Stranger in Town

by Cheryl Bradshaw

  “I’m sure Regina felt the same way,” he said. “After the accident, she quit her job and went into hiding, completely cutting herself off from society. Before the accident, she was well known around here. And after, she was well-known, but for an entirely different reason. People in town say she went crazy.”

  CHAPTER 31

  In the wake of her children’s deaths, Regina Kent became a recluse, never going out for anything. The people in town hadn’t seen her in years. Everyone assumed she’d locked herself inside of her house, deciding she was too fragile to ever venture out into the public eye again. Bradley Kent took a few weeks off after the children died and then resumed his practice. A year later, he retired. By that time he’d become somewhat of an enigma, at times displaying heartfelt emotions over his children, and at other times, behaving like they’d never existed at all. The principal told Cade he’d seen Bradley around from time to time, but never with Regina.

  The Kents lived on a twenty-acre ranch surrounded by sprawling hills as far as the eye could see. White fencing that appeared to be made of some type of heavy-duty plastic lined the property on all sides. A team of horses stood like statues in the pasture, not moving, but gazing in our direction, curious about who we were and what we were doing there.

  The multi-level house sat a few acres behind a long, paved driveway. It was a cabin, but not like any cabin I’d ever seen before. The logs were knotty and dark, and bigger than any I’d ever seen before.

  We parked at the end of the drive, walked up to the door, and knocked. All was quiet. Two oversized whiskey barrels were positioned on both sides of the door. Potted plants had been inside of them at one time, but now, only a few shriveled up stems remained. There were cobwebs on everything: the windows, the corners of the door, and even between the wood railings on the wraparound porch.

  “There’s no one here,” I said. “I thought Regina never left the house?”

  Cade raised his shoulders. “I thought so too.”

  “Except for the horses, it doesn’t look like anyone has lived here for a while.”

  Cade walked around the house, looking for a possible point of entry, but everything had been sealed up tight.

  “That’s a shame,” I said.

  “So’s this,” Cade said.

  A rock whizzed by my head, creating a grapefruit-sized hole when it crashed through the front window.

  Cade grinned.

  “Would you look at that? Someone has vandalized this house. We’d better go inside and investigate.”

  To make a small hole even bigger, Cade used a stick to break up the hole in the window until it was big enough for him to step through. Then he unlocked and opened the front door.

  I’d never been around a member of law enforcement who’d acted like Cade before, so for a minute, I just stood there.

  “Was you plannin’ on just standin’ there, or you gonna come in sometime?” Cade patted me on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. No one’s here.”

  And because no one else lived next to them, there was a good chance we wouldn’t see any visitors anytime soon.

  “I’ll take the main level, and you check upstairs,” he said.

  The area upstairs was nothing but a couple of bedrooms, a bonus room used as another living room, and a bathroom. The hallway was lined with various photos of wildlife that looked like they’d been taken in the area. In one photo, the Kent girls were sitting on two of the horses. In another, the girls and their parents stood outside a small house surrounded on all sides by masses of mature pine trees. The girls looked happy.

  I entered the first bedroom. It was a child’s room decorated in pink and grey and filled with everything but the child. It looked like it had been preserved just the way it had been left the last day she was alive. A shirt and a pair of pants were on the floor, indicating she had changed. A bathroom towel hung behind the door. I didn’t want to touch anything for fear of altering the time-capsule state.

  I found the same type of thing in the next room. A dollhouse sat in the corner. Inside, a family of dolls was positioned at the table. Wooden pieces of food were set in front of the man and the woman. The room didn’t seem as mature as the other one. I looked in the closet. The clothes on the hangers were a size-four toddler. Four. The same age Savannah was when she was taken.

  I went back into the other room, putting my sweater over my hands so I wouldn’t leave any prints behind. I opened the door to the closet. I pulled out a dress. It was a size six. I looked at some others. There were a few sevens, but the majority of the closet contained size six. The same age as Olivia.

  I pressed one of the dresses against my chest and thought about what a coincidence it was that the Kent girls were the same ages when they were alive as Olivia and Savannah when they were abducted. I breathed deeply, but it felt like the air I ingested wasn’t circulating right. I sprinted to the stairwell and looked down.

  “Cade?”

  He was in the kitchen sorting through some drawers. He stopped and looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”

  I ran, skipping stairs to get to him. “I’ve figured out the connection between the Kents and the girls.”

  My theory was that the Kent girls had been replaced after their untimely deaths. At first Cade dismissed it, thinking my suggestion was nothing more than a fluke. But I didn’t care what he thought. In all my years as a private investigator, I’d come to realize life didn’t always have to make perfect sense.

  “Do you have any idea how many married couples want to have children, and when they start trying, they find out they’re infertile?” I said.

