The Hunt for the Big Bad Wolf (Someone Else's Fairytale #3)

Mrs. Hollywood

Persons abducted by Carl Eisner:

- Sarah Martin, age 7; missing for three hours

- Benjamin Ramsey, age 5; missing for 24 hours

- Kira Graff, age 5; missing for four hours

- Leah Chen, age 6; missing, presumed dead

- Kylie Matthews, age 7; missing for 48 hours

- Kari Vonn, age 10; missing, presumed dead

- Elena Rand, age 4; missing for two hours

- Melissa Goff, age 6; missing, presumed dead

- Julia Mintern, age 10; missing, presumed dead

- Aiden Jones, age 8; missing, presumed dead

- Wendy Ormerona, age 9; missing, presumed dead

- Dominic Mueller, age 5; missing, presumed dead

- Valerie Foster, age 11; missing, presumed dead

- Charles Montgomery, age 9; missing, presumed dead

- Bethany Weeks, age 8; missing, presumed dead

The suspect often leaves a taunting note at the scene of the kidnapping, chiding the parents, guardians, or babysitters for not doing their job diligently enough. He prints in such painstakingly precise letters that it is difficult to know what his regular handwriting looks like. He has never left any fingerprints on these missives.

***

“You okay, Chlo?” asked my husband, Jason Vanderholt. He stood in our kitchen looking just like…well, Jason Vanderholt, the Hollywood A-lister. Even though we’d been married for over a year, I still had moments when I wasn’t used to that.

He was in a T-shirt and shorts, eating a Popsicle. His hair was dry and styled and his blue eyes still looked fake to me sometimes—they were so blue. He leaned against the counter with a pensive look on his face. That’s how I’d found him when I’d burst into the room in search of my cell phone. He hadn’t been exercising after all.

“Um…yeah,” I said. “No. Not really. But yes.”

“Okay. Just so we’re clear on that.” He stifled a laugh and failed. His eyes twinkled and his dimple appeared in his right cheek.

Our kitchen was big enough to make him look diminutive, with its high ceiling and huge expanse of tile bordered by cabinets and state-of-the-art appliances, and Jason wasn’t short. He was one of those actors who was taller than people expected when they saw him in real life.

“I have to make a phone call,” I said. “Have you seen my phone?”

“No, but you could always use the landline. We have one of those, you know?”

“I don’t have the number memorized.”

I attacked the little table by the opposite kitchen door where I usually tossed my purse and keys. My purse had fallen down behind it and I reached through its legs to dig inside for my phone.

“Seriously, is anything wrong?” he asked.

“Yes, but I can’t tell you what it is.”

“Or else you’d have to kill me?”

“No, I’d just get fired.”

“You do get that I was joking, right? And before you snap at me, yes, I get that you’re not.”