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Nathan, then indicated Brenda. "And you already know Annie's teacher, Brenda
    York."

    "Yes, I already know Mrs. York." The crisp English accent seemed at odds with the
    nervous expression on the older woman's face. One hand was working the edge of her
    apron as she closed the front door. "Mrs. Tyler isn't here."

    "But she did call you," Annie said.

    "Yes." Tears welled up in the woman's brown eyes and she looked close to breaking down
    right before them. She covered her mouth with her hands, holding back a sob until she
    could regain some measure of control over her voice. "How could such a terrible thing
    happen? That poor little bit of a thing, she must be so frightened."

    Brenda slipped her arm around the woman's shoulders in mute comfort. It was the same
    thought that kept crossing and recrossing her own mind ever since she realized Annie
    wasn't out on the lawn with the rest of the class. Chillingly, she'd known that something
    was very, very wrong right from the first.

    "The important thing is that we're going to get her back," Brenda assured the woman who sobbed into her handkerchief. The doorbell rang and Brenda's head bobbed up, alert.

    "That's going to be the tech team," Dax told the housekeeper. He'd placed a call, giving them theTylers' address, while he and Nathan had waited for Brenda.

    Motioning to the housekeeper not to trouble herself, Nathan fell back and opened the
    front door. Two men and one woman, all carrying large black bags that looked like
    suitcases, walked in.

    Dax approached the housekeeper. "We're going to need to place bugs on all your phone
    lines."

    "Yes, of course," Martha whispered, her voice cracking.

    She was still shaking, Brenda noted. Again she slipped her arm around the woman's thin
    shoulders and gave her a little squeeze.

    "Why don't you show them where all the phones are?" she suggested gently.

    Like a marionette whose string had been pulled, Martha nodded, her head bobbing up and
    down.

    But before she could leave the foyer, Dax moved in front of her. "There hasn't been a
    ransom call yet, has there?"

    "No." She swallowed hard, renewed panic entering her eyes as she looked from one
    detective to the other, and then at Brenda. "At least, I don't think so. I was out at the
    store until just a little while ago, when Mrs. Tyler called me. There are no message on the
    answering machine," she tagged on as if to cover her absence.

    Dax didn't know if the woman was simpleminded or just addled by the situation.
    "Kidnappers don't generally leave messages on answering machines."

    "Oh." She seemed completely deflated as she looked to Brenda for help.

    "You have caller ID, don't you?" Brenda asked. It seemed a safe enough assumption. A
    power couple like Annie's parents would want the service to help them avoid people they
    didn't want to talk to.

    Again, Martha bobbed her head up and down. Brenda saw a phone in the living room and
    crossed to it. She spun the dial located in the upper right-hand corner. No calls other than
    the one with a 212 area code had registered in the last three hours. That would have been
    Annie's mother, calling fromNew Yorkwith instructions for the housekeeper.

    Brenda looked at Dax and shook her head. He turned toward the team Nathan had just
    admitted. "Let's get those taps set up. The kidnappers might be calling any minute now."

    No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the telephone began to ring.

    Everyone froze.

Chapter 4
    «^»

    Marthastared at the pristine white telephone as if it were a giant snake, coiled and poised
    to spring at her. Her eyes were huge as she turned them on Dax.

    "Oh, my God, it's ringing." Fear resonated in her voice. "What do I do?"

    It was too late to set up the wire tap. They had to hope for a second call. Dax looked at
    the housekeeper. "Answer it," he ordered

    She began to visibly tremble.

    "I can't," the housekeeper choked out the words. "Please don't make me." Frantic, Martha looked from one