  “It doesn’t mean you’re right about what happened to Olivia and Savannah.”

  It didn’t mean I was wrong, either.

  “Over six million,” I said.

  “Yeah, but don’t most of them decide to adopt?”

  “Do you think couples can just walk into an adoption center, fill out a form, flip through an album, and pick out their baby?”

  He shrugged.

  “Maybe it’s hard here, in the US, but that’s why most people adopt foreign babies.”

  “Most people aren’t celebrities, Cade. Do you have any idea how long it takes?”

  “Even with a couple who can have babies, it doesn’t happen instantly. Sometimes it takes months for a woman to get pregnant. Then there’s nine months of waitin’ before it comes out. I should know.”

  “Lucky you,” I said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” I said.

  He grabbed my wrist. Not hard, but enough to show me he was serious. “It’s not nothin’. What aren’t you saying?”

  “It doesn’t matter—it doesn’t have anything to do with the case.”

  “I don’t care—tell me. I’m not lettin’ go ‘til you do.”

  I was perfectly capable of freeing myself from the hold he had on me, but I didn’t bother.

  In a hushed voice I said, “I tried to have a baby once.”

  I wasn’t sure he heard me, until he let go.

  Cade took a step back. He looked at anything other than me, like if he locked eyes with me in that moment, he’d have to deal with female waterworks, but he was wrong.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. “It was a long time ago. It’s no big deal.”

  Cade pulled a chair out from under the table and gestured toward it. I sat down. He did the same. He tried to take my hand in his, but I pulled back. It didn’t dissuade him.

  “I, uh, appreciate you sharin’ something so personal with me. I know it’s not easy for you—I can tell.”

  I felt a sudden sensation of vertigo. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Cade had leaned closer to me, hovering a few inches over my face.

  “What are you—”

  “I came fifty percent of the way,” he said. “This is the part where you come the other fifty.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I knew what I should have said, but I he
sitated. I didn’t know why.

  He wrapped his fingers around my chin, attempting to guide me the rest of the way. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

  “Cade…I…I’m in a relationship with someone.”

  He released me. “Of course you are. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

  “Don’t be. I think you’re great.”

  “No woman has ever, and I mean not ever, described me as great before,” he said. “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “It means I really like working with you.”

  “The feelin’ is mutual, but I suppose you already—aww, hell. Can we change the subject? I know you weren’t finished with what you were sayin’ before, so I’m just going to sit here and try to keep an open mind.”

  I nodded, grateful for the reprieve.

  “Many couples have a hard time adopting, and when that happens, some people turn to other methods. With the Internet so accessible these days, you can find other options.”

  “Such as?” he said. “I’m guessin’ you’re not gonna tell me about somethin’ that’s legal.”

  “Correct. There are illegal agencies that will help people get babies. Not adoption agencies—it’s more along the lines of human trafficking. Do you know much about it?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “A bit.”

  “There are a couple of ways it usually happens. Some agencies kidnap children and offer them up for sale to the highest bidder, or they kidnap the children until reward money is offered and then return them. At other agencies, a person is hired to find a certain type of child. The person who hires the agency can request anything they want—any age, a boy or a girl, it doesn’t matter. Nothing is out of their reach.”

  He shook his head in disbelief.

  “Do you really think the Kents paid someone to replace their children?”

  “I do.”

  CHAPTER 32

  If the girls had been kidnapped to be raised by someone else, odds were they might still be alive. Getting kidnapped for any other reason besides a marital spat between divorcees meant the girls were most likely dead, and I had to believe they were still out there somewhere, alive and waiting for someone to find them.

  Although it was getting late, Cade and I hadn’t left the house yet. Both of us reasoned that if we picked the Kents house apart a little longer, maybe we’d come up with some evidence that would lead us to Mr. and Mrs. Kent. But the house was clean. I was about to suggest we leave when I noticed headlights beaming through the window in the front of the house. Since we had already trespassed, and the vehicle had come to a stop and turned its lights off, we decided to face whoever it was rather than try and make a quick getaway.

  A person exited the vehicle and I heard the sound of a rifle being prepped for use. Cade tried to push me behind the wall of the hallway with one hand, but I grabbed hold of him first, pulling him with me. We both drew our weapons.

  “How long you been packin’ that around?” Cade whispered.

  “Don’t act like you haven’t seen it,” I said. “You pat people down for a living.”

  “Haven’t frisked you yet.”

  Even though he had his back to me, I knew he was smiling. I could tell by the sarcasm in his voice.

  The front door opened, heavy footsteps followed, stomping their way across the floor.

  “Who’s there?” a male voice said.

  Neither of us spoke.

  “You’re on private property,” the voice said.

  He sounded young, like he’d passed puberty, but not with an A.

  “Where’s the sign?” I said.

  “What?” the boy said.

