Vanished by Margaret Daley Read Free Book Online Page B

tragedy made her job doubly hard but doubly important, too. “Kim, I want you to think back to yesterday. Close your eyes if it will help you visualize the scene with Ashley in the backyard.” After the teenager did as she was instructed, Madison continued, “Now, do you see anything unusual, anything out of place?”
    A long minute passed with a heavy silence filling the air, spiced with the aromas of bacon and biscuits.
    When Kim opened her eyes, her forehead wrinkled and she tilted her head to the side, as J.T. did when he was thinking. “There was something shiny by the bushes along the back of the fence where Ashley’s fort is.”
    â€œCould you tell what it is?”
    â€œNo,” the girl answered slowly, then more definitely, “No.”
    The ringing of Madison’s cell phone pierced the quiet. She quickly answered it.
    â€œIt’s J.T. I told you I would call if we found anything. We discovered Ashley’s clothing in a pile behind a set of bushes forty feet from the back gate. There was a dart from a tranquilizer gun at the bottom of the pile. That’s why Kim didn’t hear a scream from Ashley. We’re bringing in a cadaver search dog.”
    The implication of bringing in a dog that specialized in finding dead bodies, even ones buried in the ground, caused her to draw in a sharp breath. “I’ll be right there.”
    Day one, 7:30 a.m.: Ashley missing thirteen hours
    Madison hurried to the area where some of Ashley’s clothing had been found. She stopped at the perimeter of the taped-off section, spying J.T. directly across from her about fifteen yards away. The grim look on his face as he watched the crime scene techs process the evidence and comb the ground for any more clues highlighted the anguish he had to be feeling, standing to the side, unable to do anything but watch.
    She skirted the edge of the taped area and came to his side. “Have they found anything else?”
    â€œNo,” he said in such a tight voice she was afraid he would shatter any second. “Finding her clothes, folded in a neat pile, like that—” His voice came to an abrupt halt, his jaw clenched so tight a nerve twitched on his face.
    Why would the kidnapper remove Ashley’s clothes,leave them here for them to find? Was it some kind of ritual he needed to perform? Was he toying with J.T., trying to break him? Was the little girl molested? Question after question bombarded Madison, with no real answers. The only thing she knew was the effect it was having on J.T. Color leached from his normally tanned features and the despair in his expression as he watched one of the crime scene techs remove the evidence bags to their van illuminated how effective the kidnapper’s technique was if he was after revenge.
    She didn’t care that they were standing among a swarm of people. She took hold of his hand, hoping to impart some support. He needed to know he wasn’t alone through this. “We may be able to find some clues on the clothes that will help us.”
    He closed his eyes for a long moment as though he had to shut out the scene around him in order to keep going. “The kidnapper came prepared. He brought a tranquilizer dart to silence Ashley. As I suspected, this wasn’t spur-of-the-moment. He planned it, possibly for years while he was in jail.”
    J.T. was so positive it was a criminal he had put in jail, and frankly she was beginning to think that was the most likely prospect. This case was becoming more personal as the hours passed.
    He turned toward her, breaking their linked hands apart. “Another search team found a trail off to the left that ended at the road. But I don’t know if that means Ashley was taken in a car somewhere or if she went that way to play sometime recently.” Frustration marked his face.“The trouble is her scent is all over the place. She loved to play here which isn’t making it easy