Already Gone

by Diane Benefiel

  After taking a quick shower and wolfing down a bowl of cold cereal for fuel, Logan drove back to Maddy’s house, not surprised to see Brad’s SUV with the Hangman’s Loss PD insignia on the door already parked behind Maddy’s CRV. Three other vehicles sat in front of the cabin. Rittenhauer wouldn’t be there. For now, Logan’s boss was letting Brad take the lead in the investigation, and was focusing FBI resources on tracking down and completely destroying the rest of the trafficking organization.

  Logan stepped inside the cabin to find several men and women standing around the dining table, a large map spread before them. Brad didn’t look like he’d gotten any more sleep than Logan had.

  Logan knew the officers with the Hangman’s Loss PD, Jack Morgan, who’d gone to Loss High with Brad and Logan, and Monica Valdez. Brad introduced him to another man he hadn’t seen before. Tall and rangy, he looked to be in his late thirties and carried himself with a demeanor Logan pegged as cop. When he stepped forward, he walked with a slight limp.

  “Logan, this is Declan Murphy. Up until about four months ago he was Detective Declan Murphy with the LAPD human trafficking unit.”

  Logan shook the other man’s hand. “What’s an ex-detective from the human trafficking unit doing up in our corner of the mountains?”

  “Trying to stay out of trouble, but your friend here wants to bring me in.”

  Brad gave a short laugh. “I ran into Declan at the hardware store a couple of weeks ago. He looked like a cop, so we got to talking. He won’t let me deputize him, but I want everyone I can get my hands on looking for Maddy, so I called him.”

  Declan nodded. “I know Lazlo Horvath, and I heard you got Janus. Good job. I nailed a cousin about three years ago. Trafficking in young girls is a family affair.”

  “Declan was able to connect Rittenhauer with the right person at the LAPD, and they’re tightening the noose on their end. The entire organization is crumbling around Lazlo’s head, so he may be feeling the heat,” Brad explained. “Right now, Maddy is our top priority.”

  The front door swung open, letting in the rancher Eli MacElvoy of the Broken Arrow. Snow dusted his shoulders and his broad-brimmed cowboy hat. He acknowledged Logan with a nod.

  Brad motioned to the map. “Eli and Jack were raised in this area.” He pointed to the valley stretching south of Hangman Lake. “They know the land and they know the people. With the hands of the Broken Arrow and the Morgan family’s Circle M, they will contact every person in the valley, and search every shed and outhouse.”

  “If Horvath is holed up in our valley, we’ll find him,” Jack stated.

  Logan studied the map. “I know your officers contacted the immediate area around Maddy’s cabin, but I’m going to touch base with them again, see if I can jiggle something loose. These people know Maddy and might be more willing to put some extra effort into remembering if they saw anything.”

  Brad handed him a two-way radio. “Keep this on. Outside of town, cell reception dies out, so we’ll communicate with the walkies.” Logan took the radio and attached it to his belt.

  The group dispersed, each with their assigned duty, a copy of the map, and their radios. What they were doing was good, solid police work to gather clues, but Logan hated the feeling of helplessness, like he wasn’t doing enough. The sorry fact was that the fucking bastard Horvath could have taken Maddy anywhere and done anything he wanted to her.

  Battling back the paralyzing fear, Logan stepped outside into the early morning darkness. Ignoring the cold, he started the engine on his pickup and cranked up the heater. Starting with the homes closest to Maddy’s cabin, he knocked on door after door, sometimes continuing to pound until the grousing owner finally opened up. An hour later, he’d woken up a couple dozen people, and not one of them had anything of value to say.

  The day dawned dark and gray with low, heavy clouds obscuring the mountains. He continued knocking on doors until everyone in the area who was home had been contacted. He looked in windows of empty cabins and examined any structure he thought could hide a woman. Updates over the radio let him know the others weren’t having any better results. Returning to Maddy’s cabin, he figured to check in with Brad and determine a new area to search.

