The Darkness Within (7 page)

Adrianna shook her head no. Her expression was thoughtful.

“What if he’s hiding that girl down there?” I asked her, titling my head to the side slightly.

Adrianna gasped as she realized I had a valid point. “What are you going to search?”

I opened the link and went to the search bar, typing in the first name Gwen, the correct sex, and the state Ohio. I hit search and we waited as the page loaded the results. There were none found.

“Try Gwendolyn. Gwen’s a nickname for Gwendolyn, right? So maybe he shortened it.”

My fingers flew over the keyboard as I typed out the name.

No results found.

I groaned, slapping my desk. Either we still didn’t have enough information, or I was being paranoid and my kidnapper idea was too far fetched.

“Wait,” Adrianna said, gaining my attention. She leaned over me, taking the mouse in her hand. She clicked on the first name in the search engine and leaned around me to type the name in again. “You spelled it wrong,” she said after clicking search again.

The page seemed to take a year to load. When it finally finished, there still were no results on the page.

“Maybe try taking off the state?” Adrianna suggested. “Gwendolyn is a pretty unique name.”

I followed her advice, removing the state and hitting search. Finally, there were results—two of them to be exact. One was from forty years ago, while the other was more recent.

Gwendolyn Hatcher

In the picture of her she had short, brown hair that curled at her chin, a straight, pointed nose, and full, pouty lips. Something about her face looked familiar. “Hand me my phone, Ade?”

Adrianna grabbed my phone and handed it to me, staring over my shoulder as I opened up the pictures, scrolling through to see if one of the faces matched. Finally, I got to girl number five. One of her eyes was black and her bottom lip was busted, but her nose was unmistakable. “That’s her,” I mumbled.

Adrianna shook her head slowly as she peered down at the phone’s screen. “I can’t believe this.”

According to the information below her picture, she’d been missing from Beulah, Michigan for six months. I shivered at the thought of what David could have done to her. Then something hit me.
Why would David say he and his ‘daughter’ were from Ohio?
I hurriedly began to filter the search. After a few clicks, I brought up all of the missing children results in Ohio from the past year. Five pages of results loaded.

“What are you looking for?” Adrianna asked.

I bit my lip as I scrolled through picture after picture of missing child. “Something isn’t adding up,” I answered, going to the next page. I tried to stifle the depressed feeling that swept over me as I looked through all of the names and pictures. Finally, at the top of page three, I found what I was looking for. I didn’t know for sure that I would find something in the search of Ohio’s missing children, but I did. Staring back at me from the top of the screen was Holly Martin from Addyston, Ohio. Missing for two months. The girl had long blonde hair and wide, unforgettable green eyes, and I knew exactly who she was. I’d seen her struggling to get away from David, and instead of calling the police right away, I had allowed him to convince me she was his daughter and they’d only had an argument. I shook my head as I stared at the screen. Holly Martin, also known as girl number six from David’s picture collection.

“He switched their information.”

Too Close To Home

After Adrianna went home, I continued to search to find out as much as I could about both Holly and Gwendolyn. I had even tried to find the other girls in the photos. It was hard when I knew absolutely nothing about the rest of them, but eventually I found what I was looking for.

My heart ached at the thought of what David could have done to those girls. Gwendolyn was 15 when she went missing, the same age as me. She was the top of her class academically and, according to the articles I read, had a bright future ahead of her. I didn’t know where she was or if she was still alive from the gruesome photo I had seen of her, but I hoped that wherever she was she wasn’t in any pain. Gwendolyn had been snatched after a band concert one night. Her friend, Michelle, had given her a ride home, dropping her off at the end of her long driveway. She never even made it to the front door.

Holly was a different story, but equally as tragic. Her parents had left the house for date night, leaving Holly to babysit her ten-year-old sister, Macy. When her parents arrived home later that night, they noticed their front door had been forced open and Holly was missing without a trace. Macy was found, still sleeping and undisturbed, in her bed. When they woke her up to ask about Holly, she claimed to haven’t had heard anything throughout the night. They went on to describe Holly as a ‘troubled’ teen who often misbehaved. Her parents hoped her disappearance was just her leaving home to see her boyfriend—as had happened before—rather than a missing child’s case. After 24 hours, her worry-stricken parents called in the disappearance. There was a website created in her name where people could donate money, to give as a reward for her safe return, and report possible sightings. I filled out the information, stating my state and town. I hoped someone would see it and check into the situation.

