The Toybox

by Charly Cox

  Lorna held her breath for a second before expelling it in a huge rush. She muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like, ‘This is why you came here. Don’t back out now.’

  Alyssa leaned in as close as she could get without actually scooting her chair closer. ‘Lorna, if you know something about Katelyn’s disappearance, I need you to tell me now. It could be the difference between saving her life or finding her dead.’ She hoped the urgency in her tone conveyed to Lorna the importance of sharing whatever information she had. ‘Now, where have you seen these girls?’

  Lorna’s voice wavered, as if she were beginning to doubt the intelligence of coming here. ‘At the hotel where I work?’ She posed her answer as a question of its own.

  Alyssa’s spine stiffened. ‘Did you see them with someone else, or were they alone?’

  Lorna’s head bobbed up and down, and she swallowed once, twice, three times.

  Whatever or whomever Lorna Price had seen, one thing remained clear: she was spooked. It wasn’t a question of whether she had seen something, but what she had seen. Alyssa needed to know what that was. She inched her chair over to the phone sitting on the corner of the table. ‘I’d like you to look at some pictures so I know for sure which girls you say you saw, okay?’ Alyssa waited for Lorna to nod, and then she dialed Ruby’s extension. ‘Could you please bring me two waters and my files from the conference room?’ she asked as soon as Ruby picked up.

  Shortly after Alyssa requested the items, a knock came on the door, and then Ruby walked in carting two water bottles and a stack of folders, setting everything down at the end of the table and leaving without uttering a word.

  Alyssa stretched one arm out and pulled the items to her, nudging one of the bottles in front of Lorna. Then she dragged the folders in front of her, flipping them open, and pulling out a picture of Katelyn Phillipson, one of Meghan Jessup that Sergeant Boudreaux had given her, and adding images of Jersey Andrews and Rachel Otis. ‘Ms. Price, for the record, could you please point to the images of the girls you say you recognized?’

  Lorna glanced down for only a split second before her face paled. Somewhat confused, she whispered, ‘All of them.’ And then her gaze shot away as she stared at the door.

  Alyssa’s nerves felt like two hot wires touching each other. ‘Are you absolutely certain you’ve seen all of them?’

  Lorna gnawed at her bottom lip as her head bobbed emphatically.

  ‘At Hotel Camino where you work?’ Alyssa clarified for the record.

  ‘Yeah, but not like all at the same time or anything.’

  ‘When did you see them?’

  ‘I don’t really remember what days they were. Except for that one.’ Her finger pointed to Katelyn’s photo. ‘I saw her Tuesday night, and she stood out because she was so young, and the man she left with was so much older, and he was such a big guy compared to her petite size.’

  Blood pulsed in Alyssa’s ears. ‘Describe this big guy for me.’

  ‘Um, he was built, you know, kind of like a weightlifter. He had brown hair and big bushy eyebrows.’

  ‘How tall was this man?’

  ‘About my brother’s height, so probably about five-eleven maybe?’

  Because she was expecting to hear something over six feet, it took Alyssa a second to realize Lorna wasn’t describing Beau Cambridge. Nor did the description fit Chance Williams, Griffin Parker, or Calvin McDougal. She resisted the urge to sag into the chair. This was still valuable information. ‘What time was this, and when Katelyn left, did she go willingly, or did she seem frightened?’

  Lorna’s eyes fluttered and her hands twisted together, every once in a while twisting an invisible ring on her finger, turning the area a burning red. ‘I don’t remember what time it was. All I can say is that it was beginning to get dark. And I don’t know if she or any of them went willingly or not. Like, they all seemed totally drugged up, you know. And they were always escorted out by two guys, always the same ones.’

  ‘Two guys?’

  ‘Yes. The other guy was a little bit shorter than the other one. He had blond hair, still pretty muscular, but not as much as his friend.’ Pink suffused Lorna’s face when she admitted, ‘I just thought all the girls were maybe hookers, you know…’

  Something in the way she said all the girls struck Alyssa as odd, so she asked, ‘You said “all the girls.” Do you mean these four, or were there more?’

