by Elle Gray
“Let’s roll out!”
Olivia took the wheel and drove the pair of them to the station. She was buzzing with excitement once again, feeling like they were inching closer to answers. She didn’t want to get her hopes up again just to be let down, but she had a good feeling that they were on the right track. She liked to believe that her theories weren’t too outlandish to work, and now that Brock had made further connections to support them, she felt so much less alone.
When they arrived at the station, they found Maggie nursing coffee in her office. She was looking a little worse for wear, Olivia thought. Perhaps she and Brock weren’t the only ones having sleepless nights over the missing girls.
“Mornin’,” she said to Olivia and Brock, her voice still bright. Olivia smiled at her.
“Hey, Maggie. How are you holding up?”
Maggie sighed. “I’m not having the best time with all this, to be honest. We’ve never been so busy here. Not just with the missing girls, but after Craig was arrested it’s just been one thing after another. But I can’t complain. How can I help you kids? I’m sure you didn’t come here just to chat about the weather.”
Olivia felt awful moving on from the subject, wishing they had more time to catch up, but she couldn’t afford to waste any more time. The kidnapper might not have struck in Alexandria, but if they continued to follow the same pattern, another child might go missing that night.
“Brock came up with some new ideas which might help the case, but we’re going to need your help,” Olivia told her. Maggie frowned, threading her fingers together.
“Okay. Well, I’ll do everything I can to help. What do you need?”
“We’re looking into an angle,” Brock started carefully. Olivia could tell that what they were about to say could be controversial. “We think that the kidnapper is going for young, blonde girls because they might have lost a child who looks similar. We think that they might be trying to target girls that look like the daughter they don’t have anymore.”
“Which means we’d like to investigate people in town who have had a family tragedy, possibly in recent years,” Olivia added. Maggie looked suitably shocked at the theory.
“You think someone in town is doing this?”
“My theory is that it has to be. I checked in with the Seattle field office and it’s been completely silent on their end. No matter which way you look at it, all three cases have centered around Belle Grove. Then there are the reports we had from Pine Woods of a figure spying on houses. It makes us think the kidnapper is local. Not to mention what happened at Susan Combes’ house.”
“You don’t think she was just being hysterical?”
“Entirely possible. I wouldn’t put it past her,” Brock said coolly. “But even if it’s unrelated, we still have enough evidence so far to point at the kidnapper being in Belle Grove or the surrounding area. It’s a terrible thing to have to investigate; we obviously don’t want to accuse people who’ve lost their children of such a terrible crime…”
“But you have to admit it makes some kind of sense,” Olivia added. “It gives someone a good reason to want to take children in the middle of the night. We don’t want to have to do this, but if it leads us to the kids, then it will be worth it.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “Alright. If you think it’ll help, I’ll try to think of who’s had tragedies in the family. Give me a little to come up with some ideas. Is there anything specific you’re looking for?”
“We’re likely looking for a Caucasian woman with blonde hair, or who had a daughter with blonde hair who has passed away. We also think that the child in question was around fourteen or fifteen when they died, possibly within the last five years,” Brock told her.
“For the kidnapper, we’re possibly looking for someone from a broken home, too,” Olivia said. “Or someone who has been through a divorce following the death of their child. We think they’re targeting families who have the idyllic family life that they missed out on.”
“Okay,” Maggie said with a nod. “Let me see what I can do. It’ll take me a lick o’ time to go through everyone in town, but I think I can cover it today. Is that okay?”
“That would be great. Thank you so much, Maggie. We’re sorry to add to your workload.”
“Beats office paperwork any day,” she waved them off with a warm smile. “The sooner we find these kids, the better. I’ll get started now.”
Brock and Olivia stood up behind her to follow her out, but she stopped them with a gentle hand.
“Now you two just hold on a minute. I am not about to have two federal agents tagging along behind me to ask these poor families about the circumstances of the deaths of their children.”
“But we…” Olivia protested, but Maggie held out out a firm hand.
“I like you, Olivia, and I know you’ll do great in this town. But that don’t mean you’re ready for the, uh… delicate nature of Belle Grove neighborhood chatter. Y’all make yourselves comfortable, grab some coffee in the break room. I’ll take care of this and get back to you.”
Olivia thanked Maggie again and they headed over to the break room. She found it hard to relax, pacing up and down while Brock steadily downed two more cups of coffee. Eventually, he sighed.
“Please sit down, you’re making me feel on edge.”
“Sorry,” Olivia said, sitting down beside Brock. “There’s just so much riding on this. We might finally have a lead... or we might just be left with nothing again.”
“I know, but there’s not a lot we can do about that right now. We’re just going to have to face the fact that this could go either way. It’s part of the job.”
Olivia nodded, rubbing her temple. “I know. I know.”
“You’re doing great, Olivia,” Brock said wearily, leaning his head back against the wall. “We just have to be patient. Believe me, I feel your frustration, but it’s out of our hands. Let’s just see what Maggie comes up with.”
