy and girl, both seniors and both the kind of kids that attended school every day dressed in black.

  Then I smacked my head and caught Tom by surprise. He just looked at me, expecting me to let it out.

  "That girl, she and that guy hang with each other all the time, and I know I've seen that pentagram on her wrist. I'd bet anything he sports one of his own, though I can't swear to that."

  Tom brought up the file on the girl, Cassidy Yates. She had been arrested numerous times for shoplifting, drugs and some minor offenses. He keyed in a text message to Stevens, sending him both names.

  Charlie Lewis had a rap sheet even more impressive than Cassidy. Grand theft auto, armed robbery and more. Why he wasn’t in prison was beyond my comprehension.

  A minute later, Tom's phone beeped and he looked at it.

  "They're sending someone to the school to see if they know where we can pick up the two of them."

  He stood up and picked up his phone.

  "I'm heading to the station. I want to be there when they come in."

  "I don't suppose I can come with you."

  "Not a chance, Mal. Number one, they still might not know you're involved and I'd like keeping it that way. And number two, if your mom found out I took you on an official police ride, she'd skin me alive."

  I smiled and said, "Actually, she'd probably be happy I was starting to display an interest in something that could turn into a career."

  Then I picked up my phone and handed it to him.

  "What's this?" he asked.

  "I don't want you to have any doubts about me. If you have this phone, I can't call anyone."

  He set it back down on the table and said, "Mal, I'm sorry I even began to distrust you. Right now, I'm grasping at straws and the captain has a way of swaying people to his way of thinking."

  "I just want you to be sure."

  "I am sure," he said as he turned toward the door. "Keep an eye on our girl."

  "Both of them, sir."

  I heard the SUV start up and drive away and I returned my attention back to the video. Seeing Jackie laying there, I just wanted to reach through the screen and take her in my arms. I wanted to hold her and tell her we were coming to find her.

  In less than an hour, Tom was back and this time he was with Stevens. Neither one of them looked happy.

  "What happened, sir?"

  He looked like he wanted to punch something and Stevens walked over and looked at the screen.

  "Any changes?"

  "No, sir. She's still conscious, but hasn't tried sitting up again. What happened at the school?"

  "Our officer got there and acquired the information that would have placed us at their doorstep. When we got to their place, we found that both Cassidy and Charlie had left in a hurry after receiving a phone call. This according to a person renting in the same house with them. We have an alert out for them, but now that they know we're looking for them, it's going to be harder to find them."

  "It's like every time we get really close," we heard Tom saying, "the rug gets pulled out from under us."

  We both looked at him and he was just standing in the middle of the room, his arms hanging at his sides.

  "Tom, come sit down," said Stevens.

  He walked to the chairs and plopped down, looking more and more like a man that was rapidly losing his grip on reality. I hated seeing that look on his face. It meant he was losing hope and right now, that was the only thing we had to go on.

  "What time did the phone call come in?"

  "What?" asked Stevens.

  I asked again, "What time did the phone call come in that spooked them?"

  "The roommate said it was about an hour and a half ago."

  "So what, about the time you found Tyler Boyd in the ditch?"

  "Yeah," said Stevens, trying to wrap his head around where I was going with this. "That sounds about right."

  "May I ask, who did you send to the school?"

  Stevens sat down and looked across the table at me.

  "It was Officer Cramer."

  I sucked in a sudden breath at the sound of his name.

  "What's up, Malcom?"

  I began laying out my concerns about Cramer, about how something just didn't seem right with him. I informed them about the phone call he was placing from his patrol car last night, just before the raid on the farm.

  When I finished, they both just looked at me. I felt like a bug on the wall, just waiting to be squashed. I had just accused one of their own of being a very bad guy.

  Stevens reached across the table and swung Tom's laptop around and began typing.

  "Came to the force six months ago, after a somewhat lackluster stint with the Houston PD. Left there under a small cloud of suspicion, but nothing was ever proven."

  "Does it say what the suspicion was about?" I asked.

  Stevens looked at me and then at Tom.

  "I see what you mean, Tom. He thinks like a cop."

  By this time, Tom had snapped out of his funk and was back in the game.

  "I think he needs to be put on the payroll when this is all over," he said.

  "No, Malcom, it doesn't say what he was suspected of. The records are sealed. They do that when they don't want to embarrass the force and just want that person to go away."

  "So, he's just able to walk into another police department and get a job without any kind of background check?"

