by DK Herman
"What's going on." I jumped at the familiar voice, behind me.
"What are you doing out here, Peter?" I asked.
"I saw you run out here, and I thought you might need help or something,” he explained. He shone his light around me. "Is that a body?" He looked horrified.
"It's a girl. She's alive but badly injured." I wondered how fast I could get my gun out if he attacked. "I called an ambulance for her, and the police are here now." I jutted my chin in the direction of flashlights, moving up the creek.
"I'll go fetch em here. The ambulance guys, too,” Peter said.
"Thanks,” I said before yelling to the cops. "Over here! I'm over here! I've got an injured girl."
I heard the men double time it to us while Peter disappeared into the woods.
NINE
I was dreaming about being buried alive. I woke with a start and sat up in bed, trying to shake the nightmare from my mind. I rubbed my eyes and realized my face was wet with tears. I was still tired, but I had too much to do to spend the day in bed.
The cops had kept me busy with questions until four in the morning. I was interrogated by Detective Kasey for over an hour. His attitude implied, I was the killer. At least the girl I’d found was still alive when she left in the ambulance.
A peek at my phone, told me it was after nine o'clock in the morning. So, after getting ready for the day, I went in search of coffee. Following my nose, I ended up in the kitchen. Seeing my red, droopy eyes, Liv handed me a cup and dug the hazelnut creamer out of the fridge.
"Bless you,” I said. After taking a huge gulp, I sat on a stool, staring at the coffee in my hands.
"Ben took your Gram to the hospital," Liv said, putting bread into the toaster.
"Oh, good. How was she this morning?" I let out a yawn that made my jaws crack.
"Better than you." Liv topped off my coffee.
"I'll be OK." I yawned again. "I guess everybody heard about last night?"
"The police talked to all of us,” Liv said, putting a plate of bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs in front of me. "I'm glad you found that poor girl, but you've got to be more careful, honey. What if that maniac hurt you?”
"Don't worry about me. I had my gun with me, and I'm a good shot."
"Uh huh,” She grumbled and added a plate of buttered toast, next to my bacon and eggs. "Eat every bite."
"No problem." I dug in. "When did Ben leave?"
"About a half hour ago." Liv answered. "He said, he’d be right back. He wants to talk to you."
Ben found me in the kitchen as I was finishing my breakfast. He looked anxious, even turning down my last strip of bacon. Finishing my coffee, I followed him up to my sitting room.
"I hope it's OK, but last night I watched the rest of the mall security DVD," Ben said, running a hand over his dark, blonde hair.
"And?" I sat on the couch, one foot underneath me.
"She never came back out of the mall,” he said. Then he saw my expression of disbelief. "I never took my eyes of the screen, Hallie. I wanna catch this guy so bad." He crumpled onto the other end of the couch.
"Don't feel bad." I sighed. "I was feet away from him in the woods last night, and I let him get away."
"But you’re OK, and you saved the other girl's life,” Ben pointed out. "What do we do next?"
"I'm going to try to get into Ashley and Cara's email,” I said.
"I'm not sure about my sister's password, but I have an idea about Ashley's." He got up, and paced in front of me. "Remember in her room, the card on her mirror?"
I nodded. "It had bluemoo.... something on it."
"I wrote it down, exactly the way it was written." Ben pulled a piece of paper from his jeans pocket and handed it to me. It was same piece of paper, I’d given him with the Cameron's address on it.
I looked at the letters, fifteen lower case, one capital. There were three words but no spaces. "It's a password!" I ran to get my laptop. "You are a genius! I don't know how I missed that."
"I thought of it because my Mom does the same thing. She can't ever remember passwords. So, she writes them down and leaves them in her room like this."
I brought up the free email server, Ashley had used. I put in the address her parents had given me. Next, in the password block, I typed in, bluemooSestation. And I was in!
"Yes!" I pumped a fist in the air. "There are a ton of emails here." I scanned her inbox. "She has almost a hundred, unread messages."
"Great,” Ben said. He sat down next to me.
