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concrete to do was perking her up.
    The women went down the hall to the
office.
    Stacey hadn't been in Mark's office before
but she could see it belonged to a man. The desk was large and dark
and had plenty of room to spare even with the computer on it. The
walls had walnut paneling with a couple of pictures of Mark and
Kyle fishing. Stacey noticed that there were no pictures of
Amanda.
    A file cabinet sat in one corner adjacent to
the closet. Through the open closet door Stacey could see several
boxes stacked on top of each other. Everything in the room was neat
and tidy, not a stray piece of paper anywhere.
    Amanda got right to work making the flier.
The photo scanner made the job simple and she soon held a completed
flier in her hand.
    The doorbell rang and Amanda got up to answer
it. It was Agent Morrison along with another agent.
    “Mrs. Stone, this is Special Agent Trent
Randolph.” He paused as Randolph nodded in Amanda’s direction. “The
trap’s in place,” he went on. “ It works like Caller ID, except we
get the address as well as the phone number. We’ll be staying here
for a while, if that’s okay with you.”
    “Of course.”
    A short time later Amanda headed toward the
front door. “I’m going to see if the mail’s come yet.”
    “There are some reporters out there,” Agent
Morrison warned.
    Amanda closed her eyes briefly, her lips
pressed into a straight line, and stopped. “Stacey, would you mind
getting the mail? I don't think I can handle going out there.”
    “Of course.” Trying to ignore the people
gathering in front of the Stone's house, Stacey pulled the mail out
of the box and carried it back inside, handing it directly to
Amanda.
    Sorting through the stack, Amanda gasped and
dropped all but one piece of mail.
    It was a single sheet of paper that hadn't
come with an envelope.
    “This is Kyle's writing,” Amanda
whispered.
    Morrison took it from her, holding on to the
corner with the tips of his fingers, and called the local FBI
office.
    In Kyle's large block print were the words: I
WANT TO COME HOME MOMMY.
    Typed underneath were the words: Kyle will be
returned to you when I receive $1,000,000.
    Morrison put the note in an evidence bag.
“We'll send this to the lab to check for latent prints.”
    Amanda dropped to the couch, sobbing
convulsively.
    Stacey was dumbstruck. She felt as if she
were not really there, as if she would wake up and find out it was
all just a bad dream. But when she looked at her friend she could
not deny reality any longer. Her stomach churned and her ears
buzzed.
    Amanda was moaning, “No! Oh please no.”
    Her knees weak, Stacey walked over to Amanda
and sank onto the couch next to her. She put her arms around
Amanda, who cried even harder.
    I have to get out of this place, Stacey
thought frantically. This can't be happening. This can't be
true.
    After her cries had become small whimpers,
Amanda jumped up and fled the room. Stacey sat there in shock.
    Agent Morrison was on the phone. Soon more
people arrived.
    Stacey decided this would be a good time to
leave. No one noticed her as she walked toward the front door.
Stepping onto the porch, she saw a police officer talking to
someone near the curb.
    As she walked down the driveway, reporters
converged on her.
    One man thrust a tape recorder in her face.
“Are you a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Stone?”
    She didn't know how she was supposed to
respond. “Yes, I'm their neighbor.”
    “Has there been any news on Kyle?”
    She shook her head. “I have to go.” As she
ran to her house she saw Margie peeking out from behind her
curtains. Stacey opened her front door and gratefully locked it
behind her.
    The thought of Kyle being kidnapped was just
crazy. That can't happen to someone I know, she reflected. If
that's true then none of our children are safe.
    She went into Robby’s room and sat on his
bed, hugging his well-worn teddy bear. The thought of someone she
knew having her child abducted for ransom was