Daylight Robbery (An Aspen Falls Novel)

by Melissa Pearl

  Grabbing her collar, he hauled her out of the chair. She gasped and clutched his wrist to keep her balance.

  “What’d you do with him?” he seethed, his breath hot on her skin.

  “Nothing,” she lied, knowing it was her only option. “I went outside to look at the moon. I couldn’t sleep and I was going insane just lying there. Bobby must have followed me out and I didn’t notice.”

  Her words were too quick. Too punchy.

  Robin’s grip on her shirt grew tighter. “And then what? He got lost? He’d be too scared to venture out very far. JJ found you by the stream.”

  “The second I noticed he was gone, I went looking for him. I didn’t want to wake anyone. I didn’t want to get him in trouble.”

  “He wouldn’t. Have ventured. Out. That. Far.”

  Robin accentuating each word riled Leah for some reason and before she could stop herself, she glanced up with a hot glare and retorted, “Yeah, well maybe he was looking for his mommy.”

  Her brazen remark scored her a fist to the face. It was lightning fast and threw her head to the side.

  Pain radiated across her entire cheek and she tasted blood.

  The inside of her cheek burned where her teeth had bitten down.

  “His mother didn’t want him! I did!” Robin’s voice was like a thunderclap. “I saved him. And now he’s lost because of you!”

  Leah whimpered and instantly wished she hadn’t. Clenching her jaw, she squeezed her eyes shut for the second blow. It hurt even more—lines of pain splintering across her face. Her cheekbone felt like shattered glass.

  “You better be telling me the truth. And you better hope to God we find him tomorrow morning!” His tumultuous warning was too terrifying to face head on, so she kept her head down and let him drag her out of the kitchen.

  The night air was cold, biting her aching skin and sending goose bumps rippling over her body.

  She already knew where he was taking her before he veered away from the barn steps and hauled her down into the bunker.

  They didn’t turn right.

  Leah’s stomach clenched and she had to bite back on the urge to start begging.

  Don’t put me in there. Please! I’ve had enough darkness for one night.

  Robin’s pace was fast and unrelenting. Leah tripped and stumbled, but he kept dragging her down that concrete corridor until they reached the door.

  Unlocking it with a grunt, he shoved it open and flicked on the light. Leah glanced at the switch on the outside of the room. It was a cruel joke that the room could be lit, but only by the sadistic bastard who put her in there.

  “Get in,” Robin barked, forcing her through the doorway.

  She half expected to find John lying on the floor, but the room was empty.

  She spun around, unable to hide her confusion. “Where’s John?”

  Robin’s eyes glinted then flashed with a look of sorrow. For a moment, he was like a wounded monster, but then his lips formed a tight line and his anger returned sharp and clear. “He’s not on the farm anymore. I had to send him away. Your mistake. His mistake. It’s cost us all a lot more than you know. Things are going to be changing around here soon. Big changes. And it’s your fault.”

  Leah’s eyes bulged, her chest constricting.

  What the hell did he mean by big changes?

  Where was John?

  “I love you, Leah.” His eyebrows bunched together while her stomach pinched into a tight knot. “You think I like having to do this? Huh?”

  She looked down, resisting the urge to bite back. A hot retort was on the tip of her tongue. You don’t have to do this, you fucking asshole! Your love is bullshit!

  But she didn’t say it.

  “Learn from this punishment, kid. And don’t make me do it again.”

  The door slammed shut and Leah fell forward, bracing her hands on her knees and trying to breathe. The light flicked off and she was instantly shrouded in darkness, the suffocating kind with no moonlight to follow.

  Wrapping her arms around herself, she let her legs give out and she collapsed to the floor. With a whimper, she pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her aching mouth against the hard bone of her kneecap.

  This was it.

  Robin was going to leave her here in the darkness. Teach her the lesson of a lifetime.

  She wondered how many days it would be this time around. If she was going to die from thirst and hunger before he let her out.

  Or would the fear eat her alive first?

  41

  Thursday, October 4th

  9:30pm

  Kellan rubbed his eyes and blinked.

  Checking the time, his fuzzy brain calculated that he’d been up for over thirty-six hours. Exhaustion tugged at him; the twenty-minute catnap he’d caught that afternoon was insufficient in sustaining him. He needed rest more than anything, but he probably couldn’t sleep if he tried.

  Resting his elbow on the edge of Nate’s desk, he considered leaving for the night and heading back to his empty house.

  The idea only depressed him.

  He’d rather sleep at the station.

  It was weird that a week ago, his house had been enough. It wasn’t great, but it was enough. But one night with Melina had turned his house into an empty tomb. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. The realization was kind of terrifying.

  Scrubbing a hand down his face, he pinched the end of his chin and began his standard dodging technique.

  Think about work.

  And of course his thoughts flew to the case that was on everybody’s minds.

  Arnold Watson and a mysterious farm somewhere in Minnesota. A farm that was hiding a bunch of innocent children.

