The Hidden Grave (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 2)

by Dominika Best

  “Which case was Eugene PD warning you off of?” she asked.

  “They wanted us to stay away from the Menlo and Prentiss murders,” Jake said.

  “And the FBI is Chris Becker?” she asked.

  Jake nodded. “Tell me about this camp.”

  “It was hard to track down. Someone on the state level sealed the records about fifteen years ago. I was lucky to have found mention of it in a newspaper from the early 90s and when I went looking for it on a map, I found the name of it. You know what the really weird thing is?”

  “What?” Jake asked.

  “The site of the camp, in fact, the island itself had been scrubbed from any maps after the year 2000.”

  “That sounds deliberate. How was the camp created?”

  “The federal government sold a lease to a very wealthy man named Jerome Wexler. Construction of the camp started in June of 1991. The facilities were open the next summer. The newspaper article stated it was a year-round camp for troubled boys,” Dr. Brand handed him a clipped article.

  “This is the only article it was mentioned in?” Jake asked.

  “That’s correct. They named it Camp Nightwood.”

  “Who was Jerome Wexler?” Jake asked. “Did the article mention anything about him?”

  “He was a wealthy finance guy. Something to do with real estate. He apparently had political aspirations in the 90s. He ran for governor in 1995, but I couldn’t find any other mention of him after that initial run.”

  “He lost, I assume,” Jake asked.

  “Yes. Some scandal waylaid his campaign and he dropped out of the race. He fled the country, and I found no mention of him again in Oregon,” Dr. Brand said. “That kind of research is not my area of expertise. I did find land records of the deal for the island. It was called Black Rock Island.”

  “Who owns it now?” Jake asked.

  “It’s federal land again. The lease expired.”

  She opened a map and showed him the general vicinity of the lake and island. To Jake, it looked small in a vast area of forest.

  “When can I get out there? If I grabbed Harri, could we make it tonight?”

  “If we went today, we’d have to go in the next hour and a half. We only have about four hours of daylight left. It’s about a half-hour hike to the lake and it would take about an hour to get there.” She looked outside again and checked her watch. “Maybe it would be best if we waited until tomorrow. Hiking out there in the dark wouldn’t be the easiest. It’s not a well-known trail and searching for anything in the dark is tricky.”

  “If you could lead us to the start of the trail, I think Harri will want to take that chance. Dan Ledeyen is still missing, and I have a feeling he might be out there,” Jake said.

  This surprised Dr. Brand.

  “I thought you said you weren’t investigating the boys?” Dr. Brand asked.

  “I’m not. Not officially. We have to bring Dan Ledeyen home, though.”

  “Why do you think he’s out there?”

  “A hunch. This camp is the start of whatever is going on here.”

  “You have the maps,” Dr. Brand hesitated. “I’m not sure if I can join this expedition. I hope you understand.”

  “I totally understand that,” Jake said, and he did. “Do you mind showing me again on the map exactly where we’re going?”

  Dr. Brand nodded and showed him the start of the trail and where it would lead them to the island.

  He checked his phone and swiped to open it. It was frozen. He pressed the two buttons to restart it as he gathered up the map.

  “Thank you so much for the help. We both really appreciate it.”

  Dr. Brand nodded. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but could you please not mention where you got this map from?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll keep your involvement out of it. Thank you.”

  Dr. Brand finished her coffee and grabbed her purse. She stood up and Jake followed her out the door. They said their good-byes and Jake walked back to his car, constantly checking his phone. It was still booting up.

  Jake got into the car and waited for his phone to go back online. He sat there for another couple of minutes, his heart pounding. When the phone finally refreshed, Jake typed in his passcode and messages from Harri popped up.

  She’d gone to a man’s house. His name was Robert Payton and she’d included his address. Jake hadn’t heard the name before. He saw he had a voicemail also waiting from her.

  He called her first. Harri’s phone went straight to voicemail. That wasn’t like her. He listened to the message and gripped the phone as he listened to her story about the man in the mall. He shouldn’t have left her alone. Dammit.

  Jake slammed the wheel several times. Something happened to Harri. He knew it.

  He dialed Detective Gavin French as he peeled out of the parking spot towards Robert Payton’s house. Gavin picked up on the first ring.

  “Harri’s in trouble.”

  28

  Day 6 - Afternoon

  Harri Harper stood in front of Robert Payton’s red door and knocked for the fourth time. She put her ear up to the door. No sound came from inside.

  Her finger twitched on the trigger of her gun. She needed to put that away before she hurt someone, she thought. Her jumpiness about the man from the mall prevented her from obeying her thought, though. She would check the perimeter first then put away the gun.

  Harri turned away from the door and took the stairs down to the main front walk. Robert Payton’s home was a small one-story ranch-style house. The front yard was neat and trim, but the property wasn’t eye-catching in any way. A nondescript house in a suburban neighborhood.

  It was the perfect place to hide, she thought. She scanned the street to see if anyone was around. When she found it empty, Harri pushed through the box shrubs under the front window to the right of the front door and peeked inside.

