The Toybox

by Charly Cox

  Nick continued jotting down phone numbers but shook his head. ‘No. Rach never really talked about guys she was interested in. Not even in high school.’ He stopped writing, hanging his head for a second before turning worried eyes to Alyssa. ‘I wish now that I’d asked about those things, but we just never had that type of relationship.’

  ‘What you’re doing’ – Alyssa tipped her head toward the paper in Nick’s hand – ‘will be very helpful. Now, before we go, I have one more question for you. Does your sister have any tattoos, piercings, or other distinguishing features?’

  Nick’s face paled, and his hands began to shake. Cord stepped in to reassure him. ‘It helps to know when we’re asking others if they’ve seen her.’

  Color returned to his face, but his tremors remained. ‘No, Rach didn’t have any noticeable scars, no tattoos, but she has six piercings, three in each ear. That I know of anyway, and that, I believe, is something she’d definitely tell me.’ He shifted his eyes toward his father who still stood in the doorway of the bedroom. ‘I think if she’d gotten a tattoo or something, she would’ve called because that’s exactly the kind of secret she’d share with me.’

  Chapter Six

  Monday, May 20

  Jersey’s brain was fuzzy as she swam through a sea of darkness trying to rouse herself from one of those terrifying dreams where everything felt real. But when she opened her eyes this time, nothing but blackness greeted her, not even a shadow.

  She blinked, hoping her eyes would adjust.

  A sudden jolt knocked her sideways, and she realized she was in a moving vehicle. But whose, and why, and why was it so dark? She squeezed her eyes shut as a wave of dizziness washed over her, and then immediately reopened them, heart galloping as if it was trying to win a race, as the last thing she remembered before waking hit her.

  She’d been walking towards home after leaving her friends and the duck pond, contemplating the current suckiness of her life.

  Anger. At Beau. Her parents. Her friends. The world.

  Then…

  Nerves tingling as footsteps thudded behind her and wishing she hadn’t insisted on being alone to clear her head, wishing she hadn’t stayed to watch the ducks as long as she had. She knew the dangers in being a young female walking alone at night. But there had been a cute college-aged boy who’d kept watching her, and then he’d moved closer, flirting with her a little until he finally had to go. The attention had been nice on her bruised ego, and so she’d stayed for another hour, until the sky blotted out the rest of the sunset, replacing it with stars.

  The steps behind her had quieted, becoming only a whisper of movement as they slowed.

  And she’d relaxed, even laughed a little at her paranoia. She didn’t own the park. It made sense someone else would be out walking. It was a perfect night for it, still just cool enough for a sweatshirt, despite the heat of the day. She’d pulled out her phone to call an Uber after all.

  Then, out of nowhere, she felt a presence next to her. She turned…

  And was slammed to the ground, the air knocked out of her. She tried to suck in oxygen, to scream, but her face was being ground into the dirt. She remembered something jabbing her in the neck, remembered struggling as she tried to lift her head, panicking when she realized she couldn’t because every part of her was paralyzed – her feet, her hands, everything. All she could feel was… heaviness.

  Then came the whisper, ‘Nighty-night.’

  I know that voice, she thought as the darkness closed in around her.

  Sometime later she woke in an unfamiliar room, a seedy hotel by the look of it, but before she could think much about why she was there, she was out again, but not before that familiar voice penetrated through the fog as it told someone, ‘She’s here and ready for transport.’

  Chapter Seven

  Monday, May 20

  After being inside the nice air-conditioned house of Mr. and Mrs. Otis, stepping outside into the heat and wind was almost like stepping into another country. People might call Chicago the Windy City, but Albuquerque could give it a strong run for its money – even if it was true that the ‘windy’ in Chicago’s nickname stemmed not from the cold breezes that came off Lake Michigan but from politicians who were full of hot air.

  As soon as Alyssa and Cord were back in the car, buckled in with the air blasting, Cord said, ‘Angela Kazminski called that, didn’t she? Mrs. Otis is one cold individual.’

  It was unlike her partner to make such comments, so Alyssa shot a quick peek at his profile where she could see there was something more on his mind than the nastiness of Rachel Otis’s mother. For a brief moment, she considered asking what it was, but knowing how much she hated being asked that question herself, she opted to let him tell her when he was ready. Instead, she agreed with him. ‘Took the words right out of my mouth.’

