The Water

by Nancy Jackson

  “My name’s Pride, and I have a friend here who wants to talk to you about your program.” Pride’s words sounded stilted and awkward. She was nervous and not sure what to say to this lady.

  “Ok, can you put her on the phone?”

  “Would it be ok if I put you on speaker so I can hear too? She trusts me to help her and I need to hear what you have to say as well.”

  “That would be fine,” said Beth. “What’s your friend's name?”

  She could hear the girl ask the lady named Pride if she should tell her her real name. Pride confirmed that it would be okay. Beth wondered if this was her mother. No, she had said she was a friend. But Beth knew she must be an older friend, a mother figure to this girl.

  “My name is Jenny.”

  “Hi Jenny,” Beth’s voice was calm and soothing. “What can I do for you?”

  “I - I…,” Jenny began.

  “Go ahead,” encouraged Pride.

  “I’m a prostitute.” Tears slide down Jenny’s cheeks. Saying the words brought shame and humiliation. What would this lady think of her? Would she think she was the dirty trash she felt?

  Beth could hear the pain in Jenny’s words. “Jenny it’s ok. That’s what we are here for. How can I help you?”

  Jenny let out a sigh. Could it be possible that this lady really could help her? Fear surged through her once again, and she had the impulse to hang up, but Pride held the phone.

  “I’m afraid. I don’t want to live like this anymore,” said Jenny.

  “Do you have a family?” asked Beth.

  Jenny shook her head, then realize Beth needed to hear an answer. “No. Well, I have Pride. She’s my family.” She looked up at Pride and Pride’s warm smile gave her courage.

  “How long have you been a prostitute?”

  “A few years now. But I’m scared and I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  “Why are you so scared now?” asked Beth.

  A sob caught in Jenny’s throat as she answered. "Someone killed my friend Cami. She was a prostitute too. Gus is real mad and I’m so scared.” It all came out in a ramble.

  Beth felt this girls fear. It was genuine if her friend was one of the murdered girls. “Okay, Jenny. Are you ready to come here to Safe At Last?”

  Jenny’s stomach gripped her. “Right now you mean?”

  “When were you thinking? Are you in immediate danger? If you are, don’t you think it best we move quickly?”

  “What do you mean immediate danger?” Jenny asked.

  “Are you concerned that someone will harm you soon?”

  “Yes — No. I don’t know.” Jenny began full out bawling.

  Pride took the phone from between her and Jenny and spoke to Beth. “Can we meet somewhere and sit and talk with you? She may be in immediate danger, but it terrifies her to take this move too. Maybe if we meet somewhere, we can talk and make a plan.” Pride had pulled Jenny in close with her free arm, patting her thin back.

  Beth was thinking hard. They could meet in an out of the way place. But she had to be sure that this wasn’t a ruse to draw her out and then follow her back to the safe house.

  “We have to be careful. If you are in danger, then you could lead them to me and therefore to the girls I’m trying to protect.

  Do you have a pen and paper handy? I’ll give you a series of instructions to follow. If you see anyone suspicious following you, text abort to this number immediately, wherever you are. Do you understand?”

  “Yes ma’am. I do. I’m ready.” Pride let go of Jenny and listened intently to Beth’s instructions, writing each one down then confirming she had them correct.

  “I will meet you there,” said Beth as she closed the phone.

  The white boards held photos of two girls, Cami and Mandy. Details written in wipe off ink surrounded their faces. Also on the board was a photo of Gus.

  “So both Mandy and Cami were Gus’ girls,” Carrie said out loud. She was deep in her own thoughts, but often saying it out loud helped. She drew a red line from both Mandy and Cami to Gus.

  “Gus had the opportunity and the means,” said Randy. “But did he have the motive?”

  “He loved Cami.” Carrie turned to look at Randy for confirmation. After a few seconds Randy nodded still looking at the whiteboard. “Maybe when she kept denying him, his temper got the best of him and he killed her.” Carrie paused again thinking.

