Evening News
Investigators found the body of ten-year-old Marissa Torez earlier today in an abandoned rental van in southern Highbury. Marrissa was the last victim of the UnderTown kidnapping and ransom ring.
The police are crediting the capture of the ring to a "spate of remarkable good luck, and an observant and helpful citizen".
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Christine turned off the news and sank back into her chair, feeling the heat but not the warmth of the fire beside her. She stroked the hair of the girl in the picture she was holding, softly, willing the picture to come to life, knowing it was in vain.
Marissa Katerina Torez. Ten years old. An only child of hard-working immigrant parents who had moved to England to make a better life for their family.
The final victim of a kidnap ring that had always returned the child promptly once the ransom had been paid.
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The kidnappings started quietly -- an unaccompanied child offered a ride home. Middle-income families, and ransoms small enough that the families could pay. A briefcase with diamonds was left in a dumpster in an alley. An hour later, the police received a phone call to look in an abandoned rental van somewhere just outside the city.
But, as families became more careful, the criminals got more desperate, and more violent. Marissa's friend was hospitalized with a broken leg.
One of detectives sometimes worked with an woman known as The Phantom. This type of case appealed to her.
They stalled the delivery by an hour. The kidnappers called once, but accepted the explanation that the family was having difficulty finding money. The final package included a few very special diamonds, and a slender woman watched a monitor from a rooftop while the diamonds were picked up.
The special diamonds pulsed broadcasts, on a seemingly random schedule of times and frequencies, quick bursts of the sounds recorded between transmissions. To the untrained observer, it looked like a cell phone signal.
The diamonds were dumped into a different bag before they left the alley. They were washed in a bowl two alleys over. There was a tense moment when they were checked for radio transmissions, but the pulse did not repeat for several minutes, so the kidnappers assumed there was a glitch in their equipment.
They called the police and told them where to find the van with the child. The Phantom gave the police the location of the diamonds. The kidnappers were caught.
But the van was empty.
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Christine shook her head sadly and rose. Too many 'ifs'. Too many choices she could not undo, and, given the same circumstance, probably would make again.
She made her way too the small table underneath the picture of a Mediterranean woman and lit a stick of incense. "Maman, take care of her. Keep her safe, for I could not."
The picture was put in an envelope hidden in the wall of the safe in her office.