Max told him, “Joe, don’t worry. None of us can do any better. Just keep looking.”
We kept angling up the mountain, bearing slightly east. Off and on I whispered to Stef. “Headed in the right direction?”
“Yeah. That looks like it might work. The spot where you want to come out is just a little to your left,” she said.
The trees thinned, the sun climbed higher, and the heat built.
We marched slowly forward, weaving around trees, following Rodgers, who kept his eyes on the ground, charting our course based on a few snapped branches thinner than a pencil.
Time passed, and we covered more ground. My legs burned from the climb, steeper as we hiked higher. Our binoculars around our necks, I sometimes gazed through mine, searching for anything that looked out of place, anyone hiding in the woods. I wondered what lay ahead. I worried about what we might find.
Where are you, Delilah?
I’d told myself for the last decade that no one listened when I prayed. But in that moment, I needed to believe someone with power watched over us. God, keep my sister safe and help me find her. Please.
An eagle flew overhead, screeching, as if to greet the new day. I instinctively glanced down at my sleeve. Hidden underneath, my good luck charm reminded me of where I’d come from and all I’d endured. Perhaps it was more a testament to my journey, and that the pain and disappointments of my past had made me stronger.
Forty-Nine
“How much farther?” I asked.
“Slightly to your right, maybe two hundred feet up the mountain, and you’ll be halfway between the hump and the peak at the tree line.” Stef’s voice rose an octave. “Detective?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure you don’t want a chopper? The sheriff thinks it’s a good idea. The SWAT team can drop down to help.”
As reassuring as that sounded, I thought again about the chopper’s noise, and that Gerard, with a bird’s eye view from his cave, might shoot at the officers as they rappelled down the ropes. If he had advance notice, Gerard could use the girls as shields. “We can’t risk it,” I said. “We have to take him by surprise.”
“You got a plan?” Max asked.
“I do,” I said.
“Let’s hear it,” Mullins said.
“Rodgers, you’ll stay here,” I said. He looked relieved. “Take that gun out of your belt and keep watch. Before you pull the trigger, though, you need to make sure you know who you’re shooting at. It could be one of us falling back. But be ready in case it’s Gerard. Understand?”
“Got it,” he said. “If it’s one of you, wave at me or something. Give me a sign. Okay?”
“We’ll try, but you watch for us, too. Don’t be trigger-happy. Okay?” I took a slight bob of his head as agreement.
I scanned the other faces, Max, Mullins, and the kid, Conroy. They looked as tense as I felt. Even my teeth were nervous. These were the bad moments, the ones before we put ourselves aside and took action, when we had time to consider what could go wrong.
Everything.
“We’ll take it slow. There are four of us, so we have him outnumbered and outgunned. We’ll spread out, stay in contact with our mics,” I said. “Anyone sees the cave, Gerard, Delilah, or anyone else, radio us your location, and wait for backup. Unless you have to, don’t try to take Gerard alone.”
“Okay,” Max said. “How about Mullins swings far left, Conroy far right, and you and I track up the center?”
“How far apart?” I asked. “I’m thinking maybe a hundred feet between each of us?”
“Yeah,” Mullins said. “Depending on the woods, we might be able to see who’s next to us. That way, we can signal, if we have to, instead of use the mics.”
“Okay. Keep the noise down. Careful where you walk. When we get within fifty feet of the tree line, everyone stops and gets low, stays hidden but puts on binoculars. Look for the entrance to a cave. For any signs that someone is in the area. I don’t think Gerard is stupid enough to leave anything out in the open, but we can hope.”
Almost in unison, the four of us moved forward and fanned out. I couldn’t see Mullins on the far left, but had eyes on Max closer on my near left, and Conroy just visible through the trees on my right. As we climbed higher, we became increasingly careful, tried not to step on branches, anything that would make a noise, but we couldn’t hide the crunch of our feet on the dry grasses. When I saw bright sunlight ahead, the trees thinning out and the mountainside becoming clear in front of us, I knew we were close. By then, I’d lost sight of the others.