  Lorna seemed surprised by the question. ‘Oh, lots more. That’s why I thought they were just working girls.’

  Like a boulder sinking to the bottom of the lake, so did Alyssa’s stomach. If what she suspected was accurate, having sex was involved, but she didn’t think the girls had been given a choice in the matter. On the heels of that thought came another: If it’s a sex trafficking ring, Rachel, Jersey, and Katelyn could still be alive. And while their lives would never be the same, with the right help, they could find a way through their abuse – whereas there would be no coming back from being dead.

  ‘Lorna, why didn’t you come to the police as soon as you realized you recognized at least two of the girls?’

  Eyes glowing with moisture, Lorna shifted her chin down and stared intently at the frayed edges of her jeans. ‘I was too scared. Am I going to jail now?’

  It was clear the girl was terrified and probably with good reason. ‘What do you do at the hotel?’

  ‘I work the night shift at the hotel desk.’ Her voice quivered with fear that she’d be arrested for not coming forward sooner.

  Alyssa risked placing a hand on the frightened woman’s shoulder. ‘Lorna, I’m not going to take you into custody for waiting. I understand you’re scared, but right now, I need you to focus so you can help me find these girls. Can you do that?’

  A commotion outside the door drew Alyssa’s attention just before there was a knock and then Tony poked his head in, Joe directly behind him.

  Her palm covering her mouth to suppress a scream, Lorna shot out of her seat, grabbing her chair and putting it, as well as the table, in front of her. Tony’s hands shot up to show he was safe even as he accurately read the situation and backed out again. Maintaining eye contact with Lorna, he directed his words to Alyssa. ‘Hal said to let you know we were back. Come hunt me down when you’re finished here.’ And then he and Joe were gone.

  But the damage was done. Alyssa groaned inwardly, both at the disruption and Tony’s unfortunate word choice in hunt. Already Lorna was moving as if to leave. In an attempt to keep her there, Alyssa tried to reassure the woman that she was still safe, reminding her that the lives of three girls could be on the line. ‘Lorna, you could help me save the lives of these other girls, save them from the same fate as Meghan Jessup.’ She watched Lorna’s eyes follow her finger to the image of Meghan.

  Despite that, as soon as Lorna got her breathing back under control, she shuffled to the door, hand hovering. ‘I’m sorry. That’s all I know. I’ve seen them at the hotel, and nothing else.’ Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say more, but then she snapped it closed and pulled open the door.

  ‘Lorna,’ Alyssa stopped her and waited for the young woman to turn back around. ‘What or who are you afraid of?’

  Lorna sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced behind her, as if she was afraid someone would see her take the business card Alyssa held out. When she turned back, her voice was hushed. ‘What if they find out I’ve come here? What if they know I’m calling?’

  ‘We’ll protect you. And even more, you could help us save these girls.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know anything else.’

  Alyssa released a frustrated sigh and pushed her card into Lorna’s hand. ‘If you think of anything else, or if you see these individuals again, call me. It doesn’t matter what time, day or night. Please call me.’

  Lorna tucked the card into her front pocket. ‘Okay.’ And then she was gone.

  Chapter Thirty

  Thursday, May 23

  Af
ter Lorna left, Alyssa hurried to the conference room, all the while planning the speech she would need to convince Hammond of okaying the cost of setting up surveillance outside Hotel Camino. Not that she expected to have to try too hard because the captain wanted this case solved as much as her team did.

  ‘What did you find out?’ she asked as soon as she walked through the conference room door.

  Instead of answering, Tony apologized. ‘Hal and Cord said you wanted to know as soon as Joe and I were back. I didn’t know I’d be spooking someone when I walked in. Sorry about that. Hope I didn’t mess things up.’

  Hal projected something onto the wall across the room. ‘Here we go.’

  ‘Girl was easily spooked, and I’ll tell you what I found out as soon as I see this.’ She turned her attention to the black and white grainy footage projected onto the wall. As she watched, she spotted who she assumed was Naomi Kenney appear in the top right corner, moving briskly along the sidewalk, head jerking from side to side, clearly alert and on edge in her surroundings. ‘Why are we just now finding out about this security camera? Didn’t you ask the businesses around there when we discovered Meghan’s body?’

