The Advocate's Conviction (33 page)

“Hmpff,” Mama T responded.

“I told you she’d be back,” Piccadilly said to Sabre. “She always comes back.”

“I’m glad she’s back.” Sabre turned to Mama T as they walked underneath the cover. “I need to find Cole. I know he’s been here or is still here.” Sabre pointed to Dean, who was still leaning against the mound. “That’s his father over there and he won’t tell me where Cole is. Cole needs to go back to his mother.” Sabre didn’t know if she was wasting her breath trying to explain, but she had to try.

“Boy.”

“Yes, the boy. Where is he?” Sabre said.

“Boy sick.”

“He’s sick? Cole is sick?”

Mama T reached in her basket and pulled out what looked like an old bottle of cough syrup. She handed it to Sabre. The side of the bottle was covered with dried syrup and dirt. She shook the bottle. It appeared to be empty. She supposed Mama T was trying to help but couldn’t. “It’s empty, Mama T. Where is Cole? We need to take him to the doctor if he’s sick.”

Mama T pushed her cart forward toward the mound where Dean was standing. “Boy,” she said to him.

Dean stood up and took a step toward Mama T. “No! He’s my son!”

Mama T pointed to the mound. Sabre looked at it but she couldn’t see where Cole could be. She kept pointing. “Boy.” Sabre climbed over some boxes and around an old dishwasher to the other side of the mound. Dean started to walk towards Sabre, but Mama T pulled back her cart and rushed forward, ramming it right into his gut. His bottle flew up in the air and Dean fell backward, rolling down the embankment and onto another pile of rubbish. Sabre looked down at Dean wondering if she should help, but he pulled himself up and staggered off.

She continued walking around the pile of trash that formed the mound until she spotted an opening in the side of it right where the ground started to slope downward. A shopping cart was lying on its side. Cardboard and clothes piled on top of the cart created a rain-free shelter in the form of a mound on the edge of the embankment. It looked like an igloo made of junk instead of ice. Old clothes placed inside the cart provided a bed for Cole. He lay there curled up inside the cart with an old sweatshirt spread over him for a blanket.

“Cole,” Sabre touched his arm. He didn’t move. “Cole,” she said louder. No response. She felt his face. It felt hot. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to dial 9-1-1, but there was no service under the bridge. She reached in to pull Cole out, but because of the slope and the loose trash she couldn’t establish the leverage she needed and her foot slipped. She planted her feet on some cardboard and reached into the cart to release him, but she slipped again. She shook Cole in an attempt to wake him. He still didn’t move. Sabre was scared. The sun was setting and the sky was cloudy, making it very difficult to see. She looked around for help. “Help me! Someone help me,” she yelled. Several people looked at her but no one came to help. Mama T had pushed her cart back to her customary place at the other end of the concrete wall. Sabre spotted Piccadilly and yelled to her. Piccadilly walked over to the mound and looked over it.

“Piccadilly, I need your help.” Piccadilly just stood there. Sabre tried again to pick up Cole, but she couldn’t do it from where she stood. “Piccadilly, please.” She motioned for her with her hand. “Come here and brace me. Cole needs our help.”

Piccadilly walked around the mound and took two steps down the slope so she was even with Sabre. “What do I do?” she asked.

“Just stand behind me and hold onto my waist so I don’t slip.”

Piccadilly took her place behind Sabre and placed her hands on Sabre’s waist. She didn’t seem very strong. Sabre prayed it would be enough.

“Please don’t let go,” Sabre said.

Sabre placed her left hand against the top of the cart and her right arm under Cole’s frail torso. She pulled with her right arm as she pushed with her left. Her right foot started to slip. Sabre could feel the pressure lighten. “Hold me steady, Piccadilly.” Sabre felt another set of hands on her lower back. She glanced back to see a man she hadn’t seen before. He was a lot stronger than Piccadilly and he was bracing her. Sabre pulled Cole’s body out of the cart and held him in her arms. The man helped them up the embankment without saying a word.

