Sister, Missing Read Online Free

‘He’ll be here soon.’
    ‘Right.’ Rick was Annie’s new boyfriend – a British guy she’d met on her last visit to see me. They’d become close in the past few months. I knew Rick had
flown over from London to visit her in the States at least twice since then.
    I’d only met him a few times myself. He’d seemed nice – a charming ex-security guard in his late thirties with beefy arms, a receding hairline and a warm smile. I wasn’t
quite sure what he saw in Annie, but he acted as a calming presence around her which helped make her easier to deal with.
    Madison seemed to like him too. At the thought of her, panic surged through me, exploding my previous numbness with the force of a bomb. This was stupid, us just waiting for a call. Madison had
disappeared at about five past eleven and it was now almost midday. Images of her bundled up in the back of someone’s car being driven away from the beach, terrified, filled my head. She
could be miles away by now. She could be hurt. And why had she been taken? What would anyone want with her? Surely a psycho wouldn’t send a text saying she’d been kidnapped if he was
planning on murdering her.
    Would he?
    ‘Maybe Shelby’s right,’ I said, pacing across the room. ‘Maybe we should call the police.’
    ‘No.’ Annie looked up. ‘We can’t take the risk. Not until we know what they want . . . what they’re threatening to do to Madison.’
    She was right. Shuddering, I sat down beside her at the kitchen table. I don’t know how long we sat there – it felt like ages.
    ‘Oh God, oh God,’ Annie kept muttering.
    I bit my lip. I couldn’t bear just sitting here. We had to do something.
    My phone rang. Madison’s number again.
    Annie stared at me as I picked up the mobile.
    ‘Hello?’ I said.
    ‘Lauren?’ The voice was female but disguised – filtered through some kind of machine that made it sound robot-like. ‘Are you at home, like I asked?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Where’s Madison? Is she all right?’
    Annie was on her feet beside me now, twisting her hands anxiously over each other.
    The voice continued: ‘Madison is safe and well. If you do what I say she’ll be returned home shortly.’ The voice paused. ‘So how are you doing, Lauren?’
    ‘I want to speak to Madison. Hear for myself that she’s all right.’
    ‘Not yet.’ The voice grew tense. ‘You always were a little princess, weren’t you? Looking down your nose at everyone else.’
    I froze. Did this woman know me?
    ‘Who are you?’ I asked.
    The woman laughed. It sounded weird through the robot-like filler. ‘Don’t you remember me, Lauren?’
    My mind flashed back to Shelby’s words: This is your fault . . . it’s a copycat of your kidnapping . . .
    The connections snapped together in my mind.
    Could Madison’s kidnapper be the same person who had abducted me all those years ago?

 
4
    An Old Connection
    As soon as I’d thought this, I rejected the idea. It wasn’t possible. The woman who’d kidnapped me – Sonia Holtwood – was in jail.
    ‘What do you want?’ I stammered.
    The woman laughed again. ‘Listen and I’ll explain.’ She told me to go to Sandcove Chine – one of the steep, wooded ravines near the coast – and wait by the Japanese
pond.
    ‘Be there in half an hour. I’ll give you the proof you want that Madison is alive and instructions about what to do next. And make sure you’re alone,’ she said.
‘Just you, Lauren. Just you.’
    Before I could reply, she rang off. Annie, who’d been standing right next to me throughout the phone call, drew her breath in sharply.
    ‘What did they say, Lauren?’
    I told her. As I spoke, my mind kept going over how the woman had asked if I remembered her. It just didn’t make sense – unless she was Sonia Holtwood.
    ‘Sandcove Chine is just a few minutes’ walk from here.’ Annie frowned. ‘I don’t understand. Why didn’t the woman say what she wants on the phone? Why make you
go