to interfere in the investigation of a missing child? To waste a full day when police could have been trying to find him?”
“It wasn’t even one day,” Summer protested. “We set up the meeting last night. I was going to post your confession on the internet as soon as I left that stupid coffee shop, and then tell you I had nothing to do with that boy’s disappearance!”
If Summer was telling the truth, she and her brother had highjacked a kidnapping investigation to gain a momentary advantage in their bid to get Darren Gunther out of prison. The more logical explanation was that she was lying. Leo was about to press her again for more details about the abduction when his cell phone buzzed against the table.
It was from Detective Langland.
He left Summer alone in the locked interrogation room to answer the call. This is it, he thought. She’s going to tell me they found Johnny. Please.
Instead, he heard the disappointment in her voice immediately. “The brother’s house was a bust, Leo. We didn’t find him.”
His shoulders heaved forward as if he’d been punched in the stomach. “Were we too late? Did they move him?”
“I don’t know. We searched every inch of the property. There’s no sign of Johnny anywhere. No indication that he was ever here, in fact.”
Despite his follow-up questions, there was nothing more to learn. When he hung up the phone, he forced himself to take five deep breaths. He had been so certain. This was supposed to be the day they brought Johnny home. Had it all been a waste of time?
He re-entered the interrogation room with a new objective in mind. They still had the toll records showing that Toby’s car had been used to travel to Long Island and back on the day of the kidnapping. Leo decided that if Summer had an explanation for the travel, she might actually be telling the truth. If she didn’t, they might still be on the right track.
“Summer, we can prove you were at the hotel when Johnny disappeared.” The evidence didn’t actually place her at the hotel, but he wasn’t required to explain that to her.
To his surprise, she readily admitted that he was correct. “I went there to find Laurie.”
“Why would you try to see my daughter on her vacation?”
“I’m a huge fan of her television show. I thought I could appeal to her sense of justice to help Darren. What better way to expose the truth than to win over the daughter of the investigating detective?”
“How did you know where to find her?”
“Alex Buckley’s sister-in-law posted a picture on Facebook, saying the whole family was going to Long Island to celebrate his birthday. The post included a photograph of the hotel. I figured I could have lunch on the deck and find a way to introduce myself to Laurie. But right when I was walking into the hotel, there she was, walking out with Alex and another couple, getting into a black Mercedes with Alex behind the wheel. I rushed back to Toby’s car and followed them. Once they got out at the golf course, I figured there was no way for me to talk to her there, so I headed back to the hotel to wait. But when they did return, it was clear something bad had happened. Everyone was running around the beach frantically, and then the police came, so I left.”
“Johnny had been kidnapped. That’s why they were frantic.”
“Well, I didn’t know that at the time. I just got scared and drove home. You have to believe me: as much as I love Darren and want to help him, I would never—never ever ever—take or hurt or even scare an innocent little child. Didn’t you see how nervous I was when you pushed me to say I’d let him go? Just pretending like I had done that, I felt like I was going to get sick.”
Leo searched Summer’s wide eyes. She looked disgusted with herself.
“Johnny’s only seven years old,” he said. “He’s a sweet boy. He loves to swim and play soccer and baseball. He has twin four-year-old sisters who look up to him, and a mother and father who love him. They really thought we were going to bring their son home today—because you let us believe that.”
She hung her head in shame. “I’m so, so sorry.”
In that moment, he could see that she was telling the truth, which meant he had been wrong. He had been so consumed by