by Debra Webb
Keep your head on straight, Jo.
From what she could see last night not that much had changed other than the old asylum had closed down. She’d read about the closure a few years ago.
Not soon enough.
Images flickered through her brain. She pushed them away. Don’t look. Don’t look. Have to look.
They should burn the whole place down. Every decaying building.
A complete contrast to the old asylum, Milledgeville was a quaint place that exuded small-town charm and promised parents of potential students that it was a safe and wholesome setting. In truth, it was, for the most part, despite the college campus and endless assortment of official and unofficial sorority and frat houses. Bars, clubs, restaurants, boutiques. All the things every college student needed handy for the launch into adulthood.
Jo went for her coffee again. This time she managed to lift the mug without the risk of spilling the hot brew. She downed a couple of swallows as she stared out the window toward Hancock Street. The first day of her freshman year she’d been so excited. No one in her family had ever gone to college. She was the first. Her parents had been so proud. Even her brother—a man who was far more contented with his head under a hood than in a book—seemed genuinely happy for her.
She’d arrived with big dreams and fully determined to prove she deserved the opportunity. She hadn’t bothered with friends the first semester. Her academic work had been her singular focus. Christmas had arrived and she’d stayed on campus to volunteer with local Christmas charities and to earn some extra cash. She’d gotten a job through the holiday season so she could afford a couple of new outfits and presents to send back home.
Every day had been a new adventure. She was so happy. Then winter started to fade and the promise of spring in the air had her hoping for more.
Her first mistake.
Ray had come to Milledgeville to help with the search on the ninth of March eighteen years ago. Her mother hadn’t been able to come. Their father had been too ill to travel. Cancer. He’d died a year later. She doubted her brother or her mother would ever forgive her for not coming to the funeral.
They didn’t understand.
How could they? She had never told anyone what really happened. She and Ellen had made a pact never to tell. Would it have changed anything if they had told the truth? Would Ellen and the others be alive? Probably not.
Jo shouldn’t have come back here. Had to. Two weeks, one day and six hours had been required for her to work up her nerve to begin the journey from Texas to Georgia. She’d rolled into town in the middle of the night last night. Slept in her twelve-year-old Celica. Nothing like traveling in style.
She was here. That alone was a freaking miracle. Eighteen years. Seventeen years, ten months and twenty-five days to be exact since she left this place.
Jo watched the cars on Hancock Street cruise by. This time of year prospective students were visiting the campus with their parents. Two young girls sat on the bench outside the Blackbird right now. Faces all smiles. Hearts full of excitement. Probably freshmen with that first awkward year nearly behind them or high school seniors hoping to start in the fall. Their futures were just beginning. Others rushed along the sidewalk. Most of the students lived on campus or in one of the sorority or frat houses and used bicycles to get around. Milledgeville was that sort of town. She’d had a bike eighteen years ago. But then she’d sold it when she decided to leave. A single backpack with a couple of changes of clothes was all she’d carried with her when she boarded that bus to anywhere but here.
At the front of the café the door opened and new voices filled the coffee shop. Jo scrutinized the group. So young. They had no idea how important the decisions they made today would be to their futures.
She’d made the wrong decisions and she’d paid the price. Every single night of her life she woke up at least once with her heart racing and her skin clammy with fear that someone was coming for her—that someone knew what she had done, that they would show up at her door.
No one ever came. After nearly eighteen years it was obvious that the only evil she or Ellen or any of the others had to face was their own reflections—the fear, the secrets. The truth. And the years of silence.
Jo started to push the memories away but stopped. She had come back to this place to confront the past. No more pushing it away. No more running. She picked up her cell phone and studied the screen. On the drive here she’d considered calling her mom. She’d only spoken to her once or twice since she left, but she did send her a card on her birthday every year. Disappearing without letting her mother know from time to time that she was okay had been something she couldn’t do.
Her hometown of Madison was less than an hour north of here. She turned her phone screen down on the table. Not yet. She had to take care of this first. When this was done, she would call her mother and maybe even drop by for a short visit. Ray probably wouldn’t speak to her and certainly wouldn’t want to see her. He was married now and had two kids. She didn’t know Tracey, the woman he married. According to Facebook, she was a nurse. Ray was still a mechanic at the same garage he’d worked at when Jo was in high school and then in college, only he owned the place now.
Sometimes she felt like a stalker following his wife’s social media activities but it made her feel better knowing they were all okay. Her mom had wanted grandchildren. She looked happy in the photos Tracey posted. Jo didn’t have any social media accounts of her own. Instead she used her neighbor’s. Wherever she lived there was always at least one neighbor who was careless. Leaving a door unlocked, drinking or drugging too much. Using the apps on their phones was easy. She could look at whatever she wanted, and then delete the history.
“You sure you don’t want something to eat, hon?”
