Read Someone Must Die for Free Online

for tips,” her father said. “They’ve got some geek coordinating with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to get the word out on Facebook and other social media.”
    “I’m glad you were able to get him to fill you in,” she said.
    “Well, it wasn’t easy. He was more interested in asking me questions, but I’ve always had a knack for getting people to talk to me. At least most people.” He searched her eyes. “I’ve missed you, Princess.” It had been his nickname for her. His Sleeping Beauty princess, though she had never understood why he called her that. Now it occurred to her that he had always known she was closing her eyes to what was around her. “I’ve missed you and me.”
    She looked away. He was tugging on her heart, the way he always did, but she was wary of being taken in by his charm once again. “What else did he tell you?” she asked.
    Her father let out a soft sigh. “Well, the good news is that the FBI moves very quickly in these situations. They’re evaluating all contingencies, though I’m not sure I necessarily agree with the direction they’re going. They’ve given the immediate family polygraphs.”
    Aubrey wondered if that’s where her mother was—taking a lie detector test. “No one in the family would have taken Ethan,” she said.
    “Of course no one in the family is involved,” he said. “The polygraph is a routine procedure. The FBI also has a mapping tool for sex offenders.”
    “Oh, God,” she said. “They think Ethan was abducted by a sex offender ?”
    “No, no,” he said quickly. “Not necessarily. That’s just another angle they’re pursuing.”
    “Did he tell you anything else?” she asked.
    “He didn’t, but one of the detectives informed me they brought in bloodhounds last night and searched the entire carnival area. They got his scent from his New York Mets baseball cap.” He stopped, as though realizing this was his grandson he was talking about. He cleared his throat and continued. “Behind the fun house was a dumpster the dogs were interested in.”
    The sun pierced her eyes, sending sharp pains to the back of her head. “What did they find?”
    “A paper napkin,” he said. “They’re analyzing it for prints.”
    “It could have been something he used while he was with Mama.”
    “Yes.”
    Or it could have the kidnapper’s prints.
    She stared at the fountain, the water barely dribbling into a basin that was green with algae.
    “Then they took the dogs outside the carnival area to search for his scent,” her father continued. “But other than in the parking lot, the dogs didn’t pick up anything beyond the carnival grounds.”
    Aubrey considered this. “So it’s unlikely Ethan wandered off by himself.”
    Her father nodded.
    The significance of this hit her. The possibility that this was all a false alarm and that Ethan would miraculously appear, safe and sound, was now gone.
    She didn’t want to say it aloud, but she knew that denying the facts could hurt rather than help Ethan. “And since Ethan didn’t simply vanish, someone must have picked him up and taken him away, probably in a car.”
    “That’s what they’re thinking,” he said.
    Her mother shouldn’t be alone.
    “I have to find Mama.” She stood up and started back toward the house.
    “She was negligent, you know.”
    The hardness in his voice stopped her. Aubrey turned to face him, anger warming her cheeks. “No, she wasn’t. She lost him in the fun house. It could have happened to any parent or grandparent.”
    “That doesn’t excuse her.”
    “Maybe not completely, but what happened wasn’t her fault.”
    “You sound just like her defense attorneys.”
    She clenched her jaw and thought about the malpractice lawsuit and trial that had consumed her mother for much of the last two years. No doubt her father had read the transcript.
    “And her lawyers were right,” she said. “It wasn’t Mama’s fault. The little boy fell off