Page 92 of Chasing Dreams
“Miss!” Austin flagged the young woman down. She wound her way through the tables and gave him a thousand-watt smile. “Would you mind telling us where you’re from?” he asked.
“Lived in eastern Kansas my whole life,” she said. “Moved out here about a year ago to help take care of my father-in-law.”
“Thanks.” After she moved away, he turned to Shaine. “Not exactly like that?”
She shook her head in frustration. “Not exactly. But I think if I heard the exact accent I’d know it. Those words and that voice are permanently recorded in my head.”
“We’ll tell Ken about this. I’m sure it’ll help.”
They finished their coffee and Austin drove to the offices where Ken had been working.
“You need to hear accents?” Ken said, scratching his jaw. “Well, that shouldn’t be difficult. I’ll sit you down here with one of the office people, and they can hook you up with our offices around the country. You can talk to the secretaries or the agents.”
Shaine readily agreed, and Ken called a friendly middle-aged woman over to help. Barbara Maddux located offices through the central states, and Shaine spoke with one or two people at each location.
It took about ten tries to hear the sound she wanted.
“Missouri,” she told Ken confidently.
“You sure?”
“Without a doubt. There’s something about that not-quite drawl that’s distinctive.”
“Okay. I’ll question the Holbrooks right away, and I’ll get back to you.”
Shaine accepted the plan with an impatient nod. “You have something for us to do here today, right?”
“We have several items from missing children whose MO is the same. You up to a session? I can spare an agent to work with you while I go to the jail.”
She nodded. Anything to pass the time until he returned.
“Do you have someone who’s worked like this before?” Austin asked.
“All of my people are already on this case,” Ken replied. “I have agents working ’round the clock to turn up these kids and process them. You can take one of the local guys or wait for me.”
Austin met Shaine’s apprehensive gaze. “We’ll take our chances.”
Brett Baldwin was a jerk. Austin knew it the moment he laid eyes on him. The man swaggered into the office, didn’t bother to shake Austin’s hand and gave Shaine the once-over. “So you two are gonna go into a trance or something, huh? What am I supposed to do—polish your crystal ball?” He snickered. “Read an incantation?“
He was afraid of them. Austin sensed it in his offensive attitude. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You don’t have to do anything except keep the proceeding official.”
“Official? In order to do that, we’d need a real witness. And I don’t see any. This is about as official as calling the psychic hotline for a lead.”
“We don’t have to do this.” Shaine picked up her purse and stood.
Austin caught her wrist. “No. We don’t. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I’ll do it alone, or we can sit out in the lobby and wait for Ken.”
Resignation replaced the irritation on her face. She sat back down. “Okay.”
Austin turned to the detective. “I know you’ve been briefed on how to conduct this and yourself. So sit there. Check the evidence, keep the recorder going, take notes and keep your mouth shut.”
Baldwin stared him in the eye, a muscle ticking in his cheek. He’d obviously been given orders from someone with more authority than Austin, because he folded himself onto the chair behind the desk and started the digital voice recorder. He opened one of the envelopes that he’d brought with him and reached inside.
“Don’t touch it.”
His provoked gaze flew to Austin’s.
“Just hand the envelope over or dump it out on the desk.”
