“My hands are full,” Aiden complained. “Carry it for me.”
“Open up.”
Aiden frowned and opened her mouth. Deena stuck the corner of the paper towel in Aiden’s mouth. She clamped down on it and started mumbling through her closed lips like an unskilled ventriloquist.
“Maybe this will keep you quiet for a while,” Deena said. “You go in there and watch TV while you eat. Uncle Ty and I need to talk.”
Normally, Aiden would have protested. She wanted to be where Uncle Ty was. She also wanted to hear any adult conversation that might be taking place under her roof. The fact that she didn’t complain indicated she understood exactly what this conversation was about. It was about Uncle Ty knocking that man down at the movie theater and she wanted no part of that uncomfortable chat. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t eavesdrop from the next room, though. She was more than willing to absorb it from a safe distance.
While Aiden wandered from the room, mumbling through the napkin in her mouth, Deena opened two beers. She slid one across the granite island to Ty and took a long drink off hers. She didn’t have the opportunity to drink very often and the almost desperate way she took that first hit off the bottle gave Ty an indication of how she was feeling. She was stressed.
“First off, I’m sorry that whole thing happened,” Ty said, diving right in. “I know it’s no excuse, but there was this action movie playing when we were in line. You know how those sound systems are now. Everything is so realistic. There were explosions and gunshots. I got lost in my head, and the next thing I knew, his hand was on my back. I didn’t even think. I just reacted. By the time I figured out what was going on, the guy was on the floor.”
“In front of my daughter,” Deena said, setting her beer down on the granite with a loud clink.
“If it’s any consolation, Aiden was probably the least shocked person there. She had no reaction whatsoever. She just continued placing her order like nothing happened. When they asked us to leave, she took it in stride. She’s a pretty together kid. Probably more together than me at this point.”
“You’ve got to get help, Ty.” Deena looked down at her pizza but didn’t pick up a slice.
Her imploring tone tore at him. “We’ve been down this road. I know I’ve got...symptoms, but I’m not even sure if this is actually PTSD. The condition is different for everyone. When I went to the VA medical center they put me on so many drugs I couldn’t function. I’d never considered suicide until then, but every day I knew I was one step closer. I can’t explain it, but it was like those medications didn’t only shut down the bad voices in my head, they shut down all the voices, even the ones telling me to fight back.”
Deena gave him a wry smile. “You do have PTSD, Ty. You need to admit it. You need to accept it. Those doctors are professionals. They have more experience than anyone in dealing with this. Those meds have to be safe. They’re not going to give you anything that will hurt you.”
Ty burst out laughing. “Maybe they wouldn’t intentionally give me something that would hurt me but veteran suicide is an epidemic. You think none of those guys are on medication? If medication was the answer, veterans wouldn’t be dropping like flies. There’s got to be another answer and we just don’t know what it is yet.”
“Well, what are you gonna do? You can’t go on like this. You’re going to hurt someone.”
Ty gave his sister a wary look. “You can’t start looking at me like that. You can’t start treating me like I’m this time bomb that’s going to blow up when you least expect it. I can’t handle that.”
“It’s not just about what I think, Ty. When people in this community see a video like that, they don’t want you around their children. That’s what they’re telling me. They worry about you dropping Aiden off at school. They worry about you being here if she has friends over. That’s what I’ve been dealing with since this video was posted. I’ve been trying to defend you and I don’t know how much longer I can do that if you’re not going to get help.”
That stung. He couldn’t stand the thought of people thinking he was a danger to their children. If he was that unstable, he’d go out to his truck and end things right then. Truthfully, he thought he’d been doing better the last twenty-four hours. His mind had been so preoccupied with the child abduction that he’d been distracted from his symptoms. He was less paranoid and less obsessive about the little rituals that kept him safe. He had fewer thoughts of hurting himself.
While he didn’t understand why the preoccupation with this missing girl helped him, it definitely did. He sensed it was more complicated than simply keeping him busy. If that were the case, he could take up a hobby like leatherworking or basket weaving and make his symptoms go away. Yet he knew that wouldn’t work. He’d tried structuring his days before, obsessively filling every minute of the day with some all-consuming activity, and it hadn’t worked. He’d heard of other people trying the same thing and it wasn’t working for them either.
Ty took a sip of his beer and set it on the counter. “Let’s eat.” He wasn’t particularly hungry, having lost whatever appetite he had due to the nature of their discussion. Eating would provide a distraction, perhaps allow their emotions to settle some.
Deena slid him a paper plate and he pulled a single slice onto it. A firm knock on the back door startled him and he whipped in that direction. There was a woman he didn’t recognize standing there with a fuzzy gray puppy cradled in her arms. The lady was in her sixties with short white hair. She gave a quick smile and waved in Deena’s direction. Deena smiled back, then walked to the door to let her in.
“Hello, Nancy, who is this?” Deena asked, cooing at the puppy and stroking it on the head.