“Thank you,” Sabre said when she reached the top.

Picadilly smiled. The man walked away.

Cole lay there listless like dead weight against her body. Sabre walked quickly toward the opening, but Cole was too heavy. She’d never make it all the way across the field. She spotted Mama T’s cart, but Sabre was afraid of what she might do if she tried to take it.

“Mama T, I need your cart.”

Mama T shook her head, partly sideways and partly up and down. Sabre couldn’t tell if it was an affirmative or negative nod. “Boy. Sick.”

Sabre took a chance. She raised Cole up in a motion as if to lay him on the top of the clothes stacked in her cart. Sabre spoke slowly and deliberately in an attempt to make Mama T understand. “Can I please use your cart to take Cole to my car?”

Mama T didn’t say anything. “Piccadilly will bring it back to you.” Still nothing.

Sabre laid him down on top of the junk in the cart and pushed the cart forward. She felt a raindrop hit her face. “Come with me, Piccadilly.” Sabre moved as fast as she could across the field with Piccadilly alongside her. The sun had just set and it was sprinkling. Sabre tried to stay on the path, but it was bumpy. She hit a rock, slick from the rain, and the cart started to tip. She leaned to balance the falling cart, but over compensated. Piccadilly grabbed the cart as Sabre let go and grabbed Cole, the three of them falling in a tangled pile.

Sabre moved Cole off of her and stood up. “Are you okay?” she asked. Piccadilly seemed to be fine. Sabre pulled the cart upright and picked up Cole. It wasn’t far to her car and although it was raining harder, she knew she could carry him the rest of the way. “Thanks, Piccadilly. Please take the cart back to Mama T.” Sabre walked as fast as she could with Cole and although the trees in the park provided some shelter, they were both pretty wet by the time they reached the car.

48

Sabre sat down in the lobby at the hospital and took a deep breath. Her head was spinning as she thought about who she needed to call. She didn’t have a cell number for the social worker, but Cole was under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court so the hospital would contact the Department of Social Services. Sabre called Bob.

“Hi, Sobs,” he said.

“I found Cole.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s alive but he’s pretty sick. Can you reach his mom?”

“She doesn’t have a phone and even if I could leave a message with a neighbor, I doubt if she could get a ride anywhere. Where is he now?”

“We’re at Scripps Mercy in Chula Vista. It was the closest hospital.”

“I’ll go pick her up and bring her there.”

“That would be so good.”

“How did you find him?”

“He was with his father, but I’ll explain it all when you get here. Right now I have to make a couple of phone calls.”

Sabre checked her messages. JP had called three times and Bailey twice.

Sabre listened to JP’s messages. The first message said, “Hey, kid, call me when you get this.” The second one, “Hey, kid, I just left Rob Cavitt’s house. I didn’t really learn anything new.” The last one concerned her. “Sabre, I went to World of Hope. Dr. Ric Cavitt is one of the obstetricians on call there, and a very pregnant girl is missing. In light of what Bailey told you, I’m worried. I’m going to try and track the doctor. Call me.”

Then she checked her messages from Bailey. In both messages Bailey whispered into the phone. “They’re here at my house. The social worker is with them.” The second message said. “I’m sneaking out. Meet me by the canyon, the back side.”

Sabre checked the time of the messages. It had been nearly an hour already. She called Bailey’s cell. No answer. “Bailey, I just received your message. I’m going to the canyon right now. Call me.” Then Sabre called JP. It rang four times, but he didn’t pick up. “I found Cole. He’s at Chula Vista Hospital. Bob’s on his way there with Cole’s mother. I’ll explain when you call. Right now I’m going to the back opening to the canyon off Boyd to meet Bailey. Call me.”

Sabre pulled into the paved parking area near the canyon and turned her car around. She thought she saw something move in the bush between her and Boyd Street, but it was raining so hard she could hardly see. She left her lights on for a minute and her windshield wipers were operating at full speed. Two figures emerged from the bushes—Bailey and a tall man in his mid-fifties. Bailey was holding an umbrella over their heads. The man was holding a gun to hers.

