Paradise Falls

by Jacobs, Jonnie

Cross scoffed. “What good’s that going to do? There’s a madman out there targeting young girls. Shouldn’t you be looking for witnesses or something?”

  “We’re doing that, too.”

  “I’ll have Ty call you if he thinks he can be of help.” This time the door closed.

  Rayna sighed. Monday seemed a long time to wait.

  ~~~~~

  She had better luck with Traci Redding’s mother, maybe because she was acquainted with Mrs. Redding from the Karen Holiday case. The woman had been one of the parents involved in setting up a reward fund. The reward offer was still outstanding—ten thousand dollars. It had elicited pitifully few calls, and no useful information.

  “I’ve heard about Caitlin,” Mrs. Redding said without asking why Rayna was there. “It’s just so terrible. How can this be happening in our quiet little town?”

  “That’s a question we’re all asking,” Rayna told her.

  “Do you think it’s like what happened to Karen? The same person, I mean.”

  “It’s too early to say. Do you know Caitlin?”

  “Not really. I know she’s a friend of Traci’s—only for the last couple of months, though. I’ve never exchanged more than a ‘Hi, how are you?’ with Caitlin.”

  “Is Traci in?”

  “No, she’s helping post flyers around town. Isn’t the police department organizing some sort of search or something?”

  Rayna nodded. “We didn’t actually organize it, but we’re coordinating the effort.” Hank was there now, in fact. “Are other students volunteering, as well?”

  “I think so. There was quite a bit of phoning back and forth.”

  Better even than trying to interview kids at the school. And Rayna wouldn’t have to wait until Monday. “Does Traci have a cell phone? Maybe I can catch her there.”

  “Cell phones and iPods.” Mrs. Redding rolled her eyes. “How did we ever grow up without them? Let me write down her number for you.”

  ~~~~

  Traci and another girl were waiting for Rayna in front of the Starbucks on Grant Street. Despite the overcast sky and brisk winds, both girls were dressed in low-rise blue jeans with pullovers short enough to leave their midriffs bare. Rayna tugged at the back of her jacket, grateful that her own blouse was long enough to tuck solidly into her waistband. The mere thought of chilly air on the exposed skin around her middle sent shivers down her spine.

  “This is Jenna,” Traci said, introducing her friend. “She hangs around with Caitlin, too.”

  “Hi,” Jenna said, extending a hand for Rayna to shake. Like Traci, she had a slender build and straight, shoulder-length hair.

  “You want to go inside?” Rayna asked. “I’ll treat.” She noticed there were already two MISSING PERSON posters for Caitlin posted in the store’s windows, one on each side of the door.

  The girls exchanged shrugs. “Sure.”

  With their beverages in hand—black coffee for Rayna, mochas for both girls—they found a table in the corner.

  “This is just too creepy,” Traci said. “I saw her as I was leaving school yesterday. She was standing on the oval, waiting for a ride, I guess. We waved and I told her about my algebra test. Everything seemed perfectly normal, you know. Then I get this call last night from her mom. Totally blew me out of the water.”

  “Was Caitlin alone when you saw her?”

  “Yeah. I mean, a few other kids were around, but she wasn’t with any of them.”

  “You remember any names?”

  Rayna wrote them down as Traci rattled off the ones she remembered. “Her dad was late picking her up,” Rayna told them. “Do you think she’d have taken a ride with someone?”

  “Not a stranger. Not after Karen.”

  “We’re all real careful,” Jenna added. “Even though Karen was, well, you know.”

  Not exactly upright and responsible. Karen might have taken a ride with a stranger, in other words. She might have done a lot of dumb stuff. Like generations of kids before her who didn’t follow the straight and narrow. But very few came to serious harm.

  “But if it was someone Caitlin knew who offered, sure.”

  “Any idea who might have offered her a ride?”

  The girls looked at one another and shrugged. “Not really,” Traci said.

  “Tell me about Caitlin and Ty Cross.”

