Wrong Turn (6 page)

He knew that the best thing he could do to speed up her release was to locate Mack Rogers. He began another round of calls to fifty-four of the fifty-six FBI field offices across the country; for now, he was not being proactive with the locations in Hawaii or Puerto Rico because nothing indicated that Rogers had obtained transportation outside of the continental United States. Wherever he went he had to have travelled by road.

Most of the agents he called had nothing to report. Some did have leads that were followed up and then fizzled out to nothing. Jake struggled to keep the discouragement and weariness out of his voice as one fruitless contact trailed after another. Everything changed when he called the Salt Lake City field office.

‘We sure do have a lead, Lovett,’ the agent told him. ‘We got a call from our satellite office in Pocatello, Idaho. Three different individuals claim to have seen him on the Snake River. We’re scrambling now to get adequate personnel in place.’

‘In Idaho?’

‘Yup.’

‘You find it credible?’

‘As best I know, he’s never been known to be this far west but we’ve got three people who spotted him in roughly the same location and I understand there is a fishing connection. Is that right?’

‘Certainly is,’ Jake said. ‘One of the bodies found in his basement belonged to sixteen-year-old Lindsey Johns. She disappeared from the Fly Fishing Festival on the South River in Waynesboro, Virginia, less than two years ago.’

‘Well, there you go. Listen, I’ll update you as soon as I know anything. Right now, I need to get back to it.’

Jake got off the phone pumped up and ready for action. He wanted to hop the first flight headed west. He knew, though, that unless Mack Rogers was actually in custody, his travel request would be denied with the generic ‘there are plenty of trained personnel on the scene at this time. Your presence is non-essential’.

Not being there made him a bit crazy. Just sitting here and stewing about it would make him totally bonkers. He had to do something. He picked his phone back up and continued the round of calls. It was after six p.m. in Virginia but offices in the Mountain and Pacific Time zones were still open.

The call to the Denver Special Agent in Charge was less than productive. ‘Damn it, Lovett, you are draining our resources. Seems like half the population of Colorado thinks they’ve seen Mack Rogers. Every single lead turned out to be an obvious case of mistaken identity or seemed to be based on some idiot’s dream or a psychic’s vision. We need to drop the priority on this one, buddy.’

‘Hold on a minute. We’re talking about a serial predator of teenage girls here. He’s been operating for years. He remains a top priority until he’s captured; the lives of young women are on the line,’ Jake insisted. ‘And besides, if you’re following up all that many leads why do I not have the paperwork to back it up?’

‘Because we’re too damn busy to file the reports. It’s not like a single one of them amounted to anything.’

‘You still have an obligation to keep me informed.’

‘Obligation be damned. I’m lowering the priority on this case in my office. And I imagine you’ll hear the same thing elsewhere. We can’t handle the work load and do everything else that needs to be done. I can’t neglect homeland security issues and survive in this job. You got a problem with that, call DC,’ he said and slammed down the receiver.

Jake felt a surge of anger building in intensity and rushing its poison through his bloodstream. He got up and paced the room, resisting the temptation to kick the trash can again. He calmed himself with the knowledge that despite what Denver was saying, no one else was complaining. Everyone accepted the seriousness of this capture. Not one of them cared to have Mack Rogers settle into their jurisdiction and start killing again.

What could he do now? He pulled out the interview files and made a list of the best possibilities for a re-interview. He hoped that at least one of those people could lead him to someone who’d not yet been contacted – someone who knew Mack Rogers and might have an idea of where he was now. He’d start the second round of interviews first thing in the morning.

He had a plan to move forward in the search for Mack Rogers as well as one active hunt going on right at that moment. But what, if anything, could he do for Lucinda? He considered calling her and rejected it as quickly as it crossed his mind. Unlike most of the women he’d known, Lucinda needed solitary time to process the new developments and find her comfort level with them. She would not welcome any intrusion on the subject that was troubling her until she gained some acceptance of it.

