The River Girls

by Melinda Woodhall

  The house at 1408 Shutter Street was their largest facility, occupying a renovated building that had previously contained twelve private apartments and a leasing office. A security breach and the resulting relocation effort would mean uprooting a dozen women and their children.

  “Sit down and catch your breath.” Eden motioned to one of the chairs and opened a bottle of water. “Have a drink, and then tell me what’s happened to you.”

  She studied the girl’s discolored, swollen eye, then let her gaze drift down to a trail of angry red puncture marks on the girl’s pale inner arm. Eden knew those marks were the telltale sign of an intravenous drug user.

  Mercy Harbor wasn’t a rehab facility, and the staff members weren’t equipped to deal with addicts. Eden was beginning to suspect she’d made a mistake letting the girl inside.

  How did she find us anyway?

  Eden waited for the girl to collect her thoughts and take a few sips from the bottle.

  Has she been here before? Is that how I know her?

  She could see that the black eye wasn’t fresh. Someone had hit the girl a few days ago. The yellowish tinge of her swollen chin also indicated that the injuries were starting to heal.

  “My name is Sta…Star,” the girl stammered and hugged herself as if scared, or perhaps cold.

  No, it’s not Star, but that sounds close, Eden thought, keeping her expression neutral and open, trying to remember where she’d seen the girl’s face before. She tried to imagine her face as it would look if it were fresh and undamaged.

  “Okay, Star, glad to meet you,” Eden said, pulling open a drawer and removing a blanket.

  The summer night was hot and humid, but constant air conditioning kept the big building cold, and Star looked as if she didn’t have an ounce of extra flesh to keep her warm. Her skimpy tank top and tiny shorts didn’t offer much in the way of coverage or warmth either. At least the girl was wearing a solid-looking pair of tennis shoes.

  Eden wrapped the blanket over Star's shoulders, pulled up a chair and sat down. "Now, can you tell me what happened?"

  “My boyfriend…” Star paused and seemed to reconsider her words. “Well, Hollywood, that’s what we call him, he’s sort of my boyfriend. At least I thought he was. Anyway, he did this.” Star pointed to her eye and then looked down at her lap.

  “How old are you?” Eden tried to keep her tone non-judgmental. Star was still a teenager, she couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen years old, so Eden knew the girl was most likely a runaway, and that she may try to hide her real age.

  “You still living at home?”

  “Um…I’m eighteen. I’ve been staying with Hollywood. He set me up in a room with some other girls.” Star didn’t make eye contact. Her hands fidgeted with the edge of the blanket.

  “Does your family know where you’ve been living?” Eden sensed that Star wanted to say more, but she didn’t want to spook her by asking too many questions just yet.

  “Nah, I didn’t tell my mom where I was going. She’s…busy. I wish I had though.” Star suddenly looked straight into Eden’s eyes.

  “I wish I’d never met him. I hate him!” A tear trickled down the girl’s cheek, dripping off her bruised chin.

  “So, this Hollywood, he’s the one that hit you? He’s the one you think might try to follow you?” Eden asked, her suspicions growing that Star was the victim of more than just an abusive boyfriend.

  “Yeah, he got mad when I wouldn’t go with this old man he knows. He wanted me to…to work. But I was sick. The junk he gave me was bad or something and I got sick. He…oh my god…I think…I think he may have killed Jess.”

  Star’s words hung in the air, stunning Eden into a silent pause. She then leaned over and put her hand on Star’s shaking arm.

  “Who’s Jess? Is she one of the other girls that lives with you? What happened to her?”

  Star covered her face with her hands, muffling her hoarse voice.

  “Jess was my friend. She just wanted to go home. But they wouldn’t let her.” Star stood up and shrugged off the blanket, her fists clenched at her sides.

  “I woke up…and Jess…she was on the bed, and she wasn’t moving. I shook her, but she wouldn’t wake up.” Star was shaking her head from side to side as if refusing to believe her own words.