  As she headed for the open wrought-iron gate, she spotted Nick in her rearview mirror, standing on the porch, hands pushed deep into his pockets, staring off into the trees beside the house. It seemed like he was the only one in his family concerned for his sister’s welfare, the only one who thought something was off, that Rachel’s disappearance could be a foreboding of danger. Alyssa usually had what her team liked to call a sixth sense about these things, but after visiting the Otises, she didn’t have a gut feeling that leaned strongly one way or the other. In Rachel’s shoes, she’d be tempted to run away, too.

  But based on Nick’s and Angela’s reactions, she’d gather her team and proceed by treating this as a mysterious disappearance. There was no evidence of foul play, but that didn’t mean none existed. ‘Why don’t you call Hal and have him contact Joe and Tony? Maybe they can get started on checking security cameras in the area while we check out some of the names on that list.’ With luck, Officers Joe Roe and Tony White, two more members on their team, would find something on the cameras that might point them in the right direction.

  Before Cord could answer, Holly’s ringtone blared through the car. Alyssa tapped the Bluetooth screen. ‘Hi, sweetie. I’m driving, so you’re on speaker.’ She was greeted by dead air, and for a second, her heart threatened to bolt from her chest. Finally, Holly said, ‘Hi, Cord.’

  ‘Hey.’

  Alyssa heard her daughter’s lips flutter as she drew in a deep breath and released it. ‘Is this a bad time, Mom? I could call back if it is.’

  Hearing the worry in her daughter’s voice, Alyssa’s shoulders tensed, her mind immediately conjuring up Isaac’s face; specifically, the image she had of him when he’d escaped his kidnapper six weeks ago. ‘Nope, not a bad time. Like I said, I’m driving, so go ahead. As long as you don’t mind Cord hearing whatever it is you have to say.’ She forced a cheery tone into her voice, though the nerves in her stomach were doing a great impersonation of an unraveling ball of yarn.

  ‘Okay, so I could be wrong, but I think Jersey’s missing. Her mom called Sophie a little bit ago to ask if she’d seen her because Jersey didn’t come home last night.’

  ‘Why do you think she’s missing?’ From the corner of her eye, she noticed Cord remove his notebook, pen poised to jot down the information. Two possible missing girls? Once again, Alyssa couldn’t help but be reminded of Evan Bishop’s desire for torturing young women.

  ‘Remember how I told you last night that Jersey was really upset about her parents divorcing and her grandma dying?’

  ‘I remember.’ Though Jersey and Holly were friends, Alyssa mainly knew her as Sophie’s cousin. And rarely did Sophie seem pleased when the other girl tagged along. When Alyssa had asked about it, all her daughter had said was, ‘Jersey can be a bit much.’

  But when Leigh Ann started hanging out with the girls a few years ago, the tension between the two cousins seemed to wane a little. When Alyssa had pointed it out, Holly had laughed, attributing it to Leigh Ann’s magical touch.

  ‘Well, I left out the part about her and her boyfriend fighting before we left for dinner.’ There was a lengthy pause, and whe
n Holly spoke again, it was through gritted teeth. ‘I didn’t actually hear what they were fighting about, but I saw him shove her, then he called her pathetic and worthless before he stormed off. At dinner Leigh Ann asked if she wanted to talk about it, and Jersey admitted Beau was trying…’ – she cleared her throat before continuing – ‘to pressure her into a threesome, but with him as an observer, and her with two other guys.’ The choked tone of Holly’s voice conveyed her embarrassment.

  Cord’s head snapped up, and Alyssa turned to look at him, shocked to see the ticcing in his clenched jaw.

  ‘That doesn’t tell me why you think she’s missing.’ Alyssa divided her attention between watching the traffic around her and sneaking peeks at her partner. His left hand squeezed the pen so tightly, she was certain it would snap in two. What was going on in his head?

