Chapter 4
Nick was up early the next morning on a zoom call the next day with Hank Patterson, Kenneally, Swede and Detective Simons.
They ran a surveillance video that had been obtained of Zoo Miami the day before around the time that Travis had disappeared.
They also discussed the fact that no ransom demand had come in yet.
Simons wasn’t happy about that because it put a different spin on the case. “This means whoever is behind the abduction has a personal grudge against McGinty.”
“Why do you think it’s a grudge?” Kenneally asked.
“Why else would they go after the nanny first and then the child?” Simons said.
“Jillian got threatening letters before this all started,” Nick said. “She didn’t mention them to you because they were very vague, and the postmarks were in Fort Lauderdale and Key West.”
“See,” Simons said. “This has been a planned out attack against the McGinty household. “Someone who knows him is behind this.”
“It’s clear this is going to be a tough case to solve,” Hank said.
“I agree,” Nick said.
A phone ringing in the background disrupted their conversation. “Sorry, I need to take this,” Simons said, before muting himself.
“Do you feel you have enough resources to do the job currently, Nick?” Hank asked. “Or should I send you help?
“Thanks, but I feel I’m good for now,” Nick replied.
“Okay,” Hank said. “But you say the word and it’ll be there when you need it.”
“I appreciate it,” Nick said.
“Sorry, that was my partner Kohl,” Simons said, unmuting himself as he rejoined the zoom meeting. “We’ve been assigned another case. Nick, let’s touch base in a few hours about this again.”
“Sure,” Nick agreed. “I’ll give you a call.”
“It was great talking with you all about this case. I’m totally devoted to getting Travis back even if I’m being pulled away,” Simons said before he left the zoom.
A few seconds passed before the meeting resumed. “Swede, can you put up the different camera angels from the Zoo Miami that you have been able to cultivate,” Hank said.
“Sure.”
Nicks laptop screen switched from one image to several squares of different videos running at the same time of people walking and viewing the reptile exhibit.
“As you can tell the camera angles do not give a good view of restroom area,” Swede said.
Then he changed the video feed to one screen again.
“But this camera gives the best footage of those going in and coming out if you watch closely. And I believe this is the two young men who have Travis. As you can see, the taller of the two is carrying a sleeping figure on his shoulder, which looks small enough to be a child.” The feed froze on the two men in question.
“They look like hooligans by the way they are dressed,” Nick said, not liking their baggy pants and oversize shirts.
“Or they are trying to blend in with the crowd,” Kenneally said. “But they are carrying a child as Swede suggests. You do see that don’t you?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Good. And I believe you mean they are dressed like skateboarders,” Kenneally further corrected him.
“Look at their shoes and low hanging pants. Don’t you recall Reggie who worked for us as a runner in Virginia before you moved down to Miami?
He dressed this way on his days off. He was into skateboarding. ”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Nick said. “So, you think that is who these guys are? Skateboarders hired to pick up this kid as a side job?”
“We won’t know until you follow up on it,” Hank said. “Swede, can you send him good quality photos of their faces?”
“Can do,” Swede replied.
“Excellent,” Hank replied. “We are getting somewhere.”
“But we have no idea what kind of vehicle they drive,” Nick said.
“Actually,” Swede said before the screen switched to a different surveillance footage of the two leaving the zoo and heading into the parking lot.
“How did you get this when the police couldn’t even come up with it?” Nick asked.
“I have my ways,” Swede said. “Just between us, the police were relying on the Zoo surveillance footage while I have satellite surveillance I can tap into.”
“I’m glad you are on our side,” Nick said.
“So are we,” Hank agreed.
The computer guru chuckled. “Here we have our guys getting into a blue delivery van, but once they traveled thirty miles away, they switched into this silver Subaru,” Swede explained.
“The plates are not registered to it and were lifted off another car. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I lost them as they left the city because of rain in the higher elevations that messed with the satellite surveillance I was using. ”
“Don’t apologize. You’ve given us a good deal to go on,” Kenneally said.
“I’ll call Detective Simons and pass along the location of where the blue delivery van was ditched.
He’ll get some prints from it. If we can figure out who the two were that snatched Travis, we’ll be one foot ahead of the game. ”
“Sending you the address now,” Swede said.
“And I better head down to see Jillian,” Nick said. “I told her I’d be by first thing this morning with a plan. However, after seeing the surveillance footage I really don’t know what to tell her.”
“How about starting with the truth?” Hank said. “Tell her what we know so far and that we will keep working until we find the boy.”
“I have a feeling she isn’t going to be satisfied with that explanation,” Nick explained. “Even with her leg in that boot she’s wanting to get out there and find Travis herself.”
