A wave of cold splashed over Arden. Her teeth chattered. She mumbled, “Thank you.”
Joyful cries echoed through the walls.
Arden shut her eyes. She wanted to lay back and rest.
Eventually, Kovac returned to the bedroom. “Can you stand?”
Arden made a feeble attempt but only lifted an inch.
Kovac put her hand on her hips. Her expression was flat. “And you don’t want to go to a hospital?” she asked.
Brushing her tears away, Arden shook her head.
Kovac huffed.
She reluctantly walked over to Arden and helped her up. Arden leaned on the short woman and entered the living room.
The three other captives stood in the corner of the room. Master was face down with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Detective Dawkins stood over him. A look of horror fell over the unkempt detective’s face. “Holy hell, Briar. You look horrible.”
Arden flashed a weak smile. “Likewise.”
“I want my lawyer!” Master shouted into the floor.
Dawkins shut him up and turned to Arden. “Thank God you screamed, Arden. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t have heard you. Quite frankly, this lead was a long shot.”
Still shivering, Arden pulled the jacket closer to herself. The handcuffs made her wrists raw. “Is it just you two?”
“Until we call in backup,” Kovac said forcefully.
Arden glanced back at the girls. “Dawkins, can we talk?”
Dawkins said to Kovac, “Take our friend to the car.”
Arden let go of Kovac and found her balance. A wave of vertigo almost sent her falling over. She leaned against the wall.
Kovac commanded Master to stand and led him out the door.
Red looked at Arden’s back. “Is an ambulance coming?”
Dawkins gave her a sympathetic grin. “Soon, sweetheart.”
Dawkins and Arden headed over by the front door. Dawkins looked at her back. “You sure you don’t want to sit down?”
Arden whispered to him. “I can’t go to a hospital. If I get put into the system, I go on trial. I can’t do that. Not until I deal with the guys behind Scarlet’s abduction.”
Dawkins finished Arden’s thought. “Their confession will clear your name.”
Arden nodded. “You’re bound by law and regulation. I’m not. I can stop these guys on my own terms, and you and Kovac get to keep your hands clean. Please, Dawkins. I’ve come this far. I need to see this to the end.”
The detective hesitated. He looked over at Kovac. “She’s not going to be happy. Her father is Macon’s lieutenant, after all. This would be a big bust for the department.”
Kovac re-entered and glared at Arden. She knew what they were talking about. “Fine, if you want to risk infection, go right ahead.”
“Thank you,” Arden said gently.
She turned to the other girls. “I need you to keep my involvement here quiet.”
A sudden spike of pain revived on Arden’s back. She hunched over, and that only made the pain worse. Dawkins helped balance her.
Her pain garnered sympathy from the girls. Sarah wiped away a tear. “If that’s how we can repay you, we’ll do it.”
Karla nodded. “We’ll pray for you.”
Red walked over to Arden. Her mask of hostility wavered. “Sorry for…” She looked away meekly. “I won’t forget what you did for us.”
“You’ve all been given a second chance,” Arden said. “Use it.”
Kovac and Dawkins found some old gauze and bandages stored up in Master’s cupboard. There were also some pain pills Arden hesitantly ingested. Arden sat facing the back of the chair while Kovac applied the bandages. Despite Kovac’s normally prideful behavior, she did this without complaining.
Dawkins found the keys to the handcuffs stored away in Master’s bedside drawer. He unlocked the girls first. By the time Arden had her back wrapped, he came in and unlocked her too. The cuffs fell to the floor with a satisfying clunk. Arden rubbed the sore rings around her wrist.
Arden shut her eyes while the detectives planned the best way to get Arden out of here noticed. They led her out to the woods, away from the horrifying stump, and left her in the forest with the promise of retrieving her after the crime scene was processed. It could take hours because of how Forensics would have to scour the place for clues. Kovac asked again if Arden wanted to just turn herself in. Arden refused.