  It was Joe who answered. ‘Owner was closed down for the past couple weeks. Said business was too slow with all the construction and decided to take some time to go fishing up at Navajo Lake. He just got back, saw the news reports, checked his footage, and called right away.’

  A minute later, a fancy sports car swerved around the corner, speeding into sight on the camera. Five seconds after that, the driver jerked to a halt, as if he’d only decided at the last minute to stop in that spot. Then the driver popped his trunk and climbed out, a dark hooded sweatshirt covering his face – not a rumpled business suit like Naomi had claimed.

  Tony pointed. ‘She’s still standing there behind that dumpster, out of sight of the man in the vehicle, but not out of sight of the camera. I think she knew by the way the guy pulled up, he was up to no good, and her instincts made her hide.’

  ‘What kind of car is that?’ Alyssa asked. ‘It looks fancy.’

  ‘Dodge Viper,’ Hal, Cord, and Tony all answered at once, their voices varying in degrees of lust and envy. Alyssa shook her head.

  At the back of the Viper, the man swiveled his head back and forth before hefting something out of the trunk and heaving it over his shoulder. Clearly, the something was a body bound up in a sheet. With one hand wrapped securely around the legs Alyssa believed belonged to Meghan Jessup, the man stepped onto the sidewalk and into the area where the young girl had been discovered.

  Four minutes, fifty-two seconds after entering the building, the man returned, sheet wadded up under his arm. At the car, his eyes darted all around him as he spun around in one quick circle, slammed his trunk closed, and hurried over to the driver’s side, climbing in. Though there was no sound, it was obvious the man had squealed away because there was a wisp of tire smoke as he peeled away from the curb.

  In the video, Naomi Kenney stepped out of her hiding spot, head moving first in the direction the car had taken off, then back towards the building. According to the timer running in the corner of the screen, the woman debated for a full six minutes before she hurriedly crossed the road and moved out of sight of the camera.

  ‘Too bad there was a license plate cover,’ Alyssa said, speaking more to herself than to her team. And then to Hal, she said, ‘Can you run a DMV search of individuals in the area who own a Dodge Viper?’

  ‘Already started, but I have to say a quicker, more efficient method would be releasing this footage to the media and sending out a plea for anyone knowing someone who owns a car like this to contact the police.’

  ‘Good idea.’ And then she filled everyone in on Lorna Price. ‘I’m going to talk to Hammond about getting surveillance set up at Hotel Camino. If what Price said is right, our girls aren’t the only ones who’ve been run through there. I think we need to consider that we’re looking at a sex trafficking ring. Hal, I need you to run a search of the missing person’s database. Start with central and northern New Mexico, and then expand outward to include the entire state. We’re searching for girls aged thirteen to twenty-one, just to be safe.

  ‘And I want someone digging into Beau Cambridge and his father’s background. I want cell phone records. Go over the missing person report Sergeant Bordeaux emailed and see if any of the witness statements include a description of persons in the area matching Beau Cambridge. If he was there when Meghan Jessup disappeared, we’ll have probable cause for a search.’ Her eyes caught and held Cord’s whose jaw had tightened at the mention of Jersey’s boyfriend. ‘Because Beau Cambridge is somehow involved,’ Alyssa continued. ‘It can’t just be coincidental that he was tied to two of our missing girls.’

  Tony cleared his throat. ‘Allegedly tied to two,’ he corrected. ‘Technically speaking, we only know for certain he’s connected to Jersey Andrews. While his general description fits that of the boy Meghan Jessup was secretly hooking up with, he’s not the only one who does, and we need to keep in mind that Santa Fe is fifty miles away…’ He let his voice trail off.