  “I didn’t see a sign stating this is private property.”

  “Well, it is,” the boy said.

  “How do I know you’re the one who isn’t trespassing then?”

  There was a pause, like he couldn’t come up with a logical answer.

  “I’m armed,” he said.

  “That makes two of us,” I said.

  “Three,” Cade said.

  “Wait—there are two of you?” he said.

  The boy could count, and he was nervous, which was good—as long as we could get him to put the rifle down. We were finally getting somewhere, just a lot slower than I’d imagined.

  “I’m going to save you some time,” I said. “We’ll tell you who we are, and then you’re going to tell us who you are.”

  “How will I know you’re not lying?” he said.

  “Oh, for goodness sake,” I said to Cade. “Show the kid your badge before he does something stupid.”

  “I’m going to show you my badge now,” Cade yelled loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. “Don’t shoot my hand off or anything you’ll live to regret.” Cade took out his badge, edging his hand around the corner of the wall. “My name is Cade McCoy, and my partner here is Sloane Monroe.”

  Partner?

  “We’re detectives,” Cade said. “Your turn.”

  He hesitated and then said, “My name is Henry.”

  “You have a last name Henry?” Cade said.

  “Kent.”

  “How are you related to the owners of this house?” Cade said.

  “Brad is my uncle.”

  “Bradley Kent?” Cade said.

  “Yes.”

  “Henry, I want you to put down the rifle and slide it across the floor,” Cade said.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes, now. Do you want me to count it out for you?” Cade said.

  I heard the sound of a rifle being placed on the floor. Once it slid across, Cade walked around the corner and then signaled for me to do the same. The kid had his hands up and a look on his face like he wasn’t sure what to expect next.

  “Relax,” I said.

  “Am I in trouble?”

  I shook my head.

  “We’re here because of the break in,” I said.

  “The what?”

  I pointed at the window. The kid turned around and looked at it and then back at me, looking both convinced and relieved.

  “Why are you here?” I said.

  “I take care of my uncle’s horses.”

  “Isn’t it a little late in the day?” I said.

  Cade looked at me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

  “There are lights in the barn,” the kid said. “I’m not here this late every night. I had a date.”

  “Where’s your uncle?” I said.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You expect me to believe you tend his horses, and probably get paid for it too, but you don’t know where he is?”

  “He asked me if I could take care of them while he was gone.”

  “Gone where?” I said.

  “Thailand.” The way he said it sounded like he didn’t believe it himself.

  “Is that a question?” I said.

  The kid shrugged.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “The way you said Thailand just now sounded like you didn’t really know where he was; either that or you’re lying.”

  “Why would I lie?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “You tell me.”

  He didn’t respond. Cade smiled, indicating his approval of my interrogation techniques.

  “Why’s your uncle in Thailand?” I said.

  “I dunno.”

  “When will he be back?”

  “I dunno.”

  “How long has he been there?” I said.

  “I dunno.”

  “What do you know?” I said.

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t know anything.”

  “You’re breathing pretty heavy for someone who doesn’t know anything,” I said. “Would you like a glass of water?”

  He shook his head.

  “I need to go bring the horses in. Can I go now?”

  Cade and I both nodded.

  After Henry went outside, Cade said, “Well, what do you think?”

  CHAPTER 33


  “He’s lying,” I said.

  “You got that impression too—what was your first clue?”

  “The heavy breathing every time I asked him a question. You?”

  “His eyes.”

  “Shifty,” I said.

  “Exactly. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

  “I want to show you something,” I said.

  We walked upstairs and I pointed to the photograph hanging in the middle of the photo-collage on the wall. It was the one of the family standing in front of a house in the middle of a forest of trees. “Do you know where this is?”

  Cade rubbed his chin and looked it over. “Kinda looks like Alpine. Why are you so interested?”

  “I don’t know. Something about this picture shouts ‘private retreat.’ It’s worth looking into. Is it far?”

  “Fifty miles or so. But it’s too dark to go tonight.”

  “That’s fine,” I said, taking the picture off the wall. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

  Cade picked me up the following morning at daylight.

  “They want me to report in,” he said, “and brief the FBI on what I know about the case.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I’d be in after lunch.”

  “How did that go over?”

  He shrugged.

  “I didn’t stick around to find out,” he said. “I called a real estate agent as well to see what I could find out about the Kents owning another place.”

  “And?”

  “He hasn’t got back to me yet, and I don’t want to wait.”

  The next several minutes were spent in silence. I stared at the picture of the house amongst the trees hoping I’d be able to spot it when we reached our destination. Cade tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of what I assumed was a twangy country concert taking place inside of his head.

  “Do you know why I came back here?” he said.

  “To help your dad with the case, right?”

  “Well, yes. But, there’s another reason.”