Abduction (35 page)

chapter
29

Friday, April 28

P
aula
didn’t normally read the paper before she went to work. She seldom had time. It
wouldn’t have mattered. No fewer than four different people accosted her as she
made her way from the front door to her desk, anxious to show her the ad in the
paper.

Someone else,
determined to be first, had set the ad on her desk in full view so she couldn’t
possibly miss it.

The ad had roses along its border and a large
heart at the bottom of the page. The words, in bold script, were simple and to
the point.

Paula
Horne, you are the love of my life. I can’t imagine living my life without you
at my side. I want to be your husband, your best friend, your confidant, and
your soul mate. Marry me and make me the happiest man on earth. All my love
forever, Matt.

An hour later,
at precisely ten o’clock, a dozen long-stemmed red roses were delivered in a
white box. There was no note. None was necessary.

“Marry the guy
and put him out of his misery,” one of the older women in the department told
her. “If
you
don’t, I will.”

“I’ll fight
you for him,” the receptionist interjected.

At noon, a
white stretch limo pulled up in front of her office. Work stopped. Keyboards went
silent. Phones rang unanswered. Everyone watched as a chauffeur opened the back
door of the limo and a man climbed out dressed in a tuxedo with tails and a top
hat. His hands wore white gloves and firmly held a silver tray covered with a
white cloth.

“Paula! This
has got to be for you.”

“Paula! Please
tell him no and give me a shot!”

“If you don’t
want him, Paula, I do.”

Curious and
fascinated, Paula ignored all comments as she watched the chauffeur rush up and
open the front door of the building. The man in the tuxedo strutted in and
asked for Miss Paula Horne. The receptionist, struck dumb, merely pointed in
Paula’s direction.

Paula stood
there as the man walked up to her and set the silver tray on her desk. He
whipped off the white linen napkin to reveal a white rose, a rolled scroll tied
with a red ribbon, and a ring box. Then he leaned forward and handed her the
rose. She took it, still stunned.

All her
coworkers sidled over, trying to get a firsthand look at what was happening.
There were giggles, a groan (purely masculine), whispering, and audible sighs.

The man lifted
the scroll and made a great production of untying and setting aside the ribbon.
He opened the scroll.

“Master Owen Paul Horne, in accordance with the
traditions of marriage, does hereby formally grant his permission to Master Matthew
Jonathon Casto to present a proposal of marriage to his daughter, Paula Marie
Horne, and enter into a covenant of love and honor to last no less than one
hundred years. So signed by Master Owen Horne and Master Matthew Jonathon Casto
and duly notarized.”

The scroll was re-rolled and handed to Paula. She
couldn’t help shaking her head and smiling. Matt had actually gone to her
father and asked for her hand in marriage. And her father had said yes! Her
father had never approved of Matt, calling him flighty and unde
pendable.
Matt must have pulled out all the stops to get her unyielding dad to go along
with this.

The ring box
was lifted in white gloved hands as if it were a fragile piece of crystal. He
opened the ring box and she gasped.

“Master
Matthew Jonathon Casto requests the honor of your hand in marriage.”

Stunned, Paula
felt her heart flip. She’d wanted a gesture. She’d wanted him to show some
effort.

She’d never
expected anything like this.

With trembling
hands, she reached out and lifted the ring from the box. It was gorgeous. It
was huge. It must have cost him a fortune. She started to cry as she slid the
ring on her finger.

She lifted her
head and stared at the stranger. “Yes.”

He nodded
without so much as a smile, but Paula could have sworn she saw a twinkle in his
eyes. He turned on his heel and strode out of the building, disappearing inside
the limo.

“So much for
Matt,” breathed one of the secretaries. “But what about that gorgeous blond in
the tuxedo?”

Paula stared
at the ring on her hand, twisting it from one side to the other, watching it
catch and magnify the light, shimmering like fire.