After the detectives walked away, Arden dragged herself behind a felled tree and lay face down in a patch of dirt.
Kovac’s zipped-up jacket warmed her. The pain pills numbed most of Arden’s body. She shut her eyes, not caring about the creepy crawlies that scurried across the earth. She remembered her first encounter with Scarlet Gales’s parents. If she had known how many brushes with death she’d encounter because of it, she probably would’ve refused. Her hope for finding the girl was lost, but she could still save others.
Listening to the sound of sirens in the distance, she fell into a deep sleep. It was like she’d gotten used to disaster.
She dreamed she was lying in a sun-kissed pasture. Though there was hurt, she could feel the freedom due to the forgiveness she showed to her sister’s killer. Did he still deserve justice? Absolutely. Did she still plan to find the other men involved? Yes. But the personal vendetta had lost its importance. It was like the Lord had swept it away in the wind. Arden couldn’t say how He did it, but she felt changed. Being in heaven or on Earth didn’t matter anymore. Her eye was fixed on higher things. A small part of her questioned if she’d just fallen into madness after enduring such trauma. That voice could shout day and night and Arden wasn’t going to change her mind. There was no way she could’ve gotten out of that house without divine intervention. No way.
The soft crunch of footsteps stirred Arden.
She opened her eyes to the two silhouetted detectives looming over her. It was dusk, and fading golden sunlight was inching through the trees.
They picked up Arden from under the armpits and helped her back to the house. Caution tape dressed the windows.
“They’ll find your DNA,” Kovac pointed out.
“Forensics always moves slow. We’ll have a few weeks,” Arden replied.
Dawkins yawned. “Yep. We told the girls to keep their mouths shut until things cooled off. The story has some holes in it, but we’ll do our best to cover it up.”
“Thanks,” Arden replied. She got into the back seat of their unmarked car. “Where are we anyway?”
“Twenty miles outside of Macon,” Dawkins replied. “You want to go back to Atlanta?
“We need to find out where they took Joe,” Arden said. “How did you find me anyway?”
“We followed the bread crumbs you left us on zip drive and the house you were staying at. We went to the bar you said you were heading to. A few people up front saw someone who looked like you. We checked the outdoor security cameras from the liquor store. It showed a truck leaving from behind the club. We followed the trail of it by looking at other cameras down the path. It got on the interstate. We pulled off at different exits and asked the gas station owners to show us their footage. We mapped the route it seemed the truck would take and went that way. Than we went from door to door,” Dawkins explained.
“That must’ve taken forever,” Arden remarked.
“Yeah, about four days.”
Arden only remembered two. Where had the time gone? What did that mean for Joe? She felt a sickening feeling pit in her stomach.
They traveled to Kovac’s house first. She let Arden take a shower and get a fresh change of clothes before heading back to Atlanta. The house she’d been staying at might already be compromised. Dawkins checked the local police reports and found a house that had just been the place of a double homicide. It was a nice home in a quiet neighborhood, far away from the heart of the city. No cops would be back there for a few days.
Kovac and Dawkins picked the lock and let Arden inside. There were
chalk outlines of the couple that was killed. It wasn’t Arden’s first choice of home, but it worked. There was running water, AC, and food in the fridge. Arden had forgotten how much she missed these things.
Kovac went out to buy her fresh bandages and some suturing stuff.
Seated at the kitchen bar, Dawkins and Arden discussed finding Joe. She explained to him the underground gambling and prostitution service beneath the club. She wouldn’t be able to go in personally, but the detectives could. Arden jotted down the passwords Jackie had used to get past the bouncers.
The plan was simple: the detectives would get inside the bar and film the various illegal acts. They’d anonymously send it to the media and police. As an investigation sparked, they’d release the police chief's full confession tape. It would convince the police that the club and the police chief’s perversions overlapped. In the meantime, Dawkins and Kovac would go after Jackie and see if they couldn’t learn about Joe’s location. Meanwhile, Arden would spend time recovering.
