[Alex Mercer 01.0] Girl in Trouble

by Stacy Claflin

  “I hope today’s the day we get some good news.”

  “We definitely need it.”

  Alex walked over, carrying a coffee in each hand. “I didn’t know you were coming. I’d have grabbed you one.”

  “It’s fine. I had some earlier.”

  Chad rose and stretched. “You can have mine. Once Alyssa comes out, we’re going home for some shut-eye.” He walked over to the nurses’ station.

  Alex handed her a cup.

  She shook her head.

  “It’s not poisoned. I bought it for my dad—not that I’d do anything to your drink.”

  “Thanks.” She took it and sipped the hot, minty drink. “You still like flavored mochas.”

  He nodded and drank from his.

  “Have you seen Macy?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t know one person could have so many casts.”

  Zoey grimaced. “That bad?”

  He nodded, his expression darkening.

  She frowned and took another drink. They slipped into a comfortable silence—it had been so long since they’d been able to be in a room together without arguing.

  Zoey watched him from the corner of her eye. He drank from his mocha, appearing deep in thought. She almost felt sorry for him—or maybe it was the younger version of him that she pitied. That guy didn’t deserve any of this. Not after all he’d been through.

  She did miss that Alex. It was too bad that he’d changed so much. He’d really had so much potential once.

  Allies

  Alex wondered how long Zoey would watch him. He pretended not to notice, but it was growing increasingly difficult. On one hand, it was nice that she wasn’t harping on him, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was up to something.

  Finally, he turned to her. “You want me to have my mom come out so you can see Macy?”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. I don’t mind waiting.”

  “Where’s Kellen?”

  Zoey stiffened. “He, uh, he’s at home resting. The FBI’s been giving him a hard time.”

  Alex clenched his jaw. “Don’t get me started on them. I saw the kidnapper, but nobody will listen to me. They could just go to his house and arrest him—find Ariana—but no. They won’t.”

  “You really think it was that nerd from the computer company?”

  “I saw him.”

  “That guy doesn’t seem like he could take down a puppy.”

  Alex held her gaze. “He has our daughter.”

  “Okay. Are they watching him? Nobody’s told me anything about him.”

  “That’s because nobody’s watching him, or even thinking about him.”

  She played with a piece of fuzz on her jacket, looking deep in thought. “Maybe we need to take things into our own hands.”

  Alex chewed on his lower lip. Should he tell her what Nick had found? What if she turned around and somehow used it against him? They were hardly friends. Although, they both wanted the same thing—to bring Ariana back home safe and sound.

  Maybe he could just tell her about the cold cases, but not bring Nick into it. What if he got in trouble somehow? The cops probably weren’t supposed to talk about the cases with those who were involved.

  “What are you thinking about?” Zoey asked.

  “I kind of already have taken things into my own hands.”

  She arched a brow. “You mean by hitting that nerd?” The corners of her mouth twitched, reminding him of the old Zoey. The one he could tell anything to and talk to for hours on end about everything and nothing at the same time.

  “No.” He shook his head and quickly debated with himself about telling her. “I’ve been looking into some similar cold cases.”

  Zoey leaned closer. “How similar?”

  “Girls that look like Ari abducted before Halloween.”

  Her mouth dropped. “No way. How many?”

  “Maybe thirty.”

  Zoey’s face paled. “They’re cold cases, so they haven’t been solved?”

  Alex shook his head. “Not one of them. They’ve happened all over the Northwest, so he probably moves when someone gets too close.”

  “So the girls, they…?”

  He nodded. “Died. On Halloween.”

  Zoey cried out. “That’s her favorite holiday! And it’s almost here. What are we going to do? You have to tell someone! You have, haven’t you? We only have until Halloween? Are you sure?”

  “Someone on the force is looking into it. Hopefully, the FBI will give this more credence than they have to Flynn.”

  “You really think that dork is capable of pulling off such an elaborate scheme?”

  “I think he’s the perfect type, actually. Think about it. Dude lives by himself, is the model guy at work, and nobody has a bad thing to say about him. Probably has severe mommy issues. He’s living the perfect, docile existence. Who would suspect him? Clearly no one. Doesn’t that fit almost every serial killer you’ve heard of?”

  She stared at him. “You’re right. How are we going to get Ariana away from him?”

  “Hopefully, the FBI will be able to figure out it’s him.”

  “What if they don’t? What are we going to do?”

  “I’ll break into his house if I have to,” Alex said. “Break everything in the house to find his hidden trap door.”

  “You think he has a secret room?” Her brows came together.

  “How else would he hide the girls? The cops were over there, questioning him, and he didn’t break a sweat. He knows what he’s doing—he’s been at it long enough.”

  Zoey leaned back. “That sounds… I don’t know. A little far-fetched, don’t you think? This isn’t a movie.”

  “Real life is stranger than fiction. We both know that.”

  She didn’t look convinced.

  “Do you have any better ideas? If you do, I’d love to hear them.”