"It's no problem." I assured him as I scrolled down. "First, I want to read the ones that Ashley had already opened. It would be telling to see, who’d stopped emailing her, before anyone knew she’d disappeared. See, all but a handful of the unread were sent after Ashley disappeared."
"She got a lot from andi1999,” Ben said.
I clicked open the most recent from that sender. It was sent the morning after Ashley disappeared. There was an imbedded picture of a cat with a joke heading.
"I think andi1999, is the best friend named Andrea that the Cameron's mentioned." I clicked on another from her. It was a message that Ashley must have read. "Yep, look, this one’s signed, Andrea."
"What does it say?" Ben asked.
"She’s informing Ashley, she’s going to a movie with Harper that weekend. And it would be cool if Ashley wants to go along." I clicked the email closed and perused the senders again. "There's several from theracer9816." I opened the one dated August eleventh, two days before Ashley disappeared.
"It's him!" Ben excitedly, jumped up then sat back down. “It is, isn’t it?”
"I think so," I said.
Ben read the email aloud, "I just want to spend some time with you, Ashley. We have so much in common. Meet me in public, if you're still afraid. How about the fountain by the food court at Herville mall, after you're done at work on Saturday? We'll get something to eat and see a movie." Ben stopped reading, and his voice choked up, "Ashley was being careful, but he still got her. I wonder what he said to my sister to get her to come here."
I put an arm around his shoulders. I knew we probably would never have the answers to all his questions. "Let's keep digging through the emails. If we set up my printer, we can print them out and split them between us."
"Where is it, and where do you want it?" He asked.
A half hour later, my printer was busily spitting out Ashley's received messages. The sent messages, were next. I was disappointed when we couldn't find any pictures that theracer9816, had sent Ashley.
"Did she delete any pictures they might have exchanged?" I thought out loud.
"He knew what she looked like." Ben held up a printed email. "This one’s from him, listen." Ben began reading aloud again, "You're so beautiful Ashley. Yet, you look so sweet and innocent. Just the kind of girl, I need and have always wanted."
A shiver went down my spine at the real meaning of those words. The bastard had his type, young, pretty and blonde. But where did he first see her?
Ben began reading again, "I think it was fate that had me log onto TeensMeetSmart, that day. Yours was the only profile that called to my soul." Ben stopped reading. He looked at me with pain in his eyes. "My sister talked about that site, TeensMeetSmart. I didn't think anything about it at the time and forgot all about it."
"He must be using that site to prey on these girls." I put TeenMeetSmart, into my search engine and was directed to their homepage. I had to sign in or join. I had no idea what Ashley would have selected as her user name and password.
I clicked on, about us, wanting more information. The screen changed to a brief description of the site, claiming it was the safe way for teens, to meet new friends on line. The owner of TeenMeetSmart, claimed that they scrutinized all profiles before posting them. This was for all user's safety.
"They're full of shit!" Ben roared. He was reading over my shoulder. "This bullshit site helped get my sister killed! "
He was right. "We need to tell the cops about
it," I said, trying to get my weary mind in gear. "Maybe it can be used to find him. Afterwards, parents need to be warned that a predator used it to find his victims."
"I still don't understand, how did he get Ashley out of the mall, without us seeing her leave?" Ben said.
"Let's go,” I said. I grabbed my purse, put my gun and cell inside, and walked to the door.
Without a single question, Ben stood up and followed me downstairs.
"I'll drive if you want,” Ben offered.
His truck was a lot less noticeable than Chitty, so we headed to the side of the garage where it was parked.
Ben walked past his truck, and called to me. “Hallie, look.” He pointed into the backyard.
Peter was raking leaves and small branches into a pile onto a blue, plastic tarp. He saw us watching and waved nervously. I never noticed him using those tarps before. I gestured with my head for Ben to follow me.
The garage was open, so I led Ben inside. There was a large tractor on the far side, a snow plow blade attached to the front. Peter used it to keep our driveway and lane clear in the winter. There were miscellaneous tools on a workbench along the back wall. There was nothing suspicious, except a roll of duct tape. But that was a common item to have in a house or garage. I thought of the lean-to.
