Wanting (14 page)

“
If Ashleigh’s back in the
city, chances are good she’s down in the state streets.” Paige
scanned the block heading north. Sebastian automatically checked
south and west.

“
But would she know where
to find food or shelter here?” Carrie’s eyes were trained on the
east direction of the four way stop.

“
She’s a smart kid, and
obviously resourceful. She’s lived in St. Louis her whole life; I’m
sure she’s heard or seen things on these areas.” Sebastian wrapped
his hand around Carrie’s arm unthinkingly. He pulled her a bit
closer, guiding her to walk beside him. He caught the considering
look Paige sent his way.

“
Question is...what scared
her into running away in the first place? And why did she return
the way she did?” Paige asked.

“
We’ve not been able to
figure that out.” And it didn’t sit well for Sebastian. One of the
best ways to find a missing person was knowing their motivations
for running. And they knew nothing of Ashleigh’s, other than that
she was afraid of something or someone.

“
Something happened. And it
was terrifying enough to send this white bread kid into hell.”
Paige kicked a box of trash and other refuse aside as they made
their way toward a trio of working girls.

“
Hey Sugarcane, girls.
How’s business?” Paige’s tone changed, her words growing clipped,
harder, less refined.

“
Well, if it isn’t wonder
boy herself. Who’s the cat you brung with you? I’d give him a
sample—on the house.” The oldest woman eyed Sebastian like a piece
of candy. Her clothes were brief and tight, her makeup thick and
hair teased. All the paint in the Western Hemisphere couldn’t
disguise the age or wear.

“
This is my boss man.
Where’s yours runnin’ this evening?” Paige shifted slightly in
front of Sebastian, her thin body blocking Carrie’s and essentially
trapping Carrie between Paige’s body and his. Protective, without
thinking about it.

“
Timmy don’t tell us his
i-ten-ary, you know that.” The hooker looked around, as if
expecting the pimp to jump from behind the dumpster. It was
something Sebastian had seen hundreds of times in his career. Women
used as punching bags and money makers for some lowlife pimp who
wouldn’t get a real job.

“
Whatever.” Paige shrugged,
a forced relaxed move. “We need some help.”

“
Improving your sex life?
No hope for that, wonder boy. Now, if stud here wanted to practice
with me instead of eye-fucking the redhead here, I be more than
happy to a-comm-o-date.” Sugarcane smirked at Sebastian and he
fought the urge to snap back.

***

Had it embarrassed
Sebastian, the way the prostitute was behaving? It half-embarrassed
Carrie, even though she’d certainly been around people who said
shocking things before. When on the streets and on the
CCU.

Sebastian looked at her,
and Carrie looked back. Flame hit her cheeks, but she hoped he
wouldn’t notice in the dim streetlights.

“
We’re looking for a kid,
she may have been seen around here recently.” Sebastian pulled
Ashleigh’s photograph from his back pocket. He handed it to the
prostitute. She glanced at it for a moment.

“
That kid’s not the kind
you find down here, sugar. Check the goodie goods’ runaway shelter
that Wonder Boy here hangs around.”

“
We’re on our way there,
now,” Carrie said.

***

Sebastian studied the
four-story building that Paige led them to. Only a discreet sign on
the front window proclaimed it for what it was. Paige opened the
door like she’d been there a thousand times before. Carrie, too,
seemed extremely comfortable.

“
I called here the night
after Sebastian left my apartment. They hadn’t had anyone matching
Ashleigh’s description come through. Calista said she’d call me if
that changed.” Carrie told them as she followed him inside the
building. It was late, well past curfew, and most of the shelter
residents were in their beds. Sebastian checked out the floor
directory posted just inside the small office the two women led him
to.

A young woman sat manning a
computer screen. Security video feeds covered one wall. “Hey P.J.,
Care. What are you doing out here this late?”

“
Hi, Calista. We are in
need of some assistance.” Paige hopped up on the counter. “We get
any new arrivals in the last twenty-four hours?”

“
Four. Three boys, one
girl. Ages fourteen through sixteen.”

“
Traveling together?”
Carrie asked. Sebastian studied her for a moment. She obviously
spent quite a bit of time in this place. She leaned against the
counter, next to Paige. “We are looking for a girl, fourteen.
Blonde hair, now short, and blue eyes. Very pretty, probably
disguised as a boy. Very timid, very scared.”

“
We have one that almost
fits that description. Lee. He’s—she’s—the youngest and smallest of
the four to come in tonight. I’ve got him/her in the blue room with
the younger crew.”

Sebastian straightened.
Lee. What were the chances?

Chapter 30

*****

She heard them talking
about her. How could she not? She wasn’t asleep, hadn’t slept in
two weeks. And when the door had opened, and people had entered the
small office fifty feet from the four bed dorm she shared with
those three boys who couldn’t have been even as old as her, she’d
slipped from the bed and listened at the door.

She’d stayed away from the
other kids as much as she could, not wanting them to find out she
wasn’t a boy, too. If it hadn’t been raining when she’d gotten off
the bus she wouldn’t be here now. And if she hadn’t been so
hungry...

Ashleigh grabbed her small
bag of belongings and slipped her shoes on. The light was off in
the room, maybe the security camera she’d easily discovered in the
far corner wouldn’t pick up her movements.

She couldn’t stay here, not
any longer. If her mom’s friend found her and made her go home,
she’d be dead within the week. He’d told her so.

He would kill her if he
ever saw her again.

“
Go out the back steps,
kid.” One of the other kids was awake, and watching every move she
made. He was close to her age or so, but his eyes were dead. Just
like so many she’d met in the last two weeks. How long would it
take her to get that same look? If she lived long enough. “Back
alley. There’s a hole in the wire fence, about thirty feet from the
door. Few guys a month or two back created an escape route for
those who need it.”

