Split Second

55

K ing and Michelle slept over at a motel near Atticus and arrived back at Wrightsburg the next morning. Parks was waiting at King's house.

"Have you heard from Joan?" King asked him. "I tried last night but there was no answer."

"I talked to her yesterday evening. She found out something about Bob Scott from the stuff I brought." He told the pair about the warrant in Te

"If it's the same Bob Scott, then maybe he can lead us somewhere and get some of these questions answered," said King.

"Call Joan again, and we'll map out how we're going to play this."

King dialed Joan's number but there was still no answer. Then he called the main number for the i

Parks and Michelle both stared at him.

"Sean, what is it?" she asked quietly.

King shook his head in disbelief. "It's Joan," he said. "She's been kidnapped."

J oan had been staying in a cottage set in the rear grounds of the Cedars I

The room attendant who'd set out to bring her food had been thoroughly questioned. He was a young man, employed at the i

Chief Williams came up to them. "Damn it, I'm ru

With the chief's permission they took the box of Bob Scott's materials Joan had been going through, and the three held a quick conference in the parking lot. Parks repeated verbatim the discussion he'd had with Joan.

"She must have been snatched pretty soon after I hung up with her. She filled me in on Bob Scott. I said Scott certainly could have turned traitor, and he would have been a perfect mole for anybody plotting to kill Ritter, although I know you're not convinced he did it. We were going to wait for you two to get back from your meeting with Kate Ramsey before pla

King walked over and looked at Joan's BMW while Parks went inside to speak to Chief Williams. The police had already searched the car and found nothing.

Michelle walked over to him, put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I should have seen this coming," he answered.

"How? You're not psychic."

"We'd talked to a lot of people. Mildred Martin was murdered right after we were with her. It's not a stretch that they'd go after Joan."

"Oryou ! And what were you supposed to do, baby-sit her? I don't know the woman all that well, but I don't think she would have stood for that."

"I didn't even try, Michelle. I wasn't concerned about her safety. And now…?"

"We still have a shot at finding her. Alive."

"No disrespect, but our track record for finding people alive isn't too good."

Parks returned. "Look, I'm going to get a fix on this Bob Scott in Te

"We want," answered Michelle for them both.