Walking outside and around to the other side of the garage, Ben followed on my heels. The lean-to was where Peter kept all kinds of lawn and garden tools. There were two lawn tractors, rakes, both spade and snow shovels, a pick, and several blue, plastic tarps. One still in its clear plastic bag.
I didn't think the small engine, I’d heard in the woods last night was a garden tractor. But the blue tarps and the spade shovel with fresh dirt on it, set off some alarm bells. I thought about how Peter, popped up in the woods last night. And how he disappeared when he heard the cops coming.
"Let's go." I walked with Ben to his truck. We waited until were inside with the windows up before we spoke.
"What were you looking for?" Ben asked, starting the engine.
"Pretty much, what I found. But nothing, that's really proof,” I admitted.
"Where to?" He asked.
"The mall," I said. "We're going to check out the exits, especially the ones not on the DVD. Ashley left the mall somehow." We drove down the highway towards town. "By the way, thanks for taking Gram to the hospital. Did she say how George is doing?"
"Your Gram said, he's gonna be fine. He's getting out of the ICU today. She's going to call you later."
"Thanks again." I smiled.
"No problem." He smiled back. "How was your date last night?"
"Very nice.” I couldn’t help a big grin from spreading across my face.
"Is he, the one?” Ben asked teasingly.
"There was a time that I thought he was." I admitted. Ben's puzzled expression made me explain. "We dated when we were in high school. Then we broke up after graduation and reconnected the other day."
"I'm getting married this June,” Ben said.
"Congratulations! Have you been dating a long time?"
"About five years. She's great!"
"I've been meaning to ask. How old are you?"
"Twenty-eight." Ben made the turn into the mall parking lot.
"Ah, so young!" I sighed.
"Yeah, right. How old are you, granny?” Ben asked.
"A lady never tells."
Ben give me a sour look.
“Ok, I'll be forty in December,” I said.
"No big deal. You don't look it." He looked around the parking lot. "Where do you want me to park?"
"Anywhere,” I said. "I want to go inside and look around by the fountain. Then we need to look for other exits."
We went straight to the big fountain. It was in the middle of the food court with patio tables and chairs scattered on all four sides. It was usually the busiest place in the mall, but it was slow this morning. The food vendors had just rolled up their metal, security grills. The smell of corndogs, hotdogs, burgers, fries, popcorn, pizza, nachos and soft pretzels were just beginning to perfume the air.
"I'm hungry." Ben looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry, it’s the smells. I know we need to work on the case."
"It's OK,” I said. "We can get something, it’ll help us blend in."
"Cool, I want a corn dog," Ben said.
"I'm getting a hot pretzel then we'll sit for a couple minutes and look around."
Ben walked toward the corn dog vendor, so I walked up to an older woman making soft pretzels. She looked like a less sophisticated version of Aunt Jeannie. She smiled pleasantly, wiping her hands on a paper towel when I approached.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'll have a large, cheese filled with two ranch dipping sauces and a large cola," I said. I paid for my order. Yep, I love ranch flavored anything. I even drizzle ranch dressing on my sauerkraut.
The woman put my pretzel into an oven. She got two small cups of ranch dipping sauce out of a refrigerator and placed them on a tray before filling a cup with soda. I was her only customer, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask a few questions.
"Where do the mall employees park?” I asked.
She gave me a strange look. "Why?"
"I'm trying to get a job in the mall,” I lied.
"Well, we're told to leave the more prime spaces for customers." She put a lid on my cola and handed me a straw. "So, we have to park in the last spaces toward the highway or on the sides."
"What doors do you use?" I unwrapped my straw, poking it through the hole in the cup lid.
"We have to use the same doors that the customers do."
"What about the doors like the one in the back wall?" I pointed to one marked, emergency exit only.
"You'll lose your job if you open one of them." She chuckled. "When one of them opens, a loud alarm goes off and the alarm has to be shut off with a key." She scratched her head. "But that one was open for a couple of weeks, earlier this month. Some construction guys was using it. We were all told to keep an eye on it, so customers didn't use it. Like we have time, especially during busy hours." She took my pretzel out of the oven and put it on the tray.
