I called Ben’s phone right back. He didn’t answer.
I still couldn’t quite believe Ben was involved, but I couldn’t hide from the facts. Kidnapper or not, Ben knew more than he was letting on. I felt guilty pursuing Claire’s brother, but it wasn’t the time to get sentimental. I had to track him down. And if necessary to take him down too.
I tried Ben’s phone again. This time, his wife answered.
“Hello, Jack.” She sounded cagey.
“Mary, where’s Ben? I have to talk to him immediately. It’s urgent.”
“Sorry, Jack. Ben’s not here. He just took off after you called him.”
“What do you mean, took off? Where did he go?”
“Is everything alright, Jack? First Ben dashing off, and now you call demanding to know where he is. I mean, I’m kind of used to it, Ben’s work often takes him away unexpectedly, but this feels different. More personal somehow. What’s going on, Jack? You need to tell me. Is something wrong?”
“Everything’s fine. Nothing to worry about.” I had to try and reassure her. The last thing I needed was for Mary to clam up now. I was sure she could help, she must have noticed something, I just needed to get her talking. “We’re working on something together and I really need to get in touch with him. I couldn’t hear him properly on the phone. He said he was going to call me back, but obviously he’s rushed off without his phone. It’s urgent, Mary. It needs to be done tonight. Do you have any idea or did he give any indication as to where he was going?”
There was a moment of silence, but I could sense Mary was ready to talk.
“Well, he took another phone call and he seemed quite flustered as he ran out the door. Literally ran. He didn’t even say goodbye, he just rushed out of the house and disappeared into the night.”
My hand pressed into the table—it was a guilty move, if there ever was one. Only moments after we talked, he ran. I quickly set the phone to speaker so Casey could listen too, in case she picked up on something that I didn’t. No matter how small.
“Did he say where he was going? Did he give any indication where he was headed?”
“Not a thing. He barely said a word, and he didn’t even take his phone, which is very unlike him,” she said. “He doesn’t usually leave the house without his wallet, phone and keys.”
“So you have no idea where he might be going?”
“Have you tried the station? If he was called into work, he would usually head there first.”
She paused and I almost jumped in with another question to keep her talking, but Casey shook her head and leaned in close to the phone to listen better. Then I heard it too, the jingle of keys in the background.
“Well, that’s strange,” Mary continued. “Ben’s taken my car. He’s left his truck in the driveway. He doesn’t usually take my car anywhere. He hates to be seen driving around in a Volvo Sedan. I think the guys at work laughed at it once. Called it a grandad car, but really, it’s very fuel efficient. Very economical and it’s very unusual for him to drive it without me suggesting it.”
Casey tugged on my arm, and whispered, “Ask her if the car has a GPS tracker. A lot of modern cars have trackers that can be turned on, generally because a person thinks the car is stolen. But if so, we can track him.”
“Mary, does your sedan have a GPS tracker?” I asked.
Mary seemed so surprised that he had taken her car that she had let her guard down. “Oh yes. I think it does. I’ve never used it, but I’ve got the app on my phone, if you really need to know where he’s headed.”
“I need the code, Mary.” I grimaced as soon as I had spoken. I had let the urgency back in my voice and I knew this would put Mary back on guard.
“Actually, Jack, I don’t know if I should give it to you.” She hesitated. “What if it’s official police business that’s taken him out of the house so late? That could be confidential work. And there could be a conflict of interest between your work and his.”
Casey glared at me and I gave her my most apologetic look. I’d messed up, but I was determined to fix it.
“Mary, do you really think he would have taken your car for official police work? You know he always takes his truck. Ben’s in trouble and I’m the only one you can trust to help him. He’s in a hole and I’m the one who’s gonna dig him out of it. But I can’t help if I can’t get in touch with him and don’t know where he is. I need that code. I need to know where Ben’s going. Mary, you have to trust me. And you have to do it right now.”
“I don’t know, Jack.” She was on the edge, and it was time for a touch of the truth.
“Mary, currently there’s a young girl’s life at stake, and Ben might be walking into a trap.” I tried to negotiate with her. “Ben doesn’t know it, but there’s a five-year-old girl’s life on the line.”
She paused for a long moment, and I waited.
“A five-year-old girl. What are you talking about? Who is this five-year-old girl? And what’s Ben’s involvement with her?”
“I can’t give you the details but you need to trust me. Come on, Mary. It’s me, Jack. Not some stranger. I’m family. And family trusts each other. Trust me now and tell me the code to the tracker.”
“I just don’t know, Jack.”
Casey and I both held our breath. We knew this was make it or
