Page 36 of Free Fall (The Quantico Files 3)

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Logan was getting ready to leave when Alex heard his phone ring. He listened for a moment, then disconnected the call and said, “Jeff.”

“You almost made it,” Alex said with a grin. “Just a few more minutes...”

Logan sighed. “I’m sure it’s important or he wouldn’t have called us.”

Once again they headed to Jeff’s office. This was certainly getting to be a habit. “Go on in,” Alice said. “Whatever it is, he’s not happy.”

Alex’s curiosity was triggered. What now?

They found Jeff standing behind his desk. Never a good sign.

“Sit down,” he barked. Then he took a deep breath as if trying to calm himself. “Sorry, but I’m angry.”

“What’s going on, Boss?” Logan asked as he and Alex both took a seat.

“Heard back from the lab. They found DNA on the envelope used to mail that coded message to the police.”

That should be good news. What was going on?

“It’s David Abbott’s.”

Not much truly surprised Alex about people anymore, but this certainly did. “I don’t understand. He’s not our UNSUB.” Investigators had already concluded that Tracy’s father had not only not kidnapped his daughter but couldn’t possibly have abducted the other women.

Then it struck her. “He sent the letter because he thought it would make the authorities try harder to find Tracy. Get more attention to the case.” She shook her head. “I thought the code was just too simple. Now I know why. I’m praying he hasn’t sent a copy to the media.”

Jeff sat down. “Thankfully, we stopped that in time, but it would have been his next step if we hadn’t responded the way he wanted.”

“If he’d done that before we found out he’d written the note...”

“It would have been a disaster. And very embarrassing for a couple desperate to find their daughter.”

“Why is his DNA in the database?” Logan asked.

“One of those family heritage sites. He and his wife sent their samples in months ago.”

“Surely no one thinks he’s a suspect because of this,” Logan said.

Jeff shook his head. “No, but now they have to follow up again. A waste of time and resources.”

“So Lucas is handling this?” Logan asked.

Jeff nodded. “He’s talking to the Abbotts now. Hopefully, he can get David to realize what a mistake this was. If investigators had accepted the note as real, they could have been misdirected, which could have resulted in it taking longer to find Tracy.”

Alex sighed. “I feel sorry for the Abbotts. They obviously don’t feel we’re doing everything we can.”

“I realize that,” Logan said, “but let’s hope they don’t send a copy of that code to the media.”

Alex looked over at him. “We just said they were stopped before they could do that. Are you okay?”

Logan frowned at her. “I’m fine. Sorry. My mind must have wandered for a moment. It’s been a long week.”

Alex glanced at Jeff. She couldn’t quite interpret the expression on his face, but he looked concerned. “You’re right, Logan,” he said, refusing to meet Alex’s eyes. “Why don’t you both go home? We’ll meet again on Monday.”

“Okay,” Logan said. He hesitated a moment before saying, “You know, at some point the police may actually need to go to the media to warn people. Especially women who fit the description of the victims.”

“You could be right,” Jeff said. “But we’ll have to let whoever’s in charge decide that. I’ve been told the command post will be up and running by Monday afternoon.”

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