Search for Her

by Rick Mofina

  “So much was going on at work, at home,” he said. “We—mostly you—had your hands full with Riley and Caleb. I was no help. Blake was withdrawn and my relationship with Riley needed work. These aren’t excuses, but I let you down.”

  Grace said nothing because it was true.

  “I was focused on getting the Pittsburgh job,” he said. “To give our new family a new start, a journey we’d take together.”

  “And I agreed. And when you got the job, I was so proud of you.”

  “Now I’m afraid we could lose Pittsburgh.”

  “Lose it? Why?”

  “The allegation that we’re involved with drugs—it’s in the press, online, it’s everywhere.”

  “But we rented the RV, we weren’t charged. Police were just being thorough.”

  “But once you’re accused of something, it’s like a permanent stain.”

  “The drug allegations are wrong. Aren’t they, John?”

  A moment passed and Grace saw John’s Adam’s apple rise and fall. “They’re wrong.”

  “Then what’re you trying to tell me?”

  John was silent.

  “John?”

  “That maybe we shouldn’t’ve moved from San Diego, that I should’ve looked harder to find another position there. I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I gambled moving us to Pittsburgh, I gambled with our lives and I lost, just like I did with Lana and Courtney.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I never told you this, but that day we went sailing the forecast had called for a chance of a storm. Lana was nervous. She suggested we not go, but I said she was being too cautious and dismissed her concerns. I said I was willing to bet the weather would be fine.”

  John paused for a moment.

  “Then you know what I said? I said, ‘besides, if we lose the boat, we’re insured.’ Can you believe it, Grace? I gambled with our lives, and it cost me my wife and my daughter. And Blake? Blake’s irreparably damaged, withdrawn into himself. He’ll never be the same after that night.”

  John stopped. Grace could hear him crying softly. She rubbed his shoulders.

  “I took a risk, Grace. After that night I swore I’d never take another risk again, but look at us. Look what I did. I take risks with peoples’ lives. And I lose.”

  After considering what he’d told her, Grace took a breath.

  “No, don’t do this to yourself. You can’t be blamed for tragic circumstances. If anyone is to blame for causing deaths, it’s me.” Grace’s voice weakened. “I’ve done unforgivable things, horrible things,” she said. “I’m not the person you think I am.”

  John took her into his arms.

  “Honey, you’re distraught, you haven’t slept, you’ve haven’t eaten, you’re exhausted. Let’s go back to our room, get some rest.”

  “No,” she said.

  “Just for a few hours, then we’ll come right back and keep looking.”

  “No, I want to tell you about the night Tim died. I listened to you, now you listen to me.”

  It took a moment for John to realize she needed to talk. “Okay.”

  John already knew much of what Grace related about Tim. How he was an IT systems manager and had accepted a promotion, a big secondment job with his company’s operations in Chicago that paid well at a time when they needed the money. But Tim didn’t want to uproot his family and disrupt their lives in California, so he decided to travel back and forth when he could.

  Their commuter marriage worked well. They had video calls. Tim flew home every couple of weeks, making the best of their time together. Grace and Riley visited Tim at his Chicago apartment and saw the sights.

  “The night he died, he flew home without telling me, took an Uber from the airport. Turned out he was not going to renew his secondment because he missed us and wanted us to return to a normal life in San Diego. But I didn’t know at the time.”

  “He didn’t tell you?”

  “No, he came home that night without telling me anything, wanting to surprise me and Riley with the news—but I...” Grace’s voice faded.

  “You what?”

  It took a long time to find her words. “I wasn’t feeling well. I had a bad head cold. We talked just a bit, but not long after he came through the door, I sent him back out to a CVS to get me cold medicine.” Grace hesitated. “Tim was tired after a long flight, but he was such a kind man, such a good husband, he got in the car and went out into the night, and drove to the CVS in a rainstorm for me. That’s when he crashed. Police said that he likely lost control when he swerved to miss a dog and his car rolled over. But I’ll always know that Tim’s death is my fault.”

  John put his arm around her. “Grace, you can’t feel guilty because it’s just like you told me, a set of tragic circumstances that were out of your control. If we could go back in time, we’d change things, but that’s not how life works.”

  Minutes passed in silence with the interstate humming in the distance.

  Watching the searchers, Grace and John retreated into their thoughts, each knowing that while they’d both made revelations, they had not told the other the whole truth about their pasts.

  Forty-Four

  Nevada

  Grace and John were trapped in an intense beam of white. Behind it came the crunch of footsteps.

  “Dad? Grace?” Blake lowered his flashlight.

  “Oh.” Grace stood and hugged him.

  “How’re you doing, Grace?” he asked.

  “The best we can, honey. Are you okay?”

  “Now that the creep’s dead, I’m more afraid than ever for Riley.”

  “We can’t give up hope, son,” John said.

  “That’s right.” Grace rubbed Blake’s shoulders. “We can’t stop praying and looking.”

  “Um, I need to talk to you, Dad.”

  “Sure,” John said.

  “In private?” Blake said.

  Grace stopped rubbing his shoulders.

