The Abducted Book 0 by Roger Hayden Page B

cubicle where a tall, mustached detective was
at his computer typing with one hand and holding a turkey club
sandwich in the other. His sleeves were rolled up. His eyes darted
across the screen as he typed.
    O’Leary leaned in and slapped the man on the
shoulder. “Looks like the circus is in town. All these people
coming to see your mustache?” O’Leary said, smiling.
    Lou looked up, startled but then
amused. “Very funny, Dwight. They’re here to see the
Incredible Dateless Wonder, which is perfect now that you’re in
town.”
    O’Leary tried to get him in a headlock, but
Lou backed away in his old-fashioned rolling chair. Miriam stood
quietly to the side, amused. O’Leary looked back and signaled to
her. “You remember Sergeant Castillo.”
    Lou gave her a friendly nod and extended his
hand. “Yes, of course. Welcome back, Sergeant.”
    Miriam shook his hand. “Just Miriam’s
fine.”
    “ Very well,” Lou said. His attention
went to O’Leary as his tone and expression turned serious. “It’s a
madhouse here. They brought in two departments from two different
counties. This latest kidnapping doesn’t reflect well on us, for
sure.”
    “ I don’t understand,” O’Leary said.
“This guy has never struck in the same town twice. Why
now?”
    Lou shrugged and took a bite of his
turkey sandwich. “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe
he has nowhere else to go.”
    “ Or maybe he’s getting lazy,” Miriam
said.
    O ’Leary leaned close to
Lou. “We’re trying to keep a low profile here with her. Think you
can help us?”
    Lou seemed confused. “What do you mean?”
    “ I need some place where me and her
can talk in private and go over some files together. Specifically
the Gowdy files.”
    Lou raised both brows. “Careful, Dwight. You don’t want to go barking up the wrong
tree. Guy tried to sue us before, and he’ll do it
again.”
    “ I just need somewhere away from all
this commotion,” O’Leary said.
    Lou stood up from his squeaking swivel
chair and stretched. He looked around. “You can take
the B room. I think it should be open.”
    “ Great,” O’Leary said. “Thanks.” He
looked at Miriam and signaled toward the exit. “This way.” They
left without drawing too much attention to themselves. O’Leary led
her down another hall to a small interview room. There was a table
in the middle and a chair on each side—the walls barren except for
a clock with a big face and Roman numerals hanging in the
middle.
    “ No one should bother us in here,” he
said, holding the door open for her. Miriam eyed the room
suspiciously.
    “ If you’re so sure that this Gowdy you
mention is your man, why haven’t you arrested him?” she
asked.
    “ Because I could be wrong. And if I
am, that means we’ll never find Emily in time.”
    Miriam pulled a chair out from the table and
sat. O’Leary promised to be back quickly with the files and left
the room, locking the door behind him. She looked around the small,
lifeless room, trying not to feel like a prisoner herself. She
pulled out her cell phone and sent Freddy a text message asking how
Ana was doing. He sent a message back saying that she had gone to
bed. She replied, asking him what he was doing.
    “ Just watching
TV, ” the message said.
    She thanked him again and said
goodbye. When he replied with “ good
night ,” she said, “ Yeah
right .” She scrolled through the news on her phone,
looking for any mentions of the kidnapping, when the door
unlocked and O ’Leary walked in. He was
balancing a box filled to the brim with files and pushed the door
shut. Miriam couldn’t believe it. This was
what they were going to be doing?
    He dropped the box on the table with a thud
and rolled his sleeves up. He began pulling files out of the box
and setting them on the table—and appearing out of breath.
    “ Don’t let that box beat you up,”
Miriam said.
    O ’Leary looked up.
“You’ll be saying the same about both of us here soon.” He