Kidnapped

Shannon awakened early to get her family ready for their daily lives. She slipped into her old worn and tattered terry cloth robe that once was a brilliant blue, today. It was just a badly faded blue shade. She slipped her house shoes onto her feet and stumbled to the restroom to wash the sleep from her eyes.

"Another day of cooking, cleaning and fighting with Samantha." She said smiling while looking into the mirror and thinking of her holy terror three year old.

Shannon quietly walked to the kitchen starting the coffee, grabbing the eggs, bacon, and English muffins. Pouring orange juice into the glasses, milk into Samantha's and the brewed coffee into her and her husbands James cups. The aroma of the food had awoken the two sleeping beauties that were still in their beds. They both stumbled into the kitchen taking their places at the table. Samantha grabbed her cup of orange juice with her long curly brown hair falling into her face. Her big brown eyes sparkled as Shannon placed her plate of food in front of her.

"Mmmm tanks you mama." She smiled up with the look of an angel.

Samantha looked identical to her mother. She was even tall and thin in built as Shannon. James kept his black hair in place at all times. He was well built and muscular, very arrogant with a trigger finger temper. He put his hands on Shannon when he went into one of these rages if she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.They ate their breakfast in silence, even Samantha knew not to act up when daddy was home.

Once James was out of the house and on his way to work Shannon turned on her stereo and began dressing Samantha and herself in matching white T-shirts, red shorts with red and white socks and white sneakers. Their hair was pulled up into a pony tail on top of their heads. Shannon rubbed children's sun screen on Samantha's exposed parts and placed Samantha's sun glasses on her face.

Shannon escorted her little girl outside to play in her sandbox. It was a lovely seasonal spring day. Shannon grabbed her shovel and began digging and filling her bucket. Shannon filled Jake's food and water bowl. Jake was their three-year-old Golden Retriever that they purchased at the time of Samantha's birth.

Shannon checked the gate making sure it was locked so no one could enter their back yard from the small alley behind their house. Now she could get her house work finished before it was time for lunch for Samantha. Shannon cleaned the kitchen and looked out the window at Samantha and Jake playing tug - a - war with an old rope. Shannon hurried so she could run the vacuum throughout the entire house. Once she had finished, she looked out the upstairs bedroom window to check on her daughter, it was awfully quiet. Her heart began to pound. Samantha was gone! The back gate stood opened and Jake lay in his dog house.

"Samantha! Oh my God . . . my baby!" Shannon screamed running from the room to the back yard.

Shannon searched every inch of the back yard and alley. Why isn't Jake moving? She asked herself. Walking to the dog she saw the blood running out of his dog house onto the ground. Stooping down she lifted his head and could see his throat had been slashed. Shannon reeled back wards. Her head was spinning and she stumbled into her house blinded by tears and trying to find her phone. She kept dialing the wrong number to 911 for she was panicking in the knowledge that someone had kidnaped her little girl. The police showed up finding Shannon running door to door in a hysterical state of mind, she ran to the officers who were approaching.

"She's gone. My baby is gone! Please help me find her!" She cried as she tugged on the arm of one of the officers.

"Please Ma'am, you need to calm down so we can get the information we need to find her." The female officer with red hair told her.

"Calm down? How can I calm down they killed Jake, our dog to get to her?" She asked the police as tears streaked her face.

The officers looked at each other realizing this matched the same M.O. as the Jennings case a little girl who was also abducted from her back yard last month. They walked to the back yard where Samantha had been playing less then a half hour ago. The police roped off the house as the crime scene until the investigating team arrived. Neighbors stood outside realizing that Samantha had been abducted right in the safety of her back yard.

James' car sped in front of the house and he dashed into his home where to find the crime scene unit question his wife at the kitchen table. Detective Brandon Taylor who had been a detective the last sixteen years still looked young for his age of fifty years old. His brown hair had not one gray hair, he was of a thin muscular build and his brown eyes gleamed even behind his gold rimmed glasses.

"What was it you were doing when you noticed your daughter Samantha was gone?" He asked her noticing how distraught she was.

"I was vacuuming the bedroom when I looked out to check on her." She told him.

"You're sure that you locked the gate before returning inside?" He asked her.

"Yes, it's a ritual for me to make sure she is safe." She told him then once again breaking down into a soulful cry.

"What have you done? Why weren't you protecting her?" James asked angrily shocking the police as well as Shannon.

"James, I thought she was safe with Jake out there too." She cried feeling even more guilt and remorse.

In one swift leap James was on top of Shannon strangling her. "I'll kill you! You, you stupid whore!" He yelled at her falling to the floor and knocking over the chair as they fell to the floor.

Detective Taylor grabbed James off of Shannon who lay on the floor looking so frightened and fragile as that of a small child. Detective Taylor and two officers hand cuffed James as he tried to break free to attack his wife once more. Shannon was helped to her feet and could only look at James with contempt.