She was not a whiner, rarely one to vent. Good qualities on the one hand but on the other, it created distance between them – a barrier that he’d tried to cross many times without any success. He knew that finding Mack Rogers was the best thing he could do for her at this time. He hoped he’d be able to report to her on success in Idaho. Short of that, even a hint of a promising outcome would be a good reason to give her a call. He had to find a reason every single day so she’d never forget that he cared or that he was always there for her. He checked to make sure the volume on his cell was all the way up, walked out of his office and headed home.

L
ucinda got into her work space at six the next morning. At seven, she took a break from her review of Emily Sherman’s autopsy report to call Charley. The line barely began to ring when it was answered. ‘Did you find her?’

‘Dr Spencer?’

‘Yes. Who is this? Did you find her?’

‘This is Lucinda, Evan. Is Charley or Ruby missing?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Did you find her?’

‘Who, Evan? Charley or Ruby?’

Evan grunted with impatience. ‘Charley, of course. Is she with you?’

‘No, Evan.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘If she were here with me, I would tell you.’

‘Are you at work?’

‘Yes.’

‘Maybe she‘s sitting outside of your apartment. You remember – she did that once before.’

‘She promised she wouldn’t do that again but considering that possibility I’m just sending a text right now from my cell to the building super. He’s on his way to check. While we’re waiting to hear back from him, fill me in, Evan. When did you last see her? And when did you notice she was missing?’

‘I saw her last night about nine. She gave me a kiss goodnight and then went to her bedroom. On a weekday, I usually get up at six, and brew a pot of coffee. She wakes up a little bit after I do. By the time I’ve gulped down my first cup, she’s gotten Ruby out of bed and come downstairs ready for breakfast. But not this morning. I realized that I hadn’t even heard a single sound of movement from the girls’ bedrooms and wondered if Charley stayed up late reading and overslept because of it. I went to her room to wake her up but she wasn’t there. Her bedroom light was on but she was gone. I looked in Ruby’s room – Ruby was still sound asleep. I looked in their bathroom. I called her name. No Charley. I ran down to the lobby and no one there remembered seeing her either.’

‘Did she say anything last night that might indicate what she’s up to?’

‘I don’t know, Lucinda.’ For a moment he was silent and then he said, ‘She seemed distracted last night, but she gets like that a lot when she’s up to something. More often than not, it just means her mind is on a science project or on one of her creative flights of fancy. Nothing she said indicated that it was anything more than that. And you haven’t heard from her?’

‘She left me a message but by the time I got home, it was too late to return her call. Something about someone she knew doing something bad. That could be behind her disappearing act this morning but then again, with Charley, logic isn’t always the answer.’

‘What do you mean a bad thing?’ Evan said, the pitch of his voice raising a notch higher with each word.

Lucinda winced. Too late to take those words back. ‘I don’t know. That’s all she said.’

‘Is she mixed up with some bad kids?’

‘I don’t think—’

‘Are there drugs in her school? You’d know that, wouldn’t you?’

‘I am certain Charley is not involved in drugs.’

‘You didn’t answer my question. Are there drugs at her school?’

Lucinda sighed. ‘I’m sure there are some there, Evan.’

‘You’re sure!’ he shrieked. ‘These kids are just children! What about DARE? Don’t you still have that program in the schools? Aren’t they supposed to keep drugs away from the school children?’

‘Yes, they still do, but Charley is in middle school now and—’

‘So, you’re telling me that your DARE program is a failure. It’s just a waste of time and money? An opium for the masses of parents? Pabulum for the taxpayers?’

Lucinda was as frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the so-called war on drugs, leaving her without much of a basis to mount a defense. ‘Well, Evan, they do believe those programs keep it under control.’

‘Oh, that’s a comfort – it’s under control. And now my daughter is under the control of one of those druggies and that’s just some insignificant anomaly?’

‘Evan, stop it! You are jumping to unwarranted conclusions. Did you check with the school to see if she was there?’

‘Of course, I did, but I got a recorded message that the regular school office hours are from eight to four thirty. They have the whole damn summer off. Can’t they get in a little earlier?’

