And he hung up the phone. But inside, a fury like he hadn’t felt in a long time rattled through his soul. He sat down at his desk and made plans.
*
“A child ismissing?” He stared at the TV. “Well, I haven’t got him,” he said. “Too damn bad. I wouldn’t be sitting here all alone if I did.” Of course he wasn’t completely alone. He still had the little China Doll girl, propped up on the couch beside him. But he couldn’t keep her for long. Not that it was aheranymore and was just anit. But, with everybody out looking for this newly missing little boy named Leonard, he would have to watch carefully for a chance to get rid ofit. He sighed. “What am I to do with you?”
But his gaze kept going back to the TV. When a child went missing, everybody got up in arms. He knew; he’d been responsible for over thirty or so going missing himself. He looked at the ledger he kept off to the side. Beautiful memories. His sister wanted that ledger badly. But he’d never let her know where it was. He’d also never let her come over to his place, and honestly she never wanted to because she didn’t want to deal with the truth of the children. He figured that, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was still hoping he was making it all up.
Before he had started this hobby of his, he’d fantasized about it nonstop. And, as he had gone down his pathway, she had gone down another. She was a doctor, fascinated by what he did. He sometimes wondered if they would have a relationship if he was anyone other than who he was.A specimen to study.
He stared over at the broken China Doll beside him and said, “Tonight, tonight, we’ll put you to rest.” Just then an announcer on the television talked about the Amber Alert again.
“Aren’t we done yet? My God, you’d think there weren’t enough children in this world,” he snapped. “It’s just a boy. Just one, honestly, when probably a dozen went missing tonight, but you only care about the one on the news.” An image of the boy flashed on the TV. He looked at it in wonder. “Oh, he’s beautiful,” he said in delight. He leaned forward to see the name flash on the bottom of the screen.Leonard Hanover.
“Well, Leonard, you know something? If you are found,” he said, “you might just have to go missing again. Or do you have a brother?”
He quickly brought up the internet on his laptop, searching for Leonard Hanover. It came up with all the same news articles that he was currently watching. A little rundown on the family but not much. A little more research showed that he was the only child of a single mom.
“Yes, yes, yes,” he said. “You’re perfect. Now we might just rescue you from someone else in order to take you for ourselves.” He smiled. “Wouldn’t that be great?” he said. “If I find out who took you and then take you back,” he said, “they’d get blamed, and nobody would know about me.” He really loved that. And then he stared out the window, wondering. He knew a couple guys, twisted and odd when it came to kids. Guys like him. They belonged to a secret group.
He glanced back at the China Doll. “Two birds with one stone. What were they up to? I’ll get rid of you and pick him up, if I can find him,” he said, and he rubbed his hands together, absolutely loving the challenge facing him.
“This is a great twist,” he said. “So much more than I’d hoped for.” He glanced back at the TV. “It’s okay, Leonard. Hold on. I’m coming.”
Chapter 8
Thursday Afternoon
Jennifer called Kateback almost two hours later. “I checked Simon’s whereabouts and verified where he said he’d been. He wasn’t seen anywhere close to the school either, so, at the moment, I don’t believe he had anything to do with Leonard’s disappearance.”
“Interesting,” Kate murmured, wondering at the relief coursing through her, “and what about the aunt who was supposed to be looking after Leonard?”
“She still says that Simon knows something about it.”
“Does she say what?”
“That’s the problem. She’s gets cagey at that point, so I’m not sure how much of her story I can believe.”
“Maybe none of it,” Kate said tiredly. “I think he professes to be some psychic.”
Jennifer snorted. “Oh, great, just what I need,” she said. “Who the hell needs that shit in their case?”
“Right? Yet the minute we have a missing child, all the crazies come out of the woodwork,” Kate said.
“But this guy came out ahead of time, didn’t he?”
“Well, you could say that,” she replied. “The trouble is, I don’t think I believe him.”
“But you can’t find a way to disprove him, is that it?”
“You could say that,” she said, “and it really sucks.”
“I get it,” she said, “but nothing much you can do about it.”
“I’m keeping an eye on him anyway,” Kate said.
“Just make sure you keep your focus on the cases and not get sidetracked by your suspect.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” she said, “but something’s going on here. There’s something, I know it. I just don’t know what he’s involved in.”