“Parents say she’s been gone about forty-eight hours. They didn’t call right away because she has been known to party hard and not show up back home right away. They thought more about it when the article came out in The Sun this morning.”
Bo turned to John. “You get someone to the airport and find out if Natalie’s car is there. Fish go get all the information you can from the parents. Find out exactly when they saw her last. Todd,“ he stopped, noticing Todd was lost in thought and not looking the greatest, he had to be thinking about Mitch. “Todd, sit down,” he motioned to Fish, who immediately grabbed a chair. Todd made no move for it. He wasn’t looking at them but seeing a different scene entirely.
Starr was scared and trying to tell him something.
“The bad guy left and he took mom with him. I understand that you did all those things so you could be with mom but I’m telling you, tonight the creepy guy came and he was going to take me, but mom told him to take her instead.”
“What? What guy?” He had this sinking feeling.
“The guy on the front of the paper, the guy you hate.”
“Mitch Laurence was here?” Mitch had Blair!
The scene shifted and he was powerless to stop it.
He could see the sneer on his face as he told him about Sam. He struggled to get free, but he was bound head to foot; then they lifted him and dropped him into the crypt. The lid began to lower. Darkness.
“Rest in peace Todd Manning, rest in peace.”
Todd’s breathing escalated, then he seemed to be struggling for breath and turned pasty white. Bo reacted swiftly. He slammed the door as hard as he could and watched Todd drop into the chair. Bo turned to Fish “Get some water.”
The noise had been sufficient to break the vision’s hold on Todd. He collapsed and found a chair under him. He leaned forward noting his hands shaking and found himself still struggling a little for breaths. God, would it never stop! His hand covered his eyes as he tried to shake free of the image still clinging to the fringes of his mind. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he raised his eyes to see a glass of water in front of him. As he reached for it, he suddenly remembered everything that had occurred moments before the vision. Mitch! He had Natalie! “Bo, it’s got to be Mitch. He’s the reason Natalie’s missing.”
“Possibly, but we could be jumping the gun here. We have no proof she’s missing yet. All we know is that her message to me and John was wrong. John and Vicki both have been getting texts. Maybe we’re missing something. We’ll check into it, but you need to back off. You just lost us there. You’re showing all the signs of PTSD. You’re too close to this whole thing with Mitch.”
“Too close, is that what you call this? Don’t you know I’ve tried to back off? He’s a monkey on my back and he won’t let go. The only thing that will help is finding him and putting him away so deep he’ll never come back again.” Todd stood up and walked to the window. “If he has had Natalie all this time....,” he stopped not wanting to even think what that could mean. He looked back at the other two men in the room.
John had been keeping a tight lid on his emotions from the moment he heard Rex say Natalie wasn’t in London with him. Now Todd’s statement just brought up images of Mitch about to rape Natalie on the floor in the church. “Don’t even go there. I swear if he’s hurt Natalie or my son,...” he stopped as Bo looked at him sadly. Ever since Mitch had disappeared, he had been worried the bastard would go after Natalie. Now there was a good chance he had done just that. “Bo, I need to do something. I’m headed to the airport myself to check on things there. You have my phone, I’ll take a spare one from the squad room and call you with what I find.”
Bo nodded as John left the room, leaving him with Todd. “We all know what Mitch is capable of, but I can’t start thinking the worst. First things first. We need to see if we can find out if Natalie’s messages were in fact sent from London. I need Vicki’s phone. Do you want to tell her why, or do you want me to do it?”
“I’ll do it. If Natalie and Liam are really missing. Vicki and Clint are going to need both our help.”
“Todd, what you’re going through right now will ease up. Trust me I know.”
“Whatever you say. Tell me, have you or anyone else managed to get a lead on where Mitch and Kipling might be hiding?”
“The trail is cold, and I have to tell you more bad news. Finn has ordered me to shut down LPD’s involvement in the search.”
“Damn! That woman is a fool.” Todd tried to rein in his anger at the current mayor. “Don’t worry. If my plan works out, we won’t have to worry about Finn after the election."
“She is letting me resume looking for the missing girl, and from what Fish said, we now have a second girl too. Adding Natalie and Liam in, it means we’ve got a bigger problem than the escapees.”
“You’re right, finding the missing girls are more important right now, especially if Natalie and Liam have also been taken. If you need any more funds to bring on extra manpower my checkbook’s at your disposal.” Todd saw surprise cross Bo’s face. “What? I’ve become very fond of Natalie and Liam since my return. Besides, Vicki’s going to be devastated. Anything I can do to get her and the baby back home, I will.” All he could think of was the last time Mitch had gotten Natalie in his clutches. The bastard had been going to take her heart. Mitch had almost succeeded and it had been his fault. He had to get Natalie back, he owed her. “I’ve got to go. I need to talk to Vicki. We’ll get her phone over to you after that.”
Bo stopped him before he got out the door. “Todd?”
Todd looked at him quizzically. “What?”
“None of this is your fault. Natalie and Liam are going to be all right.”
“I know. It doesn’t make it any easier though. I just need Mitch found. Then maybe my life can get back on track.”