  The FBI had been nice enough to keep Kellan in the loop about their investigation. So far, they were looking at all the farms within a five-mile vicinity of Jane’s gas station. But it was taking longer than they’d hoped, as all the Feds could do was visit and gather as much information as they could. It had been hit or miss with finding people home and getting permission to search properties, and so far they hadn’t encountered anything suspicious enough to warrant requesting a search warrant.

  Agents and local law enforcement had started knocking and asking questions, but had yet to come up with anything useful. No one knew of a man named Robin who worked on a farm with a bunch of kids.

  A sketch artist was set to work with Arnie the next day to try and get a decent image of what Robin looked like, but it was going to be a challenging task. When it came to talking about “Robin Hood,” Arnie seemed reluctant. Kellan could only imagine what was keeping him silent. Probably the same fear that had kept Leah quiet at the station.

  Reading through his notes, Kellan ran his finger over his notation about the jungle gym and playing.

  Arnie didn’t know it, but he hadn’t just been playing. Robin had been training him, just like he’d no doubt trained Leah and whomever else he had with him.

  So how long had Leah been with him?

  Nate and Cam were in the process of hunting through missing children records, looking for commonalities between the cases, but it was a damn difficult job. There were so many missing children, and knowing which common links to look for was like trying to find needles in a barn load of hay. Where did they even start?

  Cam had suggested Minnesota—start with any cases that originated there—but Nate had argued that the kids could be from anywhere in the country and they didn’t want to miss something vital by making their search too narrow.

  Cam gave him the finger and told him she’d be starting with Minnesota because it was as good a place as any. He could find his own damn starting point.

  Nate had huffed and spun his back to her, muttering something about starting with kids who had been listed as runaways, figuring they might be more vulnerable.

  Kellan rubbed his head as he was hit yet again by the enormity of what they were trying to do. It’d be a long, slow search through numerous databases, and wou
ld take weeks to sift through the information.

  They had agreed to start with the most recent cases and work their way backward.

  “There has to be a way of narrowing this down even further,” Kellan murmured.

  Cam, who had returned from Red Lake a few days ago, was already fully immersed in the case. She took a swig of her Coke, then nodded. “Agreed. Has Arnold said anything else about the other kids he was with?”

  “Yeah, he gave us names and sizes.”

  “Sizes?”

  “He didn’t know how old they were. For a kid that age, it’s more about personality traits.”

  “So, what have we got?”

  Kellan hunted through his scribbled notes. They were kind of hard to read as he’d been penning them while the FBI conducted the interview. He squinted at his list. “Leah is the nice one. She’s twice as tall as him.”

  “We’ve already seen her and can probably peg her for mid-teens, right?” Nate confirmed.

  Kellan nodded and kept reading. “Dee has red hair and can be a meanie. He doesn’t like sharing a room with her. She’s taller than Leah.”

  “That doesn’t tell us much,” Cam grumbled. “She could be a few years younger or older.”

  “I got the impression that they were all kids.” Kellan glanced up. “When asked about Robin, he clammed up, which means he’s obviously a little scared of the guy.”

  “So the adults are like the pirates and the kids are the lost boys.” Cam smirked. “Who else did he mention?”

  “Cricket looks like a scarecrow. He’s long and skinny and plays computer games a lot.” Kellan tipped his head to the side, “I wonder if that was the kid Blaine tackled when they were trying to rob my parents’ house?”

  Nate bobbed his head in agreement. “Anyone else?”

  “There’s Rook, who is quiet, and Jenna, who’s mean. Jenna and Daisy are best friends.”

  Cam let out a frustrated huff. “Any descriptions? Ages?”

  “He was starting to tire at that point. They’ll probably get more out of him in the next round of questioning.”

  “He’s under protection though, right?”

  “He and his mother have twenty-four-hour guards at the moment, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Do you get the feeling that he’s the youngest kid there?” Nate asked.

  Kellan gave a thoughtful pout. “He could be.”

  “How old is he?” Cam threw her Coke can away. It clunked against other cans in the recycling bin.

  Nate checked the file next to his computer. “He turns five in January.”

  “So four,” Cam murmured, scribbling it down on her pad of paper. Leaning back, she tapped her pen against her thumb knuckle, her eyes narrowing at the corners as she thought.

  “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Nate asked.

  “I’m just trying to think back to when I was four. I don’t have too many memories from that time. That age is so young and pliable.”

  “What are you getting at?” Nate’s chair squeaked as he turned to face her fully.

  “I’m trying to think from a kidnapper’s point of view. Let’s say this Robin Hood guy is out to train a gang of thieves that can sneak in and out of places easily. He wouldn’t target teens or older kids who knew better. He’d have to go for young ones who aren’t strong enough to fight him, who are young enough to be conditioned. He’d look for kids who were vulnerable and needed ‘rescuing.’ Kids he could win over while they’re young enough not to question everything.”

  Kellan sat back in his chair, his forehead wrinkling. “Young enough to forget who they really are, old enough to be trained.”

  “Exactly.” Cam pointed her pen at him.