“Open the door,” he yelled. Sabre unlocked the doors. The man yanked the rear door open on the driver’s side. He told Bailey to close the umbrella and then he pushed her inside the car. He held a .22 caliber handgun in his left hand directed at Bailey and reached his right arm out to Sabre, palm open. “Give me your cell phone.” Sabre dropped it in his hand. “Now drive,” he ordered. “Take the 163 south to the 8 east. I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

Sabre heard Bailey crying and asked if she was okay.

“She’s fine,” the man said, “but she better stop her blubbering or she won’t be.”

Sabre ignored the man. “Bailey, did he hurt you?”

“No,” she said.

“What do you want from us?” Sabre asked.

“I want the rest of the videos her little boyfriend filmed,” the man said.

“I told him there weren’t any more, but he doesn’t believe me.”

Sabre drove as slowly as she could, trying to formulate a plan. “Speed up,” the man said.

“I can’t see where I’m going. It’s pouring.” The roads were accumulating water. An eighteen wheeler sped past, throwing even more water on her car. For several seconds she was blinded by the waterfall that drenched her windshield. Sabre entered the 163 freeway going south and then exited on Interstate 8. She still had no plan.

49

No one was home at Dr. Ric’s house in Clairemont. JP had walked around the side of the house and even rung the doorbell, but no one answered. So, he drove to Lakeside to Rob Cavitt’s house instead. The long driveway was completely dark. He parked and knocked on the door, but no one appeared to be home here, either. He walked back to his car, retrieved his flashlight, and then went around the house and tried the back door and windows. All were locked. He found another door with a small glass window that led into the garage. He shined the flashlight in the window and peered in. The 1948 Plymouth sat in the far bay; the other two bays were empty.

JP couldn’t think of where else to look for Mena. He had ruled out her home and friends and feared she was with Dr. Ric somewhere giving birth for their latest sacrifice. Then he remembered Bailey’s other DVD. This was definitely an “emergency.” He called Sabre again, and when she didn’t answer he left another message. Then he drove toward Bailey’s house. It started to sprinkle. JP flipped the windshield wipers on. He had been hearing all week that there was a storm brewing, and now it had started.

JP dashed up to Bailey’s house to keep from becoming soaked and knocked on the door. He could hear loud music coming from inside. Karen Bailey came to the door holding a drink in her left hand.

“Well, hello, cowboy,” she said, stretching out the word “hello.” She grabbed him by the shirt with her free hand and tugged, “Come on in out of the rain.”

JP was caught slightly off balance but quickly steadied himself and stepped inside. “Are you Karen?”

“Yes. Are you my birthday present?”

“Not today,” he said. JP swiftly sized up the room. It was a mess, but the way things were piled against the wall it appeared some attempt had been made to tidy up the place. A woman was lying on the sofa, and although she hadn’t yet passed out, he guessed she would be soon. Several liquor bottles were scattered around the room. A half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels lay on the table with an ashtray full of butts. “So you’re celebrating your birthday?”

“I’m thirty today … over the hill … shit, I’m too young to be over the hill.”

Another woman walked out of what JP presumed was the bathroom, buttoning her jeans as she came towards them. She stopped and eyeballed JP from top to bottom. “Uh huh,” she said. She turned to Karen. “Who’s the hunk?”

“My birthday present.”

“Sorry,” JP said. “I’m looking for Bailey.”

“Why is everyone looking for Bailey tonight?” Karen said.

“Who else was here?”

“That bitch, the social worker.” Karen picked up a cigarette off the table and lit it.

“What did she want?” JP asked.

“I dunno. I just told her she wasn’t here and she was ruining my birthday.”

“Are you sure Bailey’s not in her room?”

“No. She’s not in her room.”

“Do you mind if I check for myself?”

“Knock yourself out. It’s just down the hall on your left.” She stuck her cigarette in her mouth and reached up and ran her fingers across JP’s cheek. “And when you’re done there, I’ll gladly meet you in my room.”