She looked up
in time to see Matt tumbling out of the limo. He tugged at his jacket and then
practically ran into the building. He skidded to a halt a few feet from her
desk. Paula circled her desk and stopped. “I didn’t expect this.”

“Me either,”
he said breathlessly.

“I love you.”

“I love you,
too.”

“Yeah,” Paula
replied, choking out a giggle. “I can see that you do.” And then she jumped
into his arms.

Her mind
barely registered all the applause, wolf whistles, and cheers.

#

Inside the
limo, Donnie pulled off the white gloves and tossed them on the seat. “Another
job well done, Donnie Bevere. Once again, you have outdone yourself.”

#

“Facts are
facts and the facts don’t lie.”

Justus
Gallagher, one of the top forensic pathologists in the state, frowned as he
studied the body stretched out on the stainless-steel autopsy table. He spun
his stool around and scooted it back over to the microscope on the counter
behind him. Squinting, he looked again. Frowned again.

It didn’t add
up.

Vivian Amato,
humming something that sounded vaguely familiar, was across the room working on
one of the unidentified bodies of a child uncovered in Emmitt Falls. “Aha. So,
you’re Kimberly Fields. Hello, Kimberly.”

Justus looked
over at her, eager to take his mind off his problems for a minute. “ID one?”

“Yeah. Medical
records indicate that Kimberly Fields had surgery on her leg when she was eight
months old. And guess what this little bone just told me?”

“Surgery.”

“Bingo. So
unless there are two little girls who had surgery on their left tibia, we’ve
found Kimberly.” She made a notation on a chart and then looked over at him
again. “Problem on your end?”

“You could say
that.”

She set her clipboard on the counter and walked
over, her scrubs
rustling as she walked. “What have you got?”

“Discrepancy.”

“In what way?”

“Well,
according to the police, Ted Matthews disappeared on the night of the
twentieth. He was seen at work that day. He was seen by his wife that night.”

Vivian tilted
her head impatiently. “Get to the point.”

“This body,”
he pointed to the autopsy table, “was dead a good three days before that.”

“Impossible.”
Vivian drew closer, keeping her hands aloft to prevent any contamination from
one body to another, and looked into the microscope. “Well, phooey.”

She backed up,
her gaze moving from the microscope to the body and then back to Justus. “We’ve
got us an anomaly.”

“We’ve got us a John Doe. Not only was this man
dead while Ted Matthews was still walking and talking, this man shows
deterioration in the liver that indicates extensive alcohol consumption.
According to these medical records, Edward Matthews was a nondrinker.”

“A little nip
on the side, perhaps?” Now she was frowning.

Justus shook his head. “We’re talking severe
alcoholic. And over a long period of time. No way to hide the kind of drinking
this man did.”

“Okay, I hate
to ask the obvious, but what about blood work?”

“I was just
about to call and see if it’s ready.”

She nodded and
headed back across the room. “If you’re right, we’re going to have one very
unhappy homicide cop on our case.”

“Facts are
facts and the facts don’t lie.”

chapter
30

Friday, April 28

H
e
watched dispassionately as she struggled against the ropes that held her in the
ladder-back chair. Every once in awhile, she would look at him and glare
daggers, but they didn’t faze him. She wasn’t going anywhere. He would have
disposed of her already, but
he wasn’t done with her yet.

“You might
as well give up. You won’t get loose.”

She turned
a tear-streaked face in his direction and then spit at him, her eyes
overflowing with venom.

“I’m
impressed,” he said dryly. “A few feet more and you might have hit my shoes.”

“You won’t
get away with this!”

He smiled,
amused with her persistence. “Dear woman, I’ve already gotten away with it.”

“They will
catch you!”

He
shrugged, letting the comment roll off easily. “They aren’t smart enough.”

“They’re
smarter than you think! They’re just luring you in!”

This time
he was amused enough to laugh. “Of course they are. How silly of me not to
realize that. And you were the bait? Is that it? I suppose those smart FBI
agents are surrounding this building as we speak. I am so afraid.”

