by Willow Rose
“You think you’ll get out of here, huh? You think we’ll ever let you escape?”
“Please,” Jessica pleaded. “I’m not gonna do it again. I’ll be good.”
The man let go of her hair, and she fell to the tiles with a relieved sigh. Then he kicked her in her stomach. Jessica almost gagged in pain and curled up into a ball. Someone leaned down and let a series of punches rain down on her. After he was done, they took turns beating her.
Jessica screamed at some point and lifted her head. Between their legs, she spotted Nadja. She was standing behind the men, among the other girls watching it, shaking her head like she was saying: I warned you. I told you this would happen. Why wouldn’t you listen?
“You little whore, you will never leave this place, do you hear me?” someone said as he pulled her head up and spat in her face.
“We own you now,” someone else said.
“You belong to us.”
Jessica cried, and as the punches and kicks fell, she struggled to stay conscious. A haze fell over her, and she drifted away from time to time, only to return briefly to her new world of pain before she drifted off again. She was losing time and place, and now as she lay there in deep pain, she saw someone run toward her, someone she hadn’t seen for years or even let herself think about.
He called her name in the distance, and she felt herself smile when she saw his pretty eyes.
I’m coming, she yelled back at him, thinking this is where she was supposed to be. I am finally coming to you.
But he shook his head as she grabbed his hands in hers.
Not yet. It’s not time yet.
And then, he was gone. And so was the bright light he came with, and the sense of calmness and love.
A kick landed on her cheek and pulled her back to reality. She tasted blood inside her mouth and spat it out on the floor. She tried to lift herself up, but someone placed a foot in her back and pressed down so that she couldn’t get up.
“Try to run now!”
Then she heard laughter. A fast ra-ta-ta laugh that rang in her head loudly and almost sounded like a machine gun. Through curtains of blood, she turned her eyes to look at the front door when it blasted open, and everything around her erupted in an ocean of gunfire.
Chapter 54
“The first priority is securing the boy.”
That’s what I told them right before they went in. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to gunfire, but as soon as the sheriff’s SWAT team knocked down the door, the people inside opened fire on them.
The team fired back, then rushed inside, efficient and professional. Seconds later, they had secured the premises, and I could walk in.
Seven full-grown men were on the ground. Three guns were secured, one man was fatally shot, another bleeding from a wound in his arm, writhing and screaming for an ambulance. I threw a quick glance around the apartment, then felt an overpowering disgust mount inside of me.
“Looks like they’ve been making porn here,” Sheriff Blair said, coming up to me. “There are girls in all the rooms in nothing but their underwear. Young girls, most of them under eighteen. One is badly injured. It looks like these bastards beat her. Ambulances are on the way.”
I walked through the men on the floor, looking at each of their faces. One had a SWAT member on his back and a gun placed on his head. I recognized him right away.
“That’s Schultz.”
I signaled for the officer to ease up on him so he could talk. He pulled back and removed the knee from his back. I knelt next to him, then lifted his head by pulling his hair. His eyes were filled with fear. It was obvious that he recognized me.
“Where’s the boy?”
“What boy?”
“Don’t give me that, Schultz. You were a suspect then, and now another Marshall kid is missing. Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear.”
“Where is Roy Hudson? Or is that also you? Is that your real name?”
A frown grew between his eyes. “Roy who? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t understand anything.”
“I need to find the boy.”
“What boy? I don’t have any boys here. Look for yourself.”
“He’s telling the truth; we’ve only found girls,” the sheriff said. “No sign of the boy so far.”
“Cole Marshall,” I tried anyway. “He went missing yesterday from a resort here in Orlando. The whole town has been searching for him. You mean to tell me you haven’t even heard about it?”
“I haven’t. I don’t care about boys. I find girls, I take them here, and we make lots of money posting live videos with them online. That’s it.”
“We found trunks in your apartment. A kid’s swimming shorts. Blue and size eight years old. Just like the ones Cole wore when he went missing. How do you explain that?”
“My nephew is eight. He visited last week. I took him to a waterpark. He left them at my place.”
“And what about Mary Marshall, huh? You knew her from your childhood. You tried to grope her, and then she reported you, and that’s how you became a registered sex offender. She ruined your life doing this, didn’t she? You have it in for her. You have a motive. Maybe you and Roy aren’t the same. Maybe you and Roy work together? Did you plan this together, huh? To harm the Marshalls?”
He shook his head, whimpering pathetically.
I stared down at him, breathing agitatedly. I knew I was grasping for straws here. Schultz might have had a motive for hurting Mary, but my hunch told me he wasn’t the one I was looking for. I just didn’t want to admit it. I wanted it to be him so badly. I wanted him to have the boy here in the apartment so that I could get him home to his family.
“I haven’t taken any boy. I swear,” he yelled at me.
I let go of him and rose to my feet, shaking my head. I nodded at the deputy to book him. Schultz whined like a baby as he was being cuffed. He was going to be taken to the sheriff’s office for more questioning and would end up doing time for what he had been up to in this place of horror—hopefully, a long time. But I believed him when he said he hadn’t taken the boy. Roy Hudson had him, and for all I knew, he was far away with Cole by now.
