Baby Be Mine by Diane Fanning Read Free Book Online Page A

step or two behind them. He hoped his cooperation and openness would ensure that they worked with law enforcement, not against them.
    Half a continent away, in Franklin, North Carolina, rat terrier breeder Dyanne Siktar sat down at her computer. As usual, her first stop was Annie’s Rat Terrier Rest Area. Her attention riveted on an unusual post. “Don’t know if anyone knows this rat terrier breeder but Bobbie Jo Stinnett was murdered.”
    Dyanne jumped from that website to CNN.com and read the full story. A connection clicked in her mind. She bounced back to the rat terrier boards. She found what she sought—a December 15 exchange between Darlene Fischer and Bobbie Jo Stinnett.
    It began with a post from Darlene to Bobbie Jo:
    I was recommended to you by Jason Dawson and have been unable to reach you by either phone or email. Please get in touch with me soon as we are considering the purchase of one of your puppies . . .
    Bobbie Jo responded right away and the two spent twenty minutes in back-and-forth instant messaging. Bobbie Jo wrapped up their Internet conversation:
    Darlene,
    I’ve emailed you with the directions so we can meet. I do so hope that the email reaches you. Great chatting with you on messenger. And do look forward to chatting with you tomorrow a.m.
    Thanks Jason, and talk to you soon Darlene!
    Have a great evening
    Bobbie
    Dyanne picked up the phone and called information for the number of the FBI in Missouri. She was connected to Special Agent Kurt Lipanovich. She gave him the URL for the rat terrier board and, most important, the IP address of the message sent by Darlene Fischer to Bobbie Jo.
    Lipanovich’s phone rang again as soon as he hung up with Dyanne. It was Jeff Owens, who had just uncovered an IP address—the same one Lipanovich just received.
    The agent contacted Senior Security Specialist Melissa Erwin at Qwest Communications, who confirmed that her company hosted that address. Performing a reverse domain name system search, she pinpointed a Topeka, Kansas, server. Now the investigators had a limited geographic area for their search. They hit the road and gathered their forces in Kansas.
    Erwin continued her digging. She determined that the user accessed a server through a dial-up connection. The telephone number making that call late on the afternoon of December 15 originated from 32419 South Adams Road in Melvern, Kansas.
    The investigators centered in Topeka raced thirty miles southwest to Melvern, a tiny town with a population of 400—just barely bigger than Skidmore. Six FBI agents and Kansas law enforcement officials gathered around the rural farmhouseof Kevin and Lisa Montgomery. When they arrived, no one was at home. Combining Chris Law’s description of the car he’d seen at the Stinnett home with information from the Kansas vehicle registration database, they would know the Montgomerys were on their way home the second they spotted a dirty red Toyota Corolla.
    The FBI was willing to assume responsibility for the case now—in fact, they insisted on it. The investigation had moved out of the jurisdiction of both the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office. This power play raised the age-old specter of conflict between federal and local authorities. To Sheriff Espey, this was his case. The victims were his responsibility. He was not dropping the reins and walking away.
    Espey sent the most effective interrogator he knew to the scene—Detective Randy Strong of Maryville Public Safety. Espey’s orders were clear: “You don’t stop for anybody. You just go in the house and don’t let anyone get in your way.”
    With Detective Don Fritz riding shotgun, Strong raced at 125 miles per hour from Maryville to Melvern. He made the trip in a record one hour and twenty minutes. Throughout the drive, he kept his cell phone line open in constant communication with Espey. He maintained that connection as