The Stolen Girl

by Linsey Lanier

  Miranda eyed Holloway. He was staring out the window either mulling over what they’d learned so far or ignoring the sisterly bickering.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Miranda said. Maybe they’d talk each other to sleep. “Are you okay with that?” she said to Parker.

  “Of course.”

  A few minutes later, Parker pulled the Navigator up to the door of Olivia’s apartment building.

  “I’ll call you in the morning and we’ll get a plan together,” Miranda said to Wesson.

  She nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “Thank you so much,” Olivia said. “Thank you for what you’ve done so far.”

  “Wait until we finish the job.” And your daughter is back in your arms, Miranda thought.

  Wesson and Olivia got out of the car. Miranda watched them go inside the building, Wesson wheeling her luggage behind her.

  A moment after the door closed behind them, Parker pulled away from the curb, letting out a breath of deep frustration.

  “This isn’t going to be an easy case,” Holloway commented from the backseat.

  In the headlights Miranda watched the palm trees pass by. “No, it isn’t.”

  When they reached the hotel, Miranda was just awake enough to take in that it was one of Parker’s pricey choices.

  She mumbled goodnight to Holloway, waited for Parker to unlock the door, and stumbled toward the bed, pulling off her clothes as she went. Noting the fancy gold-and-deep blue décor, she sank onto the mattress.

  Before she could move another muscle, she was asleep.

  Chapter Eight

  Janelle Wesson stood in her sister’s living room with a towel wrapped around her freshly washed hair.

  After using Livvy’s cramped shower, she’d pulled on her baby doll pjs and a fluffy white robe and was now staring down at the couch.

  The sound of the blow dryer in the bathroom stopped, and her sister plodded out into room wearing pink lightweight pajamas with little gray hearts all over them.

  She looked worn. As if she had aged five years in a day.

  Janelle looked down at the balls of fluff on her feet. “Bunny slippers?”

  Livvy let out a sad laugh. “It’s a mother-daughter thing. Imogen has a matching pair. She loves animals.”

  Once again, Janelle’s heart broke for her sister. She waved a hand at the couch. “I can sleep here.”

  Livvy shook her head. “No. I’ll take the couch. You gave up a hotel room for me.”

  “I’ll be all right. You’ve had a hard day. You’re worn out and stressed.”

  Her shoulders slumped with fatigue. “Stop trying to coddle me, Janey.”

  “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  Ignoring the question Livvy turned away. Janelle watched her pull sheets and a blanket from the closet in the small hall that led to her bedroom.

  She returned and set the linens on the ottoman. “You can help me make this up.”

  Janelle looked down at the L-shaped sofa. It didn’t look comfortable. “I guess it doesn’t fold out.”

  “No.” Her tone was defensive.

  She didn’t mean to sound critical.

  Livvy picked up the bottom sheet, unfolded it, and handed a corner to her. They stretched it across the sofa and tucked the ends under the cushions.

  She reached for the top sheet.

  Janelle took the corner. “You didn’t answer my question.” About coddling her.

  Olivia knew what she meant. She arranged the top sheet over the bottom one as best she could and let out a sigh. “Remember when I was in second grade and the kids started to call me ‘Olive Oil’?”

  Because of their last name, Wesson. “Yeah. I put a stop to it.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “You only made it worse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They said I had to get my big sister from seventh grade to stick up for me. They thought I was a baby.”

  “You were my baby sister. You still are.”

  “Sometimes I need to fight my own battles, Janey.”

  She could get that. But she couldn’t help feeling protective of her. And she knew the incident Livvy was really talking about.

  “Okay, maybe I can understand that when we were kids. But can you imagine what it was like to walk into an emergency room and see my sister with a black eye, a bloody nose, and bruises on her arms?”

  “Yes. Since I was the one in the emergency room.” Without making eye contact Olivia reached for the blanket and spread it over the sheets.

  Feeling awkward, Janelle removed the towel from her head. Her hair was dry now. While Livvy finished with the couch, she went to the bathroom, put the towel in a hamper, then strolled to the dining area. She peeked through the door into the next room.

  Imogen’s room.

  A narrow bed sat in the corner covered with a pink-and-blue comforter. In the far corner stood a storage cube with pink boxes stacked with colorful books. Next to the bed was a large blue basket of stuffed animals. Pictures of zebras hung on the walls. A lonely-looking stuffed dog sat on the bed as if waiting for its owner to return.

  Janelle couldn’t help noticing the small pair of bunny slippers neatly placed on the rug near the bed.

  “Imogen’s bed is too small for either of us,” her sister snapped.

  “Yes, I can see that.”

  “I need a pillow.” Livvy turned and went back down the hall.

  Janelle followed her into the bedroom.

  Livvy stared down at her queen size bed, as if she couldn’t decide which of its two pillows to leave here for her sister.

  They were too tired for this. But it looked like they were going to have it out tonight, anyway.

  Janelle sat down on the corner of the mattress. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Livvy leaned over the bed for the far pillow. “Tell you what?”

