Read Online The Abduction: A Novel by Jonathan Holt - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jonathan Holt
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it comes to the real thing.”
“American girls do that, do they?” Kat said, shooting her an amused glance.
“It’s hard to generalise about American girls,” Holly said frostily. “Since there are around fifty million of them.”
“Oh, of course. You’re a superpower , right?”
“So what are we going to do?” Holly said with a sigh. “Can you help? Or do the parents just have to go on waiting?”
“Doesn’t this look odd to you?” Kat demanded, glancing round the too-neat bedroom.
“In what way?”
“It’s so… tidy. So perfect.” She gestured. “She’s even made the bed. What teenager does that?”
“Oh.” Now it was Holly’s turn to look amused. “Kat, it’s a military family.” She nodded at the rows of houses beyond the window. “They’ll all be like that. My own bedroom—” She stopped, aware that she was straying back towards an area better not discussed right now. “It just becomes routine.”
Kat grunted, also conscious that this was probably not the time to go too deeply into the subject of Holly’s domestic habits. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to talk to her friends.”
“What about her phone?”
“I can put in a request. But it will take eight weeks to get anything back.”
“Eight weeks!” Holly looked aghast.
“This is Italy. We may not be a superpower, but we do have certain checks and balances. I’ll have to apply for a warrant – that means getting a prosecutor appointed, then proving to their satisfaction that a crime has been committed, and that there’s a reasonable chance of convicting someone.”
“But how can you say who committed the crime if you haven’t been allowed to investigate it?” Not for the first time, Holly found herself wondering if the Italian legal system hadn’t been deliberately designed to obstruct criminal investigations, rather than facilitate them.
Kat, who had come to exactly that conclusion long ago, shrugged. “That’s the law.”
Holly hesitated. “What about Daniele Barbo? Could we ask him to help?”
“Are you joking?”
The founder of Carnivia might be an acquaintance of theirs, but he wasn’t someone you could just ask a favour of. Not that the illegality of accessing someone’s phone records would bother him – Daniele had his own, somewhat idiosyncratic, concept of morality – but the notion of doing another person a good turn would, Kat suspected, be completely alien to him.
“If it wasn’t for us, he’d be in prison,” Holly said. “I thought perhaps – in an unofficial capacity, of course…”
Kat considered. Saito had, after all, asked her to help in any way she could, and since there was no chance whatsoever that Daniele would say yes, it could do no harm to ask. But she thought it significant that Holly – normally a stickler for doing things through official channels – was worried enough to suggest something as desperate as this.
“Well, as a Carabinieri officer, I can’t ask him. But there’s nothing to stop you doing it – so long as I don’t know, of course.”
“I’ll send him an email,” Holly said. “Whatever he’s doing, he’s almost certainly doing it in front of a screen.”
As they left the bedroom Kat picked up the fake ID again. “You say teenagers in the US use these to buy booze?”
“That’s right. Why?”
“Major Elston said they’ve been in Italy for three years. Mia and her friends can buy alcohol here quite legally at sixteen. So what else was she doing, that she needed to lie about her age for?”
NINE
SHE HEARD THE rattle of a chain at the door. The man in the Harlequin mask came in, carrying a tray. Behind him was Bauta, once again filming everything.
On the tray was a bottle of nutrition drink. She recognised the brand – Ensure. Some of the jocks at school used it as a supplement.
“The prisoner will eat,” Harlequin said flatly, setting the tray down. He stood back so that the other man could continue to film as she opened the
“American girls do that, do they?” Kat said, shooting her an amused glance.
“It’s hard to generalise about American girls,” Holly said frostily. “Since there are around fifty million of them.”
“Oh, of course. You’re a superpower , right?”
“So what are we going to do?” Holly said with a sigh. “Can you help? Or do the parents just have to go on waiting?”
“Doesn’t this look odd to you?” Kat demanded, glancing round the too-neat bedroom.
“In what way?”
“It’s so… tidy. So perfect.” She gestured. “She’s even made the bed. What teenager does that?”
“Oh.” Now it was Holly’s turn to look amused. “Kat, it’s a military family.” She nodded at the rows of houses beyond the window. “They’ll all be like that. My own bedroom—” She stopped, aware that she was straying back towards an area better not discussed right now. “It just becomes routine.”
Kat grunted, also conscious that this was probably not the time to go too deeply into the subject of Holly’s domestic habits. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to talk to her friends.”
“What about her phone?”
“I can put in a request. But it will take eight weeks to get anything back.”
“Eight weeks!” Holly looked aghast.
“This is Italy. We may not be a superpower, but we do have certain checks and balances. I’ll have to apply for a warrant – that means getting a prosecutor appointed, then proving to their satisfaction that a crime has been committed, and that there’s a reasonable chance of convicting someone.”
“But how can you say who committed the crime if you haven’t been allowed to investigate it?” Not for the first time, Holly found herself wondering if the Italian legal system hadn’t been deliberately designed to obstruct criminal investigations, rather than facilitate them.
Kat, who had come to exactly that conclusion long ago, shrugged. “That’s the law.”
Holly hesitated. “What about Daniele Barbo? Could we ask him to help?”
“Are you joking?”
The founder of Carnivia might be an acquaintance of theirs, but he wasn’t someone you could just ask a favour of. Not that the illegality of accessing someone’s phone records would bother him – Daniele had his own, somewhat idiosyncratic, concept of morality – but the notion of doing another person a good turn would, Kat suspected, be completely alien to him.
“If it wasn’t for us, he’d be in prison,” Holly said. “I thought perhaps – in an unofficial capacity, of course…”
Kat considered. Saito had, after all, asked her to help in any way she could, and since there was no chance whatsoever that Daniele would say yes, it could do no harm to ask. But she thought it significant that Holly – normally a stickler for doing things through official channels – was worried enough to suggest something as desperate as this.
“Well, as a Carabinieri officer, I can’t ask him. But there’s nothing to stop you doing it – so long as I don’t know, of course.”
“I’ll send him an email,” Holly said. “Whatever he’s doing, he’s almost certainly doing it in front of a screen.”
As they left the bedroom Kat picked up the fake ID again. “You say teenagers in the US use these to buy booze?”
“That’s right. Why?”
“Major Elston said they’ve been in Italy for three years. Mia and her friends can buy alcohol here quite legally at sixteen. So what else was she doing, that she needed to lie about her age for?”
NINE
SHE HEARD THE rattle of a chain at the door. The man in the Harlequin mask came in, carrying a tray. Behind him was Bauta, once again filming everything.
On the tray was a bottle of nutrition drink. She recognised the brand – Ensure. Some of the jocks at school used it as a supplement.
“The prisoner will eat,” Harlequin said flatly, setting the tray down. He stood back so that the other man could continue to film as she opened the
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