"You can't hurt me any more James. Because whoever took, my little girl has ripped out my heart. Leave my house James and my attorney will be in contact." She spoke those words that sent a cold chill through James.

The officers led him out of the house and into a squad car. Detective Taylor looked at Shannon for a second until he saw a large bruise on the back of her thigh. He could tell it was an old one, he decided to look deeper into James Hilton's past and any priors if he had any. Shannon sat by the phone waiting for someone to call her, someone to tell her where her little girl had been taken. Tears never stopped falling from her eyes while Shannon could only pray for a miracle. Detective Taylor and his unit set up their equipment while they waited for a call or a note . . . They would just wait for some type of a clue.

Shannon curled up in the red over stuffed chairs by the phone, her head kept dropping as she dozed off only to awaken to the fear flowing through her veins. Her doctor monitored Shannon throughout the night as she wished Shannon would take a shot to relax her. Shannon's eyes drifted over to Detective Taylor who had some of his belongings sent over to him. Shannon yawned as sleep drifted over her like a warm blanket.

Three hours later . . .

Shannon had finally drifted off to a sound sleep when the phone rang startling everyone in the house hold that had been covered with a blanket of silence. No one had been speaking just going over their paper work or reading. Shannon sat straight up looking at the phone wide eyed and frightened. She waited until the officer gave her the okay to pick up the phone.

"Hello . . . " She answered the phone with a shaky voice.

"Yes this is Shannon . . . " She told the deranged sounding voice on the other end of the phone.

"Let me talk to my baby please ..." She cried into the receiver.

"A million dollars? I don't have that kind of money. No! Please don't kill her! I will get it! I'll get it, just don't hurt her please." She cried as she could hear Samantha cry out with fear.

The phone went dead and Shannon held it with both hands crying as she stared at it. The officer was able to make the connection, The kidnapper was only a few feet away from them.

"Sir the perpetrators are in the house." The young male Latin officer told Detective Taylor

Everyone looked shocked and the searches began, room to room and still they found nothing, nothing and no one was in those rooms. The F.B.I. was called in where they found a device that had been hooked to the phone line to look as if the call was made from within the house. Shannon was pacing back and forth when she dropped to the floor crying hysterically.

"Oh my God, she's gone, my baby is gone! I know she is not on earth anymore! Oh sweet Jesus, please take me too!" She cried laying down on the floor as her body was wrenched with hysterical Crying.

Just five miles away from Shannon's house John Derringer cooked stew's and home made meat pie's for his family, friends, co-workers and his neighbors. They all thought he was such a good guy, an out standing person. John Derringer rose early every morning and leaving the house every day like clock work at Seven every morning. He would sit in his van waiting for a young child to take from their yard. Once he had his victim he would drive out to the country to his secret place that not even his wife knew about. Once inside he would abuse his victim for hours on end before killing them. He would chuckle to himself as he cleaned away any trace of anyone being there, right down to chopping up his victim, then he would have the remains ground finely in his grinder and feed them to his family, friends, co-workers and neighbor's. He left not an ounce of evidence behind at the cabin.

Today he was excited after yesterdays catch, plus the free bonus killing of the dog. Now he waited for the chance to kidnap five-year-old Steven Reynolds. Steven had just turned five and wanted to grow up to be a basket ball player like his older brother Tyrone. John Derringer saw his opportunity to get his catch of the day. He slowly walked to the back yard where Tyrone was swinging, he opened the gate that was not locked. Tyrone just looked up at the man with his big brown eyes that sparkled. John quickly places a white cloth over the boy's face causing him to fall in his waiting arms. He quickly covers the boy in a blanket he had tucked under his arm. Carrying the unconscious child to his van.

He had not been prepared for the F.B.I. to be waiting inside of his van for his return. John dropped the boy into the van and tried to run only he was surrounded. They took him into custody and Shannon watched from one of the officers cars crying for her baby who came to her last night to say a finale good-bye. She wanted Shannon to know who hurt her and the others. Shannon was crying hysterically on the floor when Samantha knelt down next to her.

"Mama, don't cry mama, the bad man is not here anymore. The angels are going to take me to play with them until you can come live wit me, mama. Me and Jake will be waiting mama." She told Shannon as she hugged her for the last time.

Detective Taylor looked at her holding only air. He could not see nor hear whom she was speaking to. He was leary about the lead, but knew he had better follow what Shannon told him. He was never a religious person, but after witnessing Shannon talking to her daughter he did believe in angels.

*

A year later...

Shannon stood over the make shift grave of her little girl that was filled with her toys. A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at the pink and white head stone. It was hard for her to come here, but every day before and after work Shannon would visit her baby leaving a single red rose for her.