Chapter 2- 72 hours earlier

Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent knew that it was going to be a long night. First, there was a suspicious death that she'd delegated to DI Ramsey. She was hoping that she could go back to bed and be briefed in the morning, but Ramsey called her to say that the pathologist had never arrived. She checked her records: Dr Hobson had confirmed that she was en route over an hour ago. As Hobson was no longer answering her mobile, Innocent ordered a roadside search of the route between the crime scene and Hobson's home in addition to dispatching a new pathologist to the site. Innocent decided not to call Hobson's beloved Inspector Lewis before investigating further; she didn't want to worry him needlessly if she could avoid it. She whispered goodnight to a snoring Mr Innocent and made her way to the station.

Innocent was not the least bit surprised to find a wild-eyed Robbie Lewis waiting for her when she arrived. The retired Inspector no longer had an office at the Oxfordshire Police station, but the desk sergeant respected Lewis enough to show him to Innocent's own office. "Ma'am! It's Laura. I think she's in trouble. She called from the road on the way to a call out. Someone had blocked the road. She'd thought the driver had hit a deer. She said she'd gotten out to talk to the driver and then called me straight away because she thought that something wasn't right. Then she made a noise and we were cut off."

"What sort of noise?"

"Not a scream exactly, but maybe a reaction to… to being hit by something or someone. You've got to trace her mobile! Tell me where the call out was. I've got to find her!"

"Just try to remain calm. I already sent a car along her route when she didn't arrive at the crime scene. I'll get the trace on her mobile right away." As she picked up the phone receiver, a constable entered and beckoned for Innocent's attention. She excused herself, and then returned a minute later to find Lewis pacing back and forth. "Sit down, Robbie."

"Just tell me!" He said, banging his fist on the desk.

Innocent sighed. "We found her car and her mobile was about 100 yards away. All of her belongings are still in the car. But there is no sign of Laura. We're doing everything we can to find her. I've just assigned Alan Peterson to the case."

"Anyone but Action Man, ma'am! He'll get her killed!"

"DI Peterson gets results, Lewis. You should thank me for assigning such a pro-active detective. Now, sit down, and I need you to go over this phone call with me again. Tell me exactly what she said and what you heard.


Meanwhile, Laura woke up on the cold floor of a stone structure. She could see by the dim light of a lantern that a man was unfurling a bale of hay. Laura tried to clear her throat, but it came out as a humming sound; her mouth had been covered with duct tape as her hands and feet were similarly bound. Her captor knew she was awake now. She blinked at him, too terrified to make a noise as he went to lift her onto the pile of hay.

"I've been watching you for months, Dr Hobson, waiting for the right moment. I didn't realize it would be this cold. Hopefully you won't freeze to death before the police find you. I don't really want another life to be lost; I just want justice." He ripped the duct tape off her face, leaving a dreadful red mark where the adhesive had been. "Who are you?" She whispered. She was in too much pain and confusion from the concussion she'd received from being struck over the head with torchlight to come up with anything else- or to say it louder. He replied as he bound her mouth again, this time with a cloth gag.

"You don't remember? I'll never forget the day I had to identify my daughter in your mortuary. Are you so jaded by dead people that you don't remember the living? There." He finished tying the knot around her head. "You should still be able to drink through that." He proceeded to fill a trough with water. "That ought to last you a few days- though it might freeze first. Hope you ate well before you got here. I'd forgotten you were such a skinny little thing."


Back at the station, Jean Innocent felt that Robbie Lewis had overstayed his usefulness. Of course, the former police inspector refused to leave. She tried to have uniform drive him home, but he fought her at every turn. Innocent finally had someone in Human Resources look up the phone number of another former employee. She crossed her fingers as she made the call.

"Ma'am?" Came a timid and surprised voice. Innocent was somehow relieved that James Hathaway had apparently kept her number saved in his home phone.

"Hathaway- James, if I may- I need your help." She explained the situation. "Robbie needs a handler. I don't want to call his daughter yet, though. You're a mental health counsellor now, right?" Hathaway indicated affirmatively. "Good. I'll tell your employer that you're working on a special head-case for the police."


Just as Hathaway was arriving to collect Lewis, another man also showed up at the police station. He calmly introduced himself to the desk sergeant.

"My name is Miles Whitacre. I've kidnapped a certain pathologist."

Hathaway leapt in as the desk sergeant called for assistance. "Where is she?" He demanded.

"I'm not going to tell you just yet." The man said gravely.