  ‘Well, while Jersey was telling us what happened, she decided she might’ve overreacted and picked up her phone to text Beau, and Sophie snapped at her. Jersey started going on about us not understanding what she was going through, and that Beau was all she had. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, they were yelling at each other, and by the time we got out of there and reached my car, Jersey decided she wanted to be alone, to get fresh air, she said.’

  Holly’s voice wobbled. ‘It was starting to get dark, and I didn’t want her to go off by herself, especially after what happened with Callie McCormick and those other women.’

  Callie was Evan Bishop’s final victim, and after she died from the torture he’d inflicted, her husband had taken matters into his own hands by killing Bishop on the courthouse steps.

  ‘I don’t blame you for being concerned,’ Alyssa said.

  ‘We offered to go with her… well, I did anyway, but Sophie and Leigh Ann were on board, but Jersey insisted she wanted to be alone to think. I asked her to text or call me when she got home or if she wanted to talk, but she never did, so I assumed she still needed some alone time.’

  ‘Is it possible she’s with Beau?’ Alyssa’s scalp tingled. The duck pond. The university. Near the same area where Rachel Otis was last seen before mysteriously disappearing. In the passenger seat, Cord scribbled furiously in the notebook. Her eyes flickered down long enough to see he’d scrawled Rachel Otis/Jersey/UNM and surrounded it with several black circles – apparently sharing the same thought that had crossed her mind.

  A frustrated grunt echoed through the car. ‘No. I called him before calling you. To be honest, I’m surprised he answered. Anyway, when I asked if he’d seen Jersey, he laughed and said, and I quote here, “If you haven’t heard from her, I wouldn’t worry about it. This is her thing. She disappears for a day or two to make me worry, then waltzes back in. She thinks she’s punishing me, but I really don’t give a shit.” Then he asked if that’s why Jersey’s mom had been trying to reach him that morning.’

  ‘Sounds like a stand-up character,’ Cord muttered under his breath. ‘What’s this Beau’s last name?’

  ‘Cambridge. I can text Mom his number and address when I hang up, and Jersey’s mom’s, too,’ Holly offered.

  ‘That’d be great,’ Alyssa said. ‘Her dad’s, too, if you have that.’

  Holly snorted, disgusted. ‘Her dad’s currently somewhere in Europe or Asia or hell, I don’t even know. I just remember Jersey telling us he was gallivanting around somewhere with his new twenty-something girlfriend, so I don’t think anyone’s contacted him yet because it’s not like he could tell us where she is, so…’

  Alyssa didn’t want to ask the next question, but she knew she had to. ‘Do you think there’s any credibility to what Beau said?’

  ‘No. Jersey is full of drama and likes to be the center of attention, usually in any way she can get it. But that’s precisely why this doesn’t feel right. She wouldn’t go quiet; she’d want everyone around her to know how miserable she was. I mean, even Sophie is starting to worry. Besides, Jersey sucks at ignoring her phone, so she either doesn’t have it, the battery died, she turned it off… all of which I highly doubt,’ she hesitated, ‘or something… else… has happened.’

  Holly’s breath hitched, echoing through the car’s speakers. ‘I should’ve tried harder to convince her to let me take her home… or at least insisted on going with her to the duck pond. I could’ve even followed her without telling her. Mom, if anything—’

  Alyssa cut her off. Holly was blaming herself, a trait she likely inherited from her. ‘Stop. First of all, we don’t know if something’s happened. Try not to create scary scenarios where we don’t know any exist, okay?’

  She could swear she heard her daughter’s eyes doing a three-sixty in her head. ‘Right. Don’t create scary scenarios. I don’t know if you’re cognizant of this one small fact, but my mother happens to be a detective who investigates scary scenarios and sketchy people all the time, and so she’s taught me to trust my instincts.’

  Alyssa smiled. ‘Fair enough. Tell you what, why don’t you send us that information, and Cord and I will look into it after we finish what we’re doing, and then we’ll get back with you in a little bit, okay?’

  ‘Mom, I’m scared,’ Holly whispered.

  ‘I know, but try to let us do our jobs before jumping to conclusions and staying there, okay?’

  ‘Thanks, Mom, Cord.’

  ‘Anytime, you know that. I’d tell you not to worry, but since I already know that’s pointless, my advice instead is to make yourself busy so you don’t lose your mind waiting for answers.’ Cord’s soothing voice was completely at odds with his flared nostrils and the pulsing vein in his temple.

