probably one by the phone in the kitchen, as well.” She offered an apologetic smile. “I used to scribble notes to myself on them and I often carried a pad home with me. There must be a number of them around. Whoever took Aimee could have easily taken a single sheet, or a whole pad, for that matter—if they’d been in this house before. And they must have, to get in so easily. Don’t you think?”
“This case is a puzzle within a puzzle.” Natalie’s epithet was terse and short, spat out in a whorl of frustration. “No apparent motive, no ransom note or call, no tracks. No fingerprints. No clues until today, and now this one is tainted.”
Then, as if suddenly aware that she had an audience, she straightened, called over a waiting technician and handed him the evidence.
“So what do we do now?” Shelby asked when it became clear that Natalie wasn’t going to volunteer any opinion on the state of her investigation.
“We wait. If your, er, manager?—will give me the names of your employees, I’ll have someone check them out.”
Daniel glanced at Shelby, and in one imperceptible movement of his head transmitted a no. That could only mean that right now he had someone conducting a sensitive search. Police investigations would mess that up.
“I’ll go you one better. I’ll check them out myself.”
The idea had burst upon Shelby only a moment before when she’d seen the company logo on that slip of paper, but it was a good one. She was sick and tired of sitting around, waiting. She needed to do something, anything, to help find Aimee. Checking out employees who had already passed an extremely thorough investigation would be little more than busywork, but at least she could prove that her employees were trustworthy.
“You? But we need you here.”
“Why?” She faced Natalie head-on, saw the confusion in her eyes and realized she had to soften her tone. Natalie was not the source of her frustration. “You and I both know there isn’t going to be a ransom call, Detective. Not after this long. Anyway, I don’t think taking Aimee was about money. It’s about something else. Right now, I don’t know what that could be, but maybe I’ll uncover something at work.”
She knew it sounded weak, as if she was running away. But she had to do something!
“I can’t sit here, waiting for the phone to ring, asking myself a thousand times why I didn’t rush in there and stop whoever did this, blaming myself for her disappearance. I have to act. Can’t you understand that?”
“I can.” Tim stepped forward, patted her on the shoulder. “And I think it’s a good idea.” He turned to Natalie. “Surely you and your team wouldn’t turn down whatever help Shelby’s company can offer? After all, Finders has a sophisticated system dedicated to finding people and recovering lost things. Maybe they could help your…er…department?”
The faintly challenging note in his voice puzzled Shelby. What was he implying?
“You don’t think my office or the police department is handling this case properly?” Natalie’s tone was icy.
“I never said that.”
“You’ve hinted at it more than once.” Natalie shrugged her elegant shoulders. “I don’t really care what you think, Mr. Austen.” She laid heavy emphasis on his last name. “I’m in charge here and I intend to find that little girl.” She nodded at Shelby. “Go ahead. Do your checks. You’ve got files on everyone, I imagine?”
“We have.” Daniel smiled.
“I’ll want to see them.”
“I can arrange for copies to be sent to your office, but you don’t have to bother. If anyone can find out something that’s not obvious, it’s Shelby. Research is what she does best. No stone unturned.” He held out his arms. “I know it’s not the best of circumstances, but welcome back, Shel.”
“Thanks. I think.” She returned his hug. Already Shelby felt better, as if she could somehow come to grips with this by doing something to help Aimee.
Natalie watched them, her veiled glance hiding her true feelings.
“Anything, however small, that could connect your daughter to someone in your company is what we’re looking for.” She waited for Shelby’s nod of understanding. “We’re patched into your phone here in case something comes through, but I expect you to contact me immediately if you find anything. Anything,” she repeated with emphasis.
“Of course. We have worked with the police before, you know, Natalie. We also have a very secure method of screening incoming calls to Finders, Inc. I’m not unfamiliar with the way things are done.” Shelby frowned. “I certainly wouldn’t dream of holding anything back that could jeopardize the safe return of my child.”
The detective’s cheeks flushed, but all she said was, “Right,” before she turned and walked back inside.
“Bossy, overbearing, pushy…” Tim ran out of words.
“What’s going on with you two?” Shelby was curious about his attitude. “You’ve been at loggerheads ever since you met.”
“Something about her bugs me. I don’t know what it could be, other than the aforementioned attribute of pure bossiness.” Tim shook his head. “Forget about our personality differences, Shelby. Go and do what you have to do.”
“I’ll do it,” she agreed. “But I hate it. We screen very carefully. Once our staff have been cleared, we do periodic updates and yearly investigations. It’s all part of the very specialized work we do. I don’t see how anyone in our offices could be implicated in this.”
“Nor do I.” Daniel walked along beside them, his forehead pleated in a frown. “But I’ll be glad to have you there, Shelby. I’d like to keep this as low profile as we can.”
“Is something wrong with the company, Daniel?”
He appeared to debate his answer. Finally he spoke, his voice soft, reflective. “Now’s not the time to burden you with work, Shel. Let’s just concentrate on Aimee. The rest can wait for a more appropriate time.”
He wasn’t telling her everything, and she knew it. But for now, Shelby wouldn’t press him. Daniel might be holding his own counsel until they could speak freely. Or he might not yet be sure of his facts. One thing she knew—Daniel was as loyal as any of her employees. Grant had trusted him implicitly. So did she.
Daniel may not want to bother her now, but if something was seriously wrong at Finders, she intended to find out during her own probe. Finders, Inc. had gained its reputation because of its specialized capability to locate and recover without eliciting undue attention. One rotten apple could spoil the entire business; seriously threaten their ability to handle confidential work, especially those government contracts they periodically won. So she’d do whatever she could to ensure that Daniel’s investigation would stay hush-hush. For now.
Shelby left home to the tune of Esmeralda’s grumblings about the policemen who’d moved into the house she’d lovingly cared for these past twenty years, men who couldn’t get enough of her double chocolate cookies, men who left footprints from the rose garden on her clean carpet. Shelby left, knowing the older woman was just as upset about losing Aimee as she was. Looking after the officers would keep Esmeralda