Olivia did her best to distract herself. She found a copy of a fashion magazine tucked down the side of the sofa, but the issue was several months out of date and full of winter fashion, so it did little to distract her. She wished she’d brought a book with her. She always found it easiest to escape from reality inside a book. Brock flicked through the channels on the old TV in the break room, but found nothing but news channels and ended up switching it off again.
More than two hours passed before Maggie came to fetch them, looking even more exhausted than she had that morning. She didn’t look particularly excited either, and Olivia’s heart sank. She was almost certain that meant that Maggie hadn’t found anything.
“I’ve got a few things,” Maggie told them as they headed back to her office. “Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, though…”
Maggie sighed deeply as she lowered herself into her chair, sounding like a deflated balloon. Olivia’s foot tapped impatiently as she waited for Maggie to tell them what she’d found.
“Okay, here goes... I’ve found four results in town. First is the Okoro family. They lost a child three years ago, but the couple is still together, and they’re African-American, so they don’t fit the profile at all. Then there are the Millers. Amber Miller had a stillborn child five years ago and has now split from her husband, but of course, her child never made it to teenagehood. I also don’t know whether the child was blonde.”
Olivia nodded, knowing that neither of the families made sense within the case they were trying to build. She waited patiently for the next set of details. Maggie consulted her notes.
“Then there’s my good friend, Jennifer Sands. She had a daughter around twenty years ago, so that fits the profile, but she was severely depressed after the birth and ended up giving the child up for adoption to a gay couple up in Pine Woods.”
“That could be it,” Brock cut in. “Maybe she feels she missed out on the experience and is now making up for lost time by stealing children away.”
Maggie leveled him with
a look. “Not a bad theory for a city slicker, but… she’s still in contact with her daughter and they have a good relationship. She’s good friends with the adoptive parents and they have a sort of three-way parentship. I don’t think it’s likely that she fits your profile.”
Olivia took note that Maggie was biased either way since they were discussing her friend, but she had to admit, she didn’t think it was likely she was the kidnapper, even if they looked into her further. She clasped her hands together hopefully.
“What about the last one?” she asked, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. Maggie sighed.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but this might be another dead end. The only other family that I know to have lost a child is the Wainwright family. But they have three other children, and the mother lost her child during a complicated pregnancy. It’s not a fit for what you’re looking for, as far as I can tell. I even had Spencer look through local obituaries for the last few years, but I can’t think of anyone that fits your profile. Of course, I don’t know everything about everyone in this town. Plenty of people move here to escape a past they don’t want to talk about. I think you know exactly what I mean, Olivia. This is meant to be a safe haven for people, and plenty of them likely have secrets they’d prefer to stay buried. But as far as the information I have, I can’t help you.”
Olivia nodded in understanding. She knew that there was only so much that Maggie could tell them, but it didn’t mean that they were looking in the wrong place. The problem was, they had no way of finding out if anyone else in town had lost a child without asking, and it wasn’t the kind of information anyone would disclose to a stranger. As frustrating as it was, they’d hit another wall.
“Thank you for your help, Maggie,” Brock said with a small smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “You’ve been very helpful.”
“Glad to have helped somehow. Sorry this didn’t pan out, but we’ll keep at it. I still have hope we can find them.”
“Me too,” Olivia replied with a long sigh. “Maybe soon we’ll strike gold. We’ll be in touch soon.”
Olivia and Brock left the police station with the weight of the world on their shoulders. Olivia could feel her hope trickling away from her once again as she fished out her car keys. But then she felt a finger under her chin, tilting it up to meet Brock’s eyes. He smiled at her.
“Head high,” he murmured, the touch of his finger on her skin making her want to shudder in unexpected delight.
And just with one single touch, some of her hope returned.
Twenty-Three
It was later that day, when Brock and Olivia were searching for new theories in the case file, that Olivia heard a knock on her front door. She frowned.
“I don’t ever get visitors here…”
She stood up from the sofa and headed to the front door. When she opened it, she was horrified to find that both the Edwards and Roberts families were standing in the doorway. Alice Edwards stood at the front of the posse, her arms folded, her lips pursed, and her eyes full of anger.
“May we come in?” she asked before promptly pushing past Olivia and heading straight into the living area without an answer. Elijah looked apologetic as he followed his wife inside, leaving Andrea and Richard Roberts standing awkwardly on the porch.
“We’re sorry to come to your home like this,” Andrea started, her eyes sorrowful. “But we just wanted to talk to you. We’re so worried about our baby girl. We want to know when we’re going to get answers.”
“I understand, Andrea, but this is my home. I have to be off duty at some point, and this is my space. None of you should be here. How did you even get this address?”
“Everyone knows you’re the FBI agent living in the woods,” Alice snapped, appearing again from the living room. “Or hiding in the woods, I should say. What on Earth have you been doing this whole time while our daughters have been missing? Canoodling with your FBI boyfriend? Is that it?”
Olivia’s face turned bright red. She couldn’t decide if she was angrier with the accusation or embarrassed that they thought she and Brock were hooking up instead of working. She decided on anger.