  “What is it, Blake?” John said. “You can tell us both.”

  “It’s no big deal, but I just wanted to talk to you alone, Dad. I’m sorry, Grace,” Blake said.

  “It’s okay,” Grace said. She squeezed Blake’s shoulders then dropped her hands, as if releasing him.

  As Blake and John moved away, she thought she’d overheard Blake say: “Dad, Claire overheard you talking about money...” but was uncertain as she watched them vanish in two circles of light gliding over the scrub.

  The thing was, Grace did mind that Blake wouldn’t talk to both of them.

  Blake was usually quiet, internalizing his feelings. There were times he talked alone with John, and Grace respected that. But now? Under these circumstances?

  Maybe I mistake his reticence for him being okay. I haven’t been the best mother to him, and he doesn’t trust me to understand him. Is there something going on with him that I should know about?

  * * *

  “Grace.” Jazmin’s light brushed over her before she joined her on the rock. “What’re you doing here all alone?”

  “Asking for forgiveness.”

  “Oh, sweetie, why would you need to be forgiven?”

  “For leaving my daughter behind.”

  “No, you don’t need to be forgiven for anything. You need to keep the faith and stay strong because we’re going to find Riley.”

  “I want to believe that, but it’s just so hard.”

  “That’s because you haven’t slept or eaten. We need to get some food in you and you need to go back to the motel and rest.”

  “I can’t, Jazmin, not when she could be...”

  “Shh, shh, stop. You’ve got an army on your side to take the burden from you. We’re going to win this. We’re going to find her, you’ll see.”

&nb
sp; Grace took a moment. “Thank you, Jazmin. Thank you for coming.”

  “No thanks needed, not after all you’ve done for me.”

  “After all we’ve done for each other.”

  “You know,” Jazmin said, “there’s something I’ve wanted to confess to you but I could never—” She stopped.

  “What is it?”

  Grace heard Jazmin take in a long breath. “What you did for my mom in the last minutes of her life. You were there, you held her hand. What you did was kind, merciful.”

  “It’s what nurses around the world do every day.”

  “I know, but this was us. This was personal. I couldn’t be there with her but you were. And after it happened, this sounds awful, but at first, I secretly resented you for it.”

  “Resented me?”

  “It was like with you being there with her, instead of me, you took something from me. Something that was mine, that I had a right to. And it hurt, it really hurt. Some days I hated you for it.”

  “Jazmin, I never knew.”

  “Look, I know it’s a totally irrational feeling, a reaction to my loss, the grief, and being sick and scared at the time. Then after I got through the choking fog of it all, I saw things in a clearer light, saw what really mattered and I realized that if I couldn’t be there with her, there was no one else in the world I would’ve chosen to take my place but you. And I loved you for it, for what you did for me.”

  “You would’ve done the same for me.”

  “I don’t know why I’m telling you this now. I guess because even though that feeling is gone, I wanted to be honest with you. I wanted you to know the truth.”

  For a moment, Grace stared in her direction, trying to find Jazmin’s face. They found each other’s hands and squeezed. They stayed that way for a few minutes as Jazmin tried to convince Grace to go back to the Sagebrush and get some rest. But Grace refused to give up searching.

  “One thing,” Grace said. “The detectives need the names of all the people who attended our farewell party. Would you and Sherry help me with the list?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The two women hugged before Jazmin set off to get Grace a sandwich from the command post, knowing she likely wouldn’t eat it.

  * * *

  Jazmin stepped away, leaving Grace alone.

  Not long after, Grace began sobbing in the torment of a second night without knowing if her daughter was alive.

  DAY 3

  Forty-Five

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  It was 6:30 a.m. Lieutenant Moe Holland turned his neck slightly while reading an email on his phone.

  He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. The muscles bunched in his jawline conveyed his displeasure to his detectives, Elsen and McDowell, after he and the upper ranks had demanded to know why they had used an unsealed floor to interview a suspect.

  Their emailed response stated they’d been advised that the section on the secured floor they had wanted was temporarily closed for upgrades to the alarm and sprinkler systems and that the floor they were assigned was secure.

  Holland had more questions about Rykhirt’s death in custody, but they’d be addressed by Internal Oversight’s probe of the incident.

  Holland took a breath, set his phone down then took inventory of the nearly two dozen people who’d settled around the table. Investigators from several Metro units and outside agencies, including the FBI, the DEA, Nevada Highway Patrol and others on the line, had convened in the second-floor meeting room at Las Vegas police headquarters. Phones, tablets, laptops and notebooks covered the table’s edge.

  The air was a mix of fresh coffee and tension.

  Holland started the case-status meeting with quick introductions before nodding to the detectives to begin.

  “You all have our case summary,” Elsen said. “Frayer Ront Rykhirt died last night. We’ve issued a statement, and you can’t miss the media reports.” He cleared his throat and continued. “The evidence we have leads us to believe that Rykhirt abducted Riley Jarrett from the Silver Sagebrush truck stop, near Jean. For those who haven’t seen it, we’ll share some of it now. Watch the screen at the end of the room and, for those on the line, Detective McDowell is sending the link.”