Kovac returned with bags full of supplies. She took Arden to the bedroom and took off the temporary bandages. The forty-plus lashes were not as deep as they felt, but still could benefit from stitches. Now that they had time, Kovac did a proper cleaning. She took the lid off some peroxide and poured it down Arden’s back.
Seeing stars, Arden kept her teeth clenched as Kovac dressed the wound. Beyond the pain, Arden thanked Kovac.
The detective didn’t reply.
“Thank you,” Arden said. “I mean it. I know you have a life that you’re missing because of me.”
Kovac ran the needle through her flesh again. “Life?” she scoffed. “You don’t get a life with this type of work.”
“Preach,” Arden replied. “I might have been slumming it for months, but truthfully, it's been years since I’ve taken time off.”
“A thankless job, but someone has to do it.”
Arden nodded in agreement. By the time Kovac finished up, Arden felt they had bonded. Though Kovac was high strung and naturally hostile, they shared a lot of similarities. When Arden had first met Kovac while she was trying to find Joe’s daughter, she thought that the woman just got the job because of her familial connections. Arden was glad to hear that she actually cared.
Arden filled her in on the plan. Kovac didn’t have any changes.
“I took a few of my vacation days,’” Kovac said. “It shouldn’t be an issue.”
Arden stayed in bed the next two days. She enjoyed the feeling of clothes against her skin and a nice bed.
Dawkins and Kovac returned from the club that night, hooked up the footage from hidden camera phones on their laptop, and showed Arden the gambling ring.
Dawkins was hit on by a number of working girls in the footage.
Arden noticed they weren’t able to get down to the buyer’s den below.
Dawkins shook his head. “They only accept familiar faces. I was surprised that Duke Townson got in there.”
Duke was the one whom Arden had called Master.
“Did you ever find out what he did for a living?” Arden asked.
“He sold rare coins to the gullible elderly. A good buddy of mine just tore the whole operation down. Funny stuff.”
Arden didn’t see much humor in it, but she didn’t voice her opinion.
When they finished editing the video, Kovac saved it on the same file with Hector’s confession tape. Kovac had picked up a dozen thumb drives to save it on. After they had finished equipping those, Dawkins volunteered to drop them off in envelopes at various news outlets and to the police themselves.
The next morning, the detectives went hunting for Jackie Finn.
Arden stayed in bed.
The detectives didn’t have any luck with Jackie. No one had seen him at his workplace or otherwise since Arden had abducted him.
Arden worried for Joe’s safety. She tried to remember back to the two days she had blacked out.
A faint glimpse of memory returned.
She recalled sitting in a locker room. Joe was there. His head was down. His shoulders were slack. He was high out of his mind. Arden too. One of the tattooed gangbangers spoke up. “I’ll take him back with me.”
The flashback ended. “I know who we need to find.”
She described the man’s facial tattoos to the detective. Kovac searched through the police database, trying to find someone who matched the description. It took forty-five minutes, but they found the man’s criminal records. His name was Jose. He had been linked to dozens of gang-related incidents, but always got out on bail and never served more than three years for his violent crimes. Someone up top was looking out for this guy.
“We can try to get a search warrant,” Dawkins said. “It might take a bit, but that could help Joe.”
“If Joe is with him, he’ll be arrested, too,” Arden reminded them. “We’ll have to do this ourselves.”
Kovac shook her head. “We’ve risked enough with you already.”
“Then I’ll go,” Arden said as she started to sit up.
“No,” Dawkins quickly said. “You keep resting. We’ll take care of this.”
Kovac crossed her arms. “We’re just going to start breaking the law then?”
“We’re on a pretty good streak. Why stop now?” Dawkins joked.
Kovac stared him down.
Dawkins provided a real explanation. “If we believe Arden, we believe that helping this man out and stopping these guys’ operation is much bigger than us. That means taking the extra steps.”
Kovac didn’t like the answers, but she didn’t dispute it either.
They left.
