She stared, obviously trying to ascertain if I was tricking her. I laid the phone on the pile of blankets and stepped back from the doorway, giving her room to come out if she wanted to. Finally, slowly, like a cat trying to sneak up on a mouse, her spindly, little arm reached out and snatched the phone. Gaze darting between the numbers and me, she punched in her mother’s number.
I will never forget the sound of her frightened, broken little voice saying, “Mommy!”
T
odd arrived a
few minutes later, and I was shunted aside as paramedics closed in on Kailey.
“Don’t crowd her,” I said. “She’s been through enough.”
A heavy grip on my arm pulled me out of the bedroom. “Let them work, Lucy.”
Todd’s tone was surprisingly gentle, his words sounding choked. I imagined he was feeling the same mix of relief and bitter heartache at finding Kailey. She would never be the same. But her mother was a survivor. Kailey would be too.
I allowed him to guide me into the living room, where Chris sat on the couch. Steve was handcuffed, still pinned face down to the floor. He sounded like he was crying, and if it weren’t for Todd’s hold on my arm, I would have stomped his face into the dirty carpet.
“How is she?” Chris asked.
“She’s alive,” I said. “As for the rest, only time will tell.” I turned to Todd. “I let her call her mother.”
“Jenna’s meeting us at the hospital across the street,” Todd said. “But I’ve got to deal with you two first.”
“You could always just let us go and deal with the real criminal.” Chris came to stand beside me. I leaned against him, suddenly exhausted.
Todd bristled. “At the very least, I have you both for interfering in a police investigation. I told you specifically not to come here, and yet you did it anyway.”
“How close were you to getting the warrant?” I asked. “You may have been on the way, but you didn’t have the right to enter, did you? Would it have come through in time to get her before the auction ended?”
“Beside the point.” His mustache twitched.
“No,” I said. “That’s exactly the point. Your hands were tied, ours weren’t. And he let us in.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Todd said. “You two are riding with a uniform to the station, where you will once again be separated while I deal with this. Only then will I talk to you and decide what to do with you.”
“We can drive,” I said. “I promise we’ll go straight there. We’ll wait as long as you want.”
“Your car will be impounded. I’m not giving you any more time to match up your stories.” He motioned to a young uniformed officer standing in the doorway. I realized it was the same one I’d charmed the first day I spoke with Jenna. I smiled, and he looked away, blushing red.
“Can I ride up front?” I asked.
I spent the
better part of the day waiting in a windowless interrogation room while Chris sat in the other. I didn’t care. As long as I kept from getting arrested, I’d avoid a pat down. And I was pretty sure Todd would call my hours on hold enough penance since I’d saved the girl’s life. Most of the time, I dozed, caught up in living dreams. You know, the kind you could swear are actually happening. They sped by on fast forward, with bright colors and bone-chilling fear I could never completely seize. Several times I jerked awake, unsure of why I was terrified, but wanting to hide under the table.
At 6:07 that evening, Todd finally entered. He’d taken the time to shower and shave, leaving only his unsightly mustache. I smiled. He was a good cop.
“How is she?”
“Physically, she’ll be all right. Eventually. Sexually assaulted more than once. But nothing that won’t heal.” He spoke in a monotone, keeping the necessary detachment. The horror of child sex abuse will eat a person alive without it. “Mentally? She’s not great.”
“Is she speaking?”
“To her mother, thank God. She’s the only person she’ll allow near her. The examination was a struggle.”
“Jenna will help her. She knows how.”
“Do you believe in curses? Or fate?” Todd sat down across from me.
“Hell if I know, Detective.”
“I mean, Jesus. First Jenna’s ordeal, and then years later, Kailey’s. Martha wasn’t involved in Kailey’s abduction at all. How can it happen in a family like that when the abuser isn’t related?”
“Some people have really shitty luck,” I said. “It’s not about fate or curses or destiny. It’s about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and catching a predator’s attention.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He gave himself a shake. “So we’ve got Chris’s statement. Let’s hear your side of the story.”
“I’ve told you everything. I’ve got a computer friend who keeps an eye out on the child porn sites. She simply lucked out and saw the feed, recognized Kailey.”