Jo looked up at the server who’d asked that question about half an hour ago. She’d been here too long. Time to move. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
The server—Regina—frowned. “All right then.” She placed the check for the coffee facedown on the table.
Grabbing the check, Jo stood and headed for the register. She made it a point to avoid eye contact with those she passed. Not meeting people’s gazes had become automatic, like dressing nondescriptly and keeping her hair short so she didn’t call attention to herself.
Two customers were in front of her at the register so she waited.
“No,” a girl behind her insisted, “I’m telling you this is for real. I heard my father talking to the chief of police this morning. That girl is missing. She left class on Friday and never came back. I think,” she added in an attempt at a whisper that failed miserably, “there might be two missing.”
Jo pulled her compact from her bag and pretended to check her teeth. She scrutinized the girl seated in the booth across the aisle directly behind her. Young. Likely a student. She was huddled in the booth with a guy, maybe her boyfriend or a study partner.
The guy said, “Well, your dad’s the sheriff. I guess he would know.”
The girl looked around again before saying, “It’ll be all over the news by this afternoon. It’s cray cray. The one who’s for sure missing is a freshman so I don’t know her. Poor thing, she probably went home with the wrong guy. It happens, you know.”
“You’re gonna have to hand me that check, hon, if you want me to ring you up.”
Jo jerked her attention forward and passed the check to the server behind the register. “Sorry.” She dug for a bill from her purse and handed it to the woman. “Keep the change.”
“Are you sure?”
Jo was already headed for the door. She didn’t look back.
“This is a twenty! You only had coffee,” followed her out the door.
Jo forced her feet to slow. Running would only draw attention to herself. Deep breath. Another. She climbed into her Celica and locked the doors. More slow deep breaths. She needed to
calm down.
At least one freshman was missing.
Didn’t mean the abduction was relevant to why Jo was here. Hundreds of people went missing every day all over the country. That would be way too big of a coincidence. Not possible. Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
Think.
If by some bizarre twist of fate, it was him, the girl had potentially been unaccounted for at least four days. That left another ten days—if she was like Jo, like Ellen—until it was too late.
Stop borrowing trouble, Jo-Jo. She had no idea the circumstances of the girls’ disappearances.
“Stay focused.”
She drew in a deep breath. Stick to the plan. Going to the cops at this stage would be premature—a mistake. She couldn’t help if she was detained for questioning or worse, arrested.
Can’t tell the whole truth yet. Can’t tell. Gotta keep quiet for now.
But if those two girls were taken by the same person who took Ellen and her, Jo had at best ten days to find the truth before someone died.
Only what the police didn’t know was that there wouldn’t be just two victims—no one knew about the other girl yet.
6
Georgia College & State University
Parkhurst Hall
12:45 p.m.
Tony moved slowly through the shared space where Tiffany had lived for the past nine months. The suite was reasonably sized. On her side of the room was a typical twin-size bed with nightstand, a desk and chair, bookshelf, chest of drawers and lockable closet. The closet had been unlocked when he arrived. The roommate, Riley Fallon, stated that Tiffany never locked her closet. He snapped photos as he went along to review later. This might be his only opportunity for access to the room.
The roommate and Angie had been allowed to view the closet before their official questioning for the purpose of attempting to determine if anything was missing. Both had confirmed that Tiffany’s belongings, as best either one could tell, were all there. Tony was amazed at Angie’s ability to remain so strong during the questioning that followed. She explained how Tiffany would never leave without her makeup, purse and cell phone. No one challenged that assessment. The birth control pills found in the nightstand drawer added yet another check to the missing column. Angie hadn’t known Tiffany was on birth control but didn’t appear upset about it. The date of the prescription and the number of missing pills indicated Tiffany had taken one every day until the day she was last seen in this room—four days and eighteen hours ago. Tony snapped a photo of the prescription just in case. Never knew what would turn out to be important.
In his opinion there was more than enough evidence to confirm the status of missing. Phelps as well as Chief Buckley of campus security were now equally convinced. A press conference was held at eight this morning and the alerts were issued. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been notified. Setting up a joint task force with Chief Buckley as lead was the next order of business for the local authorities. Something else that would burn valuable time they didn’t have to spare, but it was a necessary step. The more eyes they had on the case, the more boots on the ground, the better.
Tony sat down in the chair on Tiffany’s side of the room and waited for Riley Fallon, the roommate, to return to the dorm. In this morning’s interview she had stated that she came back to the room for lunch Monday through Friday. She used the break in her schedule for relaxing and studying. According to Riley, Tiffany often did the same thing. Only Angie didn’t think so. Not that Tiffany’s mother called the other girl a liar or even countered her statement, it was the expression on Angie’s face that alerted Tony to her feelings on the matter. Later he’d asked her and she’d mentioned that Tiffany talked about the quad and the many wonderful places provided by the college for students to chill. He’d noticed the benches and tables. Lots of places for students to hang out besides trudging back to the dorm.
