Taken by Dee Henderson Read Free Book Online

image before pocketing his phone. The photo practically shouted that these two people were comfortably married.
    Ann retrieved for him the case summary report she’d printed out and walked with him to the door. “Try to get some sleep at some point tonight. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.”
    Matthew smiled. Ann knew him well. He’d run nine Boston Marathons since his daughter went missing. The first ones to gather national media attention— Cop runs for missing daughter —the later ones as celebrations of her return. “I’ll work on that. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    “We’ll be up for a few hours. If there’s news, don’t worry about the time.”
    “Thanks, Ann.” Matthew headed back down to rejoin Shannon.

    Shannon woke just after one a.m. Matthew was stretched out on top of the first bed, reading the report Theodore Lincoln had written. He let himself glance over, make a single sweeping assessment, before turning back to the report. He spoke quietly. “The room key for across the hall is on the desk if you’d like to use that room. DNA is back and confirms what you alreadyknow. You can now prove in a court of law that you are Shannon Bliss.”
    She set aside the blanket he’d draped over her, pushed to her feet. She walked into the bathroom, turned on the tap, came back with a glass of water. “Have some aspirin with you?”
    “The shaving kit on the dresser.”
    She found the bottle, popped off the top, dumped a couple into her hand. She leaned against the desk. “What are you reading?”
    “A summary of the police investigation on your disappearance. Have you read the old newspaper accounts, looked up online information about the search to find you?”
    “No.”
    “Not curious?”
    She shrugged. “If they had figured out what had happened, they would have found me. So whatever is out there is only speculation and a description of what did not happen.”
    “Your family paid a ransom to get you back.”
    The drink in her hand stilled, then deliberately lifted so she could finish drinking the water. “I gather it was a convincingly done con job.”
    He shifted his head on the pillow as he studied her, trying to read the subtle expressions on her face. He could hear several layers of emotion in her voice, almost a flat factual curiosity. He would have liked to sit up, but he risked her retreating from the conversation if he moved. “Probably. They didn’t catch who made the call or received the money.”
    “It was a con. I was on the West Coast forty-eight hours after I was taken, in Washington State.”
    “Who with?”
    She shook her head. She picked up the room key he hadarranged, then retrieved her sandals, carrying them with her rather than slipping them on. “I’ll call you when I wake up. Maybe we can have a late breakfast and then get on the road?”
    “If you like. We need to talk some about ways to avoid the press interest, given your brother’s running for governor. Once he knows you’re alive, this will get complicated for him.”
    She half smiled. “Jeff likes complicated. I’ll let you two figure it out. I’m going to like any situation that involves as few people as possible knowing where I am. Don’t expect my call to be early. I’m not setting an alarm.”
    “Sleep as long as you can.” He picked up the box with the phone and sat up on the edge of the bed. He’d unwrapped Ann’s gift and configured it. “Before you go—this is for you. Sorry for the poor re-wrap job.”
    She unwrapped the box and took out the phone, genuine surprise highlighting her face.
    “There are photos in it, names, contact numbers—all of them good friends of mine and people you can trust,” he explained. “If you call and say it’s Shannon, you’ll get helped, no questions asked. They’ll do whatever needs done and take good care of you because you’re my friend. You can trust them not to pry.”
    She turned over the phone. “I didn’t expect this.”
    Matthew