Page 95 of Fatal Betrayal

"Are you both all right?" he asked.

"Yes," Andi said. "We're fine. But we need to keep moving. This is the duffel bag that Kristine got from a young woman who works at the Baby Time Boutique. It wasn't a normal delivery of goods to a customer. It was a drop in a public park. The boutique is involved in this."

"It sounds like it. Did Kristine say anything?" Flynn asked.

"Just that she was sorry," Cooper replied. "She wouldn't tell me where Elisa was. But she had to be going to her with all this stuff. When Kristine doesn't arrive, whoever is holding Elisa will know they're in trouble. They'll probably move Elisa."

Flynn nodded. "Then we better move fast."

"There was a girl at the boutique, Flynn, who looked familiar to me," Andi said. "She was the one who did the drop to Kristine in the park. I believe if we did an age progression photo on Hannah Montgomery, the toddler who went missing in my neighborhood eighteen years ago, we'd find it was a perfect match to this young woman. She said her name was Natasha. But she had a scar on her arm, just like Hannah's."

Flynn looked at Andi in astonishment, and Cooper couldn't help but notice the doubt in Flynn's gaze.

"Are you sure, Andi?" Flynn asked.

"I'm not sure. But it's possible that Natasha has no idea she was kidnapped. She was only two. She wouldn't necessarily remember what happened to her."

"All right. You two head to the boutique. Savannah and I will take care of this scene." He took out his phone. "I'm going to send Caitlyn and Nick to meet you."

"What happened with Agent Burnett?" she asked.

"Damon is handling that scene," Flynn replied.

"Should he really be investigating his own employee?" he challenged.

"Damon will get to the truth, whatever it is," Flynn said flatly. "No doubt in my mind."

He had a lot of doubts in his mind, but none of that was important now. Andi gave Flynn the duffel bag, and then they headed down the street. It took them another ten minutes to get back to their car and fifteen to arrive at the store. The parking lot was empty and there was no sign of Natasha's car. The lights were also off in the store, and when they got to the front door, the doors were locked, and there was a closed sign up.

"We're too late," Andi said with disappointment and frustration in her voice. "They've shut it down. Everyone is gone."

He couldn't believe how fast they'd shut things down. "Let's check out the back. They walked around the dumpster to the back door. It was locked as well. "So, do you have to get a warrant or something?"

"Yes. Which will take time," she said wearily. "The duffel bag Natasha gave to Kristine was filled with baby products, but we can't prove that Kristine was involved in the kidnapping or that the items were for Elisa."

"Kristine said she was sorry," he reminded her.

"Any defense attorney could spin that to mean she was sorry she wasn't with the baby when she was kidnapped. It's too vague. This is a disaster."

He smiled, which made her frown deepen.

"Is something funny?" she challenged.

"No. I just remembered that hitting a wall usually brings out the best in you."

She stared back at him. "You're right, because I never give up."

He liked seeing the fighting light back in her eyes and was happy he was the one to put it there. "What's next?"

She thought for a moment. "Even though we don't have evidence of the store's involvement, there's no way they closed so fast for any other reason than that they figured out who we were, someone spotted us following Natasha or chasing Kristine, and/or they found out Kristine was in an accident."

"Maybe we should try to break in. Your team can cut through the red tape later."

"There's probably an alarm on the building. I don't want to get bogged down here. I have another idea." She pulled out the card Veronica had given her. "Sergio Molina works in private adoptions, which can walk the edge of legality. He sounds like someone who might be involved in this operation. Let's talk to him. Caitlyn and Nick can work on getting a search warrant for the boutique." She took out her phone and texted her team a quick message about the store being closed.

"Did you tell Flynn where we're headed?" he asked curiously. "Are we trusting him again?"

"I'll tell him after."

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