“This is my new little baby. Her name is Percy and I wanted to bring her over so Aiden could see her. I know how she loves puppies.”
“Aiden!” Deena called. “Come here.”
“What is it?” Aiden yelled.
Ty smiled at Aiden’s weary tone.
“Come here!” Deena repeated.
In a second, Aiden came skating into the kitchen on her sock feet. When she saw the puppy, her eyes widened and an expression of pure joy overtook her face. She threw her hands in the air and literally danced toward the puppy.
The gesture, Aiden’s exuberance, floored Ty. He stood there for a second with his mouth hanging open. “I’ve got to go,” he said.
Deena looked at him curiously, petting the puppy. “You just got here. You haven’t even eaten a single bite and you brought dinner.”
“I just remembered something I had to do.”
Deena left Aiden cradling the puppy and came to her brother’s side. She put a hand on his shoulder and lowered her voice. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am. Seriously. There’s just something I have to do right now and it can’t wait.”
Deena let out a long, disappointed sigh, not yet done with the conversation they’d been having. “Sure. Whatever. Call me later.”
“I will. I just have to run right now.” He waved at Aiden but she barely glanced in his direction. He’d been totally upstaged by the puppy.
14
Ty raced back to his townhouse, driving a little too fast. He whipped into the parking lot, nearly clipping a light pole, and roared into the first parking space that caught his eye. He didn’t go through his normal ritual of backing into a space and perfectly centering his vehicle, nor did he sit there for a moment taking in his surroundings before he rushed to his front door. There was no time for that. Aiden had reminded him of something he’d seen in those hundreds of pictures he spent the night downloading. If he could just find the right one.
He unlocked the door and rushed inside, not even locking it behind him. He also didn’t take the time to clear the house, going directly to his desk. He removed the holstered Glock from inside his waistband, plunked it down, and powered up his laptop. While he waited, he grabbed the stack of printed pictures and started shuffling through them.
His laptop finished booting and he logged in. He went back to the printed pictures, urgently shuffling through them and tossing the discarded images into the floor beside him. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but he hadn’t seen it there. He turned back to his computer and opened the folder on his desktop. Inside, he’d saved a digital copy of all the photos he’d printed, as well as the additional pictures he’d been unable to print when he’d run out of ink.
He double clicked on the first picture and it opened up to fill the screen. He dropped a finger to the arrow key and tapped it, advancing through the images. “No, no, no,” he repeated as he scrolled through them.
Ten images.
Fifty images.
One hundred images.
Then he found it. The two hundred and sixty-second image of three hundred and sixty-nine. He stared at the picture. The reason he’d had such trouble recalling it was that the element prickling his memory was not the focus of the image. It was not the three smiling girls with their lips puckered up. It was merely a blip in the background. In all of those three hundred and sixty-nine images, there were thousands of such vignettes randomly captured in the backgrounds. There were tired men filling gas tanks, mothers rushing children to restrooms, old men with orange fingers, bags of Cheetos, and bottles of Mountain Dew. Yet this one background detail paired perfectly with the expression on Gretchen’s face.
Ty took up the printed picture of a smiling Gretchen in one hand and held it alongside his laptop screen. He could imagine that these two images were the far extremes of a single, larger scene. Gretchen, inside the store, represented one end. The other image, displayed on his screen, could logically represent the other half of what had taken place. It was the half no one had seen or understood, but Ty was certain he understood it now. If he was right, and these two images were captured at the same moment, the expression on Gretchen’s face was the result of the puppy in the background of the image on his screen.
Behind the three young girls posing for the picture, a woman was standing at the rear of a smaller RV. She leaned against the spare tire holder, cradling the puppy in her arms. She was wearing cheap white sweatpants and a white sweatshirt. Her gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She appeared to be in her fifties but it was hard to tell. Her skin was deeply lined and it looked like some of her years had been hard ones. Ty could make out a stocky man fueling the RV but could not see his face due to the angle of the camera.
The woman was looking toward something off-screen, but Ty couldn’t see her eyes because of dark wraparound glasses. He did recognize the location where this picture was taken because of the number on the fuel pump. That told him exactly where the woman was looking. She was eyeing something toward the main entrance of the store, possibly Gretchen.
There was something slightly disturbing about the picture, though. The smile on the woman’s face did not look like someone kindly returning the joyous smile of a child. To him, it was an expression of satisfaction. It was the look of a predator watching prey wander into its trap.
Ty picked up his phone and dialed Lieutenant Whitt’s number. She picked up on the third ring.
“Lieutenant Whitt.”
“Hey, Lieutenant, this is Tyler Stone again. I found something I think you’ll be very interested in.” Ty was in high gear, his mind racing with the urgency of the situation, and he needed the lieutenant to get on board. Time was wasting. When she didn’t answer, he prodded, “Hello? Lieutenant Whitt?”
“Mr. Stone, I appreciate your effort to be helpful in this case but the nature of the investigation has changed. New information has come to light and the FBI is now the lead element in this investigation.”
