Casey snapped out of her melancholy mood and got into brainstorming.
“Come on Jack, let’s talk through this. I feel we’re close too. We just need to find a new angle.”
Casey pulled out her tablet and flicked open her notes.
“Ok, what if the kidnapper is unrelated to Chase? Someone just saw an opportunity and took it?”
I shook my head.
“It’s too planned, too well thought out for that. This isn’t opportunistic. It’s premeditated.”
Casey nodded.
“Professionals then? They’re in the news a lot. Maybe it’s a gang that wants to take advantage of the news. It wouldn’t have taken much to find Chase as a target. He’s an easy pick. Loads of people know he’s got money, hell, he flashes the cash around enough.”
“If they’re professionals, then they won’t let Millie live.” I took my phone out and stared at the picture of Millie. “And I won’t let them hurt her. Anybody hurts her and they die.”
“All I’m saying is that we have to look at other possibilities. Time is running out. If the drop doesn’t go well, or they are professionals, then Millie won’t make it out of this.”
I could see what Casey was trying to do, and bit by bit her pep talk was working.
“You’re right. Let’s think this through, every angle.”
I was back in detective mode. Back on the scent. And ready to track down the target.
“Have your contacts mentioned anything about kidnapping gangs?”
“Nothing. You?”
“My contacts are the same, and I think that if a new gang came into the city, people would already be talking. What about the last groups of people that he tried to rip off?”
“There’s not a lot of information about them, but from what I’ve found, he’s more likely to choose larger investment firms who want to sweep this sort of bad investment under the carpet. This was the first time that he’s targeted a smaller group of individuals.”
“I’d say that the investment funds had caught onto his fraudulent schemes. Word travels quickly in those circles, and they would’ve known to steer clear of him.”
“Then who else do we have?”
We stared out of the truck for a while.
“Remind me again, who else was on the list of people who were ripped off by Chase’s most recent display of moral goodness?” I questioned.
Casey scrolled through her notes again.
“Two of the people on the list have since died. James Peterson committed suicide not long after losing the money, no partner, no kids, parents deceased, so no one left behind to look for revenge. And David Malone, died of a heart attack before the investment went under. His wife has been in Canada with her family ever since. As far as I could tell, she didn’t even know about the money.”
Casey scrolled on.
“Another four were elderly, all without family and pretty frail, couldn’t kidnap a mouse. Two of them didn’t even know the money was gone when I spoke to them.”
I shook my head in disgust. “Chase certainly did his homework.”
“Next two are still in the armed forces, currently on deployment and out of the country at the time of the kidnapping. Again, not a lot of family to speak of. One from a troubled background, seems to have cut all ties with whatever family he had, the other is originally from Florida and any family is still there. Both unmarried.”
“Could either of them have planned it from there, arranged for someone to do it for them?”
Casey shook her head, “I don’t think so. I tried to get in touch with them but apparently they are unreachable at the moment.”
Casey closed her tablet and looked at me with a shrug.
“Which leaves?” I asked, even though I was fairly sure of the answer.
“From the list of investors? Kyle, the trucker, and your brother-in-law, Ben.” Casey put her tablet away. “Do you think Tanya knew that Kyle had lost that money?”
“Yeah, I’m sure she would’ve known. They seem like the sort of couple that wouldn’t keep secrets from each other. When was Kyle due back in the city?”
“This afternoon. Do you want me to put a tail on them?”
“That’s a very good idea. Him and the wife.”
Casey put her seatbelt on and looked at me.
“I’ve been thinking about this, and Chase is the real bad guy here. He’s the one ripping people off and betraying their trust. Karma has a way of coming to people who deserve it.”
“Doesn’t make this the right way to get revenge. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“But three lefts do.” She smiled as I tried to work that response over in my head. “All I’m saying is that Chase deserves something bad to happen to him. He deserves someone to come after him.”
“But Millie doesn’t.” I roared the truck into life. “She’s innocent, and I’m not going to let anyone hurt her.”
Chapter 16
Some people are easy to follow.
They live their lives in the routine bubble of everyday life. They walk the same route, look at the same things in the same way, and generally move through the motions without even looking twice. Only something really dramatic makes an impact in their zombie-like world. It’s easy to blend into the background and watch those people, those who dwell in the land of the living dead. The danger when following them is not to become complacent. You still have to remain alert and tail them as if they were super vigilant. Sometimes when something is too easy you let your guard down. And when you let your guard down you miss something that under normal circumstances would never get past you.
Tanya walked to her car