“How did you get Steve’s address? It took us some time.”
“I’d gotten a lead on him a few weeks ago,” I said. “That he might be molesting little girls again. So I tried to check him out. Never found anything conclusive. But like I told you, my friend and I connected him to Jenna after we found out he’d been fired from Philly Fitness. Another coincidence–I’d just happened to see Jenna’s t-shirt when I spoke to her.”
“Yet you don’t believe in fate.”
“No. Luck went our way. That’s it.”
“I’m not sure there’s a difference,” Todd said. “You said you didn’t have anything conclusive on Steve. Meaning that he was molesting again?”
“No, nothing conclusive.”
“What would you have done if you did find something conclusive?”
I’d prepared for this. “Depends on how I found out. If at all possible, I would have been a witness and called the authorities. If not, I would have contacted parents, guardians, CPS, whatever it took.”
“You realize you’re way too close to these cases. It won’t end well.”
Chris’s words flashed back to me. He’d been right, of course. There is no happy ending for me. But at least I will save some kids in the process.
“You’re probably right,” I said. “But I can’t live with myself if I sit back and do nothing.”
“I’m painfully aware of that.”
“What about Steve?”
“He’s been questioned all day. Looks like Kailey isn’t the first child he’s sold. We’re working on getting his connections. Technicians are tearing apart his computer.”
We studied each other for a moment, and despite Todd’s wary expression, his eyes were warm. He understood, at least a little. I decided to offer the olive branch. “I know I’ve been a pain in your ass. But all of it was done with Kailey in mind.”
“That doesn’t excuse the fact that you interfered with the investigation. Repeatedly. And don’t tell me that you saved the kid. Doesn’t excuse what you did. Things could have gone very badly, for everyone.”
“I won’t argue that.”
“Good, because it’s a waste of your breath.”
“Look, arrest me if you feel you have to.” I spread my hands wide in submission. “But leave Chris out of it. He’s got enough to deal with right now, and he went to protect me. I called the shots.”
“He said he was a willing participant.”
“Because I was going to do it with or without his help,” I said. “Did you get the DNA results back? Or identify the bodies from the fire?”
“We’re working on the identification. The medical examiner’s established the child was a female between the ages of 12 and 20. Other body was a male.” He let the words sink in.
I gritted my teeth. “Mother Mary?”
“In the wind. Crime scene techs combed the property. There’s evidence Mary–Martha, whatever the hell she goes by–was up to her old tricks. Holding teenaged girls. There are a few missing persons’ cases in the state that fit the female victim. No sign of other bodies, though. We don’t know if she was running a prostitution ring or buried them somewhere. But there’s fairly fresh blood in the barn.”
Evil never ends.
“So, what, she killed the man and the girl and then set the place on fire?”
“We think so, yes. She’s a big woman, probably snuck up on them. There’s signs of blunt force trauma on both skulls.”
“So who was the man in the fire?”
“We assume another patsy, just like Chris’s dad.”
“Is his dad talking?”
“No,” Todd said. “He’s loyal to her, and I don’t pretend to understand why.”
“So Mother Mary is still out there. She’s been free all these years.” My stomach clenched. “Justin was an innocent kid.”
He nodded. “I wonder if being incarcerated saved his life, though. She hated him. I always guessed it, but I didn’t realize how deep her hatred of Justin went.”
“Maybe. But his life isn’t great. And I didn’t help the matter.” I felt ashamed. “I hope he can start again. For a second time.”
“Yeah well, his brother’s going to help with that.”
“Chris? It’s definite, then?”
“It is. Chris’s uncle–the assistant district attorney–is going to file a case to get Justin’s name cleared. We’re filing charges against Mary, and we’re going public. Justin’s terrified, but he wants the truth out there.”
I managed to smile. “Good for him.”
“Speaking of the A.D.A., he’s waiting for you. Along with his nephew.”
“To file charges?” I prepared myself to accept my fate without argument. “Against Chris too?”
“To take you both home.” Todd looked irritated. “Chris used his one phone call the right way. ADA Hale came in here two hours ago and made it clear we weren’t pressing charges against Chris. Apparently his nephew’s got some pull, because the ADA pled your case as well.”
