Read Online And Then There Was One by Patricia Gussin - Free Book Online

help the Cutty boys? She couldn’t help thinking that Maxwell Cutty was behind this. He had taken Sammie and Alex away from her to prevent her testimony, preying on the worst fear of a mother. Wasn’t this the only scenario that made sense, what with no ransom demand?
    When Streeter left the room to take a call, Katie rested her head on the table. Exhausted, terrified, she just couldn’t shake the image of Maxwell Cutty locking her daughters up — or worse. Wading through her professional knowledge, she tried to determine whether he wouldsexually abuse Sammie and Alex or whether they’d be protected by his preference for young boys.
    Then there was the lingering specter of Keith Franklin. She’d intended to tell Agent Streeter about him last night, but she’d been too exhausted. Why after so many years had he sent her that e-mail? Naturally, she had not responded, but could his ego have become so fragile that a rebuff could have set him off? Triggered an act of retribution of such drastic proportions? Could her old boyfriend have Sammie and Alex? His email had said
I’ll take care of your daughters.
    Katie’s head stayed down until Agent Streeter returned. She had no choice. She had to tell him, and in doing that, she’d have to disclose to Scott the only secret that she’d ever kept from him. How he would react she didn’t know, but the lives of their daughters were hanging in the balance.
    “You okay?” Streeter he asked.
    “Agent Streeter, I have something to tell you.” She nodded at the other three agents still in the conference room. “Just you, please, and Scott?”

CHAPTER 10
    Monica Monroe Cancels European Tour to Be With Family.
— USA Today
Tuesday, June 14
    Early Tuesday morning, two FBI agents pounded on the front door of the Franklin home on the east side of Detroit. Keith himself came to the door. He looked his age, fifty, had skin a shade darker than the tan coveralls he wore, sleeves rolled up to emphasize impressive biceps. The agents had approached the home cautiously. Could this be the lead they so desperately needed? Through an open window, they heard the canned laughter of a sitcom rerun interspersed with the strident shouting common to marital combat.
    The feds had tracked Franklin as he left his job at central sanitation. He’d put in his eight-hour shift, driving the truck, helping to wrestle garbage cans, a messy job, not a pleasant one. No wonder he followed his shift with a beer or two at a local bar before heading home.
    “Mr. Franklin, we’re from the FBI,” the senior agent announced, hand on holster. “We would like you to come down to the field office. We have some questions we’d like to ask you.”
    A woman inside, whom the agents assumed was Penny Franklin, his wife, was still shrieking expletives nonstop.
    Franklin stood slack jawed and mute and opened the door more widely.
    “What’s it about?” Franklin asked as a slender, attractive woman, several years younger joined him.
    “What are they doing here?” The woman tossed her hair and pointed to the two agents in suits.
    “Mr. Franklin, we need to question you about the Monroe children,” came the response. “You need to come with us.”
    Franklin’s face gave nothing away, but his wife’s glare was pure hostility. Turning, she slapped him, hard on the face. “What the fuck have you been doing with that bitch?”
    “Nothing.”
    “I thought so. You are seeing her! Do you have anything to do with those missing kids? Are you in this with her, you piece of shit? Because if you are, I’ll see you burn in hell.”
    “Come with us, Mr. Franklin.” The agents flanked him, separating him from his wife and three boys who stood gawking in the background.
    Keith Franklin responded without a word.
    Streeter acquiesced to Katie’s request that the agents in the conference room give them a few moments. As they filed out, Katie asked, “Could someone keep Jackie while we talk?”
    “Ellen,” Streeter called,