The worst part was, I was nowhere near catching him.
Chapter 55
The reflection of the blue water glittered on the ceiling. The sun had set outside the big windows, and it was dark in the indoor pool area except for the scattered blue light coming from the lamps underwater. The smell of chlorine irritated his nostrils. Roy put the suitcase down next to the empty lounge chairs and sat on one.
He opened the suitcase and looked down at the boy. He was still sleeping. Roy reached inside and grabbed him, then carried him out. He put him down on the lounge chair next to him. The boy started to wake up. He rubbed his eyes excessively and blinked them, then looked at Roy.
Roy signaled for him to be quiet. “Shh.”
The boy’s confused eyes searched around him. “Mommy?”
Roy shook his head. “No mommy.”
The boy teared up, and Roy was afraid he’d start to cry again, but he didn’t. He sat up on the lounge chair and looked at Roy.
“Why are we here?”
“You’ll see,” Roy said. “I promise you it’s going to be spectacular. The most beautiful thing in the world.”
“Oh.” His face lit up. “Will Mommy be there?”
“No. But someone else will be there. I see them often, so that’s how I know.”
“Who is it?”
Roy exhaled, satisfied by the mere thought of it. “Your brother and sister. They’ll be down there to greet you.”
A frown grew between the boy’s eyes. “I don’t have a brother and a sister.”
“Sure, you do. Blake and Maggie.”
“But they’re both dead.”
Roy smiled, then leaned forward. “Yet, I see them all the time.”
“What do you mea
n?”
“Come and see,” he said, then signaled for Cole to come with him. He walked to the water and looked into it. It took Cole a few seconds before he joined him. He sat on his knees, then peeked into the water.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Try again. Try really hard. They’re down there. I see them in any body of water I get near. They look back at me to let me know they’re all right. They want me to join them, and soon I will. Everything down there is so peaceful. There’s no noise, no fear, no sadness either. You just float.”
Cole looked up at him, biting his lip. “Have you been down there?”
Roy nodded. “As a matter of fact, I have. I was down there for a very long time when I was a little older than you. Still, I remember it vividly. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. You won’t believe how quiet it is down there. All the anger…all the hurt you feel inside, you don’t feel that down there. It just goes away.”
“How come you didn’t stay down there, then?” Cole asked, then leaned over and looked into the water again.
Roy glared at the back of the boy’s head and the soft skin on his neck. He felt stirred up inside, overpowered by the desire to push him in. Cole pulled up and looked at him, waiting for his answer.
“Someone found me. I was pulled out. I wanted to stay down there with the mermaids, but someone ruined that. They took all the beauty away and dragged me back to this hellhole.”
“I think I see them. I saw something in the water,” Cole exclaimed and pointed. He looked up at Roy again to make sure he had heard him. “Do you think that was them, huh?”
Roy nodded as his tears spilled onto his cheeks. “Yes. That was probably them. Now, it is time for you to join them.”
He smiled through the tears, then grabbed the boy by the throat and pushed him under. He held him below the surface, and the boy barely struggled. Roy took a deep breath and felt the extreme pleasure rush through his body as he was reminded of what it had felt like when he did the same to Maggie and Blake. Roy closed his eyes and let the emotions roll over him in this intense moment as he held the boy under the water. He was so deep into it, finally fulfilling his heart’s deepest desire that he didn’t even hear the door open behind him. It wasn’t until a voice yelled: “Hold it right there. Stop what you’re doing!”
Chapter 56
She could see her. Jessica couldn’t believe her own eyes as she lay there on the floor of the apartment. The confusion was overwhelming, and for a long time, she wasn’t sure if she was just dreaming. There was a gunfight at first, and when that happened, she was certain it was the end of the line for her. But as the sound of shots subsided, she realized, much to her surprise, that she was still alive—beaten up and in deep pain, but alive. Around her on the floor, as the smoke cleared and the haze started to lift, she saw what looked like at least two dead men, or maybe just badly hurt; it was hard to tell. There was a lot of blood, some of it hers, and soon boots surrounded her from all sides. Voices were yelling at her. They sounded like they were in a bubble. They were asking her if she was hurt while hands were grabbing her, pulling her up so she could look at them.
And that was when she saw her. Striding through the front door, across the apartment between all the men in black uniforms came the red-haired lady. The one from the TV that she had set out to find. The very target of her quest.
It seemed almost impossible.
Jessica stared at the woman as she rushed to the man that had taken Jessica at the park, the one with the crooked nose, and started talking to him. She seemed frustrated and angry even, and Jessica stared at her while a uniformed man tried to speak to Jessica and ask her all these questions.
“What’s your name. Where did you come from? Are you hurt?”
Jessica felt her face and got blood on her fingers. The man looked at her from behind the visor, and she could tell that he believed she was.
“An ambulance is on its way,” he yelled at her, still sounding like he was standing inside of a bubble.