  “Hollywood said she’d had too much smack, that she just needed to sleep it off. He made me leave, and when I came back…she was gone. Most of her stuff was there, but she was just…gone.”

  “Is that when you ran away?” Eden asked, trying to piece together the timeline.

  “No, I waited a few days. I hoped she’d come back,” Star said, “but then yesterday Hollywood brought in a new girl and gave her all Jess’ clothes, even her shoes. I mean, come on, they were the only shoes she had. Where could she go without shoes?”

  Eden made herself take a deep breath before asking, “Did you ask Hollywood where Jess had gone?”

  “Yeah, that first night I asked him a bunch of times. He just said that Jess wasn’t coming back and that she wouldn’t need her stuff anymore. When I begged him to tell me where she’d gone, he gave me this.”

  Star’s hand went to her swollen eye.

  Eden had heard enough. She reached for the phone. “I’ve got to call the police, Star. We’ve got to report this.”

  “No, you can’t!” Star croaked out, grabbing the phone from Eden’s hand and flinging it across the room. The phone hit the wall and slid behind one of the twin beds. “If Hollywood knows I’m here, that I’ve snitched, he’ll tell Sig, and they’ll…they’ll make me disappear, like Jess.”

  Eden’s pulse began to pound, and she backed away, suddenly wishing she had let Duke follow them into the room. Not that he’d be able to protect her, but he could sooth her anxiety, help her stay calm so that she could figure out what to do.

  She counted on Duke now, had counted on him ever since Reggie had introduced them in the aftermath of her first acute panic attack.

  She’d ended up in the emergency room at Willow Bay General Hospital, consumed by fear and guilt over her sister’s death. In the months that followed, the dog’s gentle presence had helped her regain control over her emotions, but she knew that Duke wasn’t going to be able to solve this dilemma.

  Looking at Star’s stricken face, Eden decided it was time to summon additional help. It was time to call in a professional.

  “It’s okay, Star.” Eden kept her voice low and calm even as anxiety tightened her chest and constricted her throat. “I just want to help you. And help Jess if possible.”

  Suddenly falling silent, Star sat down on one of the twin beds and wrapped her frail arms around her body once again, rocking back and forth, before reclining on the bed, then curling into a fetal position. Eden crossed over and looked down at her.

  Is she in shock? Eden wondered, knowing all too well how fragile the human psyche could be, especially when faced with the type of trauma and abuse Star had experienced. Star’s eyes closed, and her breathing grew quiet.

  Eden decided she’d let Star sleep for now. She bent over and untied Star’s shoes and put them on the floor beside the bed, before tucking the blanket around the girl’s sleeping form.

  The poor girl doesn’t look much older than Hope, Eden mused, her heart clenching at the thought of her innocent young niece ever being in such a position, ever being so alone and abused.

  “Star, I’m going to leave you here to sleep for a little while. I need to go get someone who can help you,” Eden said, in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. “You stay here and sleep. I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter Three

  Star heard the door close behind the tall blonde woman. What was her name? Did she say it was Eden? Yes, Eden Winthrop. The woman that had been so nice to her and Zane when they’d stayed at this same house with their mother. Had it already been two years since the woman had led them on a tour of the building and assured her mother they’d be safe? Memories stirred. A lot had cha
nged for her since then.

  Two years ago she’d been Stacey Moore, and she’d had a mother and a brother with her. Of course, they’d been terrified that Buddy would find them, but at least they’d all been together.

  Tonight, she was just Star, and she was all alone. The house still had that same clean smell, the same cool, quiet chill in the air. It had been the first place she’d thought of when she’d left the stifling, stinking motel room and escaped into the moonless night.

  Once she’d gotten safely outside, she’d been tempted to scream for help, but her survival instincts had kept her mouth shut, kept her quiet. She had to stay silent if she had any hope of making it past Hollywood and Sig and their creepy friends. She couldn’t let them see her, couldn’t let them follow her.

  She didn’t know how they always found her. She’d tried to run before, but each time they managed to find her before she’d made it out of the motel parking lot. This time she’d left only after Hollywood had passed out. This time she’d made it to the highway.