  ‘You’re right, and I promise I’m keeping an open mind,’ Alyssa assured everyone, ‘but my gut is telling me he’s involved. And if he is, we need to bring him in sooner rather than later. Because even if he is part of it, he’s not the one in charge – he’s not smart enough to pull off something this sophisticated. He’s answering to someone else.’ She jerked her thumb to the wall where the camera footage was still running. ‘Let’s find out who that someone is.’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Thursday, May 23

  It was close to seven on Thursday night, and Alyssa, Cord, and Hal were still in the conference room. Captain Hammond had gone home after approving the surveillance for Hotel Camino, as well as overtime for Joe and Tony, who were right this minute posted outside the hotel.

  A throbbing headache bloomed behind Alyssa’s eyes as images of Katelyn, Jersey, Rachel, and Meghan’s battered body flashed through her mind. Each second that passed was another second these girls were in danger. She refused to accept that they could already be dead.

  ‘I think we found that Dodge Viper.’ Officer Hermosa, one of the responding officers who’d arrived at her house when Isaac had been kidnapped, came rushing in. Bent at the waist, hands on his knees, he panted for breath as if he’d just run a half marathon.

  Hal wheeled his chair around, Cord shoved back from the table, and Alyssa jolted out of her chair, a loud pop echoing throughout the room as her spine cracked back into place. ‘What?’ she demanded.

  ‘Dispatch got a call. Sounds like a group of high school kids were off-roading in the mesa when they spotted a fancy red sports car across one of the ravines. They were impressed a car like that would be out there, so they decided to wind their way back around to check it out. They’d been backtracking less than five minutes when they heard a huge Boom and saw a plume of dirt explode out of the ravine. So, they turned around again, and headed back. They had to hike over to the edge of the ravine, but when they did, they saw the Viper on its side at the bottom. They were worried someone might still be in there, so they called nine-one-one right away. One of the guys drove back to the road to guide searchers in.’

  Alyssa was already grabbing her phone and keys. ‘Where was this?’

  ‘At the end of Rainbow in Rio Rancho.’

  ‘I know where that is. That’s where Trevor’s dad takes the boys to go dirt-biking.’ Before heading out, she asked Hal to contact Hammond. In the car, Cord called the Rio Rancho PD to let them know they were on their way.

  Because rush hour traffic was over and Alyssa ignored the speed limit, it took less than thirty minutes to hit Rainbow, another five to convince the rookie cop they needed to be allowed to pass, and another fifteen to bump along the trails to the ravine where they hiked the rest of the way in because the area was clogged with police and rescue workers.

  Rushing over to one of the off
icers she recognized, she said, ‘Manny, what have they found?’

  Manny Hernandez swung around and greeted both her and Cord. ‘I heard you were on your way. Saw this car on the news. Looks like someone else did, too, and they decided to dump it.’

  ‘So, there’s no one inside it?’ She nodded her head to indicate the rescue team now working their way back up the steep, sandy ravine, avoiding the risk of dislodging one of the dozens of other abandoned cars – or the ones that thieves had dumped after stripping them of what they needed.

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Your guys got the VIN, right?’ Cord asked. ‘Because I’m betting our guy wasn’t kind enough to leave his insurance and registration behind.’

  Manny laughed. ‘Dude’s dumb enough to dump that beauty, so I wouldn’t put it past him to overlook something minor like leaving an arrow to where he lives. But no. My guys recovered nothing but dirt, fiber, and shattered glass.’

  ‘We’re going to need to get a tow truck out here to drag it up,’ Alyssa said, observing the workers scaling the ravine. ‘We need to inspect that trunk.’

  Manny nodded. ‘So, that’s why my boys reported such a strong smell of ammonia coming from that area.’ Still watching the crew work, he said, ‘I don’t think you’re going to find much. My guess is your suspect scraped that car clean before dumping it. And just so you know, there’s not a tow truck company out there who’s gonna have a lift big enough, long enough, or strong enough to drag that thing out of there. It’ll topple over on top of it if it even tried.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. But it never hurts to ask, right?’

  ‘Never hurts,’ Manny agreed.

  A few minutes later, several officers and rescue workers strolled their way, their faces streaked with sweat and grime and red from the exertion of climbing out of the ravine. One of the guys reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. ‘Here’s the VIN.’