  He stepped out of his truck, the wind blowing icy snow to sting the exposed skin on his face. Headlights flashed through the trees and a large vehicle turned off the road. A pickup with a wide plow attachment on the front end pulled in and parked to the side of the driveway. The door slammed shut and Theo the snowplow guy ambled toward him.

  “Hey there, Logan.”

  “Theo.”

  “Already snowing at the higher elevations. Looks like I’ll have work again around here in the next little bit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Folks think I’m crazy, but there’s nothing I like better than getting up first thing the morning after a storm and pushing all that snow off the roads. There’s an art to it, you know.”

  Logan didn’t know. “You got a purpose for your visit, Theo?”

  Theo stood, head tilted back, contemplating the snow blowing amid the towering pines. “Wife said Jack Morgan came by last evening, and you came by this morning. Said you all were looking for Maddy.”

  “You see her?”

  “Nope.” He contemplated the sky some more. “But I did see that truck that was here after you left that day. Don’t know if that’s relevant.”

  Every cell in Logan’s body went on alert. “It’s damned relevant. Where did you see it?”

  “Over off the highway. My folks left me a cabin up above Little Loss Lake, you know, the lake above Hangman Lake, farther up into the mountain.” He said it like a question.

  “I know it.”

  “I been up there checking up on things, making sure the pipes ain’t burst and such like that. You know how it is.”

  Logan wanted to shake the guy so he’d spit out what he had to say quicker than the agonizingly slow trickle that was coming out now. “And?”

  “And I’d turned onto the highway and there’s the road that goes up to the old Gilman place. Young Gilman owns it now. The grandkid, you know?” Theo must have picked up on Logan’s tension, because he did speed up his delivery a bit. “Well, the Gilman grandkid is grown up and has kids of his own now. They live in Sacramento, and only come up here odd weekends.”

  “Your point, Theo?”

  “My point is that the truck I saw coming out of Maddy’s driveway was on that dirt road from the Gilman place, stopped at the highway. Driver waited for me to pass, then followed me back to town.”

  “How do you know it was the same truck?”

  “Ford two-fifty, black, shell over the bed, and with the passenger side front bumper scraped up. I noticed the scrape when I seen him the day I plowed for Maddy after the big storm. The day I picked you up at the end of her driveway.”

  “When did you see it?”

  Theo pulled on his lip, scrunched his brow, and gave the question considerable thought. “Last night. Sun had gone down but it was light enough to see that it was the same truck.”

  “You say the truck followed you back into town. You know where it went once it got there?”

  “Went straight on through. Could have been heading for the Brew Pub, or out to the highway.”

  “Did you see anything else? Any detail could be important, Theo.”

  Theo thought and thought, but finally shook his head. “Nope. That’s all I saw.”

  Logan slapped Theo on the shoulder, feeling a faint flicker of hope. “If your tip helps me find Maddy, I’m going to treat you and your wife to a steak dinner, my man.”

  Theo grinned. “I hope you find her soon. I could use a steak dinner.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Maddy tried to blink open her eyes. Her left eyelid stuck closed. It felt like it was crusted shut, and her shoulders ached. She tried to move and found her hands were bound behind her back. The throbbing in her head added one more layer to the overall misery. She shifted,
trying to sit up from her awkward position on what she guessed was a sofa. A window high up on the wall let in gray light and made her think it was morning.

  “She’s awake.” The voice was so soft Maddy thought she imagined it.

  “Shh, he’ll hear.”

  “I don’t think the evil one is back yet,” the first voice said, though lowering her tone.

  “There could be others.”

  “Yes, but if they are here, maybe they’ll take her first. Stupid men like the yellow-haired women, so maybe they’ll take her and leave us alone.”

  The whispered conversation wasn’t comforting, but following the discourse helped chase away the lingering grogginess. The voices sounded young, too young. Maddy tried her voice, and when it rasped, she wished desperately for a glass of water. She cleared her throat. “The yellow-haired woman doesn’t want to go first.”

  “Shh. You want the evil one to hear you? He could be back any minute.”

  She lowered her voice to match theirs. “Who are you?”

