Chapter 15
Grady had listened to Lucy’s shaky voice on the other end of the ransom call, his gut twisting with fear for the little girl. The anguish etched on Lauren’s features didn’t help. He hated knowing how much she was suffering. Lucy too.
He turned toward Agent Braun. “Did you get the trace?”
The fed grimaced and gestured to the tech who shrugged.
“The call pinged off a tower here.” The tech guy tapped the computer screen.
Grady leaned in to see better. The area in question was slightly south but mostly west of the Chicago Cultural Center.
“There’s about a mile radius around the location of the call.
Doesn’t narrow it down much, I’m afraid. ”
Simon could have Lucy anywhere within a mile of the dot on the map. With so many people living in the city, Grady needed more, a way of narrowing down the most likely hiding spot. Yet he had no idea of knowing whether they were in a motel or a private residence.
Battling a wave of frustration, he pulled his phone and called Griff again.
The FBI agent out of Wyoming answered on the first ring.
“I was just going to call you. Dom found the car at two different locations. The first was at the intersection of Wacker and Monroe; the second sighting was at West Taylor and Morgan Street. Do you know where they are?”
As Griff spoke, he wrenched the computer from the tech guy and zeroed in on the map to identify the most recent sighting. It was only a mile from the pinpointed cell tower. “Yeah, I have the map up for that location now. Looks like there could be a lot of residential homes in that area.”
“That’s what Dom said,” Griff agreed. “I don’t know if this helps much, but we wanted you to know.”
Rex was working on his laptop, so Grady stepped back, allowing the tech guy access to the screen. “Every little bit helps. Can you ask Dom to search for any property associated with Jerry, Simon, or Shane Cromwell?”
Griff repeated the request for Dom. Then added, “We’re on it. What are the Chicago feds doing?”
“They’re here.” He didn’t bother to mention he wasn’t impressed with Braun’s work on the case so far. The guy had an entire office of agents to help him, and Griff was giving him results faster. “Please keep me updated if you find anything.”
“Who was that?” Braun asked with a frown.
“Griff Flannery.” Grady held the agent’s gaze. “His tech guy was able to find the black SUV at two intersections.”
Braun’s face flushed, but he simply nodded. “That helps.”
You think? It took all of Grady’s willpower not to snap. “I want the local police to go knock on the doors of every motel and hotel within a mile of the pinpointed location of the call.”
To his credit, Braun didn’t argue but reached for his phone to do as Grady demanded.
“We need to search property records too,” the tech guy said. “We can find out if any are rentals.”
“That’s a good idea.” Grady liked the fact that each tech expert was working a different angle. Dom was looking for links to the Cromwell name, but searching for rentals in the area was a good plan too.
He glanced at Lauren, who had covered her face in her hands. His heart ached for her, and he wished he’d insisted they stay home from the stupid charity event.
“I think I found something,” Rex said, breaking into his thoughts.
Grady spun from the table to join his boss.
He bent to look over Rex’s shoulder to see his laptop screen.
“There’s a small rental property near the location of the cell tower signal.
Looks to be a small house nestled between apartment buildings.
It has a red-brick exterior with black shutters. ”
“What’s the address?” Grady asked, his heart thumping with anticipation.
“The address is 910 South Miller Street. It’s a few blocks from the last place the car was seen,” Rex added.
Grady turned toward the tech analyst. “Any chance we can figure out who rented it?”
“I’m not sure.” The lack of confidence was not inspiring.
Grady couldn’t stand the idea of sitting there a moment longer. He stood and reached for his coat.
“Where are you going?” Braun demanded.
“I’m going to check the area for myself.” He pulled his rental car key fob from his pocket. “I’ll call you if I see anything suspicious.”
“I’m coming with you.” Lauren jumped up from her seat at the table. “I’ll get my shoes.”
“You can’t,” Braun protested. “You need to be here to answer your phone when the kidnapper calls again.”
“It’s not like you were able to trace the call. Besides, I’ll call my father on the way.” Lauren stared at Grady, her gaze pleading with him. “He may be able to access money from an overseas account to make the ransom.”
“Are you sure about this?” He didn’t blame Lauren for wanting to ride along.
Sitting and doing nothing was painful. But having her there meant he needed to be extra careful.