“Slow and easy,” I whispered into the radio. “Anyone see anything?”
“Not yet,” Max said, and then the others repeated his news.
I searched through my binoculars and saw nothing that resembled a cave. I worried that by basing everything on Sadie’s diary, I’d led us astray. That we were wasting our time, while Gerard had his hostages acres away in a cave we’d never find. What if the reference to looking down from the mountain meant nothing, and I’d jumped on it as a lifeline out of desperation?
“Something here, Detective,” Conroy whispered. “Not sure, but there’s a dark area in the mountainside.”
I made a snap decision. “Max, you and Mullins maintain your positions. I’ll check on Conroy.”
“Okay,” Max said, “You got that, Mullins?”
“Got it.”
I picked my way over and around the dry brush. I had to walk a good distance before I thought I saw Conroy in the distance, crouched down, his rifle out, aiming straight ahead. But I wasn’t sure. Was it him? I tapped my lapel mic. “Stef, are you listening in?”
“Yup,” she said. “I can see all of your transceivers. Conroy’s not far ahead.”
At that, the kid gave me a wave of his hand. When I reached him, I knelt next to him. He pointed at something dark to our right, barely visible between the trees. I nodded at him and whispered, “Let’s work our way up there.”
We stayed low, hid as much as we could behind trees and tall brush, moving forward. As we did, the dark area spread wider. A cave opening? My pulse hammered so hard I heard it in my ears as I motioned for Conroy to stay back and I eased gingerly forward, watching each step, but not taking my eyes off the goal. When I stood fifteen feet away, I had a clear bead on it. There was nothing there, no opening in the mountain’s wall. The darkness was merely a shadow cast by an outcropping. “Not our cave,” I said into the mic. “I’ll work my way back to my position.”
“Check,” Max said. “We’ll maintain until we get new orders.”
I waved at Conroy and he gestured back, then I walked carefully, scanning the mountainside through my binoculars. Nothing but more shadows, dry grass, and rock. My detective work had led us to the wrong place.
“Let’s regroup. I’ll call in the choppers,” I said into my mic. “Once we get eyes from above, we’ll reposition.”
“I agree,” Max said. “Let’s do it.”
“Stef,” I said into the mic, when I reached my original position. “Send the helicopters up. Have them scan the mountainside. Thermal imaging but also watch for that cave.”
“On their way,” she said.
Just then Mullins whispered into his radio. “I hear something. I think it’s voices.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Two hundred yards west of Max. I walked off a bit. I know that’s not what you ordered, but—”
“Stef, hold the choppers,” I said.
“Got it,” she answered.
“Mullins, stay where you are. Max, Conroy, and I are on our way.”
As soon as I walked up, I heard murmurs not far ahead, a high, small voice I thought could be that of a girl. Mullins hid behind a tree, his rifle out, pointing at an opening in the vegetation. Thirty feet up the mountainside, I saw someone low to the ground, moving. I wanted to go in closer, but I waited for the others. Once Max and Conroy arrived, I motioned for us to spread out. Then I whispered into the mics, �
��Let’s fan out again and surround them. From now on, no radio except in an emergency. No talking. They’ll hear us. Don’t take a shot unless the girls are clear. Be careful. We don’t want anyone caught in crossfire.”
The others did as I ordered and moved forward toward the voices. We walked up in a line, and then spread out to hide behind brush and trees.
At first, nothing but the hum of voices and a shadow cast by something or someone moving. Then something glowed golden-red ahead. What was it? I eased closer, and saw sunlight reflecting off auburn hair. Delilah stooped on the edge of the clearing, one knee down, pulling weeds from the forest floor. I eased farther ahead and took a position concealed behind a stand of pines.
Gerard stood above Delilah, a rifle at his side. He had binoculars on, watching the sky, looking for helicopters, I guessed. Max was right; Gerard had guessed the tactics we’d employ. Satisfied nothing circled overhead, he next scanned the woods, then let the binoculars drop to his chest. I slipped in closer, hoping the others did as well. I stopped breathing when he turned his head in my direction, as if listening. I didn’t take another breath until he moved past me.