Each of the news articles on the girls had taken me to information about a person who the media was referring to as The Collector. The name didn’t sound particularly horrifying, but the fact that I had referred to David’s photos as a collection did make my palms sweat. The reports all stated that The Collector was always on the move, only staying in one place for about four months at a time before another body showed up. Gwendolyn’s body was found in Ohio four months after she went missing and just a few days after Holly’s disappearance. Holly had only been missing for two months, so according to the pattern, it was likely she was still alive.

The part that made me one hundred percent sure that David was The Collector, is how he got his name. The first girl, Hadley O’Connor, was taken from her hometown in Kansas and her body was found in Iowa, in the home of Rachel Parks, also known as girl number two. Rachel’s body was found in Illinois in an abandoned house not far from where Dakota Williams, girl number three, lived with her grandmother. Dakota’s body turned up four months later in Indiana, sprawled across the bedroom of Tracy Davis. Tracy was found only three hundred miles from the home she grew up in, in a house not far from where Gwendolyn Hatcher was abducted from her driveway. The part that hit home was the numbering system. Each of the five girls was found with a number carved into their foreheads, like a label or branding. The police thought that the killer was collecting the girls, stripping them of their identity by labeling them according to what number they were, and then tossing them aside when he was tired of them or found a new girl to collect. Each girl picture matched up to one of the photos on my phone. How I knew, without a doubt, that David was the one behind all of this was because no pictures of the girls where released other than ones from before they were taken. Therefore, the photos I found in David’s dresser had to have been taken by him.
Why else would he have them?
They were trophies. I just didn’t have a way to tell anyone. The police couldn’t and wouldn’t search his house without motive, and that’s the only way to get the information needed to put him behind bars, where he belonged. I needed to get inside his house again, and this time I needed to get hard evidence I could turn in to the police.

“Claire!” Mom called up to me. My heart practically leapt out of my chest in fright. I hadn’t noticed how on edge I was until then.

“Yes, Mom?” I called back, waiting for her response.

“Can you come down here, please?”

“Here I come!” I pushed my chair away from my desk and stood up. In two clicks, my computer was locked so no prying eyes could see what I’d been doing. I slipped on my house shoes, heading out into the hall and down the stairs. Halfway down the stairs, my gaze caught David’s. He was standing in our foyer, dressed to the nines in a suit and tie. He didn’t even bother smiling at me as I descended the stairs, joining him in the foyer. After what I knew about him, I couldn’t even stand being in the same room as him.

I shifted uncomfortably under his heavy gaze. For the first time, I felt underdressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.
What the hell is he doing here?
I glanced down at my feet, unable to hold his gaze any longer. It was almost as if he could read my mind from the way he was staring me down. Like he knew I was onto him, or worse, that I had snuck into his house and called the police on him.

The sound of heels clicking on the hardwood floor caused me to look up as my mom walked into the room from the kitchen. She was wearing a stunning red dress, which stopped mid-thigh and hugged her figure in all of the right places. Her hair was straightened and freshly dyed, making her light brown eyes stand out in contrast to the red. She looked absolutely flawless. Despite the nauseous feeling that settled in the pit of my stomach, I couldn’t help smiling at her.

“Hey, honey,” she said with a smile, stopping in front of me to kiss my cheek. She kissed it lightly to avoid ruining her lipstick. “David asked me out to dinner. We’re going to that new French bistro in town. I hope you don’t mind. It was a last minute thing,” she whispered.

“It’s fine,” I answered quickly, biting my tongue. I didn’t want her anywhere near David, but I was comforted by the fact that they were going to a public place. Also, considering the age group of the girls in the photo, I didn’t think he would go after her. I felt horrible for letting my mom go out with him, but this outing gave me the perfect chance to get back inside his house and look around more. I wanted to nail him to the wall.