  Star had suddenly wanted to go home more than anything, even if her mother had started seeing Buddy again. No matter what had happened in the past, she knew she needed to be with her mother and little brother. Needed to know they were okay.

  But she had to be sure she hadn’t been seen, wasn’t being tracked. She needed a safe place to hide, and she had remembered just where she could find one.

  Star knew the location of the safe house was supposed to be some big secret, but she’d seen the street address a few times during the two weeks she’d lived there, and for some reason she had always remembered it. It hadn’t even been hard to find. Not once the man who’d offered her a ride at the gas station had used his satnav. And she had just wanted to stay a day or two, just to make sure she wouldn’t bring trouble home with her.

  But then she had to go and run her big mouth and tell Eden about Hollywood and Jess. The thought of Jess made Star’s eyes water again. Poor sweet Jess had been so sad at the end. The image of her tormented eyes had lingered in Star’s mind, had finally given her the strength to try to run again. It was as if Jess had been warning her to leave before it was too late.

  But what had happened to Jess? Star still wasn’t sure. Not a hundred percent certain. She’d thought she could see Jess breathing when she’d left the room. Thought she’d seen her chest moving ever so slightly up and down. She was almost sure of it. But then when she got back, Jess was gone.

  Had the smack killed her? Or had Hollywood and his friends taken her somewhere? All Star knew was that Jess only had one pair of shoes. She always hid them under the bed with her stash. Star had seen that both the shoes and the stash had been sitting right where Jess had left them. So, wherever Jess had gone, she likely hadn’t been walking on her own.

  Star opened her eyes and looked at the door, uncertain what to do. If Eden did call the police, Hollywood would know she’d snitched on them. They’d find her, and they’d kill her. Star sat up and stretched. She was reaching for her shoes when it dawned on her. Suddenly she knew how they would find her.

  “How could I be so stupid?” she whispered, knowing without a doubt that she only had a few minutes to get away.

  They would be coming for her soon, and she’d better be gone when they showed up. Star stood up and crossed the room. Without making a sound, she opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

  Chapter Four

  Eden dialed Reggie’s number for the third time, and once again got her voicemail. She listened to the recorded greeting. “You’ve reached Dr. Regina Horn’s voicemail. Feel free to leave your name, number and reason for calling, and Dr. Horn will return your call as soon as possible.”

  Eden waited for the beep, deciding she’d better leave a message this time. Her mind raced. Where was Reggie? Although Eden knew that Reggie wasn’t officially on call, the foundation’s director was usually quick to answer her phone in case one of the residents needed her.

  “Reggie, please call me back. I’ve got a situation here and I need your help. Please, call my cell as soon as you get this.” Eden ended the call and dropped her cell phone onto the desk. Duke sat at her feet looking up expectantly. It was well past time for them to head home and he was probably hungry and in need of a walk. He’d been cramped up all evening.

  “Sorry, Duke, I guess I should have left you at home with Hope and Devon,” Eden said, scratching behind his ears and looking into his doleful eyes. But she knew that Duke would prefer to be with her, even if that meant dinner had to wait. He’d been with her for the last four years, and they now spent most of their time together. Neither of them liked to be apart for long.

  “Let’s go to the kitchen and get you some water while we wait for Reggie to call back,” Eden said, opening the office door and walking down the hall to the kitchen with Duke fast on her heels.

  As she turned on the faucet to fill Duke’s bowl, and then waited for him to eagerly lap up the cool water, she wasn’t there to hear the automated voice telling the empty office that motion had been detected at door number four. She didn’t see the security monitor display the image of Star hurrying down the back lawn toward the dock. She didn’t see the girl slip into the shadows beside the Willow River.

  By the time Eden and Duke got back to the office, the room was quiet, and the monitor was dark.

  Eden sat down in front of the computer, rested her fingers on top of the keyboard, and closed her eyes. She needed to think, but exhaustion seeped in, making her head feel heavy. How long had it been since she’d had a good night’s sleep?