  “But what about Mandy?” Randy asked. “I can see what you are saying about Cami, but that wouldn’t fit for both girls.”

  “But he could have gotten angry at Mandy for some other reason,” said Carrie. She dropped her crossed arms in a huff and sat down in front of the computer. She felt like she was trying to shove a square peg in a round hole.

  “Have we heard from Mike and Rick yet about canvassing the old amusement park?” Carrie asked. Maybe looking in another direction will give me some perspective, she thought.

  “No,” replied Randy.

  “We have Mandy’s name, but we have no idea where she’s from. Gus was no help on that. Either he really didn’t know where she was from or he is still lying to us.”

  Carrie was typing furiously on the keyboard. She was searching the criminal database to see if there were other similar crimes in other states or areas. Maybe this was bigger than she thought. But after searching with several parameters, she found nothing exactly like their cases.

  Carrie turned her chair and leaned back looking at Randy. “So Jenny and Cami worked together, and they both lived at Pride’s. I am wondering if Mandy worked with someone who also lived with Gus. We need to find that girl and talk to her.”

  “Gus won’t give us a name,” said Randy.

  “I hate to bother Jenny again,” said Carrie. “Maybe we could call her instead of going back down there.”

  Randy nodded and looked for Pride’s phone number. The phone rang for the longest time, but then on what had to be the last ring Pride answered. “Hello,” said Pride.

  “Hi Pride, this is Randy Jefferies with the OSBI. I hate to bother you and Jenny again, but we talked to Gus and we know that Mandy lived with him.” Pride said nothing, only listened.

  “Both Cami and Jenny lived and worked together. Did someone, another girl work with Mandy and live with Gus’?” asked Randy.

  “I don’t know. Let me get Jenny.”

  Randy could tell that Pride had either covered the receiver or muffled it into her bosom in order to talk to Jenny.

  “Jenny says she thinks a girl named Lisa lived with Mandy and Gus. She said she hasn’t seen Lisa around for a while.”

  “Is there anything else that Jenny can tell us about Mandy and Lisa?” asked Randy.

  Once again muffled voices was all Randy heard.

  “Not that she can think of,” said Pride.

  “Thanks Pride. We appreciate you and Jenny’s help.”

  Once off the phone, Randy relayed to Carrie what Pride had said. “She hasn’t seen Lisa for a while. Could we have another body and just haven’t found it yet?” Carrie asked.

  “Could be,” replied Randy.

  Carrie walked to the whiteboard and drew a square next to the photos of Cami and Mandy, then drew a question mark above and the name Lisa inside. She then drew a red line straight to Gus.

  “We should probably go back and talk to Gus about Lisa,” said Carrie. He made her skin crawl, and she hated being in the same room with him, but if that’s what it would take to help her find these girls' killer then she would.

  Just then Randy’s phone rang. It was Rick. “Hi Rick I’m putting you on speaker so Carrie can hear too. Whatcha got?”

  “Well, we did a canvas around the old amusement park and we found the girl's family. Her name was Camelia, Camelia Anderson. Both the other girls in the picture were her sisters. The one to her left that Jenny pointed out is Samantha, they call her Sam. She and Cami went missing at about the same time. They’re both in the missing persons database. We were looking for her under her ni
ckname Cami and not her actual name Camelia.”

  “So what happened?” Carrie asked.

  “They just disappeared. The parents both work all the time and my guess is they aren’t real attentive to the girls. Looks like they kind of raised themselves.”

  “Did you talk to the other sisters?” Randy asked.

  “I did, but they didn’t know anything. There are two more. One is in the photo and the other one was taking the pic. They are Adelaide and Bridgette. They are fourteen and fifteen now. They were twelve and thirteen when the other two went missing.”

  “We are meeting the parents at the morgue to id the body,” said Rick.