Mom grinned, looking over the moon with excitement. It hurt me to know that her happiness was temporary. “Thank you, Claire-bear,” she whispered. Then she stood up straight and smoothed out her dress. “I left dinner on the stove for you.”

“Thanks, Mom. You look beautiful by the way,” I complimented her.

She blushed, her cheeks turning almost as red as her hair. “Thank you.” She turned and walked over to join David who smiled and helped her slip on her black shawl.

“All ready?” he asked.

Mom nodded. She tried hard not to look too giddy as he took her arm.

David opened the door and began to escort her out, but Mom leaned her head back in and said, “We won’t be long.”

I nodded, resisting the urge to cringe as I waved her off. When the door closed, I ran toward the window, watching as they got into David’s sedan in our driveway and backed out, heading off down the street. I watched until I could no longer see the taillights before I sprang into action.

Show time.

Empty Handed

If I thought I was scared to go inside of David’s house the last time, this time I was horrified. My fear wasn’t going to stop me from searching for evidence to show the police though. My plan was to get inside, grab the pictures, and go to the police as soon as possible. I also wanted to try to get into the basement to see if Holly was trapped down there. Hopefully getting the pictures would be enough to tie David to The Collector and the cops could get a search warrant and find Holly. I didn’t think they would accept the pictures on my phone as evidence because they could be from anywhere. They weren’t even clear because I had been in such a hurry to take them and get out. This time, I was a woman on a mission. I moved quickly and quietly, getting through the back door easily and making my way to David’s room.

His room looked different than before. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it as I made my way across the room to his bedside table. I set my phone down on the table before taking a deep breath in preparation for opening the drawer. My entire body was shaking as I pulled the drawer out, fumbled with the box, and then pulled out the first magazine. I was going to take the pictures and hope he didn’t notice they were gone right away. Hopefully, leaving the magazine behind would buy me some time to show the police. I knew, from the criminal television shows I watched, that if I took all of the pictures they would be rendered useless in court, but I hoped that they would be enough to get a search warrant on his house. I was sure they would find something else to tie him to the missing girls.

Lying the magazine on the bed, I opened it to the first page, expecting to see the picture of girl number one, Hadley, but instead all I saw was a curvy brunette sitting on a motorcycle. I frowned as I flipped to the next page, once again finding nothing. This was all wrong.
Where are they?
I continued searching through the rest of the magazines before checking every other magazine in the box. At the end of my search I was left empty handed.

My head swam as I placed the magazines back inside of the box and then back in the drawer. I made sure everything was back to normal again before I entered his bathroom. I went through the medicine cabinet, making sure not to disturb anything, and then the drawers below the sink. Nothing out of the ordinary was present. With a groan, I turned the light off and made my way out into the hallway. The next bedroom was completely empty, just filled with the unpacked boxes that David had gotten us to help bring in. I went inside, looking at each label. Some boxes were “Gwen’s” while others belonged to David or were house items. I wondered why he didn’t even bother unpacking anything.
Probably because he knew he would be on the run again in just a few months.

I squatted down next to a box labeled
Gwen’s Summer Clothes
and lifted the tape. The sound of the tape pulling away from the cardboard was loud to my ears in the otherwise silent house. When the tape was off, I opened the box, revealing nothing but stacked blankets. I stared at the blankets in confusion for a moment before moving on to the next boxes. I opened them all, finding that some were filled with Styrofoam blocks, while others had large rocks inside. Some were filled with random items like blankets and miscellaneous clothing, while others were just empty. I wondered if David had unpacked these from the truck to put up the front that he was actually moving in. It would make sense considering he probably didn’t have that much stuff since he moved around so often. That’s why his home was so empty. Everything inside of these boxes was stuff to help build his image as a new neighbor and then could be left behind at a moment’s notice. It was kind of genius. I shivered at the thought, taping up each box to the best of my ability.