  "Oh, he got checked out, but I guess human resources didn't see anything they couldn't live with," said Stevens. "You have to remember, or maybe you don't know, for the last year or more and even now, the department is very short-handed and will take anyone that looks halfway presentable."

  I looked back at the video and nothing had changed. Then a thought occurred to me.

  I looked at Tom and said, "You said Cramer was the closest to the bridge this morning."

  "Son of a bitch," he said under his breath.

  "And no one rode with him or was with him last night before the raid on the farmhouse."

  Stevens and Tom looked across the table at each other. I could see both of them starting to come around to my way of thinking.

  I only hoped I was right and wasn't falsely accusing a police officer.

  As I stared at the video, not wanting to see that either one of them was looking at me, I said softly, "And I think you can stop trying to protect me, sir. I think it's safe to assume they already know I'm involved."

  "We need to get him over here without alerting him to our suspicions," said Tom.

  "Right now," said Stevens, "they have to be running like scared jackrabbits. One of theirs is growing colder on a slab in the morgue and two others seem to have vanished into thin air."

  "Let's not forget," I said, "the one in the morgue was likely put there by one of them."

  Tom looked at Stevens and shook his head.

  "Not going to happen."

  "What?" I asked.

  "Tom, it's the one way we can be certain of getting him here and not alerting him."

  "No way. His mom would kill us all and, pardon me for saying this Mal, but I kind of like her. I'd rather not bring down her wrath on my head just yet."

  I smiled at him and then turned to Stevens.

  "What was your plan?"

  "I was thinking of having Cramer come over here as a protective detail for you."

  "Do you think it would work?"

  "Hell no!" yelled Tom.

  "Hell yes!" I shot back at him. "Jackie is dying and I am willing to walk through Hell and back to find her. If that includes getting Cramer over here and trying to find out what he knows, I'm in."

  Stevens sat back and crossed his arms. He just stared at Tom, who had his head down.

  "Relax, sir. If my mom finds out about this, she'll tell me I can never play with you again. And I don't want that."

  Tom laughed and looked up at me.

  "This isn't a game, Mal."

  "I know that, sir. Don't you think I know that?"

  At that moment I pointed at the video screen, at his daughter, and said, "This is not a game. It's life and death and if she dies, I don't want to go on living anyway. Let me do this."

  He just looked at me. He knew he was asking me to put myself in danger and there was no way in hell the department, or my mom, would ever approve of this.

  But, he knew this was our best shot at getting Jackie back.

  "What can we do to give Mal the maximum amount of protection?" he asked Stevens.

  "You mean besides not having him do it in the first place?"

  "Not an option," I said.

  "Make no mistake about it, Mal," said Tom, "it is always an option."

  "We need to have someone here we trust completely," said Stevens.

  "How about Barlow?" asked Tom.

  "Barlow's good, but he's a bit pudgy. I don't think he'll be fast enough if things go south."

  "Kelly?"

  "I could agree with that," said Stevens. "Now, can we get her over here without alerting Cramer to our suspicions?"

  "I think we can," said Tom as he picked up his phone and dialed.

  It took about twenty minutes for Officer Kelly to show up and have Stevens and Tom explain to her what they were thinking. When she looked at me, I could see the doubt in her eyes.

  "I'm not quite sure I'm comfortable putting this boy right in Cramer's sights if he's what you think he is."

  "Kelly," said Tom, "we are running out of options. I don't know how much longer my little girl has before she dies. We think Cramer is part of this and need to flush him out."

  "Officer," I said, "I know how dangerous this is. I am willing to do whatever it takes to get Jackie back alive."

  "Oh, you know how dangerous this is, do you?" she asked.

  "Yes, I do. This could end up getting me killed. Something I would rather not happen, but it is something I'm willing to risk."

  She stood there for a moment and I could see the repercussions bouncing around in her brain. She knew that if we failed, she could not only lose her job, but she could also go to jail.

  Ultimately, it was Jackie, herself, that convinced her to try. Kelly looked at the video, seeing Jackie laying in a heap on the floor of the cage, with her bruised face visible. She was still crying and there was a puddle of tears under her nose.

  Without another word, Kelly asked quietly, "What is the plan?"

  Stevens said, "First, you pull your patrol car around back and into the garage. Then, you will be hiding back there in the pantry. You will have a clean line of sight to the dining room table and will be able to hear everything that is said."