“
Thank you.”

“
No problem, white bread.
I’ll stall the cops when they come looking. You probably got five
minutes to book it.”

Chapter 31

*****

Carrie took a look at the
security footage Calista showed her, on the computer Carrie had
built specifically for the shelter’s purposes. “Sebastian, it’s
her.”

She looked at him and saw
the slight hope in his green eyes. But Carrie wouldn’t share that
hope until they had their hands on Ashleigh and could ensure she
wouldn’t disappear onto the streets again.

“
Cal, did you start the
intake forms on this group?” Paige asked. It was standard procedure
that every youth that entered the shelter to fill out a basic first
name, age, and medical needs form. Only when they’d developed trust
with the staff were they asked for more detailed information. And
even then they didn’t have to divulge what they didn’t want
to.

“
Yes. Though it was late
when most of them came in. And I’m not used to getting four within
twenty minutes of each other, either.” Carrie understood. She’d
manned the desk on several occasions. Usually they’d get one
runaway show up every few days in need of help. Most wouldn’t stay
more than a night or two. That was the nature of this particular
outreach program. The drop-in center was a cross between emergency
services for teens and an outreach center. Many times, she and
Paige, as well as other outreach teams, hit the streets to pass out
flyers for the center, as well as for the residence facility three
blocks over. “So we can’t confirm it is Ashleigh without
face-to-face. Sebastian? How do you want to do this? If we go in
and the other residents see Paige and I pull Ashleigh out it will
completely destroy our credibility here. We can’t do that for one
runaway. Not when we can help so many others.”

“
I can go in and get her,
but we risk upsetting the other kids in the shelter. What’s the
policy for police involvement here?”

Carrie felt some of the
tension she’d been holding slip aside. He understood their position
then. Hopefully, he respected it. “None, except when other
residents are put into danger. That we don’t tolerate. Most of the
residents in this center are short term, and none are aware of mine
and Paige’s occupation. If they knew, they’d be even less likely to
speak with us.”

“
And we need them to talk
to us,” Paige added. “If we get this girl out, and it gets loud,
all our credibility here is shot. We can’t risk that.”

“
I can get her out here
where Agent Lorcan can ask her a few questions. But even that is
going against policy here.” Calista, who had run the shelter for as
long as it had been open, said. “If it weren’t for you two being
here, I’m not sure I’d be able to without a warrant.”

Carrie understood the
woman’s reticence. She understood why the rules were put into
place, and had helped Calista develop those rules two years ago,
when the shelter was just in its infancy. If the kids didn’t see
the shelter protecting them from authorities, the kids wouldn’t use
the shelter.

And word would spread,
destroying all the good Calista and the rest of the shelter crew
had done, or would do. “We won’t take her out of the shelter if we
can help it. We just need to make sure she’s safe and doesn’t run
again. We are not going to force her to go anywhere, Cal. I
promise.”

“
Carrie.” Sebastian’s hand
was hot on her arm when he pulled her aside. “You know we can’t
promise that. She needs to go back to her mother.”

“
Unless she’s not safe.
And we still don’t know why she ran, Sebastian. What if it was
because of something her mother did? And maybe she’s planning on
going home herself. Why else would she return to St. Louis? She
thinks she’s safe here at the shelter, we can’t destroy that.”
Carrie needed him to understand. Whatever reason Ashleigh had had
for running needed to be respected, and if she thought they were
just going to force her to go back to the situation she came from,
she would continue to run. They’d never be able to help her. “It’s
not about helping your friend, it’s about helping
Ashleigh.”

He had to respect
Ashleigh’s rights to make her own decisions. Those rights lay at
the heart of the shelter’s principals. And at Carrie’s.

“
I understand. But we have
an obligation to ensure she’s safe and protected. Before we decide
what to do next.” His words were firm, as was the hand he still had
wrapped around her elbow. Firm, and strong, and just
there.

She was starting to like
having his hands on her. Starting to get used to having him at her
side.

She’d have to think about
that later. Right now she had to focus on Ashleigh.

“
We’ve got a security
breach!” Calista’s cry had Carrie shifting her attention from
Sebastian.

“
Where?” Paige
asked.

Carrie and Paige were
familiar with these types of occurrences, and knew the protocols
for reaction.

“
Blue room. I think your
girl’s headed out the back.”

“
Sebastian and I will take
the alley!” Carrie was already half way to disengaging the
emergency exit. She was conscious of him only a step behind
her.

“
I’ll take the hallway,”
Calista said. They wouldn’t stop the youth from leaving, but they
would ensure none of the shelter’s valuables—little though there
were—went with the kid.

If it was Ashleigh running,
though, she, Sebastian, and Paige would stop her. Carrie knew that
was what was required; she didn’t have to like it.

Chapter 32

*****

Ashleigh found the hole in
the fence on her first try. She slipped through the opening as fast
as she could. She didn’t know where she was going to go. He had
said he could find her anywhere, especially in St. Louis, but if
she stayed at this shelter her mom’s friend would have her. And
he’d send her back. She knew he would. Why else would he be looking
for her? She had to get away, she had to.

That man couldn’t make her
go back to her mom. He just couldn’t.

Her knees slipped in the
mud, but she used the momentum to get through the fence just a
little faster. If she could make it to the end of the alley, she
could disappear down by the river.

Someone grabbed her before
she could take off down the alley. Ashleigh fought, kicking and
scratching, trying to get the strong hands off of her.

It was several minutes
before she just gave up. She couldn’t get away and she knew it. He
had her.