“Haven’t you found the right weeds yet?” Gerard prodded, his voice impatient, his right hand gripping his rifle. “How much of that damn stuff do you need?”
I slid a bit forward and hid again, this time nestled in a thick cluster of saplings. From there, I could better see and hear them.
“It has to be the right kind of herbs.” Delilah pushed the dirt back with her hands, rustled through grass and whatever else grew at the base of a thin-trunked pine. “I’m looking for comfrey. Like I told you, Mother Ardeth says it’s the best thing for pain.”
“I told you to quit talking about your mothers,” he said. “You sound like a baby when you do that.”
Delilah shot him a glance and scrunched up her nose. “You know, I am just a kid. I’m only twelve.”
“You’re old enough,” he said. “Now finish up out here. We need to get back inside the cave.”
Gerard paced, nervous, watching Delilah but stealing glimpses into the forest, off and on studying the sky. Max and the others must have been closing in, too. Gerard didn’t know it, but they were surrounded. I advanced closer and stopped behind the trunk of another pine, one that gave me a straight shot at him. I raised my rifle, took aim at his chest, left center, at his heart. My finger eased onto the trigger.
Delilah stood and blocked my shot.
I took a breath.
“Is it okay if I go a foot or two into the forest to look?” she asked.
Gerard frowned. “Only a step or two in. No farther.”
“Thank you.” Delilah walked a short distance into the woods. She dropped to her knees, a spindly bush at her side. The brush was dense around her, and to her left a pine soared high above the other trees, its trunk wider than the rest.
I refocused my shot, targeting Gerard’s heart.
In a split second, Delilah crawled toward the pine. She stood and slipped behind the tree trunk. Gerard rushed toward her. A tree blocked my shot. He stopped walking, raised his rifle and stared toward her.
“Goddamn it, get out here!” he shouted. “You think that tree will hide you?”
Delilah didn’t move.
I didn’t know where Max and the others were. If I shot, I worried I’d hit one of them. I slid two feet to my right. Again I lined up a clear shot at Gerard with the mountain behind him. He moved, this time to the left of the tree, and peered at Delilah. “I can see you. This isn’t some stupid game of hide-and-seek. I told you get the hell out here!” he demanded. “Now! Or I’ll put a bullet through that empty head of yours, like I did that damn brother of mine.”
In that moment, another girl ran out of the cave, her hair long and dark blond. My brain flashed up the photo Genevieve Coombs brought to the station. It was Jayme. Distracted, Gerard didn’t see her. In a single leap, Jayme jumped on Gerard’s back, wrapped her legs around his waist and her handcuffed arms around his head. She dug in, gouging at his eyes, and he screamed.
He grabbed the cuffs’ chain, but she held tight, dropped the chain lower and tried to use it to strangle him. He pulled at her arms, then lurched back and rammed her into a tree. Frail, painfully thin, she refused to let go. He bashed her against a second tree, and she fell.
Jayme rolled and came to a stop in front of the cave.
Gerard turned and brushed a hand over his burning eyes. “Goddamn it, you ain’t worth it. None of you two’s worth it. I can get new girls anytime I want. I don’t need the likes of you.”
As he aimed his rifle at Jayme, Delilah flew at him from behind the tree. I couldn’t get a clear shot. I stepped forward, but stayed hidden. I needed that element of surprise. Delilah and Gerard wrestled, and his rifle discharged. The bullet struck rock, blasting off splinters of mountainside. Delilah fell, landing on her back. Gerard stood over her, smiled, and took aim.
I squeezed the trigger and took my shot as I heard others ring out from the behind the trees.
At first, Gerard looked startled, as if he didn’t understand what had happened. He stared down at his chest, stunned. Blood spread out, saturating his shirt. I marched toward him from behind the trees. We stood twenty feet apart, eye to eye. He looked at me as if surprised. I smiled. Clumsily, he attempted to raise his rifle. I lined up a shot and pulled the trigger.