  Jenna tucked her silken, ash-blond hair behind her ear and sighed. “Ty is totally cool. I wish he’d ask me out.”

  This was an angle Rayna hadn’t yet considered. A girl who saw Caitlin as competition? It was worth considering, although she couldn’t detect any resentment in Jenna’s voice.

  “I understand they broke up recently,” Rayna said. “Whose idea was it?”

  Traci thought a moment. “Hers, I think. She didn’t talk about it much.”

  “She was upset, though,” Jenna added. “I figured they must have had a fight or something.”

  “Any idea what about?”

  Traci sipped her mocha, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Who knows.Maybe Ty was getting too demanding. I mean he is cool”—she looked at Jenna—“but he’s also a bit sold on himself.”

  Jenna smirked. “It’s not like he doesn’t have reason.”

  “Oh, please. It’s all packaging.”

  “Yeah.” Jenna drew the word out with a giggle.

  “Was Caitlin seeing any other guys?” Rayna asked.

  They shook their heads. “Not like in dating,” Jenna clarified. “But I saw her and Rob together a couple of times. Once Caitlin was crying.”

  “Rob?”

  “Hardy. He’s sort of a friend of Ty’s. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t interested in him. Not like a boyfriend. He’s definitely not cool.”

  “But there might have been someone,” Traci said. “I got the feeling he might be a bit older. Not a high school student.”

  Rayna’s pulse quickened. “Do you know a name?”

  Traci shook her head. “I could be wrong, too. It wasn’t anything she said, really, just a feeling I got.”

  Jenna finished her mocha. “I’ll be right back. I gotta pee.”

  “Sounds like Jenna has a crush on Ty,” Rayna said to Traci when the other girl was out of earshot.

  Traci laughed. “That’s just Jenna. She likes guys, period.”

  “Any chance Caitlin ran away?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Or met up with this guy she had her eye on?”

  Traci licked foam from her lips and thought about the question. Then she shook her head. “That’s not like Caitlin. She’s real grounded, sometimes too much so for her own good, in my opinion. Besides, she wouldn’t have some mystery guy pick her up at school when she was waiting for her dad.”

  Rayna nodded. The timing was the biggest argument against Caitlin having gone anywhere voluntarily. “How did she get along with her mom and stepdad?”

  “I didn’t know her before they were married. We just became friends this year. But she seemed fine with them.”

  “And her stepdad’s kids?”

  “Pretty good. Me, I’d be a little weirded out about suddenly sharing my life with strangers, but I never heard her complain. I mean, sometimes about little things. Like how Lucy would borrow something without asking, or Adam would clomp around making popcorn in the middle of the night and wake her up. Stuff like that.”

  Jenna returned and Traci grabbed their stack of flyers. “We’d better get the rest of these distributed. Thanks for the mocha.”

  “I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. If you think of anything more, give me a call.” They headed for the door. Rayna glanced at the flyers. “Is Ty Cross part of the volunteer effort?”

  “I saw him earlier,” Traci said. “In the park where we gathered. I think he’s part of the search thing.”

