“We are only now putting these cases together as they all took place in different jurisdictions,” Emmett continued. “To make things worse, the other two victims were never reported as missing. Gayle Gorman and Nina Olsen were estranged from their families.” Emmett paused, then said, “Yesterday morning, Dodger’s granddaughter, Mia—who is eighteen years old and four months pregnant—disappeared from a nearby bakery. Mia was texting her grandfather while on her way from dropping clothes off at the local church to a quick detour to satisfy a craving for a cheese Danish at the bakery across the street.”
“She told me she thought someone was following her,” Dodger spoke up. “I texted her back to hurry up and get inside, but she didn’t respond. I rushed over to find her, but she was gone.”
“The bakery doesn’t have any cameras and the clerk behind the counter insists she didn’t see a pregnant woman matching Mia’s description,” Emmett added. “The only things we found were Mia’s phone and her bracelet lying on the sidewalk outside the bakery. Both likely had been dropped or fallen off during the struggle.”
Autumn swallowed hard at the thought of pregnant Mia fighting off an assailant. Had Jenny done the same eight months ago? She hated to admit Jordan was right to be upset by the lack of progress on his half sister’s case.
“Mia is well loved and we’re desperate to get her back,” Dodger said, his voice cracking. “My wife and I have raised Mia for the past ten years since her mother died. Please, I know other girls have lost their lives and that’s horrible, but there’s still a chance to find Mia.”
“Do we have anything else to go on?” Eli Blackwood asked. “I mean, other than that these girls were all pregnant when they first disappeared?”
“I think that’s the key here, don’t you?” Autumn eyed Emmett. “Our medical examiner has determined Jennifer Clarke died shortly after giving birth. There’s no sign of her baby and now we know two other girls were found dead in a similar manner, also without their babies being anywhere nearby.” She glanced at Dodger, then carefully added, “Could we be dealing with some sort of underground black market adoption ring? To them, all that matters is the baby. Not the mother.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Dodger said grimly. “I’m worried sick that if we don’t find Mia in time, we’ll discover her dead body with no sign of her baby, either.”
Hearing the statement spoken so bluntly made them all look at each other with concern. The clock was ticking and there wasn’t a moment to waste.
“Our theory is that most of these girls were facing rather hard circumstances, which made them ripe for being kidnapped,” Emmett said. Autumn sadly realized Jenny was likely targeted for that same reason. “The bakery Mia was going to happens to be right next to a food bank. We suspect the kidnappers assumed Mia was alone and vulnerable, rather than being the granddaughter of a well-to-do family in the area.”
“The first of hopefully more mistakes to come,” Dodger said darkly.
Again, Autumn felt guilty since Jordan had raised the alarm about Jenny’s disappearance eight months ago. If only they’d tried harder to find her…
“What happens once we bust up this black market adoption ring?” Lizzie asked, interrupting her thoughts. “If that’s what we’re dealing with, what about the babies that were placed with adoptive families?” Autumn shuddered to think about the high “fees” the ring had charged for the adoptions.
“These adoptions were obviously illegal and our plan will be to place the babies back with their respective biological families, if we can find them.” Emmett grimaced. “But we have a lot of work to do before we reach that point. Autumn, I’d like you and River to deep dive into Jenny Clarke’s disappearance. We need to know everyone she spoke to in those last few days before she was taken.”
Autumn caught River’s gaze and nodded. “Sounds good.”
Emmett went on to issue a few additional assignments, specifically to dig into the other two dead girls’ backgrounds. “The cases of Gayle Gorman and Nina Olsen are complicated by the fact nobody reported them missing,” Emmett said somberly. “Backtracking the last few days before they were taken won’t be easy. I’ll keep everyone in the loop as we learn more, and we’ll have regular meetings, either by phone or in person. Oh, I forgot to mention we’ll use our lab here to help coordinate evidence moving forward. Also, the Denver PD tech specialist, Eva Gomez, is available to follow up on all leads. Her first task will be to look into our two earlier victims to see if they had any social media that may help us identify a place to start. Any questions?” Emmett swept his gaze over the room.
Autumn had a lot of questions but knew there weren’t corresponding answers. At least not yet.
But she was more determined than ever to do her part to find Mia, before it was too late.
The way it had been for Jenny.
* * *
Normally, Jordan didn’t mind doing ranch chores, but today he kept losing track of the tasks that needed to be done. As Cutie played outside, romping in the spring air, he couldn’t help ruminating over Jenny.
He’d made so many mistakes. He’d thought giving her time to come to grips with being pregnant and needing to move in with him at the ranch would help. Especially after he and Shiloh had broken up. His ex hadn’t liked the isolation of the ranch. He’d thought Shiloh’s leaving would encourage Jenny to move in.
Instead, she’d disappeared and was now dead.
He bowed his head, realizing he needed to plan a memorial service for her. And now that she’d been found, Jenny could be buried in the small family cemetery next to their father.
Would she like that? He honestly wasn’t sure. Jenny could be difficult at times. Moody and sullen. Angry then seemingly carefree. Stubborn, then vulnerable.
He’d hated knowing she was sleeping on the sofa in Sasha’s apartment. Sasha insisted she didn’t mind, but Jordan knew that Jenny couldn’t stay there indefinitely. Especially once she was further along in her pregnancy.
And he’d been upset to realize that even Cutie hadn’t been enough to convince Jenny to stay.
He reached for his phone, wishing Autumn would call. She’d promised to keep him informed on the task force, but for all he knew they were still meeting in Denver.
As he slid the device back into his pocket, it rang. He pounced, quickly answering when he saw Autumn’s name on the screen. “Autumn? Are you back in Canyon Creek?”
“We’re heading back now,” she said. “We’re probably twenty minutes out, maybe less. I’m bringing another officer by the name of River Jameson and his yellow Lab, Frankie, with me. We’d like to talk to you again about the events leading up to Jenny’s disappearance, if you don’t mind.”