  Janelle took the pillow out of her hands and put it back on the bed. “About what happened with you and Axel.”

  Her resistance crumbling, Livvy sank down onto the bed next to her. “It was hard enough trying to make it on my own. I couldn’t take any more criticism from you.”

  How could she think she’d criticize her? All she’d ever tried to do was help her.

  But she wasn’t going to argue. “How did you make it?”

  Livvy scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Janelle sighed. She couldn’t say anything right tonight. “I mean, how did you get away from him?”

  “From Axel? He got tired of me, I guess. I wanted him out of the life, and he was climbing the ladder in the gang. I wanted something better. I wanted to be normal. We fought all the time.”

  “Did he—?”

  Janelle felt her sister bristle. She knew what she meant. Did he beat her again?

  “A few times. And then he’d just leave and stay away all night. Then the nights turned into weeks. We made up a couple of times. Got close enough to conceive. But it never lasted. By the time I found out I was pregnant, he wanted out. He wasn’t interested in another mouth to feed. His words.”

  She wished she’d known.

  Janelle got up, took off her robe and got under the covers on the other side of the bed.

  She pulled the sheets back on Livvy’s side and patted the mattress in invitation. “So you called it quits?”

  Livvy eyed the bed for a moment, then laid down beside her.

  “It was mutual. He made it clear he wasn’t going to make any support payments. I didn’t dare get lawyer.”

  They weren’t married, after all.

  “After Imogen was born, I had to go crawling back to Mom and Dad. I needed money to move to a better place and I wanted to go to beauty school. They helped some, but I had to work and take out a loan for school. I left Imogen with them for a while. I just couldn’t take care of a baby and work two jobs and go to school. But I came back for her as soon as I was established.”

  Janelle stared up at the ceiling. She’d
been in the area at the time. She could have helped, but Livvy hadn’t come to her. That stung.

  “That must have been hard,” she said, suppressing the hurt.

  “Don’t go off on me about how bad a mother I am.”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.”

  Livvy had been pregnant the last time she saw her. When they’d had that awful fight at Christmas time. She’d moved to LA with the guy, but Axel had come home with her for the holidays. Christmas Eve, he’d decided he had enough wholesome family atmosphere and went back to LA, leaving Livvy there.

  Janelle had tried to tell her this was her chance to get away from him. She wouldn’t hear it.

  Livvy put her hands to her face. “I know I was stupid for falling so hard for a guy like Axel. I just couldn’t help it. And now? What if you’re right, Janey? What if he’s got Imogen? What if he’s going to do something terrible to her?”

  Her heart melting, Janelle put an arm around her sister and pulled her close. “You can’t think about that now, Livvy. You’ve got to get some rest.”

  “I know. You’re right.”

  “Try not to worry. We’re going to find her. Steele and Parker are the best.”

  “Yes, I know.” Her eyes fluttered close. She was starting to drift off. She was exhausted. Gradually her breathing grew steady.

  Janelle watched her sister’s face, remembering when their mother used to read them bedtime stories. With all her heart she wanted to meet the sweet little niece she’d never gotten to know.

  But with so little information and no police support, she wasn’t sure even Steele and Parker could find the girl.

  They would try, though, she thought, turning off the light. They all would. With everything they had.

  It was all they could do.

  Chapter Nine

  Outside across the street and half a block away from the apartment building, two men sat in an old tan Cutlass Ciera with a dent in the passenger side door.

  Dressed in a gray muscle shirt and black leather vest, the driver held a pair of zoom binoculars to his eyes, watching the rooms on the fourth floor. He wore dragon tattoos on both of his arms, and had a thin scar running down the side of his face from the edge of his eye to his chin.

  The dark-haired man in the passenger seat sat smoking a cigarette, flicking ashes out the open window.

  The last light went out in the bedroom.

  The first man lowered his binoculars. “Nighty-night.”

  The second man shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “So what now?”

  The driver shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

  “I counted four of them.”

  “Right. Parker. Steele. The guy. The sister.” The man took another drag of his cigarette.

  “The redhead.”

  “Right. Olivia’s older sister, Janelle.”

  The driver let out a low chuckle. “She’s got a nice rack on her.”

  “Hey. Don’t talk about her like that.”

  “You getting soft, Axel?”

  Axel Cage stubbed out his cigarette in the car’s ashtray. He didn’t like this idea. Hadn’t liked it since Draco came to him with the scheme two weeks ago.

  “We need to stay focused,” he told his cohort, cautiously eyeing the expression on his narrow face. “So what’s the problem?”

  “There are supposed to be five.” Draco scratched the short beard that matched the long stringy light red hair that reminded Axel of Shredded Wheat.

  “Right. The computer nerd isn’t with them.” Axel had read the files Draco had been sent.

  He wiped his palms on his oil-stained jeans, stains he’d picked up from his job at the shop, stared up at the dark windows of his ex’s place, and thought about their years together.

  He’d loved her. Sometimes. But she’d always find a way to piss him off. Near the end, she’d make him so mad, he’d fly off the handle all the time. It was always her fault. She knew he had a temper, especially when he was drinking. And she just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. He had to show her who was boss.

