Deadly Stillwater

“Confusion really,” Lich said. “The elderly couple came walking up and spoke with the woman on the corner, asking, you know, ‘did you see that?’ They’re not sure what they all saw, so they walk across the street into the parking lot and see keys and a cell phone lying on the ground. They go inside the cafe and explain what they saw. The cafe workers come outside, see that Hisle’s car is still in the lot, and call 911.”

“How long did all that take?”

“Three or four minutes at best, maybe more,” Lich replied. “Nobody saw it all happen, just bits and pieces.”

“So anyway, a squad gets here maybe a minute or two later,” Rock added. “They ask some questions, get basically what we’re talking about now, and make the call.”

“So before we even have an alert out about a white van, it’s what?” Mac asked.

Lich shook his head, skeptical, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

“At best, eight to ten minutes, probably more.”

“Maaaaaan,” Mac groaned. “That’s a lot of time to get away before we even start looking. Did we get anything on the van? Plate, make, model, anything?”

“No plate, white van. It looked like a typical delivery or repair van, panel type, no lettering, maybe slightly dented behind the driver side door, but that’s it.”

“Nothing striking that would draw attention,” Lich added.

“Where did the van come from?” Mac asked.

“The older couple said it came out of the alley,” Rock answered. “We’re not entirely sure, but we’re thinking it was parked behind the office building.” He pointed across the alley and to their left. “From there, they would be able to see her come out the back door and take her.”

“How many people?”

“Driver, guy to take her,” Riles answered, counting on his fingers.

“Maybe another guy in the van,” Lich added.

“Why do you think not just two?” Mac asked Lich.

“The older couple thinks he threw her into the van. I’m thinking there might have been someone in there to take or catch her. We don’t know for sure, just speculatin’.”

“Any surveillance cameras or anything?”

“Nada,” Rock replied. “Nothing outside. Hell, nothing inside the cafe.”

“We’re askin’ the cafe people,” Lich asked.

“Was there anyone unusual inside or outside today, last few days, anything like that,” Mac added.

“Not that anyone can recall,” Rock answered. “It was busy early in the afternoon with the post-church crowd. However, after that rush, the staff says there were just regulars sitting around reading, having coffee. Pretty mellow.”

“In other words,” Mac said, summing up, “we got shit.”

“Hell, we ain’t even got that,” Lich replied, looking down, shaking his head.

The group stood in silence for a minute before Mac asked, “Where is the chief?”

“In a sad irony, already at Hisle’s,” answered their captain, Marion Peters, as he ducked under the crime scene tape and joined the group. “The chief was out there for Hisle’s annual barbeque when the call came in.”

“I assume they haven’t heard from the kidnappers yet?”

“No,” Peters answered.

“Are we on the phone?”

“Yeah, both landline and cell,” Peters replied. “I’ve been setting that up. We’re watching the phone at her place. We have someone at his law firm watching the phone. But we expect he’ll get the call at home, and we have people and the chief out there.”

“What about the Feds?” Rock asked. “Will they be coming in?”

Peters shrugged. “At some point they will. Kidnapping is one of their gigs. Hisle’s a prominent guy, politically connected, so the bureau will be involved at some point and somehow.”

“We don’t know that they took her over state lines,” Lich replied.

“True. But again, we’re talking Lyman here. He’ll probably want them in and the chief will accede to his wishes, they being friends and all.”

“Yeah,” Mac added, “and given what we have thus far, we’ll need their resources.”

Riley’s and Peter’s cell phones chirped, and they walked away from the group. Mac left Rock, and he and Lich walked over toward Hisle’s car.

“So did her old man piss someone off?” Lich asked.

“Possibly,” Mac answered. Lyman had made the big time both financially and politically. You do that and you’ve made some people mad, very mad, along the way. He’d made millions on class-action and discrimination cases, fighting businesses for years. On the criminal side, he’d tussled with the police departments around town for years. Yet, given his practice, he was still popular with the local police departments. He often waived his hefty retainer and fees to help the men in blue. Consequently, there would be no “what goes around comes around” feeling that cops might have for many of the lawyers they dealt with. The cops would have Lyman’s back on this one.

“It could be a nut, or…”

“Or what?” Lich asked following Mac back toward Hisle’s car.