The rolling hills and dense forests of Arkansas gradually transform into lush green mountains. The narrow windy roads take you through small townlets. Places where modernity has yet to touch. The scenic journey showcases the mid-west's natural beauty. A place where a variety of wild creatures call home. Rachel is too busy making a list to enjoy the breathtaking view.
Scanning the paper she turns toward her detective and says, "So many hung around back then, that I'm not sure I have them all."
"You're certain it was someone from your past?'
"How else would he'd have known about all the things he does?"
"I'm sure Jeanie's obit was in the papers, and Berryville is a small town so he could've easily picked up the rest through gossip. He recalls the one about he and Joe being an item, chuckles and says, "You and I both know a lot of that goes on in that town."
"Yea, but he knew about DFS taking us away and about my cousin Emma living with her aunt."
"Again, he could've found that out from anyone. Wait a minute, your mama is still alive, right?"
"Right. She faked her death so Carlos and his gang would leave us alone, but he doesn't seem to know that. At least he didn't act like he did. And you'd think he would, if he's picking this stuff up on the street."
"Maybe he's pretending he doesn't know to throw you off."
Rachel recalls their conversations, nods and says, "He does like to play his games."
"They pull up to a small brick house on the outskirts of Springfield. The tattered curtains are pulled too and the torn screens are all dangling from a single hinge. The clunker of a car in the center of the drive looks like it hadn't been moved in months. With two flat tires and its hood propped up, it's questionable if it even runs.
"Rachel knocks on the door. She starts to knock a second time when an eerie feeling comes over her. Placing her hand on her holster, she quickly spins around.
"Are you alright?"
"I feel like we're being watched." She continues to glance around, but doesn't see a thing.
"The only ones that seem to be here are you, me and that yapping dog next door."
She glances around the desolate area one last time and says, "Guess I shouldn't let him get inside my head like that." They start to leave when a haggard looking woman opens the door.
Her clothes are wrinkled and seem to be sporting over a month's worth of stains. Her greasy tri-colored hair doesn't look like it hasn't seen a brush in months. "Yeah, what do you want?" she slurs.
The sergeant glances at her watch to find it's not quite noon. She's hitting the sauce early today, she thinks. "Ginger Myers?" Rachel asks, uncertain if she's talking to the mom or grandma. With all the wrinkles across her face it was hard to tell.
"You're looking at her."
"I'm sergeant Bower with the Berryville PD, and this is my partner, detective Simms."
"Is this about my girl?"
"I'm afraid so, ma'am, can we come in?"
"I'd rather you not." Stepping out on the porch, she closes the door behind her.
The body odor is so pungent that Rachel takes a quick step back. "I'd be better if we talked inside."
"I have company and they wouldn't much like it if we woke them so early in the day."
"Shifting her weight, Rachel says, " We found your daughter in an abandoned building earlier this morning."
"She'd OD'd, right?"
Shocked by her unemotional response Rachel says, "The ME is running a toxicology report on her now."
"I'm sure she did, because she was so strung out the last time she was here. I knew then it was only a matter of time."
"When was this?" Jerry asks.
"About a year ago I think. She scratches her nasty, bug infested head and says, "it might've been two I don't know. Time seems to be getting away from me these days."
I'm sure your drinking has a lot to do with that, Rachel thinks, eyeing the haggard looking woman again. "So you're claiming your daughter came home and never reported it to the law?"
"She said that she'd already talked to you about her kidnapper. I told her I was glad she was back and that we would get her whatever help she needs. Lisa said the drugs are the only way she copes with things. Claiming it was my fault she was taken, the reason she's as screwed up as she is today."
Did she say how it was your fault?"
"She claims she told me about her daddy rapping her and any friend she had spend the night and I didn't do anything to stop it."