  “Thanks.” Rayna watched the girls head into the pet food store next door and tried not to think about Kimberly. Her daughter, Kimberly, would be almost the same age as these gi
rls, if she’d lived. A familiar tightness in Rayna’s throat made it difficult to swallow. Four years, and it seemed like only yesterday.

  ~~~~

  “You sure you don’t want one?” Hank asked Rayna through a mouthful of chili dog. “It’s really good.”

  A steamed hotdog from a park vendor, even doused in chili, wasn’t Rayna’s idea of good. If she was going to consume calories, she wanted them to be for something worthwhile.

  “I’m sure,” she replied. She watched two boys kicking a soccer ball back and forth. “How’s the volunteer effort going?”

  Hank swallowed. “I don’t think they’ll turn up anything, if that’s what you mean. But people like to feel they’re doing something useful. And you never know. There’s a lot of open ground to cover in this town and the surrounding area. I just hope to God if they do find something, they don’t contaminate the scene.”

  “You warned them about that?”

  “Hit them over the head with it. And they all watch TV. They ought to know, right? Besides, we’ve got the uniformed guys out there with them.”

  Trouble was, even the professionals sometimes messed up.

  Hank wiped a spot of chili from the corner of his mouth. “You got a theory yet?”

  “I wouldn’t call it a theory.”

  “So what are you thinking?”

  “First, it doesn’t feel like a runaway. Or a suicide, for that matter. Which means she was abducted, probably by someone she knew. I think she’s smart enough not to voluntarily go with a stranger.”

  “Unless he was posing as someone she thought she could trust,” Hank pointed out.

  “Like a cop?” They’d had an episode last year. A man pretending to be a sheriff’s deputy pulled over cars at night and robbed the occupants.

  Hank nodded.

  “That would have to mean our guy not only knew Caitlin’s dad was picking her up that afternoon but that he was going to be late.” Rayna worked the setup through as she spoke. “The guy shows up and says there’s been an accident or something, and he’s going to take her to the hospital. I don’t know, it’s a bit of a stretch.”

  “Okay, so it’s not the number one theory. But you did a nice job putting it together like that.” Hank ran a hand over the bristles of his receding hairline and gave her a crooked smile. “What do you have on the family?”

  “The mom and stepfather passed the polygraph. Plus, they were out of town when she disappeared.”

  “What about the bio dad?”

  “He hasn’t come in for the test. I’m guessing he might be feeling responsible since he was the one who was supposed to get Caitlin.”

  “He and the wife only got married because she was pregnant. It didn’t last—just long enough for her to help put him through law school. He’s not happy about paying child support, either.”

  Rayna looked at him. “Is this another of your far-fetched theories? Where do you come up with this stuff, anyway?”

  Hank grinned. “It’s amazing the things you learn bowling and playing pool at the local bars.”

  Hank had an entire network of bar buddies, all local working men. He claimed it was a good way to pick up useful gossip—and in truth, he did sometimes come up with good stuff, like the name of a drug dealer they’d been trying to track down for months—but Rayna suspected it was Hank’s social network, as well. When his wife of thirty years died a few years back, he’d wandered around like an abandoned puppy until he’d discovered there was an entire fraternity of lonely men out there.

  “Okay, so we’ll put Jake Whittington on our list of possibilities. Also, Caitlin’s boyfriend. I’d like to speak to him without his dad’s interference. I think he may be part of your search team.”

  “Could be. Couple of boys about that age took the woods east of town. You might see if he’s there.” Hank tossed the hot dog wrapper in the trash. “You missed out on a great lunch, Rayna.”

  She laughed and shook her head. Hank was a good partner and a decent man but they were as different as night and day.

  Chapter 7

  Rayna arrived at the staging area near the woods just as the volunteer search team was finishing. Seven people, including three high school boys, were milling around the patrol officer assigned to the group. Rayna singled out the tall, sandy-haired boy she guessed was Ty Cross, and approached him when he stepped away from the others.

  “What’s to talk about?” he said irritably after Rayna explained why she was there. “I don’t know where Caitlin is. You think I’d be out searching for her if I knew?”

  Rayna flashed on Scott Peterson and the multitude of other convicted killers who’d done just that. Not that she was lumping Ty together with any of them. Way too early to jump to conclusions.

  “I’m trying to learn about Caitlin,” she told him. “You know her. I don’t. You know her in ways that even her parents don’t. I need some help and thought you might be able to give it to me.”

