Night Skyy

by Rich Bullock

  “Still, this is more than a little…” She fumbled for the right word.

  “Awkward?” he provided, shifting slightly to face her. He grimaced as he tried to find a comfortable position, but he hid it under another grin. He was recently out of surgery and still in pain—not to mention her falling on him in the laundry room—yet he’d built a fire, brought her a warm blanket and a soda. Taken care of her.

  “Definitely awkward,” she agreed. But nice.

  “So, the girls…” he began, holding out his plate so she could snag a few chips she’d been eyeing. “You seem to be collecting them. Any more on the way I should know about?”

  “I hope not.” For a cop, he was taking the situation rather well—or he was suffering from sleep deprivation from the long drive and scant rest. “No guarantees.”

  He nodded.

  Skyy filled him in with what she knew. He’d heard Bailey’s first call as K a couple of weeks ago and how it ended abruptly. She explained about the second call when Ember filled in, and how Ember gave out Skyy’s phone number and their location. Then K—now Bailey—arrived with Olivia in tow.

  Canon had talked to the girls this morning while Skyy made breakfast, but they were tightlipped when it came to last names, details regarding parents or relatives, and addresses or phone numbers. Maybe that was because they heard Ember talking about him being a cop. Of course, things couldn’t remain like this forever, but Skyy suspected that’s exactly what Bailey hoped would happen. Calling her skittish would be an understatement, but Skyy saw the beginning signs of relaxing. Perhaps a couple more days would bring out their stories.

  One clue to the situation they came from was when the house phone rang an hour ago. Both girls startled, and Bailey jumped to her feet. It was only Ember calling from DC Auto to report the phone lines were fixed. Deer Cove was back in touch with the outside world, good or bad. Evidently Bailey interpreted it as bad.

  “At some point we’ll have to inform Child Protective Services,” Canon said, staring into the crackling fireplace.

  “I know,” she said. “It’s just… It sounds so institutional.” She lowered her voice, though the girls were inside where it was warm. “If they were caught up in some sex trafficking prostitution ring…” She pinched her eyes shut against the image.

  Canon scooted to the end of the chaise and crammed gnarled oak branches into the chiminea. Fragrant smoke swirled around the L-shaped porch.

  “Sorry,” she said, clutching the blanket tighter. “Life isn’t fair on so many levels. I just wish there was another way besides turning them over to overworked, understaffed authorities.”

  Canon was silent for a few minutes, then cleared his throat. “I know a woman. AJ Stone.” He pointed left along the shore of the lake. “She and her husband, Alex, own some cabins over there at Bass Point. They rent them out, primarily to fishermen. Their place isn’t far, but the road doesn’t go through.”

  Skyy remembered her trip out on the ATV and running into the road-closed signs.

  “Did you ever hear of the shooting at Desperation Falls?” Canon asked. “Close to four years ago now.”

  Skyy shook her head, not sure where he was going with the change of topic. “I wasn’t anywhere near here then.”

  “It made national news too,” Canon said, leaning forward and holding his gloved hands toward the fire. “Too complicated to go into all of it now, but the basics are that a psycho held a girl hostage down south. Murdered some people. The girl escaped and ended up here when she was fifteen, I think. She stayed with AJ. Alex was here, too, but this was before they got married. It all ended when the psycho tracked her here to the lake.”

  Skyy leaned forward, dreading the worst. “What happened?”

  Canon smiled. “Let’s just say that AJ Stone is a woman you want on your good side. As is Alex, who is former DEA, and their adopted daughter, Teal.”

  Skyy breathed again. “Teal’s the girl? She’s okay?”

  He nodded. “I’ve met her several times. She’s more than okay. Amazing, really. But my point is, AJ took Teal in when she was only fifteen and a runaway from foster care. And AJ wasn’t about to let the authorities put Teal back into that same system. Maybe she can help in our situation.”

  Our situation. Skyy’s body sagged with relief. Instead of being mad about the estrogen invasion of his home, Canon was willing to help. That simple word, our, shifted everything from her shoulders alone to a partnership, and that was comforting.