Then I moved on to the next room, still in search of anything that could be used to condemn David to a jail cell. As I walked back down the hallway, my heart raced. The darkness within the house seemed heavier than before as I made my way to the hall bathroom. I pushed the door open slowly, producing a loud creaking noise that made the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end. My mind played tricks on me, creating figures in the shadows and sounds that weren’t really there. Suddenly I froze as I saw a figure in the corner of the room.

The figure was standing against the wall, unmoving. I knew that if it were actually a person they would have already seen me by now. Despite the rationalization, I remained still for a moment longer just to be sure. When the shadowy figure remained immobile, I reached my hand out to the side, brushing my fingers against the wall in an attempt at finding the light switch. When my finger finally touched the switch, I flipped the light on quickly, happy to see that the figure from the shadows was just a robe hanging from a hook on the wall. I balanced myself on the sink, taking slow, deep breaths to calm my rapidly beating heart. When I opened my eyes, I continued my search. This bathroom was the same as the en-suite in David’s room had been, except worse. There was hardly anything in the cabinets or drawers. When I finally mustered up the courage to open the closet door in the bathroom, there was nothing inside except a few towels and washcloths. The other bathroom only had a sink and toilet, while this one had a large tub and showerhead.

After once again finding nothing, I began to feel discouraged. Time was running out and I still hadn’t found anything to use as evidence against him. I flipped the light off and walked out into the living room. The only other place I could think of that David might hide something in was the basement. I made my way to the door, trying it only to see that it was once again locked. I wasn’t surprised considering how secretive he was about what was down there.

I jiggled the knob, tugging and pulling to no avail. I pressed my ear to the door, listening for any sound. If Holly was down there, I needed to find a way to get her out. I was skeptical that she would be hidden down there after her attempt at escaping. David knew I’d seen her trying to get away. If he was as much of a mastermind as the media said he was, then he would have moved her somewhere more secluded. Holding my breath in an attempt at silencing my breathing, I listened for any little sound, but I heard nothing. So I waited, listening for a while longer before I dropped down to my knees and turned my mouth to face the crack between the door and the floor.

“Holly?” I said, my voice coming out in a whisper, cracking as I said her name. “Holly Martin?” I called out louder. I had to be sure she wasn’t down there before I left. I didn’t see myself finding any evidence, but if I heard her down there then I would try to break the doorknob and get her out. “Holly, if you’re down there make a noise. I’m here to help you.” My heart was in my throat as I waited, listening hard.

No sound came.

I let out a shaky breath before standing up again. The gloom in the house seemed like it was getting thicker every moment. I shook out my hands, shaking out my nerves. I just wanted to check the kitchen before I left. I walked to the kitchen table, gingerly lifting up the papers on top and squinting down at them. It was too hard to see what any of them were without light. I shoved my hand into my pocket to grab my phone to use the flashlight, but my hand came up empty. I checked the other pocket, but it wasn’t there either.

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway caused my head to snap to the left. Light flooded in through the windows framing the front door and the small windows in the kitchen and living room. I hurried toward the window in the kitchen, going to peek and check to see if it was David. If it was, then I had no choice but to get out quickly, but if it wasn’t then I was going to risk running to retrace my steps and find my phone.

I pulled back the curtain just a crack and peered out the window to see David’s gray sedan in the driveway. My blood ran cold when I looked at the windshield, seeing David staring right back at me.

I let go of the curtain quickly. Moving faster than I ever have before, I sprinted towards the back door. I was out of the house in a hurry, not even bothering to close the door behind me. He already saw me, so what was the point? I jumped the fence quickly, entering my house through the back door; the same way I had exited it. Once I was inside, I had to fight my urge to slam the door behind me. Instead, I closed it slowly and quietly, making sure to lock the deadbolt into place.

Bracing myself on the kitchen island, I kept myself from falling down.
What would happen now that he saw me? Would I be his next target? Would I be girl number seven of his collection?

My thoughts continued to run rampant, making me feel dizzy. What was worse was that I didn’t even have my phone anymore. Now my only evidence was in David’s possession. What the hell was I going to do now?