When she nodded and shoved her injured feet into a pair of running shoes and pulled on her leather coat, he sighed. “Let’s go.”
“You can’t just leave . . .” Braun’s voice trailed off as they left the apartment, letting the door close softly behind them.
Lauren was silent as they rode the elevator down to the parking garage.
He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better.
He unlocked the car, then opened the passenger door for her.
Once they were out on the road, he finally said, “You know the area the best. What’s the quickest way to get to the west side of Chicago? ”
“Take a right at the next intersection.” Lauren’s voice was tight but calm. “I need to believe we’re going to find her.”
“We will.” He frowned. “Are you really going to call your father?”
“Yes.” She pulled out the new phone and made the call. Her father must have answered, because she said, “Dad? Lucy’s been kidnapped, and I need twenty-five million dollars.”
Grady focused on driving, mentally reviewing the map he’d looked at earlier in his mind.
That Lauren could casually discuss handing over such an astronomical amount of money to a kidnapper was difficult to comprehend.
He understood money was nothing compared to a child’s life, but he silently vowed there was no way he was letting the Cromwells get away with this.
Kidnapping a wealthy woman’s child because you feel as if you were owed something was unacceptable.
“I understand, Dad. I appreciate your efforts.” There was a pause, then Lauren added, “I will call you as soon as I hear from them. Thanks.”
“What did your dad say?” He couldn’t imagine getting money, even from overseas, was possible on a weekend.
“Turn right at the next intersection, then keep heading west.” She sighed and shook her head.
“It’s not good. Dad has some cryptocurrency that we can use, but the banks overseas are closed for the weekend too.
I don’t know what they’re thinking. Being rich doesn’t necessarily mean we can get that kind of money day or night.
” There was a hint of bitterness in her tone.
“That’s okay. We’re going to find Lucy very soon.” His phone rang. Recognizing Griff’s number, he handed it to Lauren. “This is Griff. Put the call on speaker, okay?”
She nodded and answered. “Griff, this is Lauren. We’re in the car. I’m putting you on speaker so Grady can hear.” She did so, then added, “Do you have something?”
“None of the properties in the area are owned by Cromwell,” Griff said, getting straight to the point. “We found a rental property in the area, though. We’re working on that as a possible location now.”
“Is 910 South Miller Street?” Grady asked. “We’re heading there now.”
“Yeah, it is. You think that’s the place?” Griff sounded excited now. “Hang on, Dom is doing his hacker thing to find out more.”
Grady glanced at Lauren. Her blue eyes were full of hope. “Please ask Dom to hurry,” she said. “They demanded a twenty-five-million-dollar ransom after hours on a Friday night. I don’t know what they’re going to do if I can’t make that happen.”
“Lauren, this is Dominic. I can help you do an electronic transfer if you’d like. The good news is that the funds won’t be available until Monday morning, so we’d have the weekend to continue working the case.”
“Thanks, Dominic.” Lauren’s voice was strained. “I will gladly pay that to get Lucy back. But I’m worried they’ll keep her until they know they can access the funds.”
Grady was inclined to agree with Lauren’s assessment. They needed to find Lucy before the one-hour deadline. “Let’s just see if we can identify where they’re holding Lucy.”
“I’m on it.” Grady heard Dom typing on the computer. “Okay, the good news is that they’re using a popular home-sharing app. They’ve tightened their security, but I think there’s a way . . .” Dominic’s voice trailed off. Then he said, “I’m in! Give me a minute to look at that specific address.”
“We’re going to find her,” Lauren whispered. “I can feel it.”
“Okay, I found that rental property, but it’s not being paid for by anyone with the name of Cromwell,” Dom said. “The payment was made by a woman by the name of Karla Dalton.”
“That’s Nelson’s girlfriend!” Lauren exclaimed. “She’s involved!”
Grady pushed his speed as fast as he dared. He wanted to get to the rental property as quickly as possible. “That’s perfect, Dom. You’ve been a huge help. Thanks. We need to call the police to let them know.”
“You do that. Let me know when you have the little girl back.” With that, Dom ended the call.
“Call Lieutenant Olson,” he said. “Tell him to have squads meet us at the rental property, but no lights and sirens. We need to approach with caution.”