Tagalong by George Encizo

When the ten-year-old daughter of a prominent attorney is kidnapped, Sheriff JD Pickens goes into overdrive to recover the girl only to discover that things aren’t always how they appear. For one thing, the daughter is adopted and doesn’t know it. For another thing, her uncle is a federal prosecutor who wants to help. Then there is a ransom note—an email message that warns the girl’s mother not to contact the authorities. Fearful for her daughter’s life, she is reluctant to talk to the sheriff, but she’s known him all her life and used to tagalong with him and her older brother when they were teenagers.
Pickens needs to work with clues, and they are few to begin with. The glimpse of a white van that doesn’t belong in the neighborhood leads to the hunt for a sketch artist to draw a composite portrait. The girl’s dog tried to attack the kidnapper before being kicked aside, which leads to a very unusual clue. Finally, Pickens calls on a private investigator to bring another skill set to the investigation and get more information from the mother, Allison. During a conversation with her brother, the mother reveals that her daughter, Melinda was adopted. Concerned that the abduction might involve the birth parents, Pickens immediately wonders if this might be a lead, a motive for someone to grab the girl.
Pickens is informed that trying to open a closed adoption is ill-advised and not to go there. Dropping that avenue of pursuit, Pickens collects DNA evidence from his prime suspect when the suspect tosses out a cigarette butt. Putting a hard rush on the DNA, once it is uploaded to CODIS, all hell breaks lose because the FBI has warrants out for the suspect on other charges, and Melinda’s DNA is uploaded at another database due to healthcare issues from several years earlier. The suspect turns out to be Melinda’s biological father.
By the time the genetics get sorted out and a surveillance drone confirms the location where Melinda is held captive, the manhunt is in position, sniper and FBI agents included. But a tangled past and a determined uncle will jeopardize the rescue.