  They said their goodbye’s and hung up. Carrie’s mind was racing. She went back to the whiteboard and drew another box next to Lisa’s and put in Samantha’s name with a question mark.

  “Have we searched for any Jane Doe’s at the morgue? Of course we have,” said Carrie answering her own question.

  “I am so frustrated with this case. Why can’t we find any clues?”

  “Well, they are still sorting through the debris at both sites. Neither one was kept clean. The lake more so than under the bridge, but they are still going through each little piece of paper and trash,” said Randy.

  “I want a rush on the scrapings under their fingernails,” said Carrie. She called the crime lab and sweetly demanded they put their case and the fingernail scrapings at the top of the list. The tech sweetly told her to get in line.

  Randy sat thinking about Sandy. “You know Sandy has started volunteering at the program Safe At Last. I wonder if they know anything that could help us,” said Randy.

  “I would imagine that they are pretty tight-lipped. Too much attention could get those girls hurt,” said Carrie, but she was already concocting an angle to see if they could talk to them, without getting them caught in the crossfire.

  “Has Sandy said anything about the girls there? What their names or ages are? What they look like?” Carrie was doing that rapid fire thing she always did. After eight years Randy had grown quite comfortable with it. He’d learned to just let it all settle, then respond.

  “No, I don’t think she knows any of them well enough yet to say anything. They may have cautioned her to not talk about them. I do remember her saying there were about five girls there, but that number goes up and down,” replied Randy.

  “We could call and make a stern request to come to their location, but even if they complied, I don’t want to draw attention to them and in turn hurt the girls or the program,” said Carrie as she paced the floor.

  “Let me call Sandy and see if she can connect me to the director and we’ll pick her brain about what to do.”

  “We can’t wait for another body to turn up before we do something,” said Carrie.

  “Beth,” began Sandy, hesitant to bother Beth, “My husband Randy is on the phone and was wondering if he could talk with you.” Sandy was new here and felt as though she were on a trial basis. The last thing she wanted was to violate some code of privacy.

  A second or two passed by before Beth answered, curious about what he wanted. Did he want to talk about Sandy, she wondered. She didn’t have time for another concerned husband.

  “Okay,” said Beth as she reached out for the phone. She walked into her office and shut the door.

  “This is Beth.”

  “This is Randy Jeffries, Sandy’s husband, as you know. I’m not sure if you also know that I am an OSBI agent and am working on the two recent prostitute murders.”

  Beth, suddenly interested, leaned forward in her chair placing her arms on her desk. “I remember Sandy mentioning you were and OSBI agent, but I didn’t know that you were working on the murders.”

  “I wanted to reach out to you because we are hitting a hard wall. My partner and I understand and respect the work you’re doing and don’t want to do anything that would put you or your victims at risk…

  “But,” said Beth.

  “But we were wondering if we could speak with you. Off site where there would be no danger of revealing the location of the girls.”

  “Are you going to want to speak with the girls?” Beth had to draw the line there. They were too fragile.

  “Not now. If we feel that any of them have something that could help us, we can discuss how to approach that when we meet.”

  Beth twirled her pen as she thought. “When and where did you want to meet?”

  “We want to meet as soon as you are available. You name the place so you will feel comfortable.”

  “Do you know the old cafe off of NW 35th and May? They call it Penny’s Place, a small out of the way place that few people know about. I can meet you there for breakfast in the morning. I have another meeting today that will take a while and then I have things I have to finish up here this evening.”

  “That will work. And just so you know, I haven’t discussed this case with Sandy and don’t intend to,” said Randy. He was hoping she would read his underlying meaning that he hoped to keep this as private as possible.

  “I understand,” answered Beth.

  Gus was banging on Pride’s front door so hard that the little house was in danger of altogether collapsing.

  “Pride I know you or Jenny are in there! Open this door right now.” Gus couldn’t remember when he had been so angry. He motioned for his guys to go around to the back.

  He stepped to the edge of the porch and looked out into the street and surrounding neighborhood. It was quiet. He then whirled around and gave the front door one powerful kick.

