Vanished by Margaret Daley Read Free Book Online

night.”
    Madison nodded, remembering that from the report she’d read. She bit down on the inside of her cheek as Ruth sat again on the couch and brought her mug to her lips.
    â€œThe thing is I’m almost positive the first three numbers of the license were five, one, three.”
    â€œHow positive?” Madison wrote the numbers down on her pad, trying not to get too excited.
    Ruth leaned forward and set her mug on a magazine. Then she sat back straight and looked right at Madison. “Positive. I was thinking those numbers were today’s date. Well, yesterday I was thinking tomorrow’s date.”
    â€œDo you recall the make of the car?”
    â€œBig. I’m not good with the different kinds of cars.”
    â€œYep, Ruth thinks a car is either big or small.” Mr. Goldsmith took the seat next to her on the couch and patted her knee.
    â€œAnything else? Did you recognize who was driving?”
    â€œNope. The windows were tinted dark. Couldn’t see too well inside and besides, whoever was driving sped away.”
    â€œSpeeding? You didn’t say anything about that last night.”
    â€œAll I could think about last night was that Ashley was missing. That poor child. I’ve got to fix something for J.T.’s family to eat. They will need to eat during this ordeal.”
    â€œYes, ma’am. They will.” Madison finished putting the information down on her pad. “Is that all? You might close your eyes…” When the woman did, Madison continued, “…and try to picture the car driving away.”
    Ruth popped one eye open. “You mean speeding away.”
    â€œYes.”
    The fiftysomething woman closed both eyes again. An almost tranquil expression descended on her lined face. Suddenly she looked right at Madison. “Nope. Nothing, but if I remember anything else, I’ll give you a call.”
    Madison removed one of her cards and jotted down her cell number. “You can reach me here day or night.”
    The second Madison stepped out onto the Goldsmiths’ front porch and the door closed behind her, she punched in the sheriff’s number. When the deputy on duty at the office answered, she gave him the description of the car with the partial Illinois license plate number. “It’s important we find the driver. The car was seen speeding away from the area about the time of the abduction.”
    Day one, 6:30 a.m.: Ashley missing twelve hours
    As J.T. made his way through the woods toward the back gate with the K-9 police officer and his German shepherd, a dog’s bark echoed through the trees repeatedly.
    â€œWe found something,” a searcher shouted.
    J.T. glanced in the direction and hurried his steps as a crime scene tech reached the dog who sat next to his handler. After the tech took a photograph, J.T. saw him pick up Ashley’s pink socks with butterflies and put them into a plastic bag. His heart slowed to a painful throb. Then the young man removed a wet, pale pink T-shirt from the ground behind a bush.
    For a few seconds everything came to a standstill for J.T. The woods swam before his eyes and he staggered a couple of steps.
    Focus!
    He drew in a breath that didn’t fill his lungs. Again he inhaled the moisture-rich air until finally he didn’t feel so light-headed. Careful where he walked, J.T. made his way toward the crime-scene tech who now was bagging his daughter’s blue jeans with butterflies around the hem. Sweat popped out on J.T.’s forehead and seemed instantly to drench him as he spied Ashley’s outer clothing in separate evidence bags lined up on the ground. That sight nearly brought him to his knees.
    Was Ashley sexually assaulted?
    The young man held up a smaller plastic container. “It looks like he used a tranquilizer dart to neutralize her.”
    J.T. clenched his jaw to keep the words, “That’s my daughter you’re talking about,” from