He shook
his head in disgust. “Please don’t insult my intelligence.”

The cell
phone on the table rang, and his lips twitched in anticipation. It was time for
the next round of the game to begin. He picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Who is
this?”

“Mr.
Shefford! How delightful to hear from you. I do suppose you called to talk to
your ex-wife, but I’m afraid she’s a little tied up at the moment.”

“Tied up?
Who is this? Where is she?”

“Scream for
him, Mrs. Shefford. Let him know how frightened you truly are at this moment.”

#

Karen stared
emotionless at the featureless interview room, ignoring her brother as he waved
his hands, talked, pleaded, and cajoled. She studied the dull gray walls,
cracked floor tiles of gray and white, metal table, metal chairs, barred
window.

Her brother was upset about her decision to leave
Jessica with the McCaines. How could she make him understand? She was going to
prison! It didn’t matter that she hadn’t killed anyone. No one believed her.
And if the police didn’t believe her, why would a jury?

Between the
time she was arrested and the time she was locked into her cell, the truth had
set in. Ted had set her up. No one else could have done it. He said he was
going to meet with the kidnappers. He told her not to call the police. Then he
didn’t come back. Their money was gone, a bloody knife appeared conveniently in
her kitchen, and a dead body showed up in the backyard.

That’s when
she’d lost all hope. God had abandoned her. Fate had conspired against her. Her
life was over. Nothing would ever be the same.

Ray’s hand
slapped the table hard and she jumped.

“If you don’t
listen to me, Karen, I swear I’m. . .” He sputtered.

“Ray, you
don’t understand.”

“I understand
all too well. You’ve given up!”

She leaned
forward, her hands clasped in front of her. “Ray, listen to me. It’s over. Ted
won. I’m going to prison.”

“No! God is
not
going to abandon you.”

Frustrated, Karen flopped back in her chair,
throwing her hands up in the air. “He’s already abandoned me! Don’t you see
that?”

“No, I don’t.
He may be testing your faith, but—”

“Testing my
faith?” Karen snapped. “You call this testing my faith? I’ve been arrested for
premeditated murder, Ray. Murder. No bail, do not pass go, do not collect two
hundred dollars.”

Ray slapped the table again. “We prayed to get
Jessica back and God brought her back to you! Do you think that was just
chance? Do you know how easy it would have been for those people just to turn a
blind eye to the fliers? They love that baby. They thought that baby was theirs.
God intervened and they came forward with her. That was God talking to you,
Karen! Is this over? No. But being the loving God that He is, He gave you a
sign. He’s still here and it’s going to work out. He’s given you something to
hold on to through the rest of this.”

“Well, He
hasn’t given me enough.”

Karen looked
over at Detective Johnson, who was still leaning against the wall, arms folded
across his chest, listening to the entire conversation with a curious
expression on his face. “Can I go back to my cell now?”

JJ pushed off
from the wall. “If that’s what you want.”

She stood up.
“It’s what I want.” Turning, she placed her hands behind her back so he could
snap the handcuffs back on.

“Can I ask you
a question, Mrs. Matthews?”

She shrugged
silently.

“I admit that I don’t know what I believe about
God, but answer me this. If you call yourself a Christian, what good is it if
when things go wrong, you blame God and turn your back on Him?”

#

Zoe brushed at
the tears that ran freely down her cheeks. He had her mother! A half-hour
earlier, her father’s knees had buckled and he’d slid to the floor. He’d stared
at the phone in disbelief and then dropped it as if it had suddenly burned his
hand.

“He has
your mother,”
he’d said. Then he’d looked up at her with horror still
framing his eyes.
“He said you were the next one to join Gina in the garden
of death.”

Vince had
immediately called Fleming. Any minute now they would descend like scavengers,
picking at every nuance and word in the message, considering possibilities and
scenarios, ripping apart objections to their authority.