  “I wish. What can we do, though? I mean, really. It’s not like we can break into his place.”

  “Why not? If he has Ariana, wouldn’t it be worth it? I don’t care if I go to jail if it means she’ll be safe. Halloween’s going to be here before we know it.”

  She wrapped her hair around a finger, making the skin turn white. “Can you show me what you’ve got? I’d like to see it myself.”

  “Yeah, of course.” Alex reached for his laptop case, but realized he didn’t bring it. “I don’t have my laptop, but I can show you some of the stuff online.” He pulled out his phone and went to the browser app. “Here, look.”

  Zoey took the phone and read the article. She turned to Alex. “That girl looks exactly like Ariana.”

  “Jerk has a type. Here, I’ll show you another.”

  They spent the next ten minutes going over different cold cases until Alex’s mom came out into the waiting room. “Oh, Zoey, I didn’t know you were here.”

  Zoey turned to Alex. “Let me know as soon as you hear anything about those cases.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  Alex found his earlier texting conversation with Nick and continued it.

  What did they say?

  We found something. Come to the station.

  Progress

  It took all of Alex’s self-control not to speed through town. How ironic would it be to get pulled over while driving to the station? Finally, he made it. He squealed into a spot and ran straight for Nick’s office without stopping at the front desk.

  The door was open, so Alex just went in. “What’s going on?”

  Nick looked up and waved him in. “Close the door.”

  “What’d you find?” Alex closed the door and sat down. “Did the FBI agree to help? You never let me know.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I forgot after she said yes.”

  “She did?”

  “Yeah, we’ve been on it, and everyone agrees it’s the same guy.”

  “Of course it is. Are you closer to finding Ariana?” Alex asked.

  “We should be. New details are pop
ping up from the older cases—everyone involved is more than happy to help—finally.”

  Alex felt hopeful for the first time since Ariana had been shoved in the van. “You said you found something?”

  Nick nodded. “Five years before the first missing girl, there was a similar case in Montana. Only this one was a little different.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The death was ruled accidental. A girl who looked just like all the others who’d died in a lake on Halloween. She was with a group of older kids, and due to them being minors, the records are sealed.”

  “I don’t get it,” Alex said. “What does that have to do with anything? She wasn’t kidnapped and it was an accident?”

  “Right. I can’t get Williams to look at it because of that, but something about that case is screaming for my attention.”

  Alex leaned forward, trying to see where Nick was going with it. “It was like five years before the kidnappings started?”

  He nodded. “But the girl looked just like Ariana and she died in a lake on Halloween.”

  “I’m trying to connect the dots. You gotta help me out.”

  Nick took a deep breath. “I admit it might be a long shot, but I think it’s at least possible that these kidnappings are modeling that death.”

  Alex’s mind spun. “You think Flynn is recreating that girl’s death from like thirty-five years ago?”

  “I think someone might be. Look at the picture of this girl.” Nick spun his laptop around and showed Alex a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. He could barely read the words, but the girl did look eerily like Ariana and the others.

  “Why would he try to recreate an accidental drowning year after year?”

  “Don’t try to make sense of crazy. It’ll send you down the same path.”

  “What if it wasn’t an accident? Someone could be covering up for one of those teens. That has to be it!”

  “Stay out of the killer’s head. Let us do our job.”

  “Just as long as you guys catch the guy before Ariana gets hurt.” Alex clenched his fists. “I don’t suppose Flynn has anything to do with the case?”

  “I don’t know who the involved kids were. The only articles I can find are vague, and like I said, the police records are sealed. There also isn’t an obituary that I can find matching the case.”

  “Seriously?” Alex exclaimed.

  Nick nodded.

  “Can’t you get a court order?”

  “We’d need enough to convince a judge to open them.”

  “A missing girl who is close to being killed isn’t enough?”

  “Not until we find a strong enough piece of evidence linking the cases.”

  Alex hit the chair.

  “But with the FBI on this, that could happen.” Nick leaned back and rubbed his temples. “At least we’re on the right track finally. So, how’s Macy?”

  The question jolted Alex. “She’s in pretty bad shape, but they say she’ll be okay. That she’s lucky. Lucky would be not being in the hospital. Not having her car totaled.”

  “Given the accident she endured, I’d have to agree that she’s—”

  “It wasn’t an accident!”

  “Given the threats, I’d have to agree. That reminds me, did you bring the note he left?”

  Alex dug into a coat pocket and then another one until he finally found the little, yellow scrap of paper. “At this point, you’ll probably only find my prints.”

  Nick nodded and held out a little plastic bag. “Put it in here.”

  Alex did and leaned back. “I’m sure I’ll get another real soon.”

  “Let me know as soon as you do.” He zipped the bag and read the note.

  “Will do. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re too close. He’s scared.”

  Alex bolted upright. “Do you agree that it’s Flynn? I’m hot on his tail, and I’m the only one getting threats. Well, other than my boss, but that’s because of me.”

  “I’m going to need your boss’s contact information.”