Gerard spun a quarter-circle to his right, and then dropped. Blood oozed from a wound in the center of his forehead, the same spot where he’d shot his brother.
Max, Conroy and Mullins emerged from the forest. Jayme lay where he’d thrown her, sobbing.
Dazed, Delilah had shuffled to rest at the foot of a tree. She watched in silence as we approached her. She looked at Conroy’s uniform. I had my badge on my shirt. Her hands were dirty from scrounging for weeds, and her tears smeared a sooty brown as she tried to wipe them away. She gazed up at me.
Max checked on Jayme, holding her as she sobbed. “He unlocked Delilah, and he forgot to lock me back up to the wall,” she whispered. “He forgot, and I couldn’t be scared anymore. We had a plan. I had to help Delilah.”
A few steps away, Conroy watched as Mullins felt for a pulse on Gerard’s neck. A pool of blood collected around his head.
I sat in the dirt beside Delilah. I reached over and took my sister in my arms. I held her as she wept. Her words came in stutters. “He-he told me that you were looking for me.”
“You’re so brave,” I whispered. “But it’s over now. And he can’t hurt anyone, not ever again.”
Delilah pulled away and her eyes ran over me. “You look like Lily all grown up.”
“I think I do too,” I said. My eyes filled with tears but my lips climbed up slightly at the corners.
“Are you really my sister?”
“I am,” I said.
“Clara?” Delilah asked.
“Yes, I’m Clara.”
Epilogue
When we drove into Alber, Lily and my three mothers were waiting for us at the police station. Delilah ran to Sariah, and they sank together onto the floor, sobbing and laughing, holding each other and whispering.
Mother Naomi raised her hands to the heavens and cried, “Praise to the Lord for his goodness. He’s brought our daughter home!”
The others chimed in: “Praise the Lord, for he is good.”
I stood alone, watching, and Mother walked over. At least for this moment, her features had softened, and when she spoke I heard sadness and regret. “Clara, I am sorry for the way I acted. I should have believed that you’d come to help, not harm.”
“It’s okay.” I wished that she would have reached out to touch me. I thought that perhaps she could have said she was sorry for other things, the events that separated us for a decade. She didn’t. Our culture had strong talons, like the eagle. It held tight. I’d brought Delilah home, but I remained an errant daughter, an interloper whose very presence she believed threatened our family. “I’m glad Deli
lah is safe.”
Only Lily hugged me, whispering, “Thank you” through her tears.
Despite all we had been through together, despite all I’d done, the distance between me and my mothers persisted, a canyon that separated me from those who were mine. Mother’s sadness touched me, but I wondered if she truly understood how wrong she had been and that her actions could have cost Delilah her life. No permanent bridge had been built between us. No true understanding had been reached. Perhaps this would be our fate, to never again truly be mother and daughter.
The official inquiry took a few days. We had three scenes to document: the cave, the location on the mountainside where we found Evan Barstow’s body, and the spread where Gerard kept the girls. During our investigation, we were able to determine that Evan had loaned his brother the ranch house to live in not long after Gerard returned to Alber.
On the kitchen table, we found an envelope addressed to the postmaster in El Paso, Texas. Inside was a stamped, sealed envelope addressed to Sariah and a note to the postmaster asking him to postmark the letter and put it in the mail for delivery. When we opened the inner envelope, we found a handwritten note from Delilah, telling our family that she’d run away.
As Doc predicted, the body in the barn turned out to be Eliza Heaton, and we had a DNA match on Sadie for the girl in the field.
The morning after the investigation officially ended, I drove out to tell Jessica Barstow of my belief that Christina was another of her brother-in-law’s victims. Too much was the same for it to have been a coincidence, most glaring her strange disappearance and the letter. Jessica cried in my arms and asked if I would look for Christina’s body. “I want to bury my sister,” she said.
“I have to go home to Dallas,” I told her. “But I’ll talk to Max Anderson and the others about it. Maybe they can try.”
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