  There was a rustling sound, then a quiet movement as a dark shadow approached. The couch dipped to her right. “I’ll untie you.”

  “Don’t untie her. He’ll know.”

  “It won’t matter. He’s keeping us for some pendejos who like virgins.”

  The second girl moved to Maddy’s other side and sat close beside her. Maddy spoke over her shoulder to the girl whose nimble fingers were picking at the cords wrapped around her wrists. “What’s your name?”

  “Jasmine.”

  “How old are you, Jasmine?”

  “Fifteen. My sister is Angelica, she’s fourteen. We were tied up but I got us free.”

  “That’s good. You’re resourceful.”

  The restraints loosened a little bit, then more, and suddenly she was free. Maddy ground her teeth to keep from moaning out loud as the muscles in her shoulders and arms protested when she brought her arms to a more natural position. She rubbed her eye against her shoulder and was finally able to open it.

  “My name is Maddy. Are there other girls here?”

  “There were, but the evil one took them away after they brought you.”

  Maddy tried to think clearly, but fuzziness still coated her brain. She’d gone to her cabin to pick up some things. She remembered stepping into the kitchen and seeing the mess on the counters, but after that, everything was blank. Her forehead throbbed, and she guessed that the crustiness on her eye had been dried blood. Someone had hit her on the head and brought her to this place. She’d bet her business license the “evil one” the girls referred to was Horvath. Fear roiled her stomach, and she swallowed against the rising nausea.

  “Where are you girls from?”

  “From Escondido, near San Diego. Our mother’s boyfriend sold us because he owed money to some bad people.”

  The horror of that thought left Maddy momentarily stunned. “He sold you? My god, that’s horrible. Did your mother know?”

  Angelica answered, her voice wavering. “We don’t know what happened to Mama. She would never have let José sell us.”

  “We’re worried that he hurt her.” Fear underlay the bravado in Jasmine’s voice.

  “He gave you a shot,” Angelica said in her quiet voice.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When he brought you in here last night, the evil one gave you a shot in your arm.”

  Her stomach heaved at the thought, and Maddy breathed through her mouth to keep from vomiting. Being injected with drugs by the vile Horvath while she was unconscious was a disturbing violation and made her feel more vulnerable than she had.

  Her brain was clearing, and the fact that they were possibly alone in the cabin made her realize this could be their opportunity to escape.

  “Did you know the other girls?”

  The light coming in was enough that she could see Jasmine shake her head.

  “There were two of them and they didn’t speak English,” Jasmine said. “And they were older than us. They were from Ensenada. That’s in Mexico.”

  “They were scared,” her sister added.

  “Do you know where we are?”

  She felt the shrug. The girls were sitting close on either side of her, and it dawned on her that they were looking to her for protection. She felt Angelica shaking against her arm.

  “Jasmine, Angelica, if we’re going to get out of here, we need to help each other.” She ignored the pounding in her head that made her want to curl up in a ball and close her eyes. “I need to know where we are.”

  “Somewhere in the mountains. Before it got dark, we could see that it had started snowing again. I used to want to see snow because I’d never seen it before. Now I don’t ever want to see snow again.”

  “I don’t blame you. But snow can be fun. When you were coming here, could you see outside the vehicle you were in? Can you describe the terrain?” Maddy asked.

  “Yeah,” Jasmine said. She seemed to be the spokeswoman for the pair. “We were in the back of a truck that had a cover, but there was a window at the back so we could see out.”

  “There were lots of trees,” whispered Angelica.

  “Did you see a lake?”

  “Yeah, it looked like it had ice on it,” said Jasmine.

  “Good. What else? Think of anything that would help me figure out where we are.”

  Angelica spoke again, her voice barely audible. “There were little buildings with metal roofs in the trees near the lake. I think they were cabins. And a sign that had a rope on it, like the kind they use to hang people.”

  The sign at Emma’s resort had the town symbol of a hangman’s noose, and the cabins had metal roofs. Horvath hadn’t taken her far. “What else did you see?”

  “We passed that place, then drove uphill.”