Bo watched Todd leave. He was still amazed at the changes in Todd since his return. Samuel’s influence and his deep love for Blair were keeping him on the straight and narrow for the most part. His help in capturing and testifying against Hesser and Kipling had proven to Bo he wanted to change, but he had almost killed Hesser in the process, and Todd could still be a pain in the ass sometimes. The way he was stirring up trouble for the mayor was one instance. Blair’s kidnapping and the resulting death of Gregor Daimler also showed that Todd for all his changes could still be lethal. Something tells me, we better find Mitch before you do. Bo walked back to his office to give Clint a call.
***
Todd walked slowly to his sister’s office. He had been dragging his feet from the moment he left the police station. He was trying to figure out how to tell Vicki about Natalie’s possible abduction. Well, there was no easy way. “Hi, Sis.” He said.
Vicki looked up to Todd standing in her doorway, He still looked haggard and she was sure he wasn’t getting enough sleep. “Hi, I was going to call you. I talked to Clint about your proposal. After the latest stuff the Mayor has pulled, I’m really thinking it’s time for a change in this town. So if you’re serious about The Sun backing me, I will toss my hat in the ring.”
He stepped into the room. An hour earlier and he would have been buying drinks all around at Rodi’s at Vicki’s announcement, “Um That’s great Vicki. You know I was serious with the offer but I’ve got something to tell you that might change your mind.”
“What did you do now?” Vicki could tell something wasn’t right. Todd was looking uncomfortable, he must have really put his foot in it with the mayor.
He debated giving Vicki some sort of reply to her question but it would only put off the inevitable. Time was critical so he just asked. “Vicki, when did you hear from Natalie last?
“I got a text message from her yesterday. Why do you ask?”
“Have you personally talked to her since she left?”
“No. Why are you asking about Natalie?”
Todd stuck his hands in his pockets and looked away from his sister’s gaze. “You know, the mayor told Bo to stop looking for Mitch and Kipling. I’m just worried about Natalie since she was the one who shot Mitch the night of the blackout. I was just trying to make sure you knew where she was.”
“All I know is what she wrote to me. Believe me, I wish we could talk. I would love to hear her voice.“
“So then you haven’t spoken to her. Vicki, do you have any idea where her conference is at?”
“She didn’t give me any details. All she wrote was that it was in London. I’m betting she might have gotten in touch with Rex while he’s there, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Maybe I’ll call Rex.” She reached for her phone and started to dial.
Todd reached over and stopped her. “Don’t, I can save you the trouble. Rex hasn’t seen her.”
Vicki had been surprised when Todd stopped her and now she was getting worried. “How could you know that?”
“I just came from seeing Bo and John. They were on the phone with Rex when I got there. I overheard him say he hasn’t seen Natalie since he left Llanview.”
“Oh, I thought for sure she’d look him up. Maybe she saw Kevin.” She was going to try Kevin when Todd moved around the desk and stood directly in front of her.
“Vicki, it won’t do any good. The message she left for Bo said she was going to see Rex. It said nothing about a conference. Why did she write two different texts? It’s not making sense.”
“But, it was a Forensic Conference, surely Bo knew about it.” Vicki watched as Todd dropped down to eye level with her and looked directly into her eyes. She watched as he steeled himself. Whatever he was about to say, bothered him a great deal.
Todd took his sister’s hands into his, they were trembling. “We’re not sure Natalie is even in London. We think she’s missing, Liam too.” He bore her gaze trying to let her see that what he said was true. He could see emotions racing across her face, first disbelief, then fear.
Vicki heard the words Todd spoke and one look at his face told her he wasn’t kidding. She had been worried and now she knew her unspoken fears had come true. She had sensed something was off and should have checked into it sooner. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. She looked at her brother and saw his fear. He was worried about her. She removed one of her hands from his and touched his face. “I’m all right. Talk to me. Bo believes they’re missing and I can see that you do too. You believe he has her, don’t you?”
He nodded. His sister had more strength in her than all the rest of the Lords combined. “I’m sorry. It’s the only explanation as far as I’m concerned, although Bo isn’t ready to go there yet. He wants to see your phone. He’s trying to find out where the text messages to you and John might have come from. McBain went to the airport to see if they can start figuring out where Natalie went from there. Even if I can’t prove Mitch has her, something strange definitely happened. Hopefully, another message might come in. One we’ll be able to track.”
Vicki pulled out her phone and brought up the picture of Natalie and Liam. “I don’t understand. They look so happy.” She handed the phone to Todd and he stared at the picture.
They did look happy, and it didn’t make sense. “Can I send this picture to my e-mail, it’ll give me a chance to enlarge it and get a really good look at it.”
“Certainly, but what are you looking for? You can see Natalie and Liam are fine.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I can at least bring up more of the background, it’s worth a shot. They appear to be okay and if she was with Mitch, I would have expected to see something in her eyes that would let us know she was being coerced. I can’t explain why I feel uneasy, but I do.” He transferred the picture electronically and then turned to Vicki. “I can take the phone to Bo, are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’ll come with you. If Natalie and Liam are missing, I won’t be able to just sit here waiting for news. I need to find out first hand what John discovers at the airport.” She stood up and grabbed her purse. “Let’s go.”
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