Innocent Hostage by Vonnie Hughes Read Free Book Online Page A

had happened between them.
“So,” Moffat frowned. “Would you have any idea where Tania might be?”
Ingrid looked down at Kit who was holding tight to her hand. “Sweetie, clean your teeth and wash your hands. Don’t forget to check that your backpack is ready.”
As soon as he was out of hearing, Ingrid looked Moffat in the eye. “Talking about his mother in front of him is about the most callous thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve no idea at all where she is. But hasn’t it struck you that Tania has managed to get two men into trouble? Marty got so hyped up he did a stupid thing, and now you’re taking Breck in for questioning over her disappearance. Two birds, one stone. Clever.”
And so are you , Breck thought. You know Tania very well.
“I see,” Moffat said, obviously not seeing anything at all.
Miss Rowland took Kit’s hand. “Come on, Captain Kit. You and I have work to do, my man.” And delicate, sweet little Miss Rowland stomped out the door.
****
Breck discovered that Moffat’s animosity had its roots in Harley Max’s admonitions to tread carefully with one of “his men.”
“We got an anonymous tip-off,” Moffat’s 2IC, Detective Peters, explained to Breck when Moffat left the room to collect a video of the interior of Kerr’s house. They’d taken Breck to headquarters to question him. Moffat could just as easily have questioned him at home without all the drama, but Harley Max had ruffled Moffat’s feathers when he’d told him that the tip-off was a crock. Moffat’s own boss, Detective Inspector O’Halloran, had stirred the pot when he’d agreed. So now, not only was Moffat pissed off at his superiors, everyone was pissed off with Moffat.
Detective Peters grinned. “You could steal the Holy Grail now and everyone would turn a blind eye. He’ll have to watch his back in future.” Peters settled in for a gossip, leaning back against Moffat’s desk. “He tried to join the AOS, you know, a couple of years ago. Didn’t get to first base. Couldn’t get the requisite three recommendations.”
Breck snorted. “No surprises there. His temperament wouldn’t be a good fit.”
Peters sighed. “It’s not a good fit around here either. He’s applied for a transfer, which is fantastic.”
Breck grinned.
Moffat came back and Peters subsided.
“We got a call from a disposable cell phone,” he explained to Breck. “The caller said that if we wanted to find Tania Kerr, go and look at your place.”
“I’d already figured that out,” Breck said drily. “And the only one who persists with that idea is Marty Kerr. Better check on his phone privileges.”
“We did. He doesn’t have phone privileges. He made his initial call to a lawyer, and he hasn’t communicated with anyone since then. He’s had one visitor—his brother. But the guy only visited once, on the day Kerr was arrested.”
“How did the brother know he’d been arrested?” Breck asked.
“Christ, it was all over the TV. Big news.”
“I guess.” Breck didn’t know anything about Marty’s brother but he decided right then and there to do some checking of his own.
“So…” Moffat was determined to shake something out of this debacle, “when did you see Tania last?”
Breck shrugged. “Not sure. About three or four weeks ago, I saw her through the window when I dropped a check into their letterbox.”
“What was she doing?”
“Kissing Marty,” Breck said equably. “The lights were on. It was early evening.” He thought for a moment. “I spoke to her on the phone a couple of days before she disappeared.”
Moffat perked up. “Did you ring her or did she ring you?”
“She rang me with the same old.”
“Huh?”
“Same old ‘no visitation for Kit this month because he’s going with Marty to the zoo.’ She used every excuse under the sun to keep me from having Kit for a weekend. There wasn’t much I could do about it.” He struggled to subdue the familiar anger.
“Why couldn’t you? Your lawyer should