Ty could hear a lot of bustle in the background. The level of activity at the command center had increased since he left there. It sounded like there were more people and they were engaged in an animated conversation. “What happened?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of this case, Mr. Stone. The FBI will be making a statement in the morning at a press conference. I suggest you tune in if you want to follow the case.”
Ty didn’t like the sound of that. Lieutenant Whitt was behaving differently, and she didn’t sound interested in anything he might have to offer. While he certainly had no official role in this investigation, he was certain he had insight that might prove helpful. He needed to get it out because a little girl’s life may depend on it.
“I think I figured something out, Lieutenant Whitt. Something you guys may have missed in those pictures.”
“Hold on a damn minute,” Lieutenant Whitt said, frustration growing in her voice.
In the background, Ty could hear her excusing herself and a chair banging. He heard the sound of a door shutting and diesel engines rumbling in the background. The lieutenant had left the command RV and stepped out into the parking lot. He could hear her breathing into the phone and the rhythm of her steps. She was putting distance between her and the rest of the investigative team. Perhaps she was interested in hearing what he had to say after all.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Did you not understand what I said?” she growled. “We’re not interested in hearing anymore about pictures, social media, or your theories. We don’t have time for it.”
Ty was stunned at the change in her demeanor. He’d sensed the two of them had a connection, that the fact they were both veterans had given them an understanding of each other. “Um, I’m sorry. I just thought you’d be interested.” He didn’t know what else to say.
“I understand you were trying to be helpful. I appreciate it and I know the girl’s family would appreciate it. This is an FBI matter now, though, and they don’t appreciate it. They have their own people and their own theories.”
“Is there someone else I could speak to?”
She gave a frustrated sigh. “Are you not getting me, Tyler? There’s no one you can speak to. There’s no one interested in your theories,” she said through gritted teeth. “This is the point where you back yourself out of this and go on with your life. I empathized with your situation and tried to give you some guidance but I can’t make you follow that advice. It’s up to you whether you do something with it or not.”
Ty heard what she was saying, and under normal circumstances he might have been a little pissed. She made it sound like she’d only humored him out of pity. While that stung, he needed to keep rolling, to keep moving forward. It wasn’t about him, it was about Gretchen. He needed to get his information out whether she wanted to hear it or not.
“I know why she was smiling when she left,” he said.
“I do too,” Whitt replied. “Because she saw a familiar face. Gretchen Wells saw her father in the parking lot.”
Ty was stunned. “I thought her dad was in Utah.”
“We all did.”
“How do you know he was there? How can you be sure? Did you find him in those pictures I sent you? In the security camera footage?”
“Goodbye, Mr. Stone. I’ll ask that you don’t call me again. If I have any questions for you, I have your number.” The line went dead.
Ty lowered the phone to his desk. He picked up the printed picture and held it alongside his laptop screen one more time. They could think what they wanted, investigate whoever they wanted. He simply had to confirm one piece of information to know that he was on the right track. He needed to speak to Gretchen’s mother and find out i
f she was obsessed with puppies like Aiden. If she was, he needed to find the woman in the picture. She may have seen what happened in the parking lot. If Gretchen indeed went with her father, this lady may have seen it happen.
He didn’t care what Lieutenant Whitt said. He couldn’t let this go.
15
Tia knew she had the girl the moment she reacted to the puppy. She hadn’t targeted her specifically, nor singled her out. Any of the girls would have been sufficient and there were so many of them right there at the gas station. Since things had gone so badly in Richmond, she had prayed non-stop. She was certain Holy Death would provide and she had.
She couldn’t take a child by force in this crowd. It had to be the right child at the right time. They had to find a girl who melted at the sight of puppies. A child like that would enter the RV eagerly if she thought there were more puppies inside. Tia understood that a clean, well-dressed child like this one had probably been instructed to stay in the store. She probably had a mother in there shopping or using the restroom. For the ones with puppy fever, as she called it, that would make no difference. The cuteness overwhelmed them. Some inner drive took over and all their good sense, all their obedience, evaporated.
The child danced toward her, eyes glued to the puppy. “Can I pet it?”
“Certainly,” Tia said.
“It’s so cute. What’s its name?”
“Nemo,” Tia said.
Gretchen beamed as if she hadn’t heard a word Tia said, utterly engrossed in the warm ball of fur.
“You want to see its brothers and sisters?” Tia asked.
Gretchen nodded in that dazed way some children did around small animals. She would have agreed to anything. Tia could see it in those trusting eyes that bespoke nothing but good fortune. Nothing bad had ever happened to this child. No one had been mean to her or betrayed her. No one yelled at her or slapped her. She was clean and fed.
How nice for her.
Tia pointed toward the RV door, giving her surroundings a casual glance to see if anyone was paying particular attention. She’d chosen her position because she was blocked from the cameras. Despite the crowd, they were insulated. The school bus that was pulled alongside of them blocked their RV door from the storefront and most of other customers. No one would see their interaction.
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