  By the furniture in the room, Harri guessed she was looking at his living room. She saw no signs of anyone being home. She struggled through the shrubs and returned to the front walk.

  She checked the street.

  Still no one around.

  Harri walked quickly around the corner of the house onto the driveway. She was trespassing and wanted no nosy neighbors calling the police on her. Thankfully, the driveway had tall fir trees shielding it from the prying eyes of the neighbors on the right.

  Her cheeks flushed. She still had her gun out.

  Even better. A trespasser holding a gun.

  She wouldn’t make it out of this driveway alive if the neighbors called the cops. She put her gun back in her holster but kept her hand near it as she rounded the corner of the house.

  A white panel van was parked in front of a small garage attached to the back of the house. It was a strange configuration for a garage. It did afford a certain amount of privacy for Robert Payton though. He’d have an easy time pulling the van up to the back of the house and depositing victims into the garage.

  A footstep sounded behind her. Before Harri could pull her gun out, pain shot through her head. A thought floated into her consciousness as she sank into darkness.

  How had he snuck up on her?

  29

  Day 6 - Night

  Jake Tepesky met Gavin French at the home of Robert Payton. Jake had sped to the address, but Gavin beat him there. That was a good thing because Jake was about to pound down the door to find Harri. Gavin and two uniforms were walking down the drive away from the home. Without Harri.

  “She’s not there?” Jake asked, panic rising in his voice.

  “There’s no sign of her. We haven’t found her car on the street, either.”

  “Did you talk to Payton?”

  “No one home,” Gavin said.

  “She left me this address and told me she’d left the car at the high school.”

  Gavin’s brow furrowed. “We told you to stay away from the Atticus Menlo case,” he said.

  Jake shook his head, conf
used. “We were. She was tracking down a lead on Dan Ledeyen’s disappearance. What does this have to do with Atticus? Have you gotten ahold of the cameras at the mall?”

  Jake had told him about the incident in the mall. Gavin was not happy to hear about the clothes found on Alan Prentiss.

  “My men are on that. Why would she be at Atticus Menlo’s school?”

  So that’s what the connection was.

  “I don’t know,” Jake said. “Have you run a check on Robert Payton?”

  Gavin nodded.

  “He’s a teacher at Milbourne High School.”

  “She didn’t tell me what she was doing there. Something must have spooked her though since she texted me the address of where she was going. She’s never done that before,” Jake said.

  He paced back and forth in the driveway, trying to discharge his heightened energy. Harri’s disappearing was not good. Not good at all.

  “Have you searched the property?”

  “We have no reason to enter the property. We did look around the outside and we found nothing. No signs of a struggle.”

  “Should we go to the school? Check and see if her car is still there?” Jake asked.

  “Let’s take your car. I’ll leave the uniforms here in case Payton returns. They can hold him here until I get back. I’ll question him about Harri, but we have to find him first.”

  Gavin turned to talk to the uniforms as Jake walked back to his car. Harri was gone. Like Lauren. But Harri wasn’t Lauren. She was a cop. She had skills.

  “Hang in there, Harri,” Jake muttered as he sat in the driver’s seat.

  Gavin knocked on the window several moments later. Jake unlocked the car door for him, and Gavin slid into the passenger seat.

  “Do you know where Milbourne High School is?” Gavin asked.

  “No.”

  “Go to the stop sign and take a right. Take the first left and Milbourne is on that road,” Gavin said.

  Jake followed his instructions. Neither man spoke until Jake pulled into the visitor parking lot.

  “That’s her car,” Jake pointed to the rental car.

  It was the only car left in the lot.

  “Do you have keys?” Gavin asked.

  “No. There’s only one set and they should be with Harri.”

  Jake pulled up alongside the car and the two of them jumped out. Jake checked the driver’s door. It was locked. He peered inside but the car was empty.

  “She has her purse on her.”

  “I’m not seeing anything here,” Gavin said.

  “Me, neither.”

  Jake gritted his teeth. They couldn’t just wait for her dead body to show up somewhere.

  “We’ve been working on a theory,” Jake began.

  Gavin cocked his head at him, his mouth set in a thin line. He looked pissed.

  “Which part of stay out of it did you two not understand?”

  “We were staying away from your cases. This has directly to do with Lauren Harper’s disappearance and also Dan Ledeyen’s disappearance.”

  “And?” Gavin asked.

  “There was a photo in Chris Becker’s apartment. I saw it when we found his body.”

  “Right. The photo.”

  “Did you do anything with it yet?” Jake asked.

  “We’ve been just a little bit busy finding dead boys in the woods,” Gavin said, frowning. Jake wondered if Gavin was thinking he’d missed something. Which he had.

  “That camp in the photo with Lauren is connected to your case.”

  “How so?” Gavin asked.

  “Lauren Harper was surrounded by eight boys at a camp during what appeared to be summer. She’d never been to Oregon before that September.”

  “Meaning?” Gavin asked.

  “Meaning that photo had to be taken the summer after her disappearance.”

