Down to the Wire (An Allie Down Mystery Thriller Book 3)

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Down to the Wire (An Allie Down Mystery Thriller Book 3) Page 18

by PJ Fernor


  Now that was cheesy.

  Jerry touched my chin with his right hand.

  I watched him make his move for a goodnight kiss.

  I had all the time in the world to stop him, if I wanted to.

  I didn’t want him to stop.

  And he didn’t.

  It was a quick kiss. A soft, sweet, goodnight kiss.

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Detective,” he whispered.

  “I hope so, Doctor,” I said.

  Jerry smiled one more time and walked away.

  I leaned against my car and took a deep breath.

  I was smitten.

  I wanted to find a way to convince myself this was wrong.

  But I needed a life outside the job.

  Even just to clear my head.

  I realized right then, this was the most normal I had felt since coming back to Sandemor.

  Chapter Forty

  The Other Place

  Today the new girls are getting names. The moment is exciting for Mr. G but Lea isn’t sure how to feel. She almost feels like she’s living outside of her body lately. As though something cosmic has been changing inside of her. And now it was all coming to life.

  What that something is, she’s not sure of.

  It’s like a silent nag that never goes away.

  This morning Mr. G treats Lea to pancakes.

  The thickest, fluffiest pancakes she’s ever seen.

  It’s rare to see him this happy.

  Then again, he has two new girls in cages, plus Hailey. He’s probably got some plans for all three. And there’s still room for more.

  His drive, taking Lea under the bridge for that minute or so was merely just a hint of what was to come.

  It was also a stark reminder that Lea could have been under that bridge too.

  Just living there, never knowing when something bad was going to happen.

  This morning, it’s about pancakes and names.

  “I want you to tell them their names,” he says to Lea.

  “Me?”

  “Yes,” he says with a smile. “I want you to share the news. It’ll be good for them. I have to say, whatever you’ve done with things, it’s been working. The house feels calmer. It feels more like a home than it ever has before. I think I should clean the place up a little.”

  “Clean it up?”

  “You know, make it real again,” he says. “Did you know everyone around here thinks this place is abandoned and haunted? Isn’t that just crazy?”

  “I’m sure that’s good for you,” Lea says. “To keep everyone out of the way.”

  Mr. G puts his hands to the counter. He has a nasty scowl on his face. “Now why would that matter? Am I doing something wrong here?”

  “No,” Lea says. “I’m sorry.”

  “Have you been watching the news again? Have you been thinking thoughts of your own again?”

  “No,” Lea says. “I just meant… nosy people. You know how it goes. Annoying neighbors.”

  “Please don’t ruin today for me.”

  Mr. G turns back to the stove and flips four pancakes.

  Lea eats and stares at the piece of paper with the names on it.

  The girls have no choice but to accept these names.

  The punishment is far worse than learning a new name.

  “I have an idea,” Lea says.

  “Go for it,” Mr. G says.

  “May I take them something to eat?” Lea asks. “It’ll be a celebration. How exciting, right?”

  Mr. G ponders the request and nods. “You’re lucky I appreciate you so much, Lea. You’re my favorite. You always have been.”

  “Thanks,” Lea says.

  She smiles.

  When she’s done eating, she carries a plate of pancakes upstairs to the secret room.

  As she opens the door, she hears rustling in the cages.

  The girls are like dogs in a pet store.

  Any kind of noise or light, they get jumpy.

  There’s no getting out of here… sorry…

  She turns on the light and looks at Hailey.

  She’s sitting up, hugging her knees.

  “The one next to me wet herself,” Hailey says. “It smells.”

  Lea smells the urine.

  “I’m sorry,” N says. “I just had to go.”

  “Clean it up,” Lea says. “He’s coming up here soon. You don’t want him angry at you. I brought you all breakfast. Real food. Pancakes.”

  J grabs the front of her cage. “What’s going to happen to us? We know you know something. We know you’re not a bad person. We can escape together.”

  “I’m going to convince myself you didn’t just say that,” Lea says.

  “Why not?” J yells.

  Lea has no choice now.

  She kicks the front of the cage, hitting J’s fingers hard.

  J screams and slinks back into the cage.

  Lea then divides the pancakes between N and Hailey.

  J no longer gets any.

  “Thank you,” Hailey whispers to Lea. “And don’t worry about J. She’s scared. I told her not to say anything.”

  “You’re my best friend, Hailey,” Lea whispers. “I’m going to figure this out for you. Okay?”

  Hailey smiles.

  They both know it’s a lie.

  If Mr. G wanted to treat Hailey the way he treated Lea, he would have by now.

  By the time N and Hailey eat their pancakes, Mr. G enters the room.

  “There they are,” he announces. “Bright and cheery. And full.”

  “I’m hungry,” J says.

  Mr. G looks at Lea.

  “Minor issue,” Lea says. “It’s been solved.”

  “Good,” Mr. G says. “It’s time to smile for the camera.”

  Lea swallows hard.

  She knows what this means.

  She looks at Hailey.

  Hailey shuts her eyes and lowers her head.

