Chapter 1

Detective Chief Inspector Sidney Griffin and Police Constable Tessie Johnson were called in on a bright and cheerful Sunday morning to assist local law enforcement in a rural area not familiar with hardcore criminal activity. The small police station was overwhelmed with members of the press and curious citizenry eager to learn all the juicy details of the unfortunate missing child.

The very first thing that PC Johnson did was to make her boss a nice cup of tea in the kitchen because she could tell he was a bit befuddled from spending the night before at the private gentleman's club that made a strict rule of prohibiting the presence of females. She knew he enjoyed bending his elbow with his "war buddies" and reminiscing about the good old days.

The Harrison's residence was a bit on the posh side with ultra-modern conveniences and architectural bells and whistles that one seldom encounters in a rural setting. Apparently, the master of the estate, Graham Harrison had decided to remove his family from the stuffy confines of the inner city and moved lock, stock and barrel to the country. His wife Debra was a former model and a "Miss World something or other" and a fine horsewoman in her own right. Their only child Rebecca was a difficult twelve year old right on the edge of puberty.

Right at the moment, all of the curiosity seekers were kept at bay outside the sturdy iron and stone fence and gate with only persons involved in the investigation allowed inside the home. Mr. Harrison was reluctant to answer any questions at all on the advice of his attorney. His mouthpiece was the very attractive Adriana Wilkinson who had a very lucrative practice in catering to the rich and famous.

PC Johnson didn't miss the hand on Graham Harrison's knee when she sat down beside him on the sofa. Obviously, the lawyer-client relationship went considerably past confidentiality. Most of the males in the room were focused on Adriana's pretty knees which seemed to be stuck up high on the low sitting sofa allowing interesting views of her inside thighs. The notable exception to this was DCI Griffin who was more interested in listening to Mrs. Harrison relate for the umpteenth time the dreadful circumstances of her daughter's disappearance.

"I was instructing the upstairs maid Alice about the proper way to do pleats when the transit bus stopped outside the gate. I normally wait at the front door to greet Rebecca when she comes home from school but today things were a bit hectic because of the book fair tomorrow and allowing the library to use our grounds for the displays."

The still beautiful and fit Debra Harrison paused momentarily to gather her thoughts and sip at the cup of supposed tea in her hand. DCI Griffin was certain it was more brandy than tea dispensed to "settle" the upset mother's nerves and forestall an incidence of shock. That was more than appropriate in his mind since hysterical females make poor story-tellers and seldom relate useful information.

"I looked out the upstairs window and noticed that Rebecca did not get off the bus and was nowhere to be seen. I ran downstairs and asked the gardener if he had seen her at all and he told me that she never got off the bus. I ran back inside and called the school and they informed me that they had turned her over to the nice man with the note from my husband that asked her to be delivered by the driver to his office as they were planning a surprise party for her mother. I was so surprised at the ridiculous story that I immediately called my husband and he confirmed he knew absolutely nothing about the entire affair. That was when I called the police and reported that my Rebecca had been taken by a person or persons unknown."

DCI Griffin sipped quietly at his tea. It was the tea made by PC Johnson and entirely without the addition of brandy. It helped him to think because this was a crucial point in the incident and one that suggested to him that the entire operation was carefully planned and carried out by a group of professional kidnappers. That was actually on the plus-side because professionals tended to be more circumspect in their actions and seldom caused harm to come to the victims. It was the willy-nilly amateurs that caused the most damage and usually acted without logic when things started to fall apart for them.

The Chief Inspector saw Mrs. Harrison glance over at her husband and the attractive female attorney on the sofa and noticed the pained look that crossed her eyes when she saw the body language that told a story all its own. He noticed her fingers shook a little bit when she brought the tea cup up to her lips but he suspected it was more anger than fear.

PC Johnson had already started to interview the servants and gleaned little tidbits of information for their later analysis. She got directions to Rebecca's room and followed the upstairs maid Alice to see if there were any clues in the mundane items it contained. She did find a diary under the girl's pillow and placed it inside a plastic bag for deciphering later on. Strangely, she found what appeared to be a boy's jockstrap underneath the girl's bed and put that inside a bag as well. It could have been an innocent prank or some other non-sexual explanation considering the age of the victim. The last thing she found that might come into play was a photo of the young girl standing on a beach with several adults in the background watching her do a head stand with her toes pointed to the clouds. She was surprised that the photo was entirely devoid of youngsters the girl's own age and it looked odd at first glance. It could mean absolutely nothing but it was too early to come to any conclusions. After all, they weren't even certain the girl was kidnapped at this time.

Chapter 2 »