  He surprised her further by reaching over and taking her hand. Although his was gloved again, the gesture warmed her as much as the fire. After all, what was a layer of leather between them when earlier this morning she’d been sprawled on top of him, lips close enough to kiss. And why, in the middle of this crisis, was she thinking about kissing Canon Truax? She shook herself.

  “Can we call this AJ woman right now? Or drive to her place?” She pushed her chair back and stood. “I don’t want to wait another minute.” He rose and snaked his good arm around her back. She stumbled against him.

  “Relax. I called before I came out with your blanket. AJ and Teal will be here in—” Gravel crunched around the side of the house and they turned toward the sound. “I suspect that’s them.”

  Skyy took a deep breath. While it irritated her that Canon called this woman without discussing it first, she was relieved it wasn’t all on her to figure out the next step.

  From what Canon said, it sounded like Teal ran from the system. Would Bailey bolt when she found out others were getting involved? She had reached out to Skyy. Would she trust anyone else? So many questions.

  She glanced at the cabin window. Both the girls were on their knees on the sofa, faces to the window. Bailey had a cell phone up like she was taking a photo. When they saw Skyy looking, they disappeared. Great. Skyy had a sneaking suspicion Ember would receive a text with a photo of Skyy and Canon hugging on the porch.

  “Hi, Canon,” said a tall blond woman stepping onto the porch. “And you must be Skyy. I’m Lena Stone, but most people call me AJ. Good to meet you.”

  Skyy returned the greeting. The slight pressure of Canon’s hand at her back reminded her to relax and breathe.

  A girl appeared from behind AJ. She had short black hair, dark eyes, and an infectious grin.

  “Skyy D,” the girl said, stepping forward and grasping Skyy’s hand. “I’m Teal, and I listen to every Night Thoughts show. This is so exciting! I can’t believe you’re right here at Storm Lake!”

  Skyy shot Canon a glance, one he returned with a one-shoulder shrug that said, I might have let it slip when I called.

  “And living right next door!”

  Teal squealing like a fangirl was the last thing Skyy expected. True, the girl didn’t do quite that, but she did bounce on her toes. Canon’s hand increased pressure on Skyy’s back as he leaned close to her ear.

  “Looks like you have a dedicated listener.”

  “Is Ember here too?” Teal said, peering around Canon at the front windows. “I love her.”

  Canon laughed, and Skyy elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Ouch.”

  “Sorry.” But it served him right.

  “I like them,” Skyy said to Canon as they waved goodbye to AJ and Teal.

  He nodded. “It’s a tight community. Good people who can depend on one another.”

  AJ had laid out a ton of information about becoming a foster mom, sharing her experience going through the process so Teal could stay with her. It had been a scary time, because there was no guarantee it would work out that way.

  However, becoming a foster mom was not on Skyy’s radar. She just wanted to protect the girls. Her family had been the poster models of dysfunction, and surely that disqualified her from even thinking in that direction. If she wanted to, which she didn’t. Obtain some help for Bailey and Olivia? Sure, absolutely. Those girls deserved so much more than what she suspected they fled. But that didn’t mean she was the one to provide a home—if she
had one to begin with, which she didn’t.

  Skyy sighed inwardly. It seemed there were a lot of things she didn’t want to do. Had she taken time to ask what she did want?

  Life was coming at her faster than she could handle. The weight of her responsibility with Ember was heavy enough, but at least their relationship was more mentor and mentee, with Skyy providing a safe fallback as the teenager grew into self-sufficiency. Skyy knew first-hand how to do that. But a foster mom? No way.

  Still, when she looked at those two girls…

  She shivered, recalling Teal’s story of bouncing through several homes, running away, living on the streets, being kidnapped, escaping, nearly dying, then being hunted again by the same sick predator. Would that be the fate of Bailey and Olivia if they didn’t have a stable, safe environment?

