Laurie braced herself for what was ahead. Since leaving OCME, her emotions had careened from one extreme to the other. One minute she’d felt victimized and despondent, and in the next she felt a kind of fierce anger. She was not going to allow kidnappers to take her child away.

As Laurie and the others climbed out of Lou’s car, Laurie forced herself to center on the fighting stance. Although feeling overwhelmed and powerless earlier, she was now eager to meet the case agent, whom Lou had described to her as he’d filled her in on the situation during the drive.

The initial introductions were carried out on the stoop. Mark Bennett had been first, a bear of a man who had come forward with his hand extended as Laurie came up the front steps. “I’m Detective Mark Bennett,” he said, shaking Laurie’s hand vigorously. “I’m a detective from the Major Case Squad, and I’m here to get your child back as soon as possible.” He then went on to introduce a number of other people, including crisis negotiator Henry Fulsome and a host of other people, other detectives, crime scene specialists, technicians, and even a special agent of the FBI. Laurie found herself impressed with the detective, who seemed to her a walking, talking crime deterrent who spoke of the perpetrators as cowards who needed to be rounded up and thrown into prison for the rest of their lives.

“I’m sorry we have to invade your home for a few days, ma’am,” Mark continued as they all entered the brownstone. “But we have to get to work to get your boy back, and time is of the essence. I’m particularly interested in getting our technicians to work on your phone line to wire it up and make both tracking incoming calls and listening in easy. We’re also going to put in our own entirely new additional phone line.”

“Please,” Laurie said, gesturing that the house was theirs. “We appreciate all of you being here. Do whatever is necessary.” She and Jack began taking coats and hanging them up in the closet when the phone suddenly rang. Instantly, all conversation stopped. Everyone turned to stare at the phone perched on its little mahogany console table.

“Mrs. Stapleton,” Mark said. “Answer it!”

With some hesitation, Laurie approached the phone. She grabbed onto it and looked at the detective for encouragement. Mark nodded and motioned for her to pick it up. When she did, she said a faltering hello.

“Is this Laurie Montgomery-Stapleton?” Brennan questioned. He tried to sound angry and impatient, as Louie had ordered. To his chagrin, his voice quavered. He was nervous.

“Yes,” Laurie said, requiring her to clear her throat. She was suddenly terrified and needed to reach out and lean against the wall to maintain her balance. She instinctively knew it was JJ’s abductor.

“We have your kid.”

“Who is this?” Laurie asked, struggling to sound authoritative but failing miserably.

“It doesn’t matter who it is,” Brennan said. He was now more successful in modulating his tone. “What’s important is that we have your kid. Would you like to talk with him?”

Laurie tried to respond but couldn’t, not with the force of tears that had suddenly threatened to burst forth.

“Are you still there, Mrs. Stapleton? I need you to speak. I cannot be on the line for more than a moment.”

“I’m still here,” Laurie managed. “I want my child back. Why did you take my child?”

“I want you to start to mobilize some cash, and I want you to do it quickly. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“Do you want to talk to your child? I’m trying to be patient.”

“Yes, I do.” Laurie wiped tears from her eyes.

“Okay, you little brat,” Brennan said off-line. “Say hello to your mommy.”

There was silence.

“Maybe you’d better say hello to him,” Brennan said, coming back on the line. “I’ll put him on again.”

“Hello, sweetheart,” Laurie said, assuming the phone was being pressed against his ear. She was desperately trying to avoid crying. “It’s Mommy here. Are you all right?”

“Well, he’s smiling,” Brennan reported. “Whatever you said, he’s smiling. Should I shake him up a bit and get him to cry?”

“I want my child back immediately,” Laurie demanded. “Don’t shake him!”

“Getting your child back isn’t going to happen immediately, Mrs. Stapleton, but it could happen soon. It will be up to you if you are to get him back at all. You have to mobilize cash. Am I clear on that? We’re not going to require cash, but you’ll need cash to get what we’ll be demanding. You’ll be needing a lot of cash.”

“Yes,” Laurie managed with a shiver.

“And another thing. We don’t want you to work with the police. We know they are there at your home right this minute. Get rid of them. We will know if you don’t listen to us, and it will be your son who’ll suffer. We’ll send him to you a piece at a time.”

There was a pause. “I hope you’re taking this all in,” Brennan said, not waiting for Laurie to respond, “because I’m going to have to hang up. But there’s one more demand. I’ll be calling you back tomorrow, so I want you to be available at any time, day or night. Until then, have a nice evening.”

There was a final click. For a moment Laurie continued to hold the phone to her ear as she tried to get herself under control. She was afraid if she did anything, even move, she would break out in tears.

Mark stepped over, took the phone from her hand, and placed it back on its base. “I’m sure you don’t feel it this minute, but hearing from the abductors is a very positive development. We are truly relieved. It confirms what we had hoped: that this case is about kidnapping for ransom and not something else. When the kidnapping is for ransom, it is in the kidnappers’ best interest that the victim stays alive and healthy.”