  After Holly hung up, Alyssa took a minute to gather her thoughts. ‘Don’t you think it’s a little odd and a tad too coincidental that two girls around the same age in the same city near the same area would go missing within a day of each other?’ Her eyes wandered to the file holding the missing person report for Rachel Otis. Whereas earlier she hadn’t had a gut feeling leaning one way or the other, her instincts were screaming at her now that something sinister was afoot.

  Cord’s fist tapped against his thigh. ‘It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Jersey called her boyfriend while she was out on her walk, begged him to forgive her and pick her up. He picks her up, thinking she’s going to give in to his demands, and when she doesn’t, he snaps, they fight again, and then…’

  His carefully controlled voice trailed off, and again Alyssa couldn’t help but wonder what her partner was thinking. He was always so calm and collected that his reaction to the situation went beyond merely unnatural. She decided to be direct. ‘Want to tell me what you’re thinking?’

  ‘I’m thinking we need to locate this Beau Cambridge and find out what he knows.’

  Alyssa noted his choice of words: Find out what he knows, not if he knows anything.

  Chapter Eight

  Monday, May 20

  While Alyssa drove in the general direction of the university, Cord called Hal and asked if he could track down Chance Williams’s address.

  ‘This is what I’m thinking. Pay a visit to this Chance fellow, and then we’ll—’ She was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. ‘I seem to be popular today.’ She didn’t recognize the number that popped up on her screen. ‘Alyssa Wyatt speaking.’

  A woman’s hoarse, wobbly voice came on the line. ‘Detective Alyssa Wyatt?’

  ‘Yes. Who is this?’

  ‘My name is Natalia Andrews. I’m Jersey’s mom. I understand Holly already told you we fear my daughter may be missing?’

  ‘Yes, she did. Has Jersey come home?’

  ‘No, I’m afraid not. I, um, just wasn’t certain if I needed to call you and officially ask for a missing person’s report to be filed.’ A choked sound escaped as if Jersey’s mom was fighting back tears. ‘This isn’t the first time my daughter’s taken off, but it is the first time she hasn’t let me know she’s okay, and after everything that happened recently with that serial killer…’ She cleared her throat. ‘Her father is ou
t of the country for the time being, but I have left a message for him to contact me.’

  ‘When’s the last time you spoke to your daughter, Mrs. Andrews?’

  ‘Yesterday afternoon. I was enjoying a pampering day. You know, spa, nails, massage.’ Alyssa didn’t know, but she listened as Mrs. Andrews continued. ‘I’d invited Jersey to come along, make it a girls’ day, but she said she’d already made plans with Holly, Sophie, and Leigh Ann.’

  ‘Was her boyfriend there at the time?’

  ‘No, ma’am. He showed up sometime after I left. In fact, if Holly hadn’t told me about their fight, I would never have known he’d been at the house. Jersey knows I’m not his biggest fan. As it is, I tried contacting him, several times in fact, but he never answered my calls.’ This time her voice was brittle, angry. ‘Holly told me what he said. It’s probably my fault Jersey stays with him at all. After all, she’s learned from a pro how to stay with someone who’s toxic to be around. I should’ve left her father ages ago, but I thought staying together for Jersey’s sake was better, healthier somehow. I realize now that was a mistake.’

  Unfortunately, Alyssa saw that same reasoning time and time again during her investigations involving domestic clashes. ‘When did you notice Jersey wasn’t home, Mrs. Andrews?’

  ‘This morning around nine. I knocked on her bedroom door to ask how her evening went and see if she wanted to go to breakfast. When she didn’t answer, I opened her door and found her bed unslept in. My first thought was that the girls had been having so much fun they must’ve slept at one of their houses. I admit I was a little upset she hadn’t let me know. And then she didn’t answer her phone when I called, so I thought I’d try Sophie. But then Sophie told me she hadn’t seen her since dinner last night, and offered to ask Holly and Leigh Ann. When she called back, she said none of them knew where she was, so I thought maybe she’d spent the night with Beau.’ The way his name came out strangled, it sounded more like a curse word.