  “There was another lake we passed. It was smaller than the first one,” Jasmine added.

  That would be Little Loss Lake. “How did you get to this cabin?”

  “We turned after the smaller lake. The road was on the right side of the highway.”

  Maddy knew exactly where they were. “You girls paid attention, that’s smart. Now tell me who is holding us here. Who is the evil one?”

  The sound of tires crunching on gravel brought the conversation to a breathless halt. She should have gotten them out sooner.

  “Quick, girls. What weapons did you see?”

  “The evil one has a gun. There was another guy who has a gun, too.”

  A car door slammed outside the building. Even as Jasmine spoke, Maddy listened for more doors shutting. “Okay, I’m going to pretend that my hands are still behind my back. Listen carefully, and when I tell you to run, you have to do it. Don’t hesitate, and don’t worry about me. Get out of the cabin and run into the trees. But stay together. Now go back to where you were.” Maddy slipped her hand in her pocket and closed her fist around a comforting weight.

  A creaking sound signaled a door opening in another room, likely the one from the outside. Then the door to the room they were in swung open and the light flashed on. Maddy kept her eyes closed and her hands behind her back, forcing herself not to cringe as steps approached her.

  A voice spoke, uncomfortably close, like he was leaning over her. “Guess what, bitch. You’re going to earn me a pretty penny. Been talking to some pimps, and they’re willing to pay big for you. Some men, they’ll overlook that you’re not a teenager just to get their hands on a white woman with hair the color of yours.” His accent made his words seem harsher. He nudged her knee, and when she didn’t move, struck her across the face.

  Maddy’s eyes flew open, her cheek stinging from the blow. Horvath leaned over her, leering. “But guess what else? I need to take a picture of you that I promised to send to your asshole boyfriend. I’ll enjoy this very much.” Even as her stomach clenched at the predatory look on his face, her mind worked feverishly. Horvath was alone, she was almost certain of it. She’d heard only one car door shut, he hadn’t spoken to anyone when he
came in, and she had heard only one set of footsteps. She tightened her grip around the warm metal from her pocket.

  Logan had said she was defenseless, so she’d vowed not to be. Big brother had been more than happy to offer her a lethal-looking folding pocket knife that she’d carried with her ever since. Horvath grabbed her arm, and when he yanked her forward, she didn’t hesitate. She released the blade with her thumb and swung her fisted hand up.

  She caught him by surprise, and horror warred with satisfaction when Horvath reeled back with a harsh cry, the three-inch blade of the knife buried in his shoulder below his collarbone.

  “Go, girls. Run!” Maddy scrambled to her feet as blood spurted from Horvath’s wound. He staggered back, gripping the knife to pull the blade free. Jasmine and Angelica darted for the door. Maddy didn’t know if the stab wound would kill Horvath or even slow him down. She wasn’t waiting to find out. A quick glance told her the front room was empty. She swung open the front door in time to see headlights blazing from a vehicle racing up the road toward the cabin.

  “Out the back door, now.” Jasmine and Angelica raced to the back of the cabin. Horvath staggered from the room, his heavy shirt soaked a deep red, a gun gripped in his bloody hand. Acting on instinct, Maddy used all her momentum to ram against him, hitting him on his injured shoulder. He stumbled, falling to his knees. She ran down a little hall and across the kitchen to the back door. Jasmine already had the door unlocked. Maddy flung it open and, grabbing the girls by their clothing, pushed them ahead of her and out the door.

  She grasped Angelica’s hand. “Jasmine, grab your sister’s other hand. Don’t let go.” They raced up a slope behind the cabin toward the trees. Maddy feared that at any moment there would be a gunshot and she or the girls would be hit in the back. Snow stung her face; the freezing air stole the breath from her lungs. Snow and ice on the ground had them scrambling to keep their footing in the frozen terrain. The girls wore sneakers and thin leggings, and Angelica’s jacket glowed bright pink in the half-light of a cloudy morning. If Horvath was aiming for them, it would act like a beacon, but there was no time to get the coat off her.