  She shook herself and reached for her coffee cup. Not a good time to be dozing off. She needed her wits about her if she was going to figure out why Star looked so familiar.

  Star must have stayed at the safe house before. How else would she have known where to find it? And the girl’s real name must have been saved somewhere in the foundation’s database, but how could she find it without going through each record? I’m sure I’ve met her; I must have seen her before. Why can’t I remember?

  Eden tried to meet all the women that came through the foundation’s programs. She wasn’t interested in seeing only names and statistics on a report. She needed to know that she was making a difference to real people.

  Eden stared over at Mercy’s portrait again and read the inscription underneath it: Whoever saves a single life, saves the world entire. It was a quote from the Talmud that she’d heard many times before her sister had been killed, but it wasn’t until she was standing beside Mercy’s coffin, racked with guilt and grief, that she had grasped at the hope of redeeming herself by saving other women.

  The idea had grown into the Mercy Harbor Foundation. It was the inspiration that had sustained her in her darkest moments. So long as there was a chance to save other lives, Mercy had not died in vain.

  Eden would never know for sure how many lives they’d saved from suffering her sister’s fate, but Mercy Harbor had provided shelter to hundreds of at-risk women in the four years it had been operating. She believed the foundation was making a difference, and that Mercy would have approved. But now it was time to save Star. If only Eden could remember her real name.

  “Why can’t I remember?” Eden muttered, frustrated by a name that seemed just out of reach.

  She had always credited her ability to recall and memorize massive amounts of data for getting her through graduate school and helping her build a successful tech start-up. But Mercy’s death had left its scars, and her memory, once so good, now seemed damaged, often failing her in moments of stress.

  “Star…Star…” Eden murmured the name and tried to picture the girl’s face, but the image in her mind was dominated by a cloud of platinum blonde hair and vivid purple bruises. She focused on the girl’s light brown eyes and her lightly freckled nose.

  Most likely she’d come in with her mother. No matter what Star had said, Eden knew in her gut the girl couldn’t be eighteen. That meant she was too young to have been in the safe hou
se on her own, otherwise child protective services would have been called in, and they would have sent her elsewhere. Children normally only stayed at Mercy Harbor if they were with a custodial parent or guardian.

  Eden opened a search window and was entering in criteria when the phone rang. It was Reggie.

  “Where’s the fire, dear?” Reggie asked, and Eden felt a lessening of tension at just hearing the warm, familiar voice.

  “We’ve had an unexpected visitor tonight here at Shutter Street. A girl knocked on the door about thirty minutes ago. She’s still here, and she’s in pretty bad shape,” Eden said, steeling herself for Reggie’s reaction.

  “Who is she?” Reggie asked, her voice indignant but still calm. “No one called me about sending over another new resident tonight.”

  “I’m not sure who she is, but she wasn’t sent over by social services.” Eden tried not to sound defensive.

  “She came on her own, and says her name is Star. But I think that’s a nickname, or maybe her street name. She been beaten pretty badly, and she’s got tracks on her arms. They look recent.”

  “And you let this girl in without question?” Reggie was beginning to get the picture, and she wasn’t happy. “No vetting? No idea who she is and who could have sent her?”

  “I know, Reggie, I feel awful,” Eden said. “It’s just she needs help, and she looks familiar. She’s just a kid…”

  “I’ll be right there,” Reggie said, and the resigned sigh in her voice filled Eden with guilt faster than any reprimand could have. “My wheels are already heading in your direction.”

  Eden set the phone down and turned to Duke. “Well, boy, looks like I’m the one in the doghouse tonight.”

  Duke dropped his head on his paws and closed his eyes, and Eden, feeling chastened by both Reggie and Duke, sighed and trained her eyes on the blank security monitor. Just a few more minutes and Reggie would be there to help. She’d know what to do next.

  Eden glanced at the clock again; it was half past ten. The kids would hopefully be in bed by now, but Eden had the feeling it would be a long time before she’d be home to check on them.