  “I’m going to be honest,” Mr. G says. “If you don’t smile and make this look good, then I will have no choice but to kill you. If you think that’s not possible, just remember there were others in the cage before you.”

  Mr. G crouches down.

  He orders J to put her face against the cage.

  The sight bothers Lea.

  Mr. G takes a picture of J. Then he does the same for N.

  And finally… Hailey.

  Hailey has had her picture taken before.

  She knows how this goes.

  When Mr. G is done, he stands and smiles.

  “Perfect,” he says. “Now… Lea… tell the girls their names.”

  Lea hurries to smile.

  She points to J.

  “Your name is Julia,” Lea says.

  “That’s not my name!” Julia yells.

  Mr. G kicks the cage.

  He has a lot more force than Lea does.

  J starts to cry but hurries to stop herself.

  Lea looks at N.

  “Your name is Natalia,” she says.

  “Okay,” Natalia says. “I love it.”

  Lea nods.

  That’s the answer Mr. G wants to hear.

  He claps his hands together.

  “Let me get these pictures sent off and let’s keep this beautiful morning going.

  He leaves the room.

  Lea looks down at Hailey.

  Hailey is crying silently.

  Lea leaves the room and starts to shake.

  Even though Mr. G insists he’s saving all these girls… Lea isn’t so sure anymore.

  But it’s too late.

  Their pictures have been taken.

  Those pictures will be sent off.

  The new girls - and Hailey - were as good as gone now.

  Chapter Forty-One

  I finished my second glass of wine with Miss Kesslier.

  “Since when do you enjoy wine so much?” she asked, knowing my drink of choice was usually something with a little more of a punch.


  “I’m expanding my horizons,” I said to her.

  “Or it’s because you’re trying to impress that doctor,” she said with a wink.

  “Careful,” I said. “I don’t know what’s going on there. We went out once. It was fun banter. I can’t be sure that will make a relationship.”

  “So… no beautiful Ben?” Miss Kesslier asked.

  “I’m sorry, but he’s with someone else.”

  “No.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I don’t blame him. I messed that up.”

  “You most certainly did not,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “I did. I just hung him out to dry.”

  “Stop that,” she said. “You’re entitled to feel and act how you want.”

  “And so is he,” I said. I slowly stood up from the table. “I’m happy he’s happy. We get along at work. That’s all that matters.”

  “I don’t know,” Miss Kesslier said. “I still see you two together. It’ll happen. Mark my words.”

  “Thank you for the wine. I have to get back to the girls.”

  “I’m happy Lo has a friend.”

  “Me too. Steph is perfect for her. She’s had a rough past herself. They bonded over that. They both see Dr. Jerry. I think that helps Lo open up too.”

  “I told you everything was going to work out,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “Yes, you did.”

  “And I’m telling you… you and Ben…”

  “If that happens, I’ll be the first to admit you were right again.”

  Miss Kesslier laughed.

  We said our goodnights, goodbyes, and shared a quick hug.

  I went back to the apartment to find Lo and Steph on her bed, talking and laughing, looking at something on Lo’s phone.

  “Keep it down in here,” I said with a wink. “Some of us have to work tomorrow.”

  Steph giggled. “Sorry, Allie.”

  “Please, don’t embarrass me,” Lo said.

  I rolled my eyes like Lo always did to me.

  I shut the door and ended up in the living room in my favorite chair.

  Thinking was my own friend. And between that and the wine, I passed out pretty quick.

  And I slept all night.

  My eyes opened to the sun filling the living room.

  It felt good to sleep all night and wake up rested and ready.

  The first thought I had was about Nikki. Then Chelsea.

  Next came Annie.

  She had nothing to do with the girls down under the bridge, but her death didn’t sit well with me.

  I wanted to know who that young woman was that Annie found in her basement.

  If it was the same one I saw.

  I made breakfast for Lo and Steph as my thoughts ran rampant.

  Steph was the first to emerge.

  “Good morning,” I said. “Can I pour you some coffee? Or we have orange juice. I can make tea.”

  “Coffee is perfect,” she said.

  She was so bright and cheery.

  “Sleep well?” I asked.

  “Yes. Thank you for letting me stay.”

  “Always. You know, I’m really glad you and Lo found each other. I’m sure she would get mad at me for saying this, but she needed a friend like you. She mentioned that you’ve had a rough go yourself.”

  Steph became rigid and uncomfortable. “Uh…”

  “I’m sorry for saying that,” I said. “I’m not trying to pry. We all go through things in life. But it’s the people around us that help us get through it.”

  “Right,” Steph said. “Lo’s a good friend.”

  “That makes me happy to hear,” I said. “And whatever happened to you-”

  “I don’t like to talk about it,” Steph said. “Or think about it.”

  Allie, stop. She’s a teenage girl. What are you trying to do? Trigger her?

  “Forget I said anything,” I said. “Sorry.”

  Lo came out of the room a few seconds later to break up what was becoming an awkward silence.

  That was when my phone started to ring.

  I looked at the screen.