I exhaled, the resulting ache in my chest indicating I’d been more tense than I’d realized. “I’ve never met him.”
“You will in a few minutes.” Todd leaned back in his chair, studying me with intensity. “I wasn’t going to charge you, anyway. I knew it would be tossed out and result in nothing but paperwork. But at least I made you sweat it out.”
“You did. I was nervous.” I stood up, anxious to get out of the cardboard box of a room.
Todd ran his index finger along his moustache. “There’s just one more thing to discuss.”
I swear I heard the creaky wheels of the lethal injection table rolling into the room. I sat back down.
“Brian Harrison was found dead in a parking garage early this morning,” Todd said. “Preliminary autopsy shows he died in a manner very similar to his brother.”
The hairs on the back of my neck spiked. I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to remain neutral. “Really?”
“Yep. Medical examiner said it’s likely a heart attack brought on by years of drug use. He also had fairly fresh tracks on his arms.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m not sure why you’re telling me.”
“You know exactly why. Brian Harrison pointed the finger at you for his brother’s murder. Suddenly you’ve got information he might be a suspect in Kailey’s abduction. I know you talked to Hank about the girl Sly Lyle claims he saw being attacked.”
“So?” My skin grew clammy, my mouth dry. I licked my lips and immediately regretted it. “So, we recovered Brian Harrison’s computer. There were a lot of pictures of little girls on it. One of them was Josie, the older girl who walked Kailey home. We think she’s the girl Lyle saw with him.”
“Get her some help, then.” The hammer was about to drop. Let it. Kailey was alive, and I’d taken more than one predator off the streets.
“Brian Harrison’s neighbors witnessed a redheaded woman and a man with a baseball cap near his residence the day before he died.”
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“You know why,” Todd snapped. “Since Harrison’s dead after saying you killed his brother, I think it’s pretty easy to put two and two together.”
I laughed and hoped it didn’t sound panicked. “You’re saying I caused both men to have heart attacks? I can be a bitch, but I’m not that bad.”
“Other things can present like a heart attack. Things that go undetected unless a cop can convince his boss to look deeper. But the brass are telling me Harrison’s a convict with no family and a drug addict. Seems open and shut, and the state doesn’t want to spend the extra money for more tox tests. I’d say whoever killed him is getting a reprieve.”
A sliver of hope bloomed in my chest.
Maybe there’s such a thing as luck after all.
“It sounds like you’re the one who’s too close, Detective. I think the Harrison boys just lost out to the white devil.”
He smirked and shook his head. The tension flamed between us, shimmering like a blazing fire against the night sky. “You’re something else, Lucy.”
“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry for anyone affected by the Harrisons’ deaths. But for their loss? The streets are safer without those men.” I shouldn’t have said that.
“Exactly,” Todd said. “I think somehow your dedication to help kids has brought you to a very dark place.”
“You’re probably right.” I stood once more. “That’s why I left Child Protective Services.”
Todd stood as well. He stepped toward me, pulling my chin to force me to look into his eyes. They were quite pretty. I’d always been too busy pondering at the mustache to notice them. “I believe the Harrison brothers were murdered. By someone who knew what they were doing to kids, and I’m afraid that someone might be you. I can’t prove it, but I’m going to be keeping an eye out. More cases like them crop up, I’ll have to start investigating them. You get my drift?”
“Sure. But I think you’re overworked and a little overdramatic.” I pulled away, stepped around him, and reached for the door.
“Lucy, listen to me. Despite all of your antics, I like you. Your dedication to help kids is really admirable, and you’re brave. But if you keep this up, you’ll self-destruct. And the law will catch up with you.”
Of course it would. Hadn’t I known that all along? I just didn’t think the reality would be so hard to accept. “Duly noted. Will you promise me one thing, though?”
He looked at me incredulously. “I owe you a favor?”
“Not me. Josie. Please make sure she gets help.”
“I will. But don’t forget what I said.”
C
hris stood when
I came into the station’s waiting area, followed quickly by a distinguished-looking man with silver hair in a matching gray suit. Sitting beside them was Justin. He stood up too.