Bannon Brothers by Janet Dailey

the visuals back to me. Hoebel’s on the warpath. He got a call right before he left today, Jolene told me. From Hugh Montgomery. The chief wants me to get him all the Montgomery files by tomorrow so he can go through them.”
    â€œDid you mention the missing file he signed for?”
    â€œHell, no. Are you crazy? Why would I do that?”
    Brave words. She sounded genuinely scared. “Just asking. What did you find out?”
    â€œThe original Montgomery evidence file wasn’t there or I couldn’t find it. I went through every box with a Wainsville label—they do have the cold cases up to the beginning of the M s. And Hoebel authorized only the cheapest storage in rooms below ground level. So I couldn’t get a cell call out, and when I got back to the motel, I found out that the damn battery was dead—”
    â€œYou went to all that trouble for nothing?”
    â€œNot quite nothing. I did find a file with documents photocopied from the originals, but not the originals. It was in the wrong box,” she said. “The transmittal form had Jolene’s initials on it and last month’s date. So it was sent down before you and I got interested.”
    Bannon nodded. “Any idea why it was copied?”
    â€œDamned if I know. It was all letters, and like you said, they were mostly from cranks. But there was that one, supposedly from Ann’s ‘new mother,’ that I would swear was the real deal.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThe tone of it. And that’s how she signed it.”
    â€œIt wasn’t necessarily written by a woman,” Bannon pointed out.
    â€œDon’t say that,” she begged. “I don’t want to think about a man abducting Annie.”
    â€œStatistically, that’s what we should be thinking about.” She went quiet and Bannon changed the subject. “Just a photocopy, huh? That means no original fingerprints and no envelope with DNA licked onto it. But it’s better than nothing.”
    â€œMaybe. Their photocopier was busted. I wrote out what it said by hand.”
    â€œGood going.” It was too bad the actual letter had been lost, but she had risked too much as it was.
    â€œLook, Doris, I’m hoping the TV piece works.”
    â€œMe too. Unfortunately I missed it.”
    â€œYou didn’t miss much,” he said dryly.
    â€œYou’ll have to tell me about it later,” she said. “I shouldn’t be calling you from here at all, RJ. I just wanted to make sure I caught you so you can bring back the photos and whatnot that I gave you.”
    â€œAre you at headquarters?”
    â€œYes. But I’m about to drive home. I don’t think you should be wandering into the station late at night—I can get away with it, but you can’t.”
    She was right about that. Bannon could just imagine Hoebel reviewing the footage from the security cameras and seeing his least favorite detective’s face over a midnight time slug, especially after Montgomery had called Hoebel.
    â€œMeet me at my place as soon as you can,” she was saying. “Call when you’re a block away. Then I’ll rush back to the station and say I forgot my wallet or something. I can put everything together in the files, nice and neat for review.”
    â€œOn my way.”
    He scrambled off the couch and swept every picture of Ann that he could find into the nearest envelope, leaving the photocopied documents from the file on the table. Babaloo moved into the warm spot he left and settled down. Bannon scooped up his keys and hurried out.
    Doris was at her house, her car pointed out of the driveway when he drove up on her left. She rolled down the window and took the envelope, muttering something that ended with a low-voiced thanks , and drove off immediately. Bannon stayed where he was, the engine running but the headlights switched off to watch her go, thankful that no vehicle swung out after her.