Unidentified Read Online Free

maintain a blank face, but there was no point. Good, she thought. I can finally get back to work!
    “Am I back on duty?” she played along.
    Brown bobbed his head the way she’d seen him do before when he meant to say more or less. “Eh, sort of.” He said. “Remember that case last year with the missing kid up in New Hampshire?”
    Stupid question. Mitchell grinned. “Like I’d forget.”
    “Well, there might be something new for you to look into.”
    This got Mitchell’s attention. What was going on? Her mind immediately jumped to the worse case scenario. “Another kid missing?”
    “Well, not missing,” Brown shrugged. “Anymore. And not exactly a kid. College girl was snatched from her bedroom last night. Turned up about eleven miles from home hours later. She was totally disoriented.”
    “Clothing on inside out?” Mitchell ventured.
    Brown nodded, “Yep.”
    “Did she remember anything?”
    “Not a thing. Just a bright light,” he offered. He paused before saying the next words: “But it’s North Woodstock again.”
    Sonofabitch! So it’s happening again. Mitchell looked off, lost in thought, too many questions racing through her head. Brown watched her, waiting. Finally, he spoke again.
    “Little grey men from outer space?”
    Brought back to the moment, Mitchell shook her head. “No such thing. But sounds an awful lot like the Tommy Ferguson case last year.” She locked in to Brown’s eyes, trying to work out what he was getting at. “So, the Bureau is sending us up?”
    Brown smiled now. “As much as I would love nothing more than driving all over New Hampshire chasing UFOs with you, we can’t spare anyone. Lot of pressure on the FBI since Jeff’s …” His smile vanished. Suddenly, he couldn’t hold her gaze anymore. His eyes wandered down to the floor. “Shit! You know … I’m sorry. I should have asked you first how you’re even doing.”
    Mitchell shrugged. He looked at her again, but his whole demeanor changed now. She could almost see him walking on the shards of eggshells scattered through his mind.
    “Nicole, you know no one blames you,” he began. “So you shouldn’t blame yourself either.”
    But the way he looked off made Mitchell wander what he knew that he wasn’t telling her. She didn’t want to push it right now, however. Best stick to the something she could actually deal with. And by the sound of it, something she was actually being asked to deal with.
    “So what?” she carried on. “I’m going alone?”
    “Just to check in on things,” Brown confirmed. “See if this has any possible connection to the missing boy last year. You feel up to it?”
    Mitchell allowed herself a slight smile at the question. Feel up to it? She’d been itching to get back to work for a while now. Hell, she would have welcomed being called back into headquarters to sit at a desk and do paperwork at this point. But this … the potential for an actual investigation, and this of all cases too. She was going to do things differently this time. She needed a new approach, a different method of attack. She could sense Brown watching her, waiting for an answer.
    “Yeah,” she said. “I just …”
    “What’s up?”
    She knew this was likely asking a lot—maybe even too much. “Can I hire an outside consultant?”
    Brown’s lips parted, his right eyebrow coming down first in his usual mode of amusement. “What kind of consultant?”
    “Just trust me.”
    Brown pressed his lips together, thinking. But Mitchell already knew her plan of attack. She’d get her way. She was sure of it.
     
    ***
     
    Diego Silva pulled up to the Clark residence in his pick-up. A North Woodstock Police cruiser was parked next to the sedan that belonged to Tim and Dorothy. Diego was careful to park his truck on the other side of the two cars so that the cruiser could leave at any time. Getting out of his truck, he checked his dress pants and dress shirt in case any dirt from his truck had gotten