Jane swallowed. She didn’t know if she could keep Ken from killing Miller, but she’d do her best.
“And Josh, you go with Rocky and Flora to the right.”
“Aye, aye.” Jake’s voice wasn’t as flippant as it could have been. She squeezed his hand.
“Use the walkies. Communicate. This won’t take long.”
With the dim morning light, the deep mist and fog, and the shadows from the thick forest, the woods were something from a horror movie.
“How did you learn about this place?” Jane whispered to Miller. The silence—or rustling non-silence—of the woods was going to kill her.
“Dad used to take us hiking here.”
“They must have really appreciated you giving them a place to…live.”
“Yeah. They did.” He said it like a challenge—like he dared her to prove him wrong.
There seemed to be shadows of old trails through the woods. The memory of where campers used to hike, but then, they were probably just animal trails.
Ken led the way, holding back tree branches and keeping his feet quiet on the littered forest floor.
Miller, not so much. The leafy branch of yet another maple whacked Jane in the face. “Could you maybe pay attention?”
“What?” Miller trudged on, not looking behind him.
Ken stopped. He pointed forward and to the right. A gigantic Douglas fir with a trunk as wide as a table stood between them and a small cinderblock building with a mossy roof. “Is that it?”
“Yeah. We’re here.” Miller turned towards the building.
Ken grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. You’re not going in there and warning them that we’re here.”
“Let me go around and see if this is where they’ve camped out,” Jane whispered and it seemed to carry all the way back to the beach.
Ken nodded.
Jake followed closely behind her.
Jane stepped gingerly to the tree and then around it, hoping it shielded her from anyone in the encampment.
The cinderblock building was one of four spread out over a quarter acre or so of semi-cleared land. A line of laundry connected two of them, but the blue jeans that hung from it were still in the dead air.
A burn pile in the middle of the once-cleared land smoked as though it had just been put out.
Someone was here, but had Miller led them right? Were these the missing kids? And the killer?
Jane double-checked her team. Ken still held tight to Miller. Jake was close at hand. Everyone stared at her for a signal.
She scanned the woods and caught sight of Josh behind one of the buildings. He caught her eye and held a finger to his lips.
She found Dave as well. He nodded, acknowledging they had come to their place.
Jake took her hand and squeezed, a silent reminder that he was there; that he had her back. This was dangerous. It was intense. It was important even. They were doing something good in an evil world. Not across the world, but right here, in a dark and hidden hollow at home—and they were doing it together.
She spotted Rocky behind a far tree, his hand on his hip, a perfectly legal weapon ready to protect his wife and friends. A man of action.
The plan would work. They would surround the encampment. They would come in with the law and rescue the girls.
She turned her eye back to Josh, waiting for the signal. Waiting for permission to move.
Nothing in the camp stirred.
A branch cracked behind Jane.
She turned, her heart in her throat.
Nothing. Ken and Miller hadn’t moved.
From the corner of her eye she saw a splash of white as it ducked into the brush. A deer? A bird? A person?
She inched her way back.
“What?” Ken’s voice was low, but not a whisper.
Jake followed, but she shook her head.
Ken dragged Miller to the tree, to take her spot.
Jane ducked under a low branch and off the trail. The flash of white, the noise. It had been human. Not animal. Animals were too careful, too quiet.
She pushed her way through a patch of Oregon grape. A movement to her right caught her eye. She kept low, skirting a patch of berry brambles.
On the other side of the brambles, she found a fallen evergreen, its huge trunk resting over a smooth, long hollow in the land. The hollow sheltered two scared girls in white nightgowns.
Chapter 15
One girl was curled up, shivering in the cold, her face hidden. The other stared at Jane with huge brown eyes. “Run!” the girl whispered. “Don’t stay here!”
“I’m here for you,” Jane said, careful not to make any sudden movements. “We’ve come to rescue you.”
The other girl looked up, shaggy blonde hair hiding most of her face. “We can go home?” Her voice seemed to surprise herself.
“Yes. There’s lots of us, with cars and the police. We’re going to take you all home.”
She scooched out from her hiding spot. She was a small girl, but clearly a teenager. Her friend put her arm around her waist. “Rosie got hurt, but they wouldn’t let her go to the doctor.”
“Did you try to get away?” Jane asked.
Rosie nodded. “But they followed me and brought me back. I was almost there. I just needed a car. Someone to drive me.”
Jane’s heart fell. Hannah had been right there. Hannah had had a car. She had tried. Jane held her hand out. “We’re here now. But I want you to stay right here, where I know you’re safe, while we get the other girls. Can you do that? Have you been hiding here?”
Rosie nodded. “Me and Emma have been sleeping out here. We didn’t want to marry them after all. We didn’t know we were supposed to…share. So we come out here at night and they can’t find us.”
“Real fast,” Jane said, “tell me about your injury. Do you need help this minute?” Rosie’s face was ashy white, and her forehead dappled in sweat as though she were feverish.
Rosie held out her hand, revealing a large, infected gash on the underside. It looked as though it had started to heal, but it was green and swollen, and long veins of dark red infection traced up her wrist. She needed medical attention, but it would have to wait for a few more minutes.
