Guardian Angel. Debra Webb
been no evidentiary discoveries to date?” Ann asked as she glanced over the report prepared by Arundel County.
“Not a single shred,” Victoria confirmed. “Nor is there anything that ties the different victims or their families together other than tax bracket.” Victoria’s gaze settled heavily onto hers then. “This is your specialty, Ann. You’ve worked with the Baltimore Bureau office. You’re the perfect choice for this assignment. Katherine Fowler wants her daughter back and she’s scared to death that the usual channels are not going to get the job done.”
For several seconds after Victoria stopped talking, Ann sat there unable to make an appropriate response.
Yes, she possessed the electronic-banking expertise and the experience with the Baltimore authorities. Those were the very skills that had gotten her noticed by the Bureau. The same Bureau that had ignored her warnings on that final case and caused the death of a child. Ann had sworn that she would never feel that helpless again. That was why she was here working in the private sector, away from all the bureaucratic crap. Working with the Colby Agency had helped her regain her self-confidence, her sense of purpose. It had made her feel capable of going out on that emotional limb of trusting her instincts once more.
Until now…maybe.
“You have a problem with taking this case, Ann?”
“No.” Ann laid the report aside and ordered a smile into place to cover the lie. “Absolutely not.” Even as she said the words, her stomach clenched.
“This is the highest-profile abduction yet,” Victoria noted with a pointed glance at the photo of Caroline Fowler. “That says one significant thing to me—”
“They’re getting braver,” Ann finished for her, resisting the urge to shift restlessly in her chair. Damn her inability to stop this infernal response. This was a case. Just a case. It wasn’t about her or her past.
“None of the law enforcement personnel already involved is going to be happy about your presence,” Victoria offered. “You’ll be treading into their territory, stepping on their toes.”
“I understand.” Ann folded her hands on the table in front of her. She particularly understood that she’d made a few enemies at the Bureau when she’d walked away. “What exactly does Mrs. Fowler want me to do that she believes the Bureau can’t?”
Victoria was a very elegant woman. Her dark, all-seeing eyes and coal-black hair streaked silver spoke of wisdom and years on this earth. She had built this agency with her own sweat and tears and a great deal more heartache than she would likely care to confess. But she never asked one of her investigators to do anything she wasn’t prepared to do herself. And yet somehow today she looked uncertain of the assignment she was about to give.
She couldn’t possibly know Ann’s secret. No one did.
“Six children have been wrenched away from their homes and not a single piece of evidence has been found. Katherine Fowler has every right to be concerned that her child will not be found. So—” Victoria exhaled a deep, worrisome sigh “—Mrs. Fowler has retained our agency to find the one man she is certain can rescue her daughter.”
Ann knew even before Victoria could say the words. “How am I supposed to do that?” This was a desperate mother grappling at straws. What she was asking would take days or weeks or longer—if it was even possible to lure this so-called Guardian Angel out of seclusion. Little Caroline Fowler probably didn’t have hours, much less days or weeks.
“I’m certain you’ll find a way,” Victoria insisted.
All Ann could do was give it her best shot. Even as the thought formed in her mind, she realized a dozen reasons she would fail before she even started. Her thoughts wandered to the guy with the baseball cap who rescued children from the worst possible situations. Not the guardian-angel persona the press had created but the man himself. No matter how you looked at it, the guy was still a murderer. She’d seen the sketches of him. The baseball cap and the ponytail of long hair were about all any of the kids ever remembered.
How did he choose the missing kids he intended to rescue? Was it about the ones he could find or did he have some sort of method or inside track even the police didn’t have?
The better question was, how the hell did she find him? What if it wasn’t one guy? Resolving that question could take weeks. Determination fired inside her. She would have to operate under the assumption this was indeed a lone perpetrator. If so, he definitely wasn’t a ghost or a phantom. He existed. Ate and slept like everyone else. Someone somewhere knew something. She didn’t believe in angels or spiritual guardians of any sort. Criminal or heroic, people were the ones who made things happen. And people made mistakes.
All she had to do was look for his mistakes.
Or maybe she’d just issue him an invitation.
Chapter Three
Fowler home Edgewater Thursday 12:05 p.m.
Katherine Fowler was devastated. Her physician had prescribed a heavy-duty sedative, but she refused to take it. The distraught woman considered her daughter’s abduction to be entirely her fault, and no one was going to convince her otherwise.
“If she’s…dead,” Katherine murmured, “I don’t think I’ll…” Her feeble voice trailed off.
“Mrs. Fowler.” Ann took a deep breath in an effort to subdue the adrenaline throttling through her veins. With genuine understanding in her eyes and compassion in her tone, she attempted to relay whatever assurances she could. “I’m sure the Bureau has told you that there is every reason to operate under the assumption that your daughter is still alive. Until there is evidence indicating otherwise, that won’t change. It’s important that you hang on to that.”
Special Agent Frank Lewis was on the back patio, speaking to the father. There had been a time when Ann had worked closely with Lewis. They’d been friends. Still were, she supposed. That old connection had gotten her past the father, who wanted nothing to do with what he called his wife’s ridiculous scheme.
The father, Trey Fowler, a member of a special Homeland Security council, had been out of the country at the time of the abduction. He knew nothing, but there was always the remote chance that his daughter’s abduction had something to do with his work. That possibility couldn’t be ruled out at this stage in the investigation no matter how much the MO of this case resembled that of another. Lewis had been kind enough to bring Ann up to speed on the way from the airport. But she understood that he’d told her what the Bureau wanted her to know.
Katherine Fowler shook her head. “There’s nothing else they can do. They won’t be able to find her.” A fresh wave of tears spilled down her cheeks. “They haven’t found even one of the other five.” She scrubbed at her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “That’s why we have to find him. He’s our only hope.”
Ann recognized and understood the feeling of being completely alone and helpless. She wished there was something she could do to assuage that horror. But there wasn’t. All she could do was attempt to distract her for a little while. “Before we move into that phase of my investigation,” she began, “I need you to understand a few vital facts.”
Katherine Fowler nodded eagerly. “Whatever I have to do. Anything.” She grabbed a wad of tissues and swiped at her nose.
Ann moistened her lips and went for broke. “First of all, you need to be fully aware that the perpetrators in this case watched your family for days or weeks. Every move you made was under a microscope. Intense planning and strategizing went into the decision as well as the move to take your little girl. I’m certain the Bureau emphasized that these people would have found the right opportunity one way or another, it was only a matter of time once the decision to take your daughter was made. Nothing anyone could have done would have stopped them.”
Katherine’s worried gaze clouded with confusion, and her head moved slowly from