THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

direct number. If you think of anything else, just give me a call.”
    Von walked Billy out to his car. When he came back, Kasey asked, “What do we do now?”
    “Wait.”
    Kasey grunted. “I would hate your job. It has to be the worst job in the world. Is it always like this? Every time you get one answer it leads to two more questions.”
    “That’s pretty much it, but when the puzzle comes together, it’s worth it.”
    “Well, it’s killing me,” Kasey said. “I’m going to call Scott and fill him in.”
     
    Kasey dialed Scott, who answered on the first ring. She gave him the update and he gave her just the pep talk she needed. She was glad she’d called him. When she hung up the phone, Von called out to her: “Hey, Kasey. I’m going to take a ride. You want to go?”
    Kasey jumped to her feet and appeared in the doorway. “Absolutely. Anything is better than sitting here.”
    “Where are we going to go in this little town?” asked Riley.
    Von shrugged. “We’ll just cruise around. Who knows, we might stumble onto another clue.”
    “In that case,” Riley said, picking up her purse, “I’d like to go, too. If there’s any chance in a million that it might help us bring home Jake faster, I’m in.”
    They piled into the SUV, and Von cruised the streets. It was a small town, with a typical main street and a grid of numbered and named streets. Several of the storefronts on Main Street were empty. The economy was tough on these small towns and family-owned shops.
    They drove through neighborhoods, not really sure what they were looking for. After they’d driven every street in the grid around the town’s center, Von headed back toward the interstate. Traffic got heavier as they neared the strip mall. Von turned into the parking lot of the small shopping center.
    “What are we doing?” Riley asked.
    “Surveillance,” Von said. “There’s a pizza joint, an ice cream store, and a grocery store. All places someone with a kid might go.” He pulled his money from the front pocket of his jeans and peeled off a twenty. “Why don’t y’all get us some milkshakes?”
    Riley snagged the cash from his hands. “You don’t have to ask me twice. Chocolate for you, right?”
    “You know it.” He pushed his seat back from the steering wheel and got comfortable.
    Riley and Kasey came back with the milkshakes.
    When Kasey got into the back seat, she leaned forward and said to Von, “Okay. This might not be the worst job in the world. I could get used to sitting around drinking milkshakes for a living.”
    They watched for a while. Not long after the lights in the parking lot came on, Von’s cell phone rang.
    Seven-thirty.
    “Yeah, Von here.”
    Kasey and Riley strained to listen.
    Von nodded. “Yeah. Okay...When?...Right.” Von tucked the phone between his cheek and neck and turned the key in the engine. “What color?...Thanks. We’re on our way.” He let the phone drop from his chin to his lap as he threw one arm over the back of the passenger seat and whirled the SUV out of the parking spot.
    “What?” Kasey and Riley asked in unison.
    Von sped back out to the main road.
    “What’s going on?” Riley fumbled for her seat belt, steadying herself by grabbing for the dash as Von squealed around the next corner.
    “She just left the Walmart.” Von’s jaw tensed, his attention laser-focused on the road.
    “Who?” asked Riley.
    Kasey reached over the seat and grabbed Riley’s arm. “With Jake? The woman and Jake.” She slapped the seat like a jockey urging a racehorse. “Go!”
    Von got to the main highway and turned right.
    “Where are you going?” Kasey yelled. “Walmart is the other way.”
    Von weaved in and out of traffic. “Keep your eyes open for a black Nissan sedan.”
     

 
    Chapter Twenty-Seven
     
    Von navigated through three traffic lights on green and hit the accelerator to catch up to the cars ahead of them on an open stretch of road.
    “Be careful, honey,” Riley said.
    They came up behind the first vehicle. A white Volkswagen. Von maneuvered around it and floored the accelerator to catch up to the next cars: two SUVs, and the last a battered blue pickup truck. The road ahead was dark. No taillights in sight. Von smacked the steering wheel and swerved to the side of the road. “Damn.”
    “What the hell was that all about?” Riley hung on to the door and console. “Why are we stopping?”
    Von squealed tires back onto the road in the other direction,