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"I’ve been traveling from Aspen to Vail to Keystone and all the places in-between Dillinger was my final try"

"You lucked out As I said, if she hadn’t needed clothes, I wouldn’t have taken her to Dillinger I’d been here at the cabin for nearly teeks before I found Eed, looking down at his coffee "It got to be just too much," he said at last "Just too much The tabloids just wouldn’t let up The paparazzi were leaping out from behind e Dredd"

"It’s ridiculous, all of it" He started to curse, realized that E up at hiot away fro Then I found Emma" He leaned over and cupped Emma’s chin in his palm There was color in her cheeks She looked little-kid beautiful, and healthy "Why don’t you go wash up and put on your jeans and a real bright shirt Your mom and I will talk and decide e should do"

She looked worried "Maain, will you?"

"I never drink a man’s coffee then hurt him, honey It’s not done"

"Maood joke," Ramsey said "Go, Emma"

He sat back in his chair and looked at the woman across from him "Emma drew several pictures of you In all of the She was pale and thin and had the reddest hair he’d ever seen, all curly, just like Erayish color, a bit tilted at the corners, sort of exotic She didn’t have any freckles, and she didn’t look a thing like E her ’sweetheart’ I like Erandmother’s name"

She sat forward, intent, then suddenly ju the small kitchen, hyper now from the coffee, alert, and ready for answers "How did you find Es when I heard this strange sound, you know, a sound I shouldn’t have heard here I tracked it down and found her unconscious in the woods I spotted her only because she earing a bright yellow T-shirt I brought her back here and took care of her She didn’t speak until she yelled at you"

He saw the question in her eyes and slowly nodded "Yes, she’d been beaten and sexually assaulted There wasn’t any sodoain, I’h last night she had a nightood four days to trustout of her eyes and down her cheeks, dripping off her lips She sniffled He handed her a napkin and she blew her nose and wiped her eyes

"She’s only six years old She was kidnapped by a child molester and it was all my fault If only-"

"Stop it, just stop it I’ve known you for an hour and I know you didn’t leave her unattended, wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her Now, I don’t want to hear anydeep down that she’d probably never stop bla herself for the rest of her life "Believe me, I’ve never felt so helpless in irl She was terrified of me, a man, and I couldn’t blame her at all When she didn’t speak, I beca so she could get a hold on herself, which she finally did He watched her shoulders square "Maybe it was the trau and didn’t write down her name for me Maybe she really couldn’t speak until it became a matter of life and death Would you have shot er"

"I’m rather relieved that Emma remembered her voice You’ve had a hard tio into all the towns and show her picture"

"No, everyone was very nice, all except for the local cops Almost to theand pats on the shoulder and leave it to theuy out in Rutland When I finally found your cabin, I thought a lot about what I was going to do I know enough about ho enforcement works to realize that if I only captured the man who’d abducted her, he’d probably be out on bail at soe denied bail, they kept hiet out sooner or later and then be out again to prey on other children or coain I’d have to worry about him for the rest of my life So would Emma, and that’s worse A child molester, a kidnapper A monster like that doesn’t deserve to live"