“Is everyone still asleep in the cabins?”
“Yes,” Emma said. “Only two girls like the plan, so they are with their husband. Otherwise the boys are in the boys’ cabin and the girls are in the other one. But we didn’t want to be there at all in case the boys changed their minds.” She held her chin out stubbornly. And Jane couldn’t blame her.
“It’s okay. Stay here and we’ll get everyone out.”
She turned and tried to remember how she had gotten to the hollow spot.
“We’d better take you back. If it wasn’t so easy to get lost, we’d all be home already.” Emma helped Rosie up and then led Jane through the bushes and to the cabins.
Josh stood in the middle of the cabins, face to face with one young man. They spoke too quietly for Jane to hear. She kept one eye on the interaction and walked Emma to her daddy.
“Baby girl!” His voice broke the stillness of the woods. He ran to her, snatching her into his arms and holding her, tears streaming down his face.
She clung to his neck and didn’t let go.
The door of one of the cinderblock cabins flung open and three boys poured out, one with an axe held like a weapon.
“Hold it!” Rocky’s voice rang through the trees. He held his gun up, pointed at the boy with the axe. “Don’t take another step.”
“Put it down.” Josh held his hand up to Rocky.
Rocky lowered the weapon, but kept it in his hand.
“You, drop the axe.” Josh pulled out his own gun, held it up, and pointed it, somehow in control of the moment, somehow handling it though every nerve in Jane’s body was ready to explode. How he could do that, how he could face those boys and the axe, she didn’t know.
The young man dropped it.
It hit his foot
and he jumped, biting off a cry of pain.
Josh didn’t move a muscle. “That’s better. Now, you boys stand together over there. Are there more of you?”
Jane counted…four young men, all about the same size, all blond and muscular. One taller than the others by several inches.
“Yeah. We’re it.”
“Is that true?” Jane asked Rosie.
“Yes, that’s all of them.”
“That’s all of them, Josh!” Jane called out.
He nodded.
“I want Flora and Jane to go into the cabins now, one by one, and help the girls out. You four just stand there. Don’t move, don’t speak. Do you understand?”
“Yessir,” the tall one answered for them.
Jane and Rose walked into the clearing.
Ken broke from his spot in the woods and ran to her. He lifted her up like a young child and held her in his arms, wordless.
Flora and Jane went to one of the cabins and pushed the door open. Two girls sat on a pile of blankets on the floor, one braiding the other’s hair as though they hadn’t heard what was going on outside. She chomped her gum. “I turn eighteen next week, so you can’t make me leave my husband.”
The other girl grinned. “I’m already eighteen, so just try to get me out of here.” She laughed. They both wore cutoff jeans and tank tops despite the chill morning air. “But you’re welcome to the other girls because they aren’t worthy anyway.” She stretched her legs out and crossed her ankles.
“If you aren’t eighteen yet,” Flora said to the girl on her knees, braiding the hair, “I can absolutely take you with me, and arrest the boy who brought you here, and arrest everyone who was a part of taking you here. So you,” she said to the girl getting her hair braided, “can come willingly with me and your friend, or my cop with the gun can put you in handcuffs. Totally up to you.”
The seventeen-year-old stood up. “Whatever. We’ll just come back next month. They can’t stop us.” She sashayed past Flora and Jane.
“There,” said the eighteen-year-old. “I didn’t stop you from taking her, so you can’t make me leave.” She crossed her arms and smirked. She had a red welt on her shoulder and the yellowish remains of a black eye.
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave with us?” Jane asked.
“What for? So I can go home to my stepdad who hits me?” She clenched her jaw. “Levi loves me. He’ll take care of me.”
“Leave her for a minute.” Flora walked the other girl out.
Jane didn’t leave her. “You’re an adult. You don’t have to go back to your stepdad.” She stooped to see eye to eye with the girl.
“I don’t want to leave Levi. I love him.”
“But what about Eric, didn’t you love him, too?”
“Who’s Eric?” The girl narrowed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Jane leaned back. “You’re not Cherry?”
“Ahh. Cherry’s old boyfriend. No, I am not Cherry. I’m Shannon White and no one cares that I’m missing. I knew they wouldn’t. Everyday Levi goes and reads the paper in town and he told me. No one’s looking for me, and you just proved it.” The tip of her nose turned red. She was holding it together but just barely.
“Shannon from Astoria?” Jane asked. “You’re all over the news. Everyone’s worried sick. I’m sorry I messed up.” Jane prayed she had guessed right. She had been so focused on the Warrenton kids she had forgotten to get the names and pictures of the other missing girls.
“Yes. Shannon from Astoria.”
“Why don’t you come out with me now? Levi is out there. He can explain it all. Explain that he loves you and that he will take care of you.”
“He does. Me and Lauren both. He loves us and vowed to protect us.” She stared square in Jane’s face.
“Then let’s get outside where he is and work it out.”
“Yeah. Why not.” Shannon stood and brushed her knees off. She pushed her way out in front of Jane.
Jane stood in the door for a moment. Flora led two other girls to where Dave stood in back of Josh a few paces.