  “Okay.” Nate shuffled in his seat. “So, if we’re going on that theory, let’s use Leah as a starting point. For ease of numbers, let’s assume she’s fifteen, which means we head back ten to twelve years and start looking for any children over the last decade or so who were taken at the age of four or five.”

  “Let’s do it.” Newly invigorated, Cam pulled her chair back close to her desk and started a new search.

  Kellan went still, frozen in place by one thought.

  Children missing in the last decade?

  He knew a name that would most definitely pop up—Raelynn Joy Marks.

  She was four when she disappeared, and as much as Kellan wanted to buy into the fact that she was killed by a wild animal, the ugly truth could still be true. She may have been taken. Taken and abused.

  The harrowing thoughts he’d been trying to avoid crashed over him like a tidal wave he couldn’t swim out of. His insides crawled through the salty terror, desperate for air.

  But the air wouldn’t come.

  All he could hear were Rae’s cries for help. Her cries of pain and fear as someone violated her innocent body.

  He had to get out. Get away from the missing children files. The pictures. The databases.

  Clearing his throat, he stood tall, forcing himself to keep it together. “Well, I might leave you guys to get this set up and running. I haven’t slept in a while, so I’m going to head home for some shuteye. Call me if anything pops. And don’t work too late.” He pointed between them. “We can always pick up where we left off in the morning.”

  “Got it, boss.” Nate grinned.

  Cam gave him an absentminded wave, already fired up by her theory and the idea of quicker progress.

  Kellan staggered to his office, grabbed his keys and wallet, then headed out the door. He didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Forming such simple words suddenly seemed impossible.

  He needed sleep.

  But he didn’t want to head home.

  Rae’s cries would torture him.

  And he couldn’t reach her.

  He could never reach her again.

  His body trembled as he got into the car. He gripped the wheel to steady himself, then finally started the engine. Pulling out of the lot, he paused and looked both ways before turning for the only place he wanted to be.

  42

  Thursday, October 4th

  10:30pm

  Melina was in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling and wondering why she’d turned the light off already. She’d been snuggled up reading a book and her eyes had kept drifting shut, so she’d put the book away and switched off her bedside lamp, but as soon as the darkness covered her, her mind pinged awake.

  It was frustrating.

  She needed sleep.

  But how could she switch off?

  She was worried about Kellan, Leah, Arnie…all the kids they had yet to properly identify. She so desperately wanted the case solved. She wanted to find these children and gather them into her arms, promising them that everything would be okay. They’d be reunited with their families. Eventually, somehow, life would be what it should have been all along.

  A knock at the door made her jerk.

  It was kind of late for someone to be stopping by her house. Checking her watch, she gripped the duvet cover and lamented the fact that she lived alone. If Tash were here, she’d have grabbed a baseball bat from her closet and been hiding in the shadows, ready to pounce.

  Melina snorted at the image of her feisty best friend.

  The knock happened again. It had an urgent, insistent ring to it.

  Melina flung the covers back and padded out to the front entrance. She didn’t want to turn on a light, just in case the person was some creeper. The darkness would keep her well-hidden.

  Creeping on tiptoes, she pressed herself against the edge of the door and stole a peek through the side window.

  Her heart stuttered to a surprised stop, then took off racing.

  Grappling with the lock, she quickly unbolted her door and opened it to find a miserable-looking Kellan on her doorstep.

  His face was etched with pain. Even in the dim light she could see how tortured he was. And she could see it wasn’t a physical pain that was killing him.

  “Come in.” She ste
pped aside to let him pass, then bolted the door behind them.

  As soon as the lock clicked, she spun to drink him in. He looked so tired that he was wobbling on his feet. His hands were on the back of his head and he was fighting.

  Fighting for control as he paced away from her, then spun back around.

  His breathing was ragged and she crossed to him, tracing the lines of his cheeks and then running her fingers down his jaw.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  With a shaky kind of sob, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, resting his lips against her shoulder.

  She cupped the back of his head and let him cling to her. His shoulder muscles were quivering. She could feel the vibration through his shirt.

  “Talk to me, Kellan,” she murmured.

  He squeezed her tight, his strong arms like a vise around her body. It didn’t hurt, but it gave away the raging emotion within him.

  “What if she was taken? What if she’s been suffering?” He choked out the words and then his entire body began to shake with tears.

  It was such a foreign sound Melina was taken aback by it.

  Kellan Marks didn’t cry.

  Her heart bled, tears filling her own eyes as she pressed her cheek against his head.

  “I couldn’t protect her. It was my job to keep her safe and I lost her. I shouldn’t have stopped looking for her. I shouldn’t have given up.” His voice wobbled out the words, his mournful weeping like a dam finally breaking open.

  Melina closed her eyes and held him.

  It was all she could do.

  She had no idea how long they stood together, but Kellan’s tears began to ebb, his control slipping back into place. Pulling away from him, she studied his face. He looked beat up, like a wounded animal that needed to curl into a corner and recover.

  “Come with me.” She took his hand and led him down to her room.

  Turning on the side lamp, she urged him closer to her bed.

  Although he complied, he looked nervous, unsure of himself, and it only made Melina’s heart beat that much stronger.