Abducted: A Jake Badger Mystery Thriller by Glenn Rogers

know.” I spent a couple of
minutes explaining our thinking and what we had done already. When I finished,
I could hear Patty crying.
    “Thank
you, Jake,” Mr. Nolan said. “We know you’re doing everything you can.”
    “We
are. And you have a right to know what we’re doing. Call me tomorrow night and
we’ll talk again.”
    I
got home at nine thirty-five and spent a few minutes greeting Wilson. Alex
arrived at nine forty-five. We spent three hours going through files and came
up with two possibilities. The first, Alex found, was a female officer, a first
lieutenant name Gretchen Petersen, whom Monica had arrested eleven years ago
for dealing drugs. She was convicted and served ten years. A note in the file,
included, no doubt, by Vince’s friend, Gloria, said she had been released one
month ago. I'd have to call Vince and have him thank Gloria for that.
    During
Lieutenant Petersen’s trial, she had continuously insisted that the drugs found
in her apartment had been planted and the testimony of the witnesses were lies.
She claimed that she had been raped. The rapist had planted the drugs and had
reported, that same evening, that she had tried to sell him drugs. She insisted
that she was innocent and that her life was being ruined. Monica's
investigation had turned up three witnesses who said that the lieutenant had,
indeed, tried to sell them drugs. As for the rape, it was her word against that
of a Captain Cody Hanks, who had an impeccable record. The lieutenant accused
Monica of being part of a conspiracy against her.
    Gretchen
Petersen had been convicted of a felony, spent ten years in prison, and
received a dishonorable discharge. Her life had indeed been ruined and she
believed Monica was part of the whole scheme. If anyone had reason to be angry
with Monica and a good motive for revenge, Gretchen Petersen certainly seemed a
likely candidate.
    I
found the second candidate. It was the father of a young man, a private named
Christopher Humphries. Humphries had been arrested by Monica for being drunk and disorderly. The private had resisted arrest, taking a punch
at Monica. She had slipped the punch and thrown an over hand right that put the
private on his back. The problem was that when he hit the ground, his head hit
the floor pretty hard. He died a few hours later from traumatic brain injury.
The report made it clear that the fatal injury had not been caused by Monica’s
punch, but by hitting his head on the floor.
    Two
other MPs, both males, had been with Monica when they had responded to the
drunk and disorderly call. The other MPs had arrested the other two soldiers.
Monica was in the process of arresting the private when he resisted. The other
two MPs testified that Monica had not used unnecessary force. One of the soldiers who had been arrested, also testified that given
Humphries' behavior, Captain Nolan had no choice but to defend herself as she
did.
    The
matter had been properly investigated and it was concluded that Captain Nolan
had acted appropriately. But then Mr. Albert Humphries, the private's father,
had accused the army of covering up a wrongful death. He had pursued the matter
in the media and had spent a great deal of money hiring lawyers who promised
results but achieved none. Monica had followed the story because at one point
Mr. Humphries had threatened to right the wrong himself if the army did
nothing.
    Alex
looked at the dates in the file. The fifth anniversary of Private Humphries'
death was two days before Monica's abduction. Mr. Humphries would need to be
interviewed.
    “We
still have more files to go through,” Alex said. “How about I take them with me
and have a couple of agents go through the rest tomorrow?”
    “Sounds
good,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”
    “Sure.
Did Dell get back to you?”
    I
explained what Kyle Dell had said and told him about Gary Moller.
    “So
we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
    “Looks
like it.” I said. “I'll be there around