  "And you two?" she asked.

  "We're going to leave after Cramer gets here. We'll tell him that Malcom clued us into another piece of evidence and are going to check it out. We want Cramer here to be protection for Malcom, but if he is what we believe he is, it won't take long for him to try and extract the information from Malcom and try to warn the rest of his people."

  "Try to get the information out of Malcom or just shoot him on the spot," said Kelly.

  "I'm thinking not," said Tom. "He's had plenty of opportunities to do something to Malcom and hasn't taken them. But, when Malcom refuses to divulge his information, that could change and that's why we want you here."

  "God, I hope this doesn't go as bad as I think it could," said Kelly.

  "You and me both," I said.

  Again, a few seconds of silence, while Kelly looked at the video.

  "Let's do this before I come to my senses and change my mind."

  She went out the door and we heard her start her patrol car and pull it around the back of the house. Tom, went out to open the garage door for her and then brought her back in through the back door. He showed her the pantry and got a stool for her to sit on while she waited.

  When they came back into the dining room, Stevens pulled out his phone and called the station and asked that Officer Cramer be sent to the house. After he hung up, that's when I started to have butterflies fluttering around in my stomach.

  When we heard Cramer pull up out front about ten minutes later, Kelly turned and walked to the pantry and pulled the door closed behind her. I could see she left a tiny gap that she could see through.

  Before Cramer came to the door, I started a recording app on my computer that would record everything that happened in front of the camera and also all the sound within the range of its microphone.

  Cramer came up the steps and knocked and came in the open door.

  "What's up, guys?"

  "Officer Cramer," said Tom. "Stevens and I have to leave and check out a piece of evidence that may help us find my daughter. We need you to stay here and watch over Malcom and keep him safe. We don't need the assholes that took my daughter circling back and trying to get to him."

  "Uh, okay, I can do that," he said. "What did you guys find out?"

  Stevens spoke up and said, "Right now, we're keeping that between the three of us. We'll let you know if it pans out."

  "Okay, consider him safe from all harm."

  "Expect a call from us within the next twenty minutes," said Tom. "We should find nothing or everything by then."

  "Go to it, sir," said Cramer, "and I hope you find her."

  They nodded to him and both of them walked out the door and climbed into Steven's SUV. When I heard the sound of the engine start up and them drive away, I began to feel like a fly caught in a spider's web. It was not a feeling I was too happy about.

  I got up and walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Coke.

  "You want a Coke, officer?'

  "No, Malcom. I just finished lunch."

  I walked back into the dining room and sat down and had my back to him. I could feel him standing there, looking over my shoulder as I looked at the video.

  "It's a real shame what's going on with the detective's daughter."

  I looked over my shoulder at him. He had this really weird smile on his face and I didn't like it at all.

  "Yes, it is. She's a friend of mine and I'm ready to kill just about anyone to get her back safely."

  He walked over and looked out the front window. Pulling the curtains closed, he made sure no one could see anything from the front sidewalk. I watched him do it and when he turned and saw me looking at him, he just gave me that smile again.

  "Need to keep the curtains closed so no one can take a shot at you through the window."

  I nodded and said, "Makes sense."

  I turned back to my laptop and was becoming more and more terrified that I had put myself in this position. I could feel him walking around behind me like a predator, looking for that one second to pounce.

  I reached over and picked up the Coke and took a drink. I wanted him to think I was completely relaxed with him being there.

  "So, what was this evidence Stevens said they found?"

  I didn't turn around and look at him.

  "I can't say. They've said I need to keep it between the three of us until they check it out."

  "But, it sounds like it could break the case wide open and they could find the girl."

  "If it's what I expect, this will all end in the next few minutes and everyone will be rounded up."

  I kept myself facing the laptop. Me, watching the video of Jackie was what I figured Cramer would be expecting me to do. I certainly wasn't in the mood to carry on small talk with him, especially if he was part of this.

  "I'm sorry," said Cramer, "but I'm going to have to ask you what the evidence is."

  "What?' I asked as I turned and looked over my shoulder at him.

  "The captain is not going to like what's going on here if he finds he's been left out of the loop."

  "I thought Stevens was the lead on this case," I said. "Seems to me he knows what he's doing and he wants this kept quiet."

  Cramer looked around and I was nervous he'd start checking rooms, like the pantry, but he turned back to me and I could see blood in his eyes.

 

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