Rachel recalls how her mama refuses to listen when she and Emma told her about her lover's nightly visits to their room. She looks at the mother square in the eyes, clenching her fists, through gritted teeth she asks, "You didn't even consider for a second that she might be telling you the truth?" Rachel feels Jerry's hand on her shoulder, she shrugs it away.
Pulling her back, he gives her a warning stare.
"I figured it was a bunch of hogwash to get Phil out of our lives for good. See, he left when I told him I was pregnant and didn't return until she was nearly five. She hated the idea of him being back. So that's why I assumed she said what she did hoping I'd kick him out. It was only years later that I found out what she told me was true."
"How did you find out?" Jerry asks.
"I came home early from work to find him in bed with the neighbor's little girl. I reported him to the cops, packed up my shit and left."
Stepping in front of her detective Rachel asks, "You didn't try to reconcile with your daughter? Tell her you know she's telling the truth?"
"I tried, Sergeant, believe me I did. In fact I kept making weekly trips to Arkansas for months."
"You initially said you two hadn't spoken in over a year."
"That's right. I'd go every week hoping to find her but never did. Then one day she left a message on my phone saying, " I hope you and my perv dad die a horrific death. I stopped trying to find her after that."
"Did she tell you where she was taken?"
"She didn't give me any details."
"Ok, well thank you for your time, and I'm sorry for your loss."
"I accepted her death a long time ago."
The sergeant and her detective break the news to the White family and are told the same thing. That their daughter accused the step-father of sexual abuse and their kidnapper claims to have saved her. Like the first she too was strung out on drugs, claiming she wasn't staying, that she was only there to grab a few of her things.
"No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get Stephine to stay." The mother sobs. She gulps then adds, "Stephine was right it was my fault. If I'd been more intensive with her, and less caught up in my career, maybe I would've seen what was going on. But I didn't know what he was doing at the time, sergeant , I swear I didn't. Not until it was too late. I tried to tell her I believed her and that I was sorry but she wouldn't listen."
"Did your daughter say where the kidnapper took her?"
"Stephanie said she and a few others stayed at an old farmhouse in the country and that the home was surrounded by woods. Said that she and her friend Lisa hiked for miles up to 7 south where they hitched a ride into town."
"Did she describe the kidnapper?"
"She said he was tall, around 6'3 with a muscular build. He had short brown hair and wore black horned rimmed glasses and he had a thick southern accent."
"Can you remember anything else she said?"
"I'm afraid not."
"This is very helpful, thank you." Taking a card from her pocket she says, "Call us if you can think of anything else. And again I am sorry for your loss."
"I will, sergeant, thank you."
Climbing into the car, Rachel turns and says, "So we can assume the kidnapper thinks he's saving them."
"He gets them hooked on drugs, and has free reign."
"Right, Jerry. My only question is why didn't either of the girls go to the cops once they've escaped?"
"Maybe they were so strung out on drugs that their only thought was where to get their next fix?"
"That's possible I suppose."
"So where to now, Sergeant?"
"To the station. I'm also going to send a couple of uniforms out to the homeless camp to see if anyone can Id our Jane Doe and give us any information on the perp."
"So I'm guessing we're looking for two people now."
"Looks that way, Jerr."
Turning on her laptop, Rachel begins her search, turns and says, "It could take us months to get through all these homes."
"Assuming it's still standing.
"True." They had a tornado five years ago that wiped out a lot of homes.
Hearing her phone ring Jerry says, "Maybe that's some good news for a change."
"We can only hope. "Sergeant Bower?"
"You have two adorable kids Sergeant. Lulu is the spitting image of her mother, and little Joe looks so much like his dad."
"You stay away from my family. Do you hear me? Stay the hell away from them."
"It would be a shame if something happened to either of your youngsters. Poor pipsqueak would be devastated and the entire Webb family crushed."'
"If you touch a single hair on my family's heads, I swear to you that what you're doing to the girls will seem humane compared to what I'll do to you."
"Have a safe trip home, pipsqueak." Laughing, the killer disconnects the call.