  Alex snorted. “Good luck getting anything from him, but sure.” He reached for his phone and texted Nick the information. “Why do you think Flynn hurt Macy instead of me?”

  “Probably figured that would scare you more. I’m going to give Darren a call.”

  Alex couldn’t help but find a little humor in imagining his boss getting a call from a police captain about Alex.

  He grabbed his phone from the desk and headed out to the parking lot. He sat in the car and ran through everything in his mind for close to ten minutes before heading home. As soon as he got out of the car, he received a new text.

  If you did what I think you did, you’re going to regret it.

  Broken

  Ariana watched as the Volvo disappeared from sight. Finally. She was beginning to think Lloyd would never leave.

  He had to go in to work, so he would be gone long enough for her to make her escape. She’d seen enough of the house to make her way to an exit quickly. Even if alarms blared, she would have plenty of time to get away. He would still have to drive back to the house, and by then, she’d be hiding in the woods.

  She watched for another few minutes to make sure he didn’t return. It wouldn’t have surprised her if he knew something was up, and he was testing her. He hadn’t seemed to notice the door was unlocked before, but that didn’t mean anything. Ariana knew enough to be prepared for the worst—she was already kidnapped. She knew about things getting worse.

  Finally, she was convinced Lloyd wasn’t coming back soon. She went to the dollhouse and dug out the bobby pins and the knife. If only she knew exactly what she’d done to unlock the door last time. It had been more of an accident than anything. Either way, she would do it again.

  Ariana jimmied the knife into the door jam near the lock. She was pretty sure it had been like that when she managed to unlock the door. She put a bobby pin in, aiming it low. Then she grabbed the second one, and stuck it in, aiming that one higher.

  She wiggled and jiggled the top one, then the bottom, then both at the same time.

  Nothing happened.

  What had she done before?

  Heart racing, she moved everything around without any particular method. That was what had worked last time. It would have to do the job now, too. Somehow.

  After a few more minutes of playing around…

  Snap.

  She squealed and let go of everything. It had worked again!

  Wait? It wasn’t supposed to snap. It was supposed to click.

  Ariana pulled the knife out. It was fine. She pulled out the top bobby pin. It was okay. Bent in a funny angle, maybe, but fine. She pulled on the other one, but it resisted. She tugged a little harder.

  It came out, but not all of it. Part of the lower half had broken off.

  She turned the knob and pulled. It didn’t budge.

  Maybe she could still get it unlocked. Ariana put the two pins back into place and moved them up and down, back and forth.

  Nothing. Again.

  Would she need to get the broken piece out for it to work?

  Dread washed through her. Could she even do that? The piece was so tiny and she wouldn’t know how to pull it out.

  What if that piece kept the lock from turning on Lloyd’s end? Then he’d know she’d done something to it.

  Panic-stricken, she shoved one of the pins in, aiming it as low as she could, hoping to get under the broken piece. Then maybe she could bring it out. She had to.

  What would Lloyd do if he knew she was trying to escape?

  She couldn’t let that happen—she didn’t want to find out what he would do. It was already bad enough.

  Ariana kept working on the bobby pin, growing more tired and frantic as time passed. The light coming in through the window started to fade.

  Lloyd would be back soon.

  Tears blurred her vision. She’d really hoped that she’d have been long gone by the time he came ho
me. Now it looked like that wouldn’t even happen. She tried to get the pin out again, but her hands shook, and she couldn’t see through the tears.

  She slumped to the ground and cried. Would she ever be able to get out? Was she stupid for trying? For hoping?

  Gravel crunched under tires outside.

  Careful

  Alex parked a block away from the library and walked, pretending to be involved in a texting conversation. In reality, he was glancing around for anyone who might be watching him—namely Flynn. But with as much as Flynn seemed to know, he couldn’t be working alone. He had to have been getting help from someone. He certainly had enough money to hire a fleet of private investigators.

  That was the only thing that explained how he knew Alex’s every move.

  He stopped in front of the library entrance and looked around, making a show of it. Nick’s car was parked right in front. Good.

  Either Flynn or one of his men had to be following Alex. He’d made it more than clear that he was meeting Nick. He’d not only texted but emailed him.

  More than anything, Alex wanted to draw out the weasel. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anyone. As far as he could tell, all the vehicles in the parking lot were empty. A breeze blew by, the leaves rustling as they bumped across the parking lot.

  Everything was all too normal for the quiet, boring suburb.

  Alex waited a full minute before finally going inside. It was probably better that he speak with Nick first, anyway. He found the captain near the back, flipping through a stack of papers. Alex went over and sat next to him.

  Nick glanced up. “What couldn’t you tell me over the phone that was so urgent it required a text and an email?”

  Alex pulled out his phone and showed him the text.

  “What did you do?” Nick asked.

  “You can’t figure it out?”

  “He knows you told me?”

  “Apparently he put two and two together when I went to the station.”

  Nick swore. A lady with two small kids at the next table glared at him.

  “Sorry,” Nick said and turned back to Alex. “Did he give you a specific threat?”