  The videos from Fontana and the Sagebrush played, along with photos of Rykhirt’s chilling sketch of Riley; the scissors, tape, the tarp, pick and shovel that were found in his car.

  Elsen also pointed to Rykhirt’s criminal history and strong suspicions of his involvement in the homicide of Eva Marie Garcia, who’d lived ten blocks from Rykhirt’s address in Riverside, California.

  “The stats tell us that children abducted by predatory pedophiles are killed within hours of being taken. Officially this is a missing person case. At this time we don’t yet have solid evidence Riley Jarrett is a homicide victim. Until we find it we work and live in hope that she isn’t. Our priority is to locate her as we continue to follow every avenue of this investigation. Now, I’ll pass this to my partner.”

  McDowell continued with a rundown of key aspects. “As of this morning, with the exception of the shoe, the search in and around the Sagebrush has yielded nothing new but continues with an intense focus on areas of probability arising from the discovery of the sneaker,” she said. “We’re continuing to run background on all people employed, or recently employed, at the facility.”

  In Las Vegas, more Metro officers had been sent to recanvass the area around the Dreamy Breeze Motor Inn. Homicide was using Rykhirt’s credit and bank cards and, where possible, security cameras to establish a timeline and travel history for Rykhirt. Riverside PD continued reexamining and comparing Jarrett with the Garcia case for potential leads.

  Updates from forensic results arising from the RV, Riley’s phone, Rykhirt’s Nissan, phone, computer, his belongings, his motel room, were still forthcoming. Results from the area where Riley Jarrett’s sneaker was recovered were not yet available.

  “However, indications are that they may only get partial latents at best from the shoe because of the uneven surface,” McDowell said.

  No solid leads to date from the FBI-led Child Exploitation Task Force and the casinos in the security program. The detectives continued checking with the airport, bus depot and other transportation outlets, the tip lines, then other county and state agencies.

  “While Frayer is our primary suspect, he’s not a sure thing. Work continues on other avenues,” McDowell said.

  They were still following up on the family’s background and queries with San Diego County’s Child Protective Services, their employment, school and financial history, as well as compiling a list of everyone who attended the family’s farewell party.

  “And, we just got this bit of encouraging news. Our people in the Digital Forensic Lab working with IT people at the Silver Sagebrush report that while there is no guarantee, they’re working on possibly recovering additional video of areas where Riley Jarrett may have been present around the time her family was at the truck stop.”

  When McDowell reached the end of their item-by-item status report, Holland shifted the meeting into a Q and A brainstorming session.

  “Let’s set Rykhirt aside,” Holland said. “What other roads of investigation are you considering?”

  The detectives exchanged glances.

  “Every piece of evidence points to him,” McDowell said.

  “We haven’t nailed this shut yet,” Holland said. “So we can’t get tunnel vision. Let’s hear some other theories, things we can consider or rule out based on what we know.”

  “Rykhirt could’ve brought her to town and sold her to traffickers,” said Special Agent Barry Caffrey, a member of the Child Exploitation Task Force. “Last month, here in Las Vegas, we rescued two dozen sex trafficking victims, all young girls, and arrested ten adult traffickers in an operation to take down a global human traffic
king network.”

  “Is the FBI hearing something further on that?” Elsen said.

  “We’re following up on a tip from an informant that Rykhirt may have been working with traffickers and may have sold her,” Caffrey said.

  “That could fit. Thanks,” Holland said. “Anyone got anything else to consider?”

  “We’ve been pursuing a lead, but nothing’s panned out yet,” said Audrey Haberfeld, a DEA agent with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area team.

  “Go ahead,” Elsen said.

  “The dogs give us a strong indication that drugs were present in the RV, right?” Haberfeld said.

  “Yes, but none were found and our people are still checking with their drug sources, as well as the rental history of the vehicle,” Elsen said. “What’ve you got?”

  “We’re hearing that the family may have delivered a shipment to a contact at the truck stop. Then the contact discovered they were shorted and took the daughter in retaliation and is holding her for ransom.”

  “But we have video of Rykhirt stalking the family, touching her, sketching her,” Elsen said.

  “Could all be coincidental, part of his fantasy,” Haberfeld said.

  “I can’t buy the drug connection.” A tin-sounding voice crackled over the telecom speaker. “Del Burton, Riverside Homicide.”

  “Why’s that, Del?” Holland said.

  “It just doesn’t align with the evidence you have on Rykhirt,” Burton said. “I mean look. Rykhirt’s pattern here, and in the Garcia case, is so strong. He’s a hunter. Just look at the discovery of Riley Jarrett’s shoe. How did it get there? Maybe she fought him, or ran. It was found north of the Sagebrush, just east of the interstate’s northbound lanes. She could’ve walked that far, or it could’ve been tossed from a car headed for Las Vegas. He could’ve driven her up into the mountains and buried her there. What I’m saying is you have compelling evidence that points to him. Rykhirt has to be the correct path to clearing the case.”