Two hours later, Arden heard a knock at the back. She got out of bed. With the help of the stitches, her back didn’t split open. Slightly hunched, she walked to the window by the back door and carefully peeked out the blinds. She saw Kovac and Dawkins. They helped keep Joe standing. His head was down. He wore a cigarette-burned shirt and oversized jeans. He was barefoot. He looked intoxicated.
Arden quickly opened the door.
The detectives entered.
“Close that,” Kovac commanded.
Arden closed and locked the door.
The detectives put Joe on the couch.
Dawkins scrunched his nose at the man’s stench. “Don’t get too close. He smells like he’s just crawled out of a gutter.”
“How did--”
Dawkins answered. “We went to Jose’s house. He wasn’t home. We got in the back and found Joe in the basement.”
“Lucky,” Arden said.
Dawkins shook his head. “Not so much.” He lifted Joe’s head. Fat bruises swelled his eyes. His lips were busted. “He was beat to all hell. They’ve been keeping him high on all sorts of drugs.”
Arden pulled up a chair, turned it around, and straddled the seat. She watched Joe sleep and waited for him to wake up. It was dark outside when he showed any sign of life.
He rolled to his side and opened his swollen eyes.
Arden flashed a weak smile at him. “Hey.”
Joe quickly sat up. The sudden movement caused him to shut his eyes in pain. He was confused and angry.
“Joe, hey.” Arden put a hand on him.
He quickly pulled away and looked around like a rabid dog.
Arden spoke softly. “You’re safe.”
Joe batted his eyes around the room.
Arden carefully put her hands on his cheeks and turned his face to hers. “You’re okay.”
She watched the madness fade away from Joe’s eyes. It was quickly replaced by confusion and then overwhelming sorrow. He pulled away from Arden and wept into his palms. It wasn’t pretty tears. These were loud cries that caused Kovac to get out of bed. Arden gave her an empathic look. There was an unspoken trust between them. Kovac went back to bed without saying a word. Arden sat with Joe as he wept.
Did five minutes pass? An hour? Time was lost. Eventually, Joe lifted his face out of his snot-covered hands. Arden handed him a
nearby tissue box. Joe blew his nose and wiped his hands.
He refused to look at Arden.
“You’re free now. You’re not going back,” Arden told him.
Joe sucked in his lower lip and bit into it. He sniffled. “Are they gone?”
“Not yet, but they will be,” Arden said. “We’re going to stop them.”
“They need to die, Arden. All of them,” Joe said.
“I understand why you feel that way,” Arden said. “But we’re not like them.”
“You don’t understand,” Joe said. “They showed me what they do to people. They made me watch. I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
Joe broke.
Wincing, Arden got out of the chair, went down on her knees, and gave him a hug.
He squeezed her so tightly that she thought the stitches on her back would break.
Joe sobbed, “They said they wanted an audience member.”
“It’s okay,” Arden comforted his head against her shoulder.
“I want to go home, Arden. I just want to go home.”
“Shh,” Arden said calmly. “We will.”
Whatever Joe experienced must’ve taken him back to the time when he was captive overseas.
After a long moment, Arden pulled away from him.
Joe blew his nose on a tissue and looked around with heavily-lidded eyes. It seemed that some sanity had returned to him. “I know where they are going next.”
“They?”
Joe loosened his grip on Arden. “All of them. All of them that are part of their sick cult.”
9
Family Swim
The light over the table illuminated them. Arden sat at one end. Purple brush strokes were painted beneath Arden’s red-rimmed eyes. Minor bruising spotted her neck. A long-sleeve black shirt covered her scabbed, lean torso. Tight sweats hugged to her legs. Long socks warmed her feet. They were owned by the woman who died here.
She sipped coffee through her chapped lips.
Dawkins sat to her right. His light brown hair was a tangled mess. Wrinkles made sharp creases on his greasy, button-up shirt. He had brown Oxfords and a badge clipped to his belt.
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