  Teal still bore visible scars—she’d removed her jacket and showed Skyy some of them. The emotional damage cut deeper still, and raised its head mostly as paranoia, which Teal said she embraced as “useful in moderation.”

  What invisible scars did Bailey and Olivia have that would surface in a month or a year?

  “I don’t even know where to begin,” she said.

  “My dad always said to begin with the basics,” Canon said, “and I guess the most basic thing is that the girls are here.”

  “And that they can’t stay—at least not legally or for long.” Not without Skyy getting into legal hot water. She wasn’t sure what for, but hiring a lawyer wasn’t in her budget. She rubbed her forehead wishing she were somewhere else—like a deserted island in the Pacific with white sand beaches a whole lot warmer than here.

  Maybe a cabana boy to serve colorful umbrella drinks and play soothing guitar music under a nearby palm, so not totally deserted. She closed her eyes, picturing the lapping waves, swaying palms, the cabana boy…who looked exactly like Canon Truax. When she opened her eyes, Canon was staring at her with suspicion.

  “So,” she said, giving herself a mental shake clearing away the white sand, “do you know this sheriff AJ mentioned?” Sheriff Derrek Cabot had been the one who vouched for AJ in her bid to keep Teal.

  “I’ve met him,” Canon said. “He brings his family to many of the events here at the lake. July 4th fireworks, the fall festival—that sort of thing. Seems like a straight shooter, by-the-book guy. Although from what AJ said, sounds like he has a soft side.”

  She sighed, hoping that was true. The information Teal garnered from the girls was enough to leave Skyy relieved in one way and scared in a whole new direction.

  Chapter 25

  “Why’d you send them away?” Bailey said later that afternoon as she and Skyy watched Canon, Ember, and Olivia drive off in his truck. They were getting ice cream and drinks at DC Coffee, then picking up a few things at the grocery store.

  Skyy studied the girl. From what Bailey told Teal, the girls hadn’t been part of a sex traffic ring per se, but they were part of a cult-like group that dangled young girls as bait to entice willing customers who thought they were buying sex. The group leader—a man known as Gabriel—enlisted several burly group members who posed as undercover cops complete with fake badges.

  It was a simple con. The girl or girls dressed provocatively and had flowers in buckets when they engaged the customer at his car window. Then the phony cops would step from the shadows at the last minute and “convince” the customers they really did want to buy flowers from the girls—at a steep price. Some just stomped on the gas and split, but others were willing to shell out fifty bucks for a few roses to get out of there. The ruse netted Gabriel a fat profit.

  Teal had believed the story, but Skyy suspected there was more to it, and that Gabriel wasn’t an altruistic provider for those needing a place to live. Could be the way Skyy’s skin itched when Teal mentioned his name.

  “You called me, Bailey,” Skyy said. That first phone call had been a cry for help. “And now I think it’s time you tell me some things.” Skyy led them back inside and they sat by the fire. A dozen questions demanded answers.

  Bailey glared at her for a moment, then turned to the dancing flames. A long few minutes of silence passed.

  Skyy sighed. “Let’s start with your story. Your parents?”

  The girl got up and went into the kitchen. For a minute, Skyy thought their conversation had ended before it began. But Bailey returned with two cans of orange soda, handed one to Skyy, and sank cross-legged onto the carpet. They popped the tops in unison and sipped.

  “I never knew my father,” Bailey finally said. “One time, I think it was in third grade, we were supposed to write about our families. Mom said I didn’t have a father. Said never ask again. End of story.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I made up some BS about his being in the army and dying in Iraq when I was a baby—how all the aunts and uncles and cousins cried at his funeral.” She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it’s true. Or maybe he’s out there somewhere, wondering about me.”

  That last held a thread of hope and wistfulness that resonated with Skyy. Maybe every kid fantasized about having a happy family who loved and cared for each other.

  “So…what about your mom?”

  “She didn’t pick me up after school one day.” Bailey set her can down on the brick hearth, forgotten, same as she had been that day. Same as she still was.

