Andrea Kane - The Girl Who Disappeared Twice

Ryan nodded, taking off like a bat out of hell.

They arrived at the station along with a bunch of agents and cops.

“The train left ten minutes ago,” Hutch informed them. “It goes from Garrison to Poughkeepsie, and makes three more stops along the way. There’s no way we can reach each of those in time-the first is four minutes from here. The next is eight minutes farther. And the last, seven minutes from the previous stop. After that, it’s seventeen more minutes to Poughkeepsie. The roads suck. Peg is having the transit authority hold the train in Poughkeepsie. Some of us are heading straight there. Three cars are driving, one each, to the three local stops. The agents will show photos around, hope that someone recognizes Felicity. It’s a long shot. It’s midday on a Wednesday, and very few people are around. But we’ve got to cover all our bases.”

“You’re going to Poughkeepsie?” Casey asked.

“Yes.”

“We’ll do the local stops and let Hero sniff one of Felicity’s scent pads. He’ll sniff out each of the areas and tell us if she got off the train. If you call and tell me that Felicity’s on the train in Poughkeepsie, we’ll drive straight there and let Hero take over. Hope brought along one of Krissy’s T-shirts. And, as I said, we have Felicity’s scent pads. This is it, Hutch. Felicity didn’t just take some arbitrary train. She’s going home. She plans to grab Krissy and run.”

“That’s not going to happen. I’ll call you.” Hutch strode back to his car.

Casey ran over to the train station and grabbed one of the schedules that was hanging outside. She glanced down at the locations of the stops as she returned to the van. Cold Spring. Beacon. New Hamburg.

She gestured for Ryan to lower his window. He complied. Casey leaned inside, thrust the schedule into his hand and pointed. “Map these three stops.”

Hero had finished sniffing out the station at Cold Spring, and the team was racing to Beacon when Casey’s cell phone rang.

“We’re in Poughkeepsie,” Hutch updated her. “She’s not on the train. We manned every exit, searched every car, questioned every passenger. No one noticed her. She’s gone. So she had to have gotten off somewhere between Garrison and here.”

“I doubt it was Cold Spring. I know you have agents here, doing their thing. But Hero hit a dead end. And we took him everywhere-inside the station, up and down the stairs, across every platform-you name it. We’re on our way to Beacon.”

“That means it’s probably either Beacon or New Hamburg. We’ve got agents at both stations. They’re showing Felicity’s picture around, and asking questions. I’m sure you’ll run into them there. Either way, keep me posted.”

“You do the same.” Casey ended the call and filled in her team.

A minute later, they pulled into the Beacon station.

The place was deserted, with just one person and no employees in sight. The members of the task force were walking around, trying to do their thing.

Ryan took off to start looking around. Marc harnessed Hero and began their search. And Casey, reluctantly, stayed behind to babysit Hope. She had no choice. Despite the warning Casey had given her, Hope was at the edge of her seat, craning her neck to see a signal from anyone indicating that Felicity had exited the train here. And if she got that signal-well, that would be a nightmare waiting to happen.

Casey fidgeted in her seat, wishing she could get the hell out of there and assist with the investigation.

As she contemplated her dilemma, a slew of teenagers came sauntering along, laughing and drinking sodas. It looked as if they’d been there for some time. So they’d have to be questioned. Ryan was at the other end of the station. And the kids were about to leave.

Talk about being careful what you wished for. Casey was screwed.

“Hey, you stay put,” a muffled voice called from outside the van. “I’ll talk to them.”

Casey’s head whipped around, and she blinked as she saw Patrick standing beside the van.

He gave a half smile at the stunned expression on her face. “I might not be Claire, but I have a sixth sense for knowing when I’m needed. Besides, I wanted to be a part of bringing this thirty-two-year nightmare to a close. So I drove up here. You hang out with Judge Willis. Just lower the window on her side. I’ll interview the kids.”

You’re a lifesaver, Patrick. Casey mouthed the words, but Lynch got them. He turned and waved down the teenagers in that authoritative way of his that made people stop in their tracks. Pointing at Hope’s side of the van, he fired some questions at the teens. Clearly, he was asking if they’d seen a woman who looked like the blond lady sitting in that van.

They all looked over. But there wasn’t a shred of recognition on any of their faces.

Ryan had no better luck, returning to the van and shaking his head, adding that the agents and cops he’d run into were drawing the same blank as he was. A few minutes later, Marc and Hero returned, and Casey could tell by the grim expression on Marc’s face that they, too, had come up empty.

Leaving the task force to continue their work, the Forensic Instincts team left the station for New Hamburg, with Patrick following behind in his car.

“This is our last chance.” Hope’s desperation was a palpable entity. Hysteria was bubbling up inside her and the dam was about to burst. “What if we come up with nothing in New Hamburg? What if Felicity found another way, another train, or car, or direction, to go? What if Krissy isn’t even in this vicinity, and Felicity was just trying to throw us off track?”

“That’s not the case, Hope.” Casey spoke with as much conviction as she could muster. “Felicity’s prime consideration is Krissy, not playing cat and mouse with the FBI. She’s not going to leave Krissy unattended, especially not now, when she knows we’re onto her. We’ll be in New Hamburg in fifteen minutes. Have faith.”

“Faith,” Hope replied bitterly. “I’m not sure I know what that is anymore.”

Krissy heard the commotion from upstairs. It was louder than it had ever been. It scared her.

She curled onto the bed, pressing herself as hard as she could against the wall, as if its solid presence could protect her. She hugged Oreo and Ruby fiercely, her terrified gaze fixed on the door.

More banging and crashing.

Was the woman angry at her? Had she done something wrong? Had the woman figured out that she’d been trying to twist off the doorknob every time she was left alone?

Was she going to hurt her?

Trembling violently, Krissy cringed farther away.

The door swung open, and the woman raced down the stairs, her heels making quick, loud clicks on each step.

“Krissy, get up,” she ordered. Her voice wasn’t gentle and nice the way it usually was. It was high and shrill. Her face looked strange.

“Why?” Krissy asked.

“We’re moving to another house right away.” The woman reached over and grabbed Krissy’s hand. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

“Ow, that hurts.” Krissy held back, clutching Oreo and Ruby even tighter. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t ask questions,” the woman snapped, although she did relax her grasp. “Not now. We don’t have time. I’ll explain everything later. And I’ll create another princess suite later. But not here.” She pulled Krissy off the bed and onto her feet. “Let’s go.”

“No!” Krissy wrenched her hand with all her might.

It paid off. The woman wasn’t ready for Krissy to fight back. Her grip had loosened. Krissy’s hand was free. And so was she.