The Stolen - Jason Pinter [87]
home. I remember my room feeling not really like an
actual room a young girl would live in, but the kind of
room parents thought a girl would want to live in. Too
many floral patterns, too many dolls. Just overkill to the
extreme."
"That's why the Reeds racked up a hefty bill at Toyz 4
Fun," I said. "They were pampering this kid like she was
their own."
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Curt said, "So why kidnap a kid if you're not holding
her for a ransom? What, you just pamper her for a few
years and then let her go? I mean, you're comparing this
Girl X to Danny Linwood and Michelle Oliveira. Both
those kids wound up returning home unharmed. If what
you're saying is true, the Reeds planned to eventually let
this kid go. Why go through all that trouble?"
"So she'd feel like a part of their family," I said. "When
I interviewed Danny Linwood, he made a brief reference
to his 'brothers.' I didn't think much of it at first, but
combined with this, I think all three of these kids were
taken with the intent of ingratiating them into their 'new'
families."
"But why?" Amanda said. "If the kidnappers knew they
were going to let them go, why bother?"
"I'm not sure," I said. "But what scares me is that the
Reeds somehow knew Raymond Benjamin. He owned the
house they used. So how did a supposedly regular family,
a loving father and mother with a young son, wind up in
bed with a career criminal, and end up stealing someone
else's child?"
None of us had the answer.
"So what else can I do?" Curt said.
"We need to confirm that the Reeds did in fact kidnap
another child. And if we do that, and we can find out who
that child is, hopefully we can find the Reeds and they can
answer all these questions."
"It'll be tough," Curt said. "I can submit a request for
a breakdown of all children reported missing within the
past two weeks, but unless we can narrow down where the
child was from we're basically looking in every town in
every city in the country."
I thought for a moment. Then I said to Curt, "Cross- The Stolen
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check your records with Yardley Medical Center, the pediatrics unit. I have a feeling whatever child was taken was
born in Hobbs County, and was a patient of Dr. Petrovsky's, just like Daniel Linwood and Michelle Oliveira."
"How can you be sure?" Amanda said.
"Thiamine levels," I said. "I spoke to Jack's doctor at
Bellevue and asked what might cause a child to go through
what Daniel and Michelle did. According to him, it's likely
they both suffered from a severe case of anterograde
amnesia, exacerbated by depleted thiamine levels. He said
that it was technically a form of short-term brain damage,
but when thiamine and vitamin B1 levels dropped in
patients whose thiamine levels were low to begin with, it
could cause exactly what afflicted Daniel and Michelle. I
think whoever has been kidnapped was born with low
thiamine levels, and Dr. Petrovsky supervised it all."
Amanda said, "That would have to mean the kids were
preselected based on their medical histories. Which means
Petrovsky knew which kids to look out for."
"I think there's a strong chance he did just that. So this
new Girl X was chosen for the same reasons Dan and
Michelle were years ago--they were susceptible to having
their thiamine levels tampered with to a far greater degree
than a normal child. With the right--or wrong--nutrition
and care, you could almost literally give a child short-term
brain damage and harm their memory receptors."
"Which would explain why Daniel and Michelle didn't
remember a thing about their time missing," Amanda said.
"And it means the Reeds are expecting the same thing
from this kid. Girl X."
"Find her," I said to Curt. "I'm tired of this bullshit, like
one lost kid doesn't matter. What, because Hobbs County
and Meriden got a few extra bucks, a few of the houses
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got a nice coat of paint, this is all swept under the carpet?
These kids are giving their lives for some awful cause I
don't understand."
"I hear you, man. Give