Veiled Threat by Alice Loweecey Read Free Book Online

“The top pages are about the first couple in Akron. Young woman with middle-aged partner. One hundred percent honest on their application, as you can see.”
    Giulia snickered. “I don’t suppose I’d have the nerve to ask a male friend to ejaculate into a turkey baster, either.”
    “The things I see in this job.” Jimmy clicked his mouse. “They had contacts at several local hospitals. A mother gave birth, stayed overnight, and walked out.”
    Frank stopped in the act of taking a bite. “She left her newborn? Every time I think I’ve seen too much, people surprise me.”
    “Fifteen-year-old black mother, forty-year-old Asian father. Neither family wanted the baby. The father had already skipped town; the teenager boarded a bus and hasn’t been seen since.”
    Frank swallowed. “I take it back.”
    Giulia pointed to the bottom of her page. “The adoption laws are less strict in Ohio.”
    Jimmy said, “Yes and no. This couple had all their paperwork and background checks in place. They also had connections and money. Bribes are effective grease. Three months later, the baby was theirs.”
    “Two months after that,” Giulia said, still reading, “the young woman took the baby for an evening walk. It was a beautiful April night. Someone clocked her on the head and took the baby. The same phone-call pattern.”
    “Untraceable because the kidnappers used burn phones, no doubt,” Jimmy said.
    “I’m sorry?” Giulia said.
    “Prepaid disposable phones. Untraceable because the most the recipient’s carrier can do is use the nearest cell towers to triangulate the signal. All the kidnappers had to do was call from a densely populated area. A train station at rush hour, or a sports stadium during a game. By the time the police get there, even if it’s only a few minutes, the caller’s thrown away the phone and melted into the crowd.”
    “Oh. I see. After that call, this couple paid the ransom, but they never saw the baby again.” She swallowed, picturing Laurel’s face as she told her story in the office.
    “They got a follow-up phone call the next day,” Jimmy said, pointing to the corresponding places on his screen and the printout. “Said the baby was safe and in a God-fearing home.”
    Giulia hit her hands on the desk. “I am sick of people using God to suit their own purposes.”
    “I’ll keep you away from Poole when you leave.” Jimmy smiled at Giulia.
    Frank turned the page as Giulia took a drink. “Here’s one similarity: birth defects. The abandoned baby had a cleft palate. The next one was born deaf.”
    “Katie was born with an extra pinky finger on each hand.” Giulia snatched the paper from Frank. “Laurel said that nontraditional couples fared better adopting hard-to-place babies.”
    Jimmy typed the birth defects into an open Word doc. “Good. The second kidnapping happened in Erie. Older women, already had one child from a failed marriage, wanted a second. Heard of a deaf-mute one-year-old that had already been in three foster homes. Long story short, they were approved after the child’s second birthday.”
    “They snatched this baby like they did Katie,” Giulia said. “The couple paid the ransom, but this is why Laurel and Anya are so frantic.”
    Frank read on, setting down his sub. “Son of a bitch.”
    Jimmy said, “The little girl’s lungs were filled with water. A bathtub accident was the obvious conclusion, but there was no soap mixed with the water. It wasn’t chlorinated, either, so probably not an indoor pool.”
    “Why not outdoor?” Frank said. “Right, February.”
    “Here’s how she was left.” Jimmy turned his screen. A snow-covered bicycle path shelter held a tiny, blanket-wrapped bundle. Off to one side, two women in long coats clung to each other. A piece of paper pinned to the front of the blanket, its sunny yellow color garish against the bright pink blanket.
    Giulia kept her voice steady as she traced her finger down her page. “What does