  Skyy leaned forward as Bailey recounted going to a temporary foster care home that night and a new school the next day. Weeks passed while her caseworker tried to locate her mother and relatives. Then came three more homes and corresponding new schools before finally identifying a cousin in Oakland who said he’d take her in.

  “So, you have aunts and uncles?” Maybe there were other extended family members who could help.

  Bailey sipped, then shook her head. “Not that I ever heard about.”

  “But this cousin…”

  “He was a forty-year-old single guy who had the same last name as me: Miller. He promised my caseworker we were family. I don’t know for sure, but I bet she called everyone in the Bay Area with that name. I never met him until the day she dropped me off at his house.”

  “Okay,” Skyy said. “I take it things didn’t work out?”

  Bailey laughed. “Oh, they worked out great—for cousin Jimmy.” She did air quotes around ‘cousin.’ “That was his name. My stay with him lasted just long enough to finish the paperwork and close my file. I mean, how screwed up is a system that turns over a young girl to an old single guy with no proof he’s even related?”

  A system that was overwhelmed by families blown apart by drugs, crime, and hate. And too many government leaders who were more concerned about posing with sexy photo op projects than actually helping those in need. A few billion for an overpriced bridge or a train to nowhere? No problem. But a fraction of a percent of that money for more child welfare resources? Sorry, just can’t afford it.

  “A few weeks later, this man named Gabriel came by the house to visit my cousin—who, of course, wasn’t my cousin at all. I heard him tell Gabriel that.” Bailey shrugged again, her go-to gesture. “He seemed nice enough—better than Jimmy. And he had a cute little black dog named Maxie who had soft, curly fur and a spot above his left eye.”

  Skyy raised a brow.

  Bailey rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. ‘Hey, little girl. Want a piece of candy?’ But hey, I was only ten.” She grabbed her can and drank. “He said he’d take me to a McDonald’s that had one of those fenced play areas and I could order anything I wanted, even a sundae. Since Cousin Jimmy’s idea of dinner was a six-pack, Gabriel’s offer sounded great. He loaded my stuff into his car, then gave Jimmy a fat envelope. We stopped at the McDonald’s like he promised. I fell asleep after that and woke up when we turned into a long driveway somewhere in the country.”

  “Was it just you then?”

  Bailey shook her head. “There were three older girls, a boy, three women, and four men. We had a few goats, tons of chickens, and a giant garden.�
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  “Sounds like a commune. Was it a big house?”

  “The main house had five bedrooms, and there were four cabins and a barn. We also had over a hundred rose bushes. That’s how that whole selling flowers gig started.” Bailey laid on her back and laced her fingers behind her head, staring at the ceiling, remembering.

  “Every night after dinner, we met for what Gabriel called Awareness. He’d talk about all sorts of things: caring for the earth, politics, finances, the evils of pesticides, our souls. I couldn’t understand most of it. But he always said how God talked to him in his dreams and told him what to say and do.”

  “And everyone believed him?” Skyy said, trying to keep the incredulousness out of her voice.

  “I guess.” She turned toward Skyy. “I mean…they all did what he said. Even me.”

  Yeah, but you were a child. “So, you were there for what, five or six years?”

  Bailey nodded.

  “And it wasn’t too bad?”

  Bailey stared at the ceiling. Her lips tightened and her jaw muscle clinched. Sky would have missed it if not watching closely.

  “Something changed,” Skyy said.

  Bailey picked at a piece of lint on the carpet. “When the girls turned eighteen, we had birthday parties for them. Then they were separated from us younger ones—moved to a building hidden in some trees across this deep canyon that cut through the property. It had beds, a kitchen, and guards. That’s what they told us. We weren’t allowed to go there, and the girls never came back to visit. Gabriel said they were adults now and needed their privacy.”

  “Did you believe him?”

  “I snuck out one night last fall after everyone was asleep. The moon was nearly full, so I could see well enough. There wasn’t any path down into the canyon I could find, so I climbed over fallen trees and fought through brush. A small stream ran at the bottom, but I used rocks as steppingstones. It was just as hard getting up the other side.