Midnight Rambler

Lola, and Carmella. Tears ran down their faces, and I wondered if I was seeing them from exhaustion, or maybe I was losing my mind.

Reaching across the desk, Saunders squeezed my biceps.

“Jack, you okay?” he asked.

“What's wrong?” Linderman asked through the box.

“Jack's looking a little pale,” Saunders said.

“Give him something to drink.”

Saunders rose from his chair.

“I'm okay,” I said.

“You sure, Jack?” Saunders asked.

I nodded while continuing to stare at the wall. The photographs faded away, leaving only the ticking clock. It was a perfect metaphor for what was about to happen. With the passage of time, the victims would be all but forgotten.

I thanked the special agents for their time and left the office.

I got into my car feeling angry at the world. Buster looked relieved to see me, and I scratched his head.

I decided to drive back to Dania and resume digging for evidence. It wasn't much of a plan, but I didn't see myself having any other choices. Rose was right. I wouldn't be able to live with myself until I knew what Skell had done with the victims.

As I backed out, my cell phone began beeping, indicating I had a message. I pulled my phone off the dash to see who'd called. Caller ID showed a number with a Fort Lauderdale area code. It wasn't one I knew.

I retrieved the message and listened. At first there was nothing. Then I heard a woman's voice. It was far away, as if coming from the bottom of a deep well.

“Jack.”

I hit my brakes hard. It was Melinda.

“Jack, are you there?”

Her voice was strained. I couldn't tell if it was drugs or fear.

“Jack, you gotta help me. Oh, God, where are you?”

I pulled back in to my spot and threw the car into park.

“I'm sorry what I said on the radio. They made me say those terrible things. I know it hurt you, and I'm sorry.”

She started to cry. She sounded messed up, and I decided it was drugs.

“I'll call you back as soon as I can. Please keep your phone nearby. And whatever you do, don't call me back. They don't know about the phone.”

It was classic Melinda. First she led me on, then she pushed me away.

“Good-bye, Jack. Oh, wait.”

In the background I heard a door open and the faint sound of music.

“Oh my God-here they come!”

The message ended. The music had sounded hauntingly familiar. I replayed the message and listened hard. It was the live version of “Midnight Rambler.”

PART THREE

HIDDEN MICKEYS

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I wrestled with what to do with Melinda's message. It exonerated me, only I wasn't sure anyone else would interpret it that way. She sounded too messed up. If I called Russo or Cheever and played it for them, they might accuse me of doping her up and forcing her to talk. I decided to hold on to it and hope she called back.

As I drove away from the FBI building my cell phone rang. It made my heart race, and I answered without bothering to look at the Caller ID.

“Carpenter here.”

“Jack, this is Sally McDermitt. I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time.”

Sally was a former investigator with the Broward County Police Department who had worked in my department. I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.

“Not at all. What's up?”

“I'm in a bind and need some advice,” she said. “A little girl disappeared inside the Magic Kingdom this morning, and we can't find her.”

Sally had left the force to take a great-paying job running internal security for the Walt Disney World theme parks in Or lando. The last time we'd spoken, she'd had over a thousand people working for her, was driving a BMW convertible, and lived in a gated community whose other residents included a bunch of well-known professional golfers.

“How old?” I asked.

“Just turned three, a little red-haired cutie named Shannon Dockery. She's a roamer, so her parents didn't immediately notice she was missing.”

“Where was she last seen?”

“Right outside the ‘It's a Small World’ exhibit.”

I had worked with Disney on child abductions before. This exhibit was a favorite among toddlers and their parents.

“A pro,” I said.

“That's what we think,” Sally replied. “The park's exits have been closed. We're only letting people out through the main parking area. That way we can get a good look at everyone who leaves.”

“You think the abductor is still inside the park?”

“I sure do. We looked at the videos at all the entrances right after this happened. No kids fitting Shannon's physical description have left the park today.”

Sally had caught a live one. It was rare, and I'd compare it to catching a giant marlin on a fifty-pound reel. She didn't want him to break the line and get away, and for her sake, neither did I. I could drive home by way of Orlando, and I decided to offer my services.

“Want me to help you catch him?”

“But you're four hours away,” she said.

“Actually I'm in Tampa, working on another case. I can give you a couple hours of my time, if you think it will do any good.”

“Oh yes, please come. You were always the champ when it came to finding little kids.”

I could hear the desperation in Sally's voice.

“I'm leaving right now,” I said.

“See you in an hour,” Sally said.

“You've never seen me drive,” I told her.

An elevated section of I-275 ran over the city of Tampa, and I found an entrance ramp without trouble and headed east. Within minutes I was merging onto I-4, which dissected central Florida and led directly to the forty thousand acres owned by the Walt Disney World Corporation. I pushed the Legend up to eighty and kept it there.

Children had disappeared at Disney since the theme park opened over thirty years before, and many of