Of Guilt and Innocence Read Online Free

waited for an answer.
    â€œWe need to cover all our bases. We have officers all over right now looking for your daughter. Having crime scene look for clues inside your house isn’t taking anyone away from looking for her. We just want to be thorough, that’s all.” Sergeant Stokes gave Lisa the same sheepish smile he had been giving since his arrival in the house. It was what he did when he was nervous. His response seemed to defuse Lisa’s anger for the time being as she just nodded she understood and began sobbing again.  
    While Lisa, Tom, and Sergeant Stokes sat on the three barstools that lined the kitchen counter, sometimes making small talk, sometimes saying nothing at all, a knock on the front door came that made all three spring to their feet. Lisa tore off toward it, screaming “Ashley, baby, are you there?” Tom and the Sergeant followed close behind. Lisa opened the door and much to her dismay did not find her daughter standing there. Instead, a deputy holding the leash of a blood hound that sat at his feet stood before her. “I’m losing it!” She screamed and ran into the master bedroom crying hysterically.
    The deputy looked heartbroken as he remained in the doorway. “I’m sorry,” he said to Tom. “I know I’m not the one you were hoping to see. But Ranger and I are going to do our best to find your little girl. If you could just get me an article of her clothing, something she may have worn recently, we can get started.” Tom turned and walked to Ashley’s room’s closed door. He stood in front of it for a few seconds with his eyes closed. He knew what torture it would be to go back in there again, but he knew he had to. He slowly crept in and grabbed the first thing that he saw.  Quickly, he darted out of the room and shut the door behind him. He handed the K-9 officer a small pink blanket.
    â€œShe, uhhh . . .” His breathing quickened, “she uhh . . . slept with it . . . every night.”  Tom’s voice became high pitched at the end as his hand rose to his eyes as he finished the statement.  
    â€œGreat, thank you, I will get this back to you shortly.” The officer placed the blanket in front of the dog’s nose and gave some commands and words of encouragement to his four-legged partner.
    The dog turned away from the front door and began a steady trot toward the mailbox. It then made a sharp left turn and began heading down the street toward an intersection. At the intersection, the dog and his handler turned left again and made their way to the front gate of the property. After getting the gate open the dog went to the end of the community’s entrance way and made a right turn, heading south on State Road 441. After trotting a short distance southbound along the roadway, he lost the scent.  
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    Jim and Dan were in the police department’s substation within the Boca Towne Center Mall when Jim received the report of the police dog’s findings. “She left the complex and headed south on 441,” he whispered to Dan. “Looks like this one’s legit.”  
    â€œGreat,” Dan said aloud as he watched the security supervisor fumble with the controls to the closed circuit television in front of him.  
    Â Â The camera system at the mall encompassed both the interior and exterior and allowed for security footage to be pinpointed by time of day on each camera. Footage of set intervals of time could then be burned to a DVD. The detectives requested footage from every camera between the hours of ten a.m. and two p.m. All in all there were forty cameras between the common areas and parking areas, and there were even more they had yet to get information on from the individual stores Lisa and Ashley had entered.
    After providing the detectives with the DVDs, the security supervisor also gave them the name of an individual who had caused problems at the mall in the