45 Self-help groups (1/2)

Sam's scream echoed shrilly off the walls. Whimpering, Sam embraced her body. Feeling guilty pushed her neck hard. She felt unable to lift her head.

”I failed, as I failed with Jessica.” Sam's whole body trembled, as if convulsed. Danielle and all the others. Sam was ashamed of her arrogance. Although Danielle's case gave no indication of her kidnapper, Sam had never given up looking for clues and details. Only over three years after Danielle's kidnapping, Sam had been hired by a group of parents to seek their children. The group had joined forces in an internet forum for self-help groups.

Sam's staff had cautiously established contact and started an initial, cautious survey. Sam's right hand met with the parent group. At this first meeting they had hesitantly reported on one thing in common: their stay in Italy.

With this meager information, Sam had spent nearly three months compiling and comparing detailed accounts of the last two years of all seven families. The showcases at Summersby's store were, above all, not remembered by the fathers. So it took another three months for the result, the only really hot track, Summersby's store, to flicker on Sam's computer screen with a 65% matchcode.

A re-interview of the fathers interviewed revealed that everyone could remember Summersby and its exceptional merchandise presentation. Sam changed the matchcode to 100%.

Following an inner inspiration, she called Danielle's father in Switzerland and asked him the same question. Match! The banker could still remember the whining Danielle and her desire to own a dog.

Sam flew to Italy and spent another two frustrating and inconclusive months observing Summersby's life and shop.

With what confidence had she flown to Italy. By the success rate of the past orders Sam had become careless and self-sufficient. God, she was good. Many children returned to the womb of their families, though not intact, but at least alive. Always the molesters and killers were brutally executed by Sam's creativity and ingenuity.

For her hard-nosed and interested clients, she shot photos of the carnage. Most of the time, however, Sam was left alone with the horror visions and encountered their disfigured victims in the depths of their own nightmares.

But if you think that your own actions and your own person are perfect, then yes, you lose the grip and hover over things.

Summersby brought Sam back to the bottom of the facts. The greasy accountant blunder had shown her thoroughly.

She had been so sure that the nondescript and unattractive Summersby would not resist a woman like her. She wanted to ensnare, spy on, and ultimately kill him.