‘I understand your concern and how stressful it is when your child is—’

‘You, understand? How do you understand? You’ve never been a parent. You have no idea how I feel!’

Evan’s words left Lucinda reeling with the sting of truth. He’s right, she thought. How do I know how he feels? I think my love for Charley is as strong as any mother’s for her child. But, I’ve never been a mother. What do I know? The silence stretched long, as Lucinda struggled to find the right words to say in response.

Finally, Evan broke the awkward hiatus. ‘I’m sorry, Lucinda. I know how much you care for Charley. I shouldn’t have . . . well, what I said . . . I mean, it was unfair and even a little cruel. I am ashamed that I lashed out at you of all people.’

‘No, no it wasn’t unfair. You’re right. I am not and have never been a parent. I should not make assumptions about your feelings. I’m sorry, Evan. But, really, for Charley’s sake, you do need to calm down. You need to think clearly right now.’

‘Point taken. I’ll do my best. But where is she?’

‘I wish I knew. Sit down someplace quiet and run through everything she said last night and see if you can remember anything that might provide a clue to what she’s up to this morning. You know Charley – she’s got the spirit of a crusader. If she thinks something needs to be done and she thinks she can do it, she’ll go galloping off on her white horse without a thought about the consequences.’

‘You got that right. And lately she’s been growing more obtuse and secretive.’

‘Girls get that way when they’re growing up. It’s going to get worse as she enters her teens. Wait a minute. I’ve got a message. She’s not at my apartment, Evan. The super checked there and circled around the exterior of the building to make sure she wasn’t just arriving. I’ll alert the patrol squad to keep an eye out for her.’

‘Call me if you hear anything?’

‘Certainly, Evan. I’m sure everything will be fine,’ she said before disconnecting the call. That last statement was a lie. Lucinda was not anywhere close to sure. She just wanted Evan to think that she was. But in fact, she was very worried. Someone Charley knew had done something bad and now Charley was missing? Lucinda hoped the two facts weren’t connected but she strongly suspected – and feared – that they were.

T
he previous morning Charley had been in a stall in the girls’ restroom, when she heard the door to the hall bang open and a loud voice of a girl entering. ‘You really wrote that on the wall?’

‘I sure did. In big red letters. I love writing with spray paint,’ a second voice said.

‘And I made a big daisy in the center of that fancy white carpet in the living room,’ a third voice added.

‘How did you get in there?’

‘One of the guys busted out a bathroom window. We climbed up on one of those big rolling trash cans and hoisted ourselves in.’

‘What guys?’ the third girl asked.

‘High school guys – one of them was your brother.’

‘Tyler? Really? Who else?’

‘Nick and Matthew.’

‘That Nick is cray-cray,’ the third girl said.

‘You telling me? He had this wild idea to pee in the closets, the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanities. And all three of them pulled their things out and let it fly.’

‘My brother did that?’

‘Oh yeah. He sure did.’

Charley belatedly realized that she should have spoken up, made a noise, or come out of the stall when they first arrived. Now it was too late.

Outside her confined space, the conversation continued. The third girl asked, ‘What else did you do?’

‘Nick had a knife and we all took turns slicing up all the sofas and chairs.’

‘Sofas? Chairs? I thought nobody lived there.’

‘Don’t. It was a model apartment where they show off the place to people on weekends. Nobody’s living in the whole complex yet.’

‘And then we left water running in every faucet.’

‘And plugged up the bathtub. That should be running all through the place by now.’

‘I want to see it. Where is it?’

‘You know that construction at Twelfth and Jefferson.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Which is the model place?’

‘You can’t miss it – there’s signs pointing to it. But make sure nobody’s watching so you don’t get caught.’

‘Hold on a minute,’ the first girl said.

Silence followed her remark. Their sudden quiet unsettled Charley as the ominous possibilities for it tumbled through her mind. She held her breath. She thought about stepping up onto the commode to hide her feet but decided any movement at all would give her away. The sudden erupting cacophony of multiple fists banging hard on the stall door made Charley cry out.

‘You better come out of there right now,’ the second girl said.