  “I have to take this,” I said. “You two finish scrambling the eggs.”

  I walked out of the kitchen to the living room to take the call.

  “Detective Down,” I said.

  “Detective. It’s Officer Preens.”

  “Oh, hey. How are you?”

  “Not good. Your buddy… Barby? He’s been driving me up and down the wall over here.”

  “Oh?”

  “He won’t let up about Nikki and Chelsea. I’m sure you heard they’re both gone now.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Chelsea was an overdose. No foul play. She got on a bus and went to get herself something strong. Came back and that was that.”

  “So I’ve heard,” I said. “That doesn’t help me with Nikki.”

  “I know. That’s what Barby said. He can be a real pain in the you know what.”

  I smiled and nodded.

  Yes he can. But he means well by it.

  “So what do you have for me?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say here, Detective,” Preens said. “That area is tough to deal with. We’ve all taken our turns with the girls. They come and go as they please. If we see something wrong, we act on it. And we usually get nothing out of them.”

  “I’m just wondering how it stays that way,” I said. “They’re obviously into drugs. And other things.”

  I looked over my shoulder.

  I didn’t want to use the word prostitution near the girls.

  “As I said, when we see something, we act on it. Believe it or not, most of the time, they’re just there to be there. There’s no trouble. They just hang around. They have nowhere else to go. We’ve tried, Detective, to help them. We’ve offered assistance. Shelters. We even cleaned up under the bridge to scatter them, but it didn’t matter. Truthfully… now I say this between you and me… maybe it’s better they’re contained there. You know?”

  “Contained,” I said. “Like they’re living in a cage?”

  “They’re free to do what they want as law abiding citizens.”

  “What about underage girls?” I asked.

  “What about?”

  “Have you ever seen any?”

  “There?” Preens asked. “No. You realize if we did, we’d do something about it, right?”

  He was getting offended. It didn’t help he was already annoyed thanks to Johnny.

  “I’m just asking questions,” I said.

  “I know you are,” Preens said. “I’m not sure what happened to Nikki. My best guess is she ran off with someone and it didn’t end up all that great.”

  “All that great?” I asked. “She was murdered.”

  I cringed at that word, thinking about the girls nearby.

  “Detective, what I’m trying to say…” Preens sighed. “Look at Chelsea. She got on a bus and left to get some drugs. Those drugs weren’t in Sandemor. Okay? She brought them in. As far as Nikki goes… maybe someone showed up and promised her a good life. She ran off and the guy hurt her. Killed her. I don’t know. I can’t prove it. I don’t know how I can help you prove it either. Driving me nuts over this isn’t going to get any of us anywhere.”

  “I disagree,” I said.

  “Here’s what I can do. I’m going to give you a name.”

  “A name?”

  “Martha Steenrunner. Everyone knows her as Martha. You say that name around here and everyone knows who it is. She’s a little out there, but she watches everything. There’s not a week that goes by where she isn’t calling us two, three times about something she’s seen with the girls. And before you say anything, we take each call seriously, and we check it out. I’ll text message you all her info. That’s the best I can do for you.”

  “See?” I asked. “It was worth bothering you then.”

  “If you say so, Detective. Have a good one.”

  Preens hung up.
>
  I stared at my phone and waited for the text to come through.

  When it did, I nodded.

  I now had something to run with here.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  My history of being back in Sandemor told me I needed to call Ben.

  I needed to have him with me when I talked to Martha.

  Even if he followed me in a separate car, two was always better than one.

  Of course that meant I was going alone.

  Things with Ben were just… weird.

  Plus, I wasn’t sure if this was an actual lead or not.

  Maybe Martha would be able to shed some light onto what was happening with the girls under the bridge, or maybe it was just another dead end.

  If she was the kind of person to call the police all the time, she was probably the kind of person that looked for a reason to call the police.

  The one who didn’t like the way her neighbor parked in the winter.

  The one who didn’t like the way the garbagemen handled her bins.

  That kind of thing.

  Reason number one for not going with Ben was already spoken and known.

  It was just plain weird.

  He was dating Sandra.

  I had gone out with Jerry once.

  Yet I felt oddly guilty for it. As though I should have called him and told him about the date right away.

  Date.

  I cringed at that word.

  I wasn’t even sure how dating was supposed to exist in my life.

  Taking care of Lo was a full-time job on top of my normal job.

  Although a guy like Jerry seemed to understand…

  I removed those thoughts from my mind as I pulled up the address Preens had sent me.

  He included an image of the house and there was no missing this one.

  It looked like the last house standing on a block that at one time did contain life.

  Empty lots, overgrown grass, and an abandoned warehouse were Martha’s neighbors.

  Of course that didn’t include the other side of the twin that she occupied.

  The house was split into two colors.

  Martha’s side was an old and dirty white. The other side was an off-yellow that maybe had been bright yellow years ago but was faded from the sun.

  The side not used by Martha looked a little sunken.

  There were plenty of houses in Sandemor that lived that same fate.

  Soft ground and coal mines would do that to even the strongest of foundations.

 

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