Cut & Run (A Rachel Scott Adventure) - By Traci Hohenstein Page 0,5
mad that Janine was trying to get full custody and he thought he could take care of Jack better than she could.”
“It’s possible that Scotty was involved in the child abduction ring while he was working at the dealership. It wasn’t a gambling problem. He was getting money from the child abduction ring.” Lewis had continued to write notes on his pad. “We need to take another look at child disappearances in the Miami area around the same time that Mallory disappeared.”
“Red Cooper, who was the lead detective on Mallory’s case at the time, did take a look at Scotty,” Rachel told him. “He didn’t find anything suspicious when he questioned him, although Scotty couldn’t provide a solid alibi for the time frame that Mallory disappeared. He’d claimed he was out of work at the time and was probably home the morning Mallory vanished.”
“We have a warrant out for Scotty’s arrest,” Hammond had assured Rachel. “We are also looking for the Amsels. They have a residence in Miami and one in Germany, but so far they haven’t shown up at either place.”
Rachel finally got to the shoreline and dragged her board onto the soft sand, feeling happy that she’d been able to get out on the water to clear her head. She located the backpack she’d left behind on a beach chair and pulled out a plastic hair clip. She took her long auburn hair and fashioned it into a messy bun, securing it with the clip. Taking a long sip of bottled water from the backpack, she tried to gather her thoughts. It was time to figure out her next move. As she stared out at the blue water, she asked herself the questions she’d asked Hammond several times during their meetings.
If Scotty or the Amsels were found, would the FBI uncover new clues to find Mallory?
Was Scotty the person who kidnapped Mallory? If so, was it revenge for being fired from the dealership or just a coincidence?
Tonight Rachel would be flying home to Miami. She wanted to start from scratch and retrace Scotty Jensen’s every move from the day Mallory disappeared. Rachel also planned to find out everything she could about Helen and Dirk Amsel. She would also talk to Rick again about Scotty’s employment history with the dealership. They could be overlooking some significant clue. Rachel knew that Rick wanted to find his daughter just as badly as she did and would be willing to help.
She was close to finding Mallory. She could just feel it.
CHAPTER 3
Once Rachel was back in Miami, she involved herself in finding out more about Scotty Jensen and the Amsel couple, hoping it would bring fresh leads to finding Mallory. At the same time, she was fielding calls on other cases. Her second morning back, Red Cooper called her from Baton Rouge.
“We’ve got a pretty interesting case going on out here,” Red said. “Think you could fly in and help us out? We could use you on this one, Rach.”
Rachel smiled at the sound of his voice and leaned back in her chair. She remembered first meeting Red when he was a detective with the Miami police department. He’d been assigned to Mallory’s case and worked tirelessly to find her. During that time, Rachel had become close to him and treated him like a second father. When Red had told her he was getting ready to retire from the force and go into practice as a private investigator, Rachel had offered him a position at Florida Omni Search and he’d taken her up on the offer. This turned out to be a win-win arrangement for both parties. Rachel gave Red free office space in exchange for his expertise on some of her bigger cases. Lately, he had been working more of her missing-persons cases than his own jobs, but he never complained. Rachel benefited from the situation because it meant she got to work with a pro every day, one who also brought plenty of smarts to her daughter’s ongoing case. That Red still had ties to the police department and was able to use them to help with Rachel’s other cases was just the icing on the cake.
“This is the missing family you told me about?” Rachel asked, juggling her cell phone and a manila file folder. As much as she tried to absorb the details of other ongoing cases, they remained vague in her mind; that was always the case when she was focused on chasing down leads about Mallory.