But Jessica didn’t want an ambulance. She only wanted one thing, and that was to get to the red-haired lady at the other end of the room, but even though she was so close, it seemed like she was still as far away as she had been when Jessica had only seen her on TV in her house. The room was crawling with people in uniforms, and Jessica still couldn’t really manage to shape words with her swollen and bruised lips.
A yellow uniform arrived, and a woman grabbed her arm. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Jessica,” she managed to stutter through cracked lips. “I need to...”
The yellow uniformed woman shone a flashlight in her eyes, then examined her bruises.
“She’s in a terrible state. There could be internal bleeding. We’re taking you in,” she said, then waved at someone else who rolled in a stretcher.
“No, wait, I…” Jessica said, but they weren’t listening. The tumultuous surroundings and the yelling from people everywhere drowned out her small voice. They grabbed her by the arms, then lifted her onto the stretcher in a swift movement like she didn’t weigh anything.
“I need to…I need to talk to…”
“We’re taking you to the hospital now,” the woman said. “You need to calm down, Jessica. Lie down, please, and we’ll get you in so someone can have a look at you. Please, lie down, miss…”
Jessica groaned, frustrated, and looked at the red-haired woman. Would she ever get a chance to be this close to her again? Would she ever be able to talk to her?
“I need to talk to that woman over there,” she said and pointed, but no one was listening. The focus was on getting her out of there. She was strapped down on the stretcher, and seconds later, she began moving.
“No, no,” she protested. “Please, I need to talk to her. I need to talk to the woman with the red hair! Please!”
But it was too late. The stretcher was pushed out of the apartment, with Jessica crying on it. She yelled at them to take her back but was simply pushed inside the ambulance, and the doors slammed shut.
Chapter 57
I checked the apartment for any trace of Cole myself to be entirely certain, but I was getting nowhere. Schultz was talking to Sheriff Blair, and he wasn’t holding back. He was telling them everything about the business he had been running with this guy from Poland. About how they grabbed girls off the street, singling them out if they seemed an easy target, walking alone at night, or standing by a bus stop, looking like they wouldn’t mind earning some easy money. Schultz admitted that he had been the one bringing them in. Sometimes he’d tell them he had a job for them modeling if they wanted to, and they’d go with him willingly, not knowing they were walking into a trap. Other times, he’d simply take them and force them into his van, then take off. He’d take them to the Lizard in his apartment where they were forced to dance and act in front of the camera, and then people online would pay to watch. It was easily earned money, and he needed that because he had created a huge gambling debt. Ever since the twins disappeared from the resort in Key West, he had been sacked for lying on his application, and it was impossible for him to find another job with him being a registered sex-offender and all that. Employers were getting stricter with these things, and it was impossible to get around it. He admitted it was all Mary Marshall’s fault for reporting him back then when all he wanted was to make out with her. But he had to admit he hadn’t known it was actually her back then in Key West. He hadn’t recognized her, and she had a different last name now, so it never occurred to him. It was just a strange coincidence if you could believe it. He wasn’t a murderer, he kept saying, and the more he did, the more I realized he was right. He was a scumbag and would go to jail for what he had done to these poor girls, but he hadn’t murdered anyone.
And he hadn’t taken Cole either.
For once, I had to admit that sometimes there was such a thing as coincidence. And this was one of them.
I finished up at the apartment and spoke brief
ly to Sheriff Blair. His office would take over from there and handle the case. He was obviously very proud of this huge catch, and I knew it was one that would make headlines over the next couple of days.
“This is a big day for us, Agent Thomas,” he said. “We helped out a lot of young girls. That is something to be very proud of.”
He was right. These girls had been kidnapped, abused, and trapped, and now they’d be free. I just wasn’t very thrilled. It was hard to be when Roy Hudson was still out there somewhere with Cole, and we had no clue where to find him.
I said my goodbyes to the sheriff, then drove back toward the resort, my mind racing on the information we had right now. Roy Hudson was our man; he had to be. But my guess was he was hiding under some sort of alias. He was Mary’s stepbrother and had been locked up in a home for years until he escaped twenty-two years ago. He had killed their parents, was my theory and then gone after his stepsister. He had robbed her of two children before he did it again ten years later, taking her only son away as well.
Why?
“The drowning,” I mumbled into the car, then grabbed my phone and called Brad. It went directly to voicemail, and I left a message. “I’m on my way back, but I had a thought. Mary told us that Roy Hudson nearly drowned when he stole his dad’s car and drove it into the river. That got me thinking. What if it wasn’t an accident?”
Chapter 58
THEN:
Being on the streets, alone, wasn’t easy for Roy. He stayed for the most part in the local park at night and slept on a bench. During the day, he’d hang out by the restaurants downtown and eat whatever they threw out, or he’d beg random people for money and then buy a pizza slice if he got any. Some days, he’d hang out at Tommy’s place if his dad was passed out drunk. When he woke up, he had to go since Tommy’s dad didn’t want him there. Tommy made sure to feed him and gave him a few hours of calmness a few times a week.