"Thanks." I smiled.
Ben was at a table with two corn dogs, twenty packs of mustard, and his own large soda. I sat down next to him.
"We can leave when we're done eating,” I whispered. "I know how she left, but it doesn't help us any."
"Are there cameras at the bus stop?" Ben asked around a mouthful of corn dog.
"Probably, like I said, cameras are everywhere these days."
Can we go to the bus stop, and see if it caught Cara, the day she disappeared?"
"I doubt they hold onto video this long, but it never hurts to ask." I finished my pretzel and licked all the ranch, from the little cups. "Let's go, find out."
"Uh oh!" Ben said with a grimace. "There's your buddy, the security guard."
"Damn it! I don't feel like dealing with him today." We both took our half-full, soda cups, and made for the exit.
The Herville bus station is a row of plastic chairs, inside the supermarket. You can buy a ticket to anywhere in the country at the service desk. There are cameras mounted in the ceiling inside, and in the canopy outside. There's benches by the soda vending machines outside, for waiting on your bus in good weather. The store is open twenty-four hours a day.
I recognized the woman working the service desk. She’d graduated from high school with me. Rachel Everett and I weren't chummy, but we got along well enough. I hadn't seen her in twenty years, but she looked like she was doing OK. Her auburn hair didn't show any gray and face was only beginning to show lines. She had a nice blouse with a skirt on, underneath the mandatory, brown supermarket smock. Her name tag identified her as the assistant manager.
"Hi Rachel." I smiled. "How's is going?"
"Hallie!" Her return smile was warm. "Gabi told me you were back when she was here yesterday. You look great!"
"Thanks, so do you." I noticed the we
dding rings on her left hand. "You’re married?"
"To Cody." She referred to her high school sweetheart. "We've got two kids."
"Wow. How do you like being a mom?"
"It has its moments." She looked at Ben, standing next to me. I could tell by her expression that she was wondering if he was my boy toy. "So, what can I help you with today?"
"Well, I'm a private investigator, working on a case." I flashed my credentials. "This is Ben. His little sister went missing in March. This is the last place that her cell GPS, sent a signal."
"How can I help?" She asked, her face sympathetic.
"You have surveillance cameras, and we were hoping that you still had the video from the day she arrived on the bus."
"Come on, into the office." She signaled for a young girl to take over the service desk.
Inside the office were several desks, a computer on each one. Rachel asked us to sit down on some metal folding chairs while she switched on a computer screen.
"Do you know when her bus arrived?" Rachel asked.
"Her cell placed her here, on Thursday March 3, at five thirty-five in the morning," Ben said. It was obvious his hopes were up.
Rachel typed on the keyboard in front of her for a few minutes. "We keep everything on the cameras, in digital, for a year. Here’s footage from that morning, starting at five thirty."
We stood up and leaned over her shoulders. The right side of the screen showed inside the store by the chairs designated for the bus lines. It also showed the store’s double automatic entrance doors. The left side, showed outside with the benches and soda machines and a little of the parking lot.
Nobody came into view for a few minutes. Nothing moved on camera, except a few swirls of early morning fog. Then the silver side of a bus, slid into sight. The bus doors opened, letting off two passengers. I heard Ben's gasp when a young, blonde girl climbed down the bus steps, a back pack slung over her shoulder. It was Cara Gordon. We watched her walk into the market.
Cara searched the inside of the store, as if she were looking for someone. Her pretty face wore an apprehensive expression while she sat on one of the plastic chairs. She sat for several minutes, looking out the huge front window, nervously shaking a foot. Suddenly, she saw something and went outside. She stopped by the first bench, looking off into the distance. Then turning to go back into the store, Cara took her phone out of a jacket pocket. But then, she seemed to hear a noise and turned toward the street. She waved at some one that we couldn't see. Then hiking her backpack higher on her shoulder, Cara walked toward the far side of the huge lot. We could see her walking away from the camera, but she was soon out of camera range. We watched for fifteen more minutes. She didn't return.