The Darkness Gathers Read Online Free Page A

the parents are rich, prominent people. Desperate parents would run to the police and to the media with that kind of thing. But it doesn’t look like they did. So that means to me that they didn’t know about it. And who would send it to me? Why wouldn’t they have gone to the police?”
    “Maybe it’s a crank. Maybe it’s not Tatiana at all on that tape.”
    “But why? If someone went to all the trouble of setting up a crank call, why wouldn’t they use it to try to get the million? Why would they send the tape to me? How would that help them?”
    “Maybe they think it will seem more like a legitimate lead coming from you,” Jeffrey offered, though it was a bit of reach.
    “But it was sent anonymously.”
    “That’s true. I’ve heard that name before … Nathan Quinn. Who is he?”
    Lydia entered his name into the search engine. A list of over 150 articles in the last year alone appeared on her screen. She scrolled through and read the headlines aloud to Jeffrey.
    “Let’s see … ‘Nathan Quinn donates one point five million to NEA’; that’s five hundred thousand more than he offered for the safe return of his stepdaughter. Interesting … ‘Nathan Quinn wins Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award … importing/exporting business’; ‘Venture Capitalist Nathan Quinn: Hero to Albanian Refugees.’ The list goes on. Sounds like your general, all-around man-of-the-year type.”
    Jeffrey had come to stand behind her. “He gets a lot of media coverage. I guess that’s why his name sounds familiar. But I could have sworn I’d heard it somewhere else.”
    “Maybe someone in your firm was talking about the case. Here’s his picture. Does he look familiar?”
    “Not really. But look at that jaw. He belongs on the hundred-dollar bill or something.”
    Nathan Quinn had a bearing that communicated power, and this was apparent even in the grainy Internet photographs they were looking at. He seemed to stand at least a few inches taller than most of the people around him; his shoulders were square, his smile cool and permanent, his taste in clothes impeccable. He was positively regal.
    “Maybe someone is trying to ruin him?” Jeffrey suggested.
    “Well, then why not go to the police? Or the media?”
    “Well, you are kind of the media.”
    “Not the immediate, news-at-eleven kind of media.”
    She started tapping her pen on the desktop, a gesture that she had picked up from Jeffrey years earlier.
    “The buzz?” he asked.
    “Big-time.”
    “So? … What?”
    She swiveled around to look at him. She cocked her head to the side and gave Jeffrey a gorgeous megawatt smile.
    “You know,” she said after a moment. “We’ve been working so hard, haven’t we?”
    “Well, not really. It’s been a little slow.…”
    “We have. And, honestly, Jeffrey, you are looking a little pale. The winter weather must be getting to you.”
    “It’s only the end of October.”
    “I think we need a vacation.”
    “A vacation?”
    “Yes, absolutely.”
    “Let me guess.”
    “I hear Miami is beautiful this time of year.”

chapter three
     
    B ecause the world generally yielded to his whims, it was rare that he lost his temper. But when he did, there were casualties. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, trying to quell the rising anger. He looked up at the sweating man in faded, ill-fitting jeans and distressed-leather jacket who stood across from him.
    “I just don’t understand how this can be possible,” he said quietly, but with a benevolent smile on his handsome face, as if he was trying to understand.
    “I’m telling you, sir. There’s no trace of her,” the man responded, backing away a step, edging toward the door. He seemed to sense his client’s growing agitation and to understand how dangerous that was, though there were no outward indications of trouble.
    “It is a myth that people just disappear, Mr. Parker.”
    “People disappear every day.”
    “It’s not so,” he