Shannon ran to Levi. No one stopped her.
As much as Jane had promised she had been missed and that people were looking for her, no one in the rescue squad was there for her in particular.
Jane followed Flora to the next cabin, her heart sick. Who else was hiding, wishing and dreaming they could be important and cared for?
Flora knocked lightly and opened the door. Two dishwater blondes were packing up backpacks. One turned. “Thank God!” she said. “I never thought we’d get out of here. Come on, Skye, let’s go.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” The two girls rushed out of the cabin without so much as a thanks for their rescuer.
Jane hurried to the last cabin, but it was empty.
Rosie and Emma, Cherry and Skye, Shannon and her friend, and the two girls Flora had just walked to Dave. Was that everyone?
Out in the clearing, two other girls slunk in from the woods, one with a bucket full of berries, the other carrying an armload of firewood.
“What’s going on?” The girl with the berries stared at Josh.
“It’s going to be okay,” Josh said. “We’re here to take you girls home.”
She set the bucket down silently, but her friend dropped the firewood with a happy cry.
Shannon clung to Levi’s arm. “I don’t have to go, do I? I’m eighteen. I can stay with you forever.”
He put his arm over her shoulder and kissed her forehead.
“Why don’t you girls all go back with Ken and Jeff. Can you do that? Take them back to the van. Plenty of seats for everyone. Give ’em some water. There’s a first aid kit in there. See that they’re all okay, yes?”
“Absolutely.” Ken rounded the young women up—except Shannon—and led them back to the van.
“You boys, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Got any place to sit around here?” Dave smiled, approaching the young men. “One of your friends from back home is dead, and we’re hoping you can help us find out who killed him.”
One of the boys, baby faced but still big and broad, backed away from the others. He looked side to side with wide, scared eyes.
“Easy,” Dave said. “We just need to talk.”
“They’ve got nothing to say to you.” Shannon’s voice was brassy.
“Hush.” Levi’s word was a command. “We’ve got rights, and we know it.”
“You’ve been trespassing for quite some time on land belonging to the Methodist church. I checked it out this morning, just to be sure. So we can take you all down to the station now, or you can have a friendly chat.” Dave chuckled, at complete ease. “But you don’t have the right to resist arrest.”
“Don’t talk!” Shannon shouted. “Don’t say anything. They can’t stop us. We’ve got squatters rights. We can stay here and be a family and they can’t stop us at all.”
Levi jerked his arm off Shannon and pushed her to the ground. “I said hush. What’s wrong with you? Keep sweet, you hear?” His voice cracked—too young despite being twenty-one—to hold as much anger as it did.
“Josh? Do you mind?” Dave nodded at his young partner.
Gun at ready, Josh stepped forward. “That’s assault and battery, buddy. And now you are under arrest. Put your hands up.” He began to repeat the Miranda rights as he opened a pair of handcuffs.
“You can’t arrest the prophet!” Miller’s scream was of full panic. “He has a vision! He’s God’s chosen!” He ran at Josh, tripping as he grabbed something out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. He rolled with it and got back on his feet, a small, sharp knife in hand. “He’s got religious freedom and you can’t arrest him.”
“Hold it, son,” Dave said. “I can arrest him, and I can arrest you too, so why don’t you take it down a notch. Put away your Boy Scout toys and go stand with your dad.” Dave scanned the tree line around the cabins. “Gerald, why don’t you come here and control your kid before he makes a real big mi
stake.”
Miller’s father held out a shaking hand. “Come on, kiddo. Stop playing.”
“I’m not playing!”
Shannon crawled away from Levi. She got up between Dave and Miller. “Don’t be an idiot, kid.” She squared her shoulders. “You were never going to be a part of this.” She held her hands out for the cuffs. “But if you are going to arrest somebody, make it me. Let me be the martyr to the cause. Not Levi. He has good work to do.”
“They were going to let me come! You were, weren’t you? I know you were! You just wanted me to bring in money. You needed me to work a little longer. I totally understood.”
Shannon laughed bitterly.
Miller lunged at her with an animal grunt and plunged the knife into her shoulder. “You girls are all the same.” He beat her back with his fist as he screamed. “All of you. You’re nothing but stupid whores who don’t know anything. You need a real man to teach you something. Levi could have done it. But you don’t even deserve it. None of you do.” Tears of anger streamed down Miller’s face.
Josh hooked Miller around the neck with one arm, pinning his flailing fists behind him. “That’s enough. You’re under arrest for assault. You have the right to remain silent.”
Shannon stood her ground, her face red, her shoulders shaking, but her arms held out to Dave, asking to be arrested. Asking to take the fall for the man who had pushed her to the ground.
Jane couldn’t take it anymore. “Shannon.” She walked slowly, each step a prayer. “You don’t need them. Let me help you. With your shoulder. With a home. With anything.”
Jane locked eyes with the girl. She held her hand out, a hairsbreadth away from Shannon’s own extended arms. “Don’t throw yourself away for this.” Jane nodded towards the four young men backed against the concrete building. All of them too scared to make a move for Shannon or to stop her from taking their blame.
The Plain Jane Mystery Box Set 2 Page 51