Goblins Read Online Free Page B

the teeth. The coach had mentioned them, but Hale wasn’t about to let his mind go there until he saw them for himself.
    He and the other officers scoured the immediate area, looking for snapped twigs, crushed underbrush or strands of clothing that had gotten caught on branches, anything that might lead them in the direction of the abductor. But there was nothing, as if whoever had snatched Jacob had simply launched into the air above like a superhero.
    It was common cop knowledge that whenever a child was abducted, the perpetrators fled in a hurry. They didn’t take their time or move cautiously. By the way the surrounding woods appeared, the kidnapper, or possibly kidnappers, had left like seasoned thieves. They’d obviously been prepared. Experienced. No one had heard a sound from Jacob when he’d been attacked. The entire scene was odd. Add in the green ooze and it was just plain weird.
    Hale tried to think of an animal that might leave such a substance, but he couldn’t come up with one. And there was no way an animal would’ve left the area without leaving a trail. Plus, there’d be blood.
    Maybe the green ooze was a chemical. Something used to subdue the boy, keep him quiet. He’d have the lab check it out. It would take a day or two.
    When other officers arrived, the area was cordoned off with yellow police tape. A search party was formed—the cops, players and their parents and friends helping out. The entire wooded area was scoured. People progressed slowly and called out Jacob’s name every few minutes. Don Standford, a local hunter, joined in the search and brought his Bloodhounds. The dogs were given a shirt of Jacob’s to sniff. But the keen-nosed animals found no scent by which to follow, except for the one leading back to the field.
    The search went on all day, the hunt spreading out and over to adjacent forest, across roadways and into neighborhoods, but there was no sign of Jacob. Soon, dusk fell and then complete darkness save for the three-quarter moon’s shine, which wasn’t much help at all.
    The search continued the next day, but to no avail. Eventually, the checkpoints were removed and travel went back to normal, though the Amber Alert was still active. Chief Hale feared the kidnappers had likely gotten off the island, or were holed up somewhere and doing god knew what to that kid. He could only hope it was some distraught man and woman whose kid died from some disease and the couple were simply trying to replace a child. It was better that than the alternative—some sick and twisted son of a bitch… No, he wouldn’t go there.
    The chief sat in his office, trying to figure out what might’ve happened. If the abduction had been planned, it meant the kidnappers had been following the boy. But they wouldn’t have known he was going to be in the woods. Jacob only went in after a ball. The kidnappers would have had to race over there and snatch him, then have their getaway planned. Unless they were watching him from the woods, and when Jacob fell into their lap, they took advantage of the situation.
    He and a few officers looked over all the videos people had taken while at the game, hoping someone might’ve gotten one of the suspects on film—an out of place-looking individual or stranger. He had been able to collect some video on the day of the disappearance and had everyone else send theirs to the police department’s email. The department watched hours and hours of security video from numerous places—traffic cameras, local banks, stores, the marinas that had cameras, and of course, from the roadway bridges that led off the island. There was no sign of Jacob Brown.
    Three days went by and Hale found himself sitting in his living room in the dark with a bottle of whiskey on the table next to him. He was still no closer to figuring out what had happened to the Brown kid. The Amber Alert yielded only a number of false