  So he’d slapped her around a little. Maybe more than he should have, but she’d asked for it.

  Finally, he’d decided the aggravation wasn’t worth it just for a piece of ass. He could get that anywhere. And her parents had cut her off, so the money he’d used her for had stopped.

  And when she let herself get pregnant, that was the last straw.

  He had no room for a kid in his life.

  After they split up, he’d come to see her only one time. It was about four years ago when she’d first opened her beauty salon. He’d seen his daughter then. But once was enough. Livvy started nagging him about work and responsibility, and they got into a fight. He’d left before someone called the cops. That was it. He’d never wanted to see either of them again.

  And then Draco came to him with this plan.

  “I take it the thing went well today?” Axel said.

  “Better than expected. It was easy. Like taking candy from a baby.” Draco chuckled at his own sick joke. “Didn’t even have to follow the school bus and nab her when she got off. She wandered out in front of the school and came straight for me. She thought I was you.” He laughed again, annoying the piss out of Axel.

  “So where is the kid?”

  “My place.” Draco shoved the binoculars into the glove compartment and started the car. “Let’s go.”

  “Sure.” Axel rolled up his window and settled back.

  Draco pulled out into the street, and Axel watched the well-kept buildings pass by as they headed toward Santa Monica and the eight mile drive back to Culver City.

  Their turf.

  The place that had been his home for ten years now. Longer than any other place Axel could remember.

  He’d never known who his father was. His mother had been a crack whore who left him with her mother, never to be seen again. When grandma died, he’d become a ward of the state, getting shuffled from one foster home to another.

  The last one had been a poor family in Sonoma who’d taken him in for the income. The father was a laborer in one of the local vineyards, who liked to sample the wares a little too much. He’d had a bad temper when he drank, which was often. And he liked to exercise his fists on the foster kid.

  Axel knew no one cared about him, so why should he care about anyone else?

  When he was nineteen, he got in with a gang of thieves operating in downtown Napa and was convicted for car theft. The judge was lenient, and he got out after six months with probation. But he had acquired a taste for bigger things. A friend told him his brother was in a street gang in LA. He said he’d introduce him. He decided to go there as soon as he’d saved up some money.

  Then he’d gone to a party and met Olivia.

  She told him her parents had forbidden her to come to the party, but she’d snuck out with a girlfriend. His type of wild.

  She was curvy and blond and hot as hell. One look and he decided she was his.

  She went for him, too. They hooked up, and she started sneaking out of her house to meet him at night. They’d cruise around, then go park somewhere. He’d bang her eyes out, and she loved it and begged for more.

  But when he told her he was going to Los Angeles and wanted her to come with, she said no.

  That made him mad. Their first fight.

  He’d given her a cut lip and a black eye that night. It was a stupid thing to do, leaving marks like that. Her parents found out she’d been sneaking around and grounded her.

  But that made her angrier at her folks than she was at him. It changed her mind about LA.

  Next thing he knew she’d packed her things, left her house, and told him she was ready to go anywhere with him.

  So off they went.

  But it was the beginning of the end even back then. A girl like her was never meant for the life he lived.

  “Wake up, dreamer boy.”

  Axel felt Draco’s punch
on his arm and roused himself out of his thoughts.

  He looked around the neighborhood. They were here.

  Draco hit the switch on the automatic door opener and they cruised up the short drive and into the garage of Draco’s house.

  The place was still and dark. Axel didn’t like it.

  “She’s here alone?”

  With only a grimace Draco got out of the car.

  As Axel did the same, he eyed the dent in the passenger side of Draco’s Cutlass. Draco got the damage in a parking lot fight when he’d slammed some guy’s head into the side of his car.

  “You should bring that by the shop,” Axel told him. “I can fix it for you.” He’d moved from transmissions to body work some years back.

  “Sure,” Draco said and opened the inside door to the house.

  Axel knew he was brushing him off. So he just followed him inside.

  The place looked like a pigsty. Smelled like one, too.

  Axel eyed the overflowing trashcan and the unwashed plates in the sink. “Think you could do the dishes once in a while?” he muttered.

  “Not since my old lady left.”

  Draco went through women like he did beers. One after the other. There were a couple who said their kids belonged to him, but he always denied those claims.

  They walked past the living room and down the hall. As they approached the room at the end, Axel heard a pounding noise.

  “What’s that?” He flung the door open and flipped the light switch.

  There was nothing but Draco’s mattress and a bunch of dirty clothes in the corner.

  Then the pounding started again. It was coming from the closet.

  “Help,” cried a small voice.

  He glared at Draco. “You locked my daughter in a closet?”

  “What else was I supposed to do with her?”

  Axel crossed the room and turned the knob of the closet door.

  Inside the little girl sat with her backpack beside her. Her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were smudged with dried tears.

  Imogen.

  She looked up at him with sad blue eyes. “Are you my daddy?”

  Axel didn’t know what to say. But the word came out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

  “Yes.”