  The wood snapped and the door jamb hung in splinters. “Pride, Jenny!” Gus yelled through the house. His men, having heard the crash of the front door came running back around to the front and into the house. They were on hyper-alert and ready for battle.

  When they realized, along with Gus, that the house was empty, they relaxed. Gus strode through the house with his hands on his hips, looking, thinking, contemplating what to do next.

  Finally, he turned to head out the front door. “We have to find them,” he said.

  “Where do we look boss?” One of the men asked.

  Then suddenly Gus thought of something he’d seen in the house and turned around and trotted back in. Yes, there it was on the small kitchen table, a tablet with indentions where someone had been writing on the sheet that had been on top.

  He carried the tablet over to the kitchen window for more light. He could tell it was a list of instructions, but couldn’t read them. He glanced around and found a stub of a pencil in a drawer. Then lightly, as he had seen done on tv, he brushed the pencil lead across the paper.

  The indentions revealed words. It confused him at first, but then he realized that the first few lines were instructions for metro bus lines. He ripped off the page and headed back out the door.

  Once in the car, he snickered with an evil laugh. “I’ve got ‘em.” He then gave Vince the first instruction on the list.

  By the time Gus arrived at the first bus stop, no one was there. He had missed them. Pulling out his phone he searched for metro bus lines and their stops and times. If he was reading this list right, then this bus would head to Bricktown, the renovated district just east of downtown.

  Vince sped away at Gus’ instruction and he looked back at the note. He saw that from there; they were to exit the bus and take the trolley to the Transit Center at 4th and Hudson.

  He looked at the time and realized that they had probably already been and gone at Bricktown and were likely at the Transit Center by now. Rather than have Vince stop in Bricktown, they raced on through.

  As the Transit Center came into site, he saw the bus pull away that he knew they had to be on. Where are they going, he wondered? He decided rather than haul them both into his SUV when he caught up with them, he would follow them and see where they were going.

  There was no name on the paper that he could see, only instructions of various bus lines to follow. So who are they going to meet and why take su
ch a convoluted method of getting there, he wondered?

  The bus Pride and Jenny were on drove on a route leading to NW OKC. Gus followed for almost an hour until the bus arrived at the Warr Acres Metropolitan Library. He saw both of them get off of the bus and go into the library.

  Gus was getting itchy to get at them, but he knew according to the list of instructions that this was not their final destination. If they wanted to read a book or check one out, there were tons of libraries they had passed on the way here.

  After about thirty minutes, Pride and Jenny came out of the library and walked back east until they came to a bus stop about one quarter of a mile away. They were going back the way they had come. Maybe this had been their destination.

  Gus sat in the parking lot of a shopping center diagonally across from the bus stop. But before he could decide what to do, the bus stopped, and they got on.

  He referred to the note. From there they were to take the bus to Deaconess Hospital. They did as someone had instructed them with Gus right behind them.

  Once at the hospital they walked in. After ten minutes Gus was getting worried. It was a big place and the next note was not as clear as the others.

  He once again referred to the map of routes he had pulled up on his phone. There was another route that picked up passengers on the other side of the hospital. That is where they were!

  He had Vince hurry to the other side of the hospital and saw the bus pull away from the curb. He had not seen Pride and Jenny get on. But the notes had instructed them to, so he assumed they had done that just, as they had followed all the other instructions.

  After three hours of playing this cat-and-mouse game of busses and trolleys, they were back at Bricktown and on a trolley. Gus was fuming. He didn’t have time to waste playing this charade. But if they were going to so much trouble to avoid someone following them, then that someone was probably him. Wouldn’t they be surprised when they saw him, he thought.

  Back in Bricktown, at the corner of Mickey Mantle Dr. and Sheridan Ave., they got off the trolley and walked north on Mickey Mantle. He instructed Vince to hang way back, knowing they could easily be spotted here.