“I have been working very hard trying to find your children,” Olivia replied through gritted teeth. She didn’t often let anger get the better of her, but when she did, she found it almost impossible to hold it back. The last thing she wanted was to fight with the families of the missing kids, but she knew that she had to stand her ground and fight her own corner for once. “You have no idea how much effort we’re putting into this search. We barely eat and sleep. We are living this case twenty-four seven.”
“If that’s the case, then why haven’t you found anything yet?” Alice snarled. Olivia had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from shouting back at her. She turned to face Andrea and Richard, glad that they at least seemed calm.
“Please come through to the living room. Let’s talk about this calmly.”
As she shut the door behind Hayleigh’s parents, she took several calming breaths. It was the only way she was going to get through the next few minutes without screaming. It was so typical of Alice to put all of the blame on someone else. In the short time Olivia had known her, it had become clear to her that Alice was a hothead, but going to her house to accuse her of giving up on Sophia was a step too far. There was no way that Olivia was going to lie down and take that kind of abuse from a woman whose child was clearly out of her control.
It was those kinds of thoughts that made Olivia realize that she was going to have to tread carefully. She didn’t really think that Alice was a bad mother, just a normal one struggling with a troubled child. She didn’t want to argue with her. She just wanted to be honest about the mess they had all been dragged into.
As she reentered the living room, she found that Andrea and Richard were perched together on the chair, while Alice stood in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips. Elijah stood just behind her, looking embarrassed. Olivia took her seat beside Brock again, but realized it was a mistake as soon as she did. She could see Alice’s accusing eyes boring into her, making her feel guilty just for being within inches of Brock. Plus, with Alice standing over her, she felt like a child in school about to get a lecture from a teacher about talking in class.
“Now, I want straight answers out of you both. What the hell are you playing at?” Alice snapped at them. “It’s been weeks now since my Sophia went missing. How hard can it be to find her?”
“First of all, Mrs. Edwards, have some respect,” Brock growled. “You’re the one who just came barging into someone else’s home, pretending to know more about this whole thing than two trained professionals. Secondly, let me tell you, it’s not easy to find a missing child in any circumstances, but this case is particularly challenging. We have little to no evidence to work with—”
“You keep saying that over and over, but you’re just making excuses!” Alice cried. “There must be something!”
“You have no idea how many times we’ve come to a dead end here, Alice,” Olivia said as calmly as she could. “It’s as frustrating for us as it is for you. We want nothing more than to see your children make it home safely, I promise you that. I understand you’re having a hard time processing this, but it’s not our fault. We’re doing our best.”
“Your best is nowhere near good enough,” Alice snapped. “There are young lives at stake here!”
“We are fully aware of how serious this is,” Brock replied through gritted teeth. “Which is why we’re doing everything we can. You might not think we’re capable of this, but I can guarantee that we’re doing more than a lot of agents ever would. Olivia here has been working day and night to get to the bottom of this. You don’t see how much work she’s been putting in every single day. You just think you know best, don’t you, Alice?”
“I think we should go…” Elijah started timidly, but Alice waved him off as though his thoughts didn’t matter at all.
“
I think you should too,” Brock said, standing up and walking up to Alice. He was much taller than she was, but somehow, her presence in the room made her double in height.
“I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers. We all deserve them,” Alice said, pointing at Andrea and Richard. “If you’re so hard-working, then you won’t mind showing us evidence of what you’ve been doing, will you? Because from what I hear, the two of you are too busy giggling away at the diner to possibly be getting any work done.”
Olivia felt her jaw clench. She was suddenly fully aware of how small the town was. Who had possibly been spying on them for Alice? The target that Olivia always felt on her back seemed to be getting larger by the second.
“I’m sorry, Alice, I didn’t realize that dinner breaks weren’t allowed in our line of work. What do you want us to do? Starve ourselves until we find your child? And what have you done, by the way? Sat at home and waited for her to come back? Why haven’t you been out searching, putting up posters, trying to help us out instead of making us feel bad for our best efforts?”
Alice opened her mouth to respond, but for once, she seemed to have nothing to say. She gaped like a goldfish, knowing she’d shown herself up. She looked like she might be close to tears and though she’d earned her telling off, Olivia wondered if Brock had taken things just a little too far.
Brock folded his arms over his chest. Olivia had seen him angry a few times and she expected to see irritation creasing his face, but to her surprise, there was something else in his expression. He looked like he pitied her. He waited a moment before sighing and stepping a little closer to Alice.
“Alice, why don’t you sit down with your husband, and we will tell you what we know as quickly as we can. Then we can get back to actually investigating the case. You’re right, we should have kept you more in the loop. We got caught up in our work and we’ve been neglecting to check in with you all. That’s on us. But I hope that once I show you what we’ve been doing that you’ll understand how difficult this whole thing has been for us. We’re trying so hard to bring your girls home. I hope you’ll see that once we’re done here.”