The Missing by Chris Mooney

of Ryzer’s old catalogues, he has vendor information and contacts. Plus, he’d be willing to look at it right away. If he can narrow down the make and model, all the feds would need to do is to run the boot impression through their footwear database. Emmerich has contacts at the lab. Running it through the database to see if it’s connected to any nationwide case would take a day, tops.’
    ‘And his fee for this service?’
    Darby told him the price.
    Leland’s eyes widened.
    ‘What did Banville say?’
    ‘I haven’t talked to him yet,’ Darby said.
    ‘Good luck selling him on that.’
    ‘If he won’t pay for it, I say we pick up the tab. The person who abducted Carol Cranmore has done this sort of thing before – at least twice.’
    Leland was already shaking his head. ‘There’s no way I’ll be able to get a purchase authorization –’
    ‘Let me explain. The woman under the porch, Jane Doe, she thought I was this woman named Terry Mastrangelo. I had Missing Persons run the name through their computer. Terry Mastrangelo is twenty-two, lived in New Brunswick, Connecticut. Her roommate said Terry went out for ice cream. She didn’t take her car, she walked. She never made it home.’
    ‘How long has she been missing?’
    ‘Over two years.’
    Leland sat up in his chair.
    ‘Terry Mastrangelo also has a son named Jimmy,’ Darby said. ‘He’s eight now, lives with his grandmother. That’s all I know. I don’t have access to the actual case file, so Banville will have to request it.’
    ‘It wouldn’t hurt him to take a look at VICAP, see if there’s anything mentioned in there, like your footwear impression.’
    Darby was sure Banville had already consulted the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. ‘Here’s a copy of Terry Mastrangelo’s picture.’
    Leland studied the piece of paper.
    ‘You definitely share a similar look,’ he said. ‘You both have fair skin and auburn hair.’ He placed the paper on his desk blotter. The woman you found underneath the porch, do we have any news on her condition?’
    ‘Not yet,’ Darby said. ‘As for her prints, they’re still running through AFIS.’
    ‘So the person who abducted Carol Cranmore is most likely keeping her somewhere – probably the same place where Terry Mastrangelo and the porch woman were kept.’
    ‘Now you know why I’m in such a rush to identify the footwear impression we found.’
    ‘I talked with Erin,’ Leland said. The blood you found on the wall is AB negative. Carol’s blood is O positive. Erin also found dried blood on the tan fiberand several spots on the T-shirt. The blood on the fiber matches the blood on the wall.’
    Darby wasn’t holding out hope for a match on CODIS. The Combined DNA Identification System, while state-of-the-art, was relatively new; only the most recent cases were stored in there. Because of a lack of funding – each DNA extraction test cost hundreds of dollars – the majority of rape kits and DNA evidence sat in evidence rooms across the country.
    ‘Trace said the tan fiber is used in commercial rugs. That’s all I have.’ Darby stood.
    ‘Hold on, I want to talk to you about something.’
    Darby had an idea what was coming.
    ‘Abduction cases are pressure cookers. Once the media finds the link between Carol Cranmore and Jane Doe – and you and I both know they will – they’ll be camped out here, and we’ll have people like Nancy Grace doing a countdown every night on TV until Carol Cranmore’s body is found.
    ‘I know you’re living with your mother at the moment to help ease her through her… situation,’ Leland said. ‘A case like this is very demanding on someone’s time. You may not be able to spend that much time with her. You have plenty of vacation time – and there’s family leave.’
    ‘Do you have a problem with my job performance?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Then I guess you’re having reservations because my former partner was convicted of planting evidence on the