Vanished by Margaret Daley Read Free Book Online Page A

spilling out. Hesteadied himself and took the bag with the dart and examined it.
    Is this why Kim didn’t hear anything? Why Ashley didn’t scream?
    Day one, 7:00 a.m.: Ashley missing twelve and a half hours
    â€œColin told me you were working on the case.” Emma Fitzpatrick let Madison into her house.
    â€œI wouldn’t have had it any other way when I heard about Ashley missing.” Madison scanned the familiar foyer, remembering back to the time she had worked with J.T. on Emma’s brother’s murder case.
    â€œYou’re here to see Kim?”
    â€œYes. I want to talk to her. Is she up?”
    â€œActually, I doubt she slept any last night even though she went to bed. She’s in the kitchen with Grace. We were fixing breakfast. We’re trying to get her to eat something.” Emma started for the back of the house. “Have you eaten yet?”
    â€œNo, but—”
    â€œIf I discovered anything from my trauma last year, it was that a person has to take care of herself if she’s going to do her best job.”
    â€œYou’re beginning to sound like Grace.”
    Emma slanted a glance over her shoulder. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    â€œYou should.” When Madison entered the kitchen, Grace greeted her with a smile and a mug of coffee. “Iheard you coming and remembered you like your cup of joe black.”
    A night of no sleep was beginning to catch up with her. Madison drank some of the brew, wondering when she would turn into a huge cup of coffee. “Thanks. This tastes wonderful, Grace.” Then turning to the teenager at the table, her gaze riveted to the window overlooking the backyard, Madison added, “I came to see you, Kim. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
    â€œI told Dad and Rachel what happened.”
    The waver in the girl’s voice italicized the fragile control she had over her emotions. Madison noted that as she sat across from her and placed her mug on the table. “I know. But sometimes when you retell an event, it triggers a memory you forgot.”
    â€œNope. I told them everything.” Kim shifted her attention to Madison, a dullness in her gaze. “I told Ashley to go outside and play while I talked with Lexie. It had stopped raining and the sun had even peeked out of the clouds. I checked on her as she went to the swing and sat down, then I took a seat on the couch again and talked until I heard Dad come home.” Hopelessness rang in the rote recitation of the facts.
    â€œYou didn’t see anything out of place in the backyard?” Madison asked, concerned by both Kim’s apathetic tone and her appearance, as though she had wakened from a nap and hadn’t bothered to comb her hair.
    The teenager shook her head. Suddenly her lower lip quivered while tears flooded her eyes and a look of devastation took hold of Kim.
    â€œIt isn’t your fault,” Madison said, knowing fromJ.T. that Kim blamed herself for Ashley’s disappearance. Blame was such a wasted emotion, but she almost always saw it in this type of situation. The “if onlys” could eat at a person until there was nothing left.
    Kim blinked, loosening a tear to slide down her cheek. “You don’t understand. I screamed at Ashley to leave me alone. Daddy doesn’t think so, but I think she ran away because of me. What if she fell and hurt herself so that’s why she hasn’t come home?”
    Madison wished that was the case, but more and more she felt J.T. was right. Ashley had been abducted. “As we speak there are search dogs and teams of people out looking for Ashley. If that happened, they’ll find her.”
    Suddenly Kim reached across the table and clutched Madison’s hand. “I need to help in the search. Make Daddy see that. Please.”
    The desperation in the girl’s voice tore at Madison’s composure. Knowing the people involved in this