“Of course, she does,” Hank said. “She’s Travis’ nanny and they have a special bond. Do your best to keep her safe in the process and if you can’t keep her confined to the McGinty household then figure out a way not to get her injured.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” Nick said as his email pinged as new mail came through.
He logged off the zoom call and opened his email, finding the pictures of the two guys who had taken Travis at the zoo.
His bedroom didn’t have a printer, but he recalled seeing one in Jillian’s guesthouse.
He shut down his laptop and packed it in his bag before going downstairs.
Mrs. Hudson had laid out a breakfast spread on the counter when he entered. Fresh fruit, pancakes, bacon, and eggs.
“Good morning, Mr. Bardou,” Mrs. Hudson greeted.
“Good morning,” he replied, setting down his case. “Have you seen Jillian this morning?”
“Took her breakfast down already,” she said. “Any progress on finding Travis?”
“I just got off a call with Detective Simons. No ransom demand has been made,” he told her.
“Wouldn’t that have come here to the house and not the police?” she asked.
“Normally, but maybe the detective had been in touch with Mr. McGinty already today,” Nick said. “He didn’t say.”
“Then isn’t there a chance there might still be a demand made?” Mrs. Hudson asked.
“I doubt it. Those usually come within a few hours after an abduction and we’re twenty-four hours after the fact,” he said. “Guess I better hurry up and eat or Jillian will be wondering where I am.”
“Not too fast or you’ll get indigestion,” Mrs. Hudson said.
Nick filled a plate and ate, enjoying the meal and even helped himself to seconds before he took the empty dishes over to the sink and handed them off to Mrs. Hudson. “Thank you for the wonderful food.”
“Your most welcome,” she said. “Would you like to take coffee with you? I have a travel mug prepared.”
“You do think of everything,” he said. “I might get spoiled while on this assignment.”
“It’s my job to do so,” she replied.
“Thank you,” he said, picking it up and his case before heading to the guesthouse.
He found her sitting on the covered porch with her coffee and flipping through a magazine dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Is it still? I’ve been up for hours, I thought it had to surely be close to noon by now,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.
“No need to sound so sour. I’ve been in a meeting with my superiors about your case this morning,” he informed her.
“Then Mrs. Hudson had breakfast waiting for me. She said you’d already eaten.
I didn’t see a reason I shouldn’t do the same.
Besides, it’s not even nine o’clock. It’s way earlier in Montana. ”
He saw her flush as he spoke, and he knew he’d made his point. “Do you happen to have a color printer? I noticed you had a printer yesterday when I was here.”
“It is color,” she said, struggling to get to her feet. “Why?”
“I have photos of two suspects in the kidnapping of Travis I’d like to show you,” Nick said, waiting for her to punch in her code for them to go inside.
“Suspects?”
“Yes, we actually have surveillance footage of them leaving the men’s restroom carrying a sleeping child,” Nick explained.
“How?” she asked as she led the way into her quarters. “Detective Simons didn’t sound hopeful at all yesterday.”
“Simons doesn’t have the resources that the Brotherhood Protectors do.”
She awkwardly pivoted and almost stumbled backwards but corrected her balance to look at him. “Come again?”
“We have Swede. He’s the best hacker computer guru around,” Nick explained.
“He was able to pull this surveillance from satellite footage, so we were able to even follow these two as they left the zoo with Travis. They changed vehicles and we kept up with them until atmospheric interference disrupted the feed and we lost them. But we know they were driving a silver Subaru.”
Jillian slowly sat in the armchair. “Were you able to get plates off the second vehicle?”
“The plates were not registered to that vehicle,” Nick said regretfully as he went to the printer on her desk.
Opening his laptop and began working so he could print out the photos for her to see.
“They had to have been stolen. However, we will keep working until we find these two individuals and find Travis.”
“And Detective Simons? What is he doing?” she asked.
“He was part of our meeting for a short time, but his partner Kohl called him away for another case,” Nick said. “I really am not sure how much time and effort he is going to be able to give us. I suspect his case load is already heavy enough.”
Jillian nodded. “Then we have to get out there and do it ourselves.”
“Whoa!” Nick warned. “I don’t like where you are going. I can’t take you out in the field hunting down criminals to find Travis. You said it yourself yesterday. You’re a nanny.”
“I’m more than that, Mr. Bardou,” she said. “I’m the only mother that Travis has ever known and I will not let him down. That kid loves me, and I love him like he’s my own. I will risk my life to save him. Do you understand that?”
“I’d say you have already done that, Ms. Grant, but I do hear you loud and clear and if you want to put your life on the line to get Travis back, I will not stop you. I will be right there beside you.”