  “That’s a terrible thought, but I’m not seeing the connection to my case,” Gavin said.

  “One of the boys in that photo was Chris Becker.”

  “Which would make sense that he had that photo, I guess,” Gavin said.

  His frown deepened.

  “We think that’s where the killer had been holding the boys,” Jake said.

  “You have evidence of this? That seems like a big jump.”

  “I’ll explain my thought process as we’re driving out there,” Jake said.

  “You found the camp?”

  “Yes. I think that’s where Dan Ledeyen is being held,” Jake said.

  “Why?”

  “It’s a hunch. I think the camp was a front for a child prostitution operation. It’s where all of this started.”

  “Do you have any proof of this?”

  “Not proof of the child prostitution ring. But it would be a perfect place to keep a victim. Especially if the perp was reliving some sort of fantasy or regression.”

  “And you know where the camp was located?”

  “I have a map of it. Supposedly it’s an hour away.”

  Gavin looked back at Harri’s car.

  “Lemme call this in and see what my LT says about it.”

  Jake nodded and watched Gavin walk away to make the phone call.

  He kicked the wheel of his car in anger. He should have been her back up and he’d failed her. He would never do that again. Harri might be LAPD but every cop needed backup when they were in the crosshairs of a killer.

  Gavin returned to the car. “We have the go-ahead. If we find anything out there, I’ll make the call for support. Let’s take my car. I have the radio.”

  Jake nodded and locked up his rental.

  I’m coming, Harri. Hang in there. We’re coming.

  30

  Day 6 - Night

  Harri Harper woke up groaning and grabbed her head. She felt nothing wet which was good. At least he hadn't cracked her skull when he’d taken her, but she was sure she had a concussion.

  When she moved, nausea filled her mouth and her eyes blurred. Definitely a concussion.

  A barely lit bulb gave the room a sickly yellow glow. Harri wiped at her eyes and worked hard on focusing. Whoever had taken her had left her in what appeared to be a basement room. A turned-over desk and several chairs were piled in a corner. Otherwise, the room was empty. There were no windows on any of the walls. The only way out looked to be a door. She was sure it was locked from the outside.

  Harri shifted and the pain in her head almost sent her back into unconsciousness. She knew from her training that her best bet was to escape. No way was her abductor going to let her go. Of that, she was certain.

  Harri forced herself to her feet, her head splitting in pain from the movement, and shuffled towards the door. The room shifted beneath her as her body sent out signals for her to stop moving.

  She shuffled further.

  Tears streamed down her face as she reached the door and tried the knob. It was locked as she’d assumed. Harri slipped back down to the ground. Her stillness allowed the pain in her head to momentarily subside. She scanned her surroundings again.

  The only opening she saw was a small air vent in the ceiling. Could she fit through that? She listened for any evidence of her abductor being nearby. The place was completely silent.

  How long had she been here? She pulled up her sleeve and checked her smartwatch. Her abductor hadn’t taken that from her, at least. It had been about four hours since she’d been at Robert Payton’s house.

  Harri grappled with her situation.

  She had seen no one at Payton’s house.

  Did Robert Payton take her?

  Could she be in his converted garage?

  If that was the case, she’d already have been found. Jake had Robert Payton’s address and he must know by now she’d been taken. Knowing him, he’d have contacted Gavin French and they’d have searched Payton’s property. That means whoever took her had moved her. That didn’t bode well for her chances of survival. She had to find a way out of here.

  Harri tried to get back on her f
eet and groaned again with the effort. Her head pounded as she stood swaying. She shook the dizziness off as her hand searched for her weapon belt under her arm. Of course, he’d taken her gun.

  Her gun.

  Oh god, that was bad.

  A cop’s service weapon out in the wild. Crap.

  She had lost her weapon and she’d let herself be taken.

  What a fool she’d been to go on her own. Her judgment had been reckless in this case. She should have waited for Jake. Her gut had told her something was off. This case made her do too many dangerous things and now here she was.

  Her breath caught in her chest as fear cascaded through her. This was not the time to freeze. Harri gritted her teeth.

  She needed to act. She was a professional. She’d been taken and she needed out. This was not the way she would go down.

  Her eyes drifted to the air filter. Outside of the door, that was the only other opening. She moved again and this time the nausea overwhelmed her. She dry-heaved but nothing much came out. She had eaten little over the last day. Small mercies, she supposed.

  She attempted to move again. Her vision blurred and she sank back down to the ground. Darkness crowded on the edges of her vision. She was losing consciousness.

  She just needed to sleep.

  If she slept for a little bit, her head would be better.

  Harri folded into herself and let the blackness take over. At least, she wouldn’t feel the pain in her head.

  31

  Day 6 - Night

  Richard Miller looked over his map and shone his flashlight on the path that was barely there. He’d dug out the old map from twenty-five years ago. He’d saved it just in case something like this happened.

  He knew that what he would find there might destroy his life. But if he could save just one boy, then he had to do it. He hadn't been able to do it twenty-five years ago. All he’d managed to do was save himself and Bobby.