BLOODY BELL

by Jeremy Waldron

  “Let’s get out of here.” Erin took one step back. “She’s clearly not interested in