  Ty picked up a stone and tossed it across the open field. He had a good arm. Years of baseball and football practice. Or maybe it was the years of throwing stones that had primed him for sports.

  “What if she’s being held prisoner?” Rayna prodded. “What if she is being mistreated or abused? Don’t you want to help her if you can?”

  Ty turned back and met her eyes. “You think that’s what’s going on?”

  “It’s possible. The only thing I’m sure about is that time is working against us.”

  He hesitated. “I should probably check with my dad first.”

  Rayna feigned astonishment. “Whatever for? I just want to have a conversation, Ty. I’m not going to handcuff you, or lock you in an airless interrogation room with a blinding white light aimed at your face.” She chuckled. “That’s for the movies.”

  He seemed to soften some.

  “You’re free to leave any time. What are you afraid of?”

  His eyes flashed. “I’m not afraid.”

  “Good then. Let’s talk.” She started walking toward the car.

  “Can’t we talk here?”

  “If you want. I thought you might feel more comfortable someplace where your friends wouldn’t be bending their ears to hear what we were saying. You can leave the door open if it makes you feel better. Or if you’d rather meet me downtown . . .”

  “I don’t have my car with me. I got a ride with friends.” He looked at the small cluster of searchers, then back to her. “I was going to bum a ride over to the discount mart after we were finished here.”

  “I’ll take you.” The discount mart was only a couple of miles up the road and she’d have Ty all to herself for the short drive.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, okay, I guess.”

  Ty rejoined his friends for a few minutes, then wandered to the car where Rayna waited. She leaned across the seat and opened the passenger door. “Sit in front,” she said. “This is a friendly conversation.”

  He crawled in, his broad shoulders and long legs filling the space beside her. “Is that a computer?” he said, pointing to the display attached to the dash between them. Rayna could tell he was nervous, or at least ill-at-ease.

  “Yep. We’re part of the twenty-first century here.” She pulled away onto the main road. “What’s at the discount mart?”

  “I gotta get my grandmother a birthday present.”

  “What are you going to get her?”

  “I dunno. They got all this bath powder and cologne and stuff. It’s what I get her every year.”

  Rayna thought of her own mother, Kimberly’s grandmother, active and fit at seventy-three. “Do you like your grandmother?”

  “Yeah. She’s sweet.” He smiled and Rayna was reminded that Ty was still in many ways just a kid. “The nicest person in my whole family.”

  “Why don’t you get her something different this year then? Something more . . . individual.”

  “Like what?”

  “What are her interests?”

  “She likes to knit. And gard
en. She wins prizes for her roses. And she loves watching movies.”

  “There you go.” Rayna fought the urge to suggest he write a personal note on the card. Maybe she was underestimating him.

  Ty settled back in his seat.

  “Is there anything unusual going on in Caitlin’s life that you’re aware of? Anyone bugging her? Mad at her? Acting in any way threatening?”

  He shook his head.

  “Did she seem worried or troubled?”

  Ty stared out the window. “I wouldn’t know. We broke up a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Do you mind if I ask why?”

  He shrugged. “It was her call.”

  “But you must have some idea.” There was a long stretch of silence. “Was it about sex?”

  Ty looked at her sharply. “What kind of question is that!”

  “Am I embarrassing you? I don’t mean to. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of what happened.” Rayna paused. “Were you pressuring her? Was that the problem? I’m not here to judge. It’s pretty typical, if that’s what happened.”

  “She wanted it,” Ty mumbled.

  Rayna held her breath, half expecting a confession. Sex that got out of hand? Some variation of date rape? They struggled and he choked her without really intending to?

  “I thought she was different,” he said at last.

  Had Ty assumed she was willing, then become threatening when it turned out he was wrong? Rayna nodded encouragement.

  “Most girls, that’s all they’re interested in. Then they run to their friends and brag about their conquests.”

  “Most girls want sex?” Boy, had she had that one backwards.

  “Well, a lot of them. There’s even this sort of contest at school. The girls, some of them anyway, they compete with one another. Sort of like bingo, I guess. Or a scavenger hunt. They see who can fill in all the squares first.”

  Rayna refreshed the image in her mind, putting thoughts of date rape aside for the moment. “The squares stand for guys they’ve slept with?”

  “That and, you know, other stuff.”

  “I should think that would be just fine with guys.”

  He laughed. “It gets old.”

  “And Caitlin was playing this game, is that it?”