Riley Fallon hadn’t been completely honest. Even without Angie’s thoughts on the matter, Tony had watched the young woman’s gaze avert when asked a direct question and the way she fidgeted. Fingers tugging at cuticles, then clasping and unclasping. Reaching up and adjusting her hair repeatedly. Chewing her bottom lip. Clearing her throat again and again. Looking anywhere as she spoke except at the person who’d asked the question. Classic signs of deception.
The question now was whether what she was hiding was relevant to the investigation into Tiffany’s disappearance.
Residue from the search for fingerprints still littered surfaces in the room. Since the roommate needed to use this room and no indication of foul play had actually occurred in this space, the forensic techs had made quick work of going over the room and clearing out so as not to disrupt the resident. Extensive photos had been taken as well as the sheets from Tiffany’s bed and the few items from her laundry bag.
Coming back for a second round of questions was motivated by more than the idea that Tony thought Riley Fallon was lying, it was the lack of sincere concern for her roommate that bothered him most. It was the way that, when the interview was over, she looked directly at the person asking the questions and presented a worried face without the first drop of moisture appearing in her eyes and insisted she hoped Tiffany was okay.
The key turned in the door lock but the door only partly opened. “I need the money before we go in.”
Riley’s voice.
“Sure.”
Male voice.
After a few seconds, Riley said, “Okay. Ten minutes. That’s all you get for twenty bucks.”
“That’s all I need.”
Well, well. The roommate had decided to try her hand at entrepreneurship while she was still a freshman. And right here in the dorm. How ambitious of her. Tony sat back and waited.
The two came into the room and Riley closed the door and locked it. The impatient young man was already unfastening his fly when Riley turned and spotted Tony. Her eyes rounded behind her nerdy glasses and he saw the first hint of genuine emotion there.
“Give him his money back and send him on his way and we’ll pretend this—” Tony gestured to the two of them “—never happened.”
“Holy shit, is that your dad?” the guy asked, hands going up in front of his chest as if to protect himself from a coming attack.
“Just go.” Riley shoved the twenty at him. He almost fell over his own feet trying to reach the door while fumbling with his fly. Another half a minute elapsed with him struggling with the lock before escaping.
Once he was gone, Riley said, “I told you all I know about Tiffany.”
“Sit.” Tony indicated the other chair. No matter how much psychology he forced into his brain, the idea of how mankind survived, considering survival required the species to go through puberty and adolescence, remained a mystery to him.
Riley sidled over to the chair on her side of the room and collapsed into it. “Are you going to tell on me and ruin my college career? I’ll lose my scholarship, you know.”
Gee, so nice to see more of that overwhelming concern for her roommate.
“That depends on how cooperative you are in the next five minutes.”
The girl glanced at his crotch.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Really?”
She cleared her throat. “What do I have to do?”
Leaning forward, he braced his forearms on his thighs and looked her straight in the eyes. “You have to tell me the truth. You and Tiffany weren’t getting along, were you?”
For one long moment she didn’t answer. She drew in a deep breath and released it. “We hate each other.”
Tony concluded as much. “Why?”
“She came into the room and caught me with...a guy.”
It happened. Guys loved it when other guys caught them getting laid by most any means. Apparently girls didn’t feel the same way. “
Why was that such a big deal?”
Another exaggerated sigh huffed from her gloss-shined lips as she glanced to the bare mattress behind Tony. “Because we were in her bed.”
Now that was dirty. “So you were conducting your little business in this room in Tiffany’s bed?”
Riley nodded.
“I can see why she would be angry. When did this happen?” He opened his phone to his notepad.
She gasped. He showed her the screen to confirm he wasn’t calling anyone.
“Right after the semester break. She’s barely spoken to me since.”
“Have you been using your own bed?” He held up a hand. “Before you answer that question, keep in mind that the forensic folks will find all DNA on Tiffany’s bed linens.”
She nodded adamantly. “I don’t go near her side of the room anymore.”
Tony decided she was telling the truth. “We’ll keep this between us, if you tell me what you believe happened to Tiffany.”
She blinked, her eyes still wide behind the oversize eyewear. “I already said what I think in my statement.”
“I want everything you have, Riley, even if you aren’t completely sure it’s important. Any suspicions you have or rumors you’ve heard might be important, too.” He shrugged. “The goal here is to make sure Tiffany comes back home safely, right? Unless, of course, you have some reason to hope she doesn’t come back.”
The missing tears showed up then. “I don’t want Tiffany to be hurt. I mean, we’re not friends or anything, but I wouldn’t wish anything bad on anyone.”
Tony rolled his hand in a go-on motion.
“So there was this guy...” She shrugged. “I saw Tiffany with him once and she kept talking to someone on her cell. I think it was the same guy. That’s why I told the chief she had a new boyfriend. That’s what I figured.”
Frustration lit in Tony’s veins. “Did you recognize him or hear her say his name?”
