Captive Justice: A Private Investigator Mystery Series (A Jake & Annie Lincoln Thriller Book 4) Read Free Page B

left work at the usual time last night, just after five o’clock, and hasn’t been seen since. She always parks in the underground parking area but whether or not she’d driven away, I . . . I don’t know.”
    “Where does she work?”
    “She’s a paralegal for a small firm a few blocks away. I’ll get the address.” He went into the den off the front room and returned a moment later with an address book. He leafed through it and handed it to Annie.
    She removed a pad and pen from her handbag and jotted the information down. The firm’s name was “Williams & Thresh”, and she recognized the office building where they were located.
    “What kind of car does she drive?”
    “It’s a silver Toyota Corolla. Brand new.”
    “We’ll check this out right away,” Annie said, as she scribbled in her pad. “Again, it’s unlikely we’ll find anything, but I want to see if her car is still in the underground parking.”
    “How’ll that help?” Dr. Gould asked.
    “It might not, but we have to check all possibilities. He might have slipped up somewhere.”
    “Of course.”
    “Do you have a house line as well? We might need to contact you.”
    “Yes,” the doctor replied. He gave Annie the phone number and she jotted it down.
    “There’s not much else we can do until the kidnapper calls,” Jake said.
    “I’ll contact my bank right away and get them to put together the cash,” the doctor said. “It might take them some time to get that much but I’m sure there’ll be no problem.”
    Jake looked at his watch. “You should do it right away.”
    The doctor nodded, and then, “Mr. Lincoln, would you come to the bank with me later when I pick it up? I would feel safer with you there.”
    “I will if possible,” Jake said. “However, I need to get back home and stay there until I hear from the kidnapper. We have three phones: the house line, the line for Lincoln Investigations, and my cell phone. We’ve no idea which number he’s going to use.”
    “I’ll give you a call before I go,” the doctor said. “If not, I might be able to get a guard from the bank to accompany me.”
    Annie stood and said, “If there’s nothing else you think we need to know, we’ll get on this right now and let you know how things proceed.”
    Dr. Gould stood. “Please, please get my wife back safely.”
    Annie touched his arm. “We’ll do everything possible, doctor.”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
     
    Wednesday, August 31st, 11:14 AM
     
    WHEN JAKE AND ANNIE arrived home, Annie grabbed her keys from the house and jumped into her Ford Escort.
    Her destination was a few blocks away and after a couple of turns, she pulled in front of a row of townhouses, ran up the steps of #633 and rang the doorbell.
    Jeremiah Everest was known by his friends as Geekly, and when he answered the door the reason was obvious. With dirty-blond hair over his ears, his feeble goatee, a face that spelled “geek”, and John Lennon glasses, he more than looked the part.
    He and Jake had been unlikely friends since high school and his expertise was useful to their investigations several times in the past.
    He answered the door with a graceful flourish. “Hello, my dear lady. Come into my humble abode.”
    Annie followed him into what was supposed to be a living room but rather was a forest of all things electronic. Computer parts took up space on bowing shelves, with mice, keyboards and equipment of all shapes and sizes littering every corner. DVDs, drives, and cables bulged from neatly labeled boxes.
    A television sat on a small table and faced a well-used easy chair, the only indications this room was more than a geek’s paradise.
    “It’s a good thing you called first,” Geekly said, as he kicked aside a carton of electronic stuff and dragged an extra chair over for Annie. “I was just about to head out.”
    “I won’t take up much of your time,” she said, as she sat and pulled Dr. Gould’s cell phone from her