Page 104 of Fatal Betrayal

She didn't know why this beautiful young woman would want her dad. Maybe he was attractive, in an older man in his late fifties, kind of way, but he was a player. Married twice with a bunch of girlfriends concurrently and in-between.

She clicked on the internet to get away from that disturbing picture and looked up the baby boutique. She flipped through the site, but there was no information about the owner. As Flynn had said, the business was masked in an LLC.

Frustrated and tired, she looked away from the computer to dig through her father's drawers. In the first drawer, she found a brochure from Lassiter Realty. She pulled it out and set it on the desk. There was a note attached and addressed to her father, Tom. It said: Will would love to sell your house. He'll do a great job for you! Call him. Kim.

It wasn't a love note but it still made her wonder again if her father and Kim had had an affair. But if they had, it had been years ago. Kim was no doubt too old for her father's taste these days.

She looked back in the drawer and found a hundred and thirty dollars in cash, which would come in handy and a couple of keys, one of which hopefully went to the vehicle in the garage.

Grabbing the keys, stuffing the cash into her pocket, she went down the hall, through the kitchen, and into the garage. A blast of cold air caught her by surprise. Her gaze swung to the door leading into the garage from the side yard. It was open.

Her heart jumped. She felt a movement behind her, started to turn around, and then something hard and heavy came down on her head.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

Andi's journalwas making him angry, but Cooper couldn't stop looking at it. He was torn between wanting to let go of the past and the feeling that there was something important in her teenage writings that he needed to understand.

The page devoted to Kyle's actions that night was upsetting and confusing. Andi reiterated how Kyle first said he'd left the concert early and had gone straight home. The next time he said he'd stopped to smoke a cigarette, which he couldn't do at home. And in one other conversation, he'd said that Will had left the concert early, and Kyle had stayed to the end and then gone home alone.

He was aware of the times his brother had changed his story, but that's because Kyle got confused when he was under pressure, and when the FBI had searched Kyle's car and asked him where his cigarettes were, Kyle had stumbled, and then said he hadn't been smoking at all.

The day of the search had been horrible and still lived in his brain in vivid detail. He could still feel the shame he'd experienced when the FBI had entered their house, and the neighbors had watched with suspicion in their gazes. He could still see Andi standing across the street. She'd sent him a pleading smile, but he'd looked away. What was happening to his family was her doing.

He swore under his breath, not wanting to get caught up in the circle of hate again, and he was relieved when he turned the page and saw a new section focused on the scene of the crime and the neighbors. Andi had written detailed notes about everyone on the block and their actions that night. Some of them he remembered. Some he didn't.

TJ Lassiter had come out of the house. He'd been playing videogames when Mr. Montgomery pounded on the door, yelling that Hannah was missing. TJ was the only one home at the time. He'd let Mr. Montgomery through the side gate so he could check their yard. Then TJ had gone back into the house until he saw the police lights and the crowd gathering outside.

TJ's older brother, Will, arrived a few minutes after he and Andi had gotten to the scene. Will told them that Kyle bailed on the concert, left him alone there. He said Kyle was in a strange mood. Andi had put a star by that notation.

Mrs. Lassiter had arrived home next. She'd joined them on the sidewalk, asking what had happened. She'd been working late at her travel agency. Her husband, Steve, was out of town.

The house across the street from Hannah Montgomery was rented by Rose and Walter Voltman, an older couple in their seventies. They'd come out of the house in their pajamas and robes, saying they'd been woken up by the sirens.

The house next to the Voltman's belonged to the Connors. They were on vacation. The house next to them was owned by the Madison family. They had two older teenagers who were in college. The Madisons were not living in the house, because they'd recently staged it and put it up for sale. While that was happening, the Madisons were staying with relatives out of town.

On the corner lived a middle-aged man, John DiVincenzo. He said he was asleep and didn't know anything until the next morning. Andi had made a note that John had recently been laid off from his job at a local printing warehouse and his wife had left him a year earlier.

He hadn't heard anyone talk about DiVincenzo when Kyle had been under the microscope. Mr. DiVincenzo seemed like someone the FBI should have questioned. But clearly, Burnett had just wanted a scapegoat to protect the real kidnapper. He'd had no reason to look any further than Kyle, who was a great target for him.

As Cooper re-read Andi's notes about the neighbors, something niggled at his brain. The Madison's house had been up for sale.Why did that bother him?

And then he knew why. Andi had told him the house behind Neil Benedict's property was for sale and because of that, their security cameras were not in operation. She'd thought that the kidnappers might have left Neil's property through the back of his yard, ending up on the street behind the house.

Was that just an odd coincidence or did it mean something?

The police had searched the neighborhood for Hannah, just as they had done for Elisa. They'd gone door to door, looking in backyards.

Would they have gone into a house that was up for sale?Maybe that would have been difficult if the owner wasn't present to let them in.

A crazy idea took root in his brain.Was it possible that each child had been kidnapped, taken to a nearby house for sale, where they were hidden away until the smoke cleared, and then moved to another location?

The FBI might not have been able to access those houses within the first twenty-four hours, especially if they had no probable cause to go inside. It would have taken longer than that to get in, and by then, the child could have been moved again, but during a time frame when no one was looking.

His pulse raced. He felt like he was on to something. Jumping off the bed, he jogged down the stairs to find Andi.

The computer was open on the desk in the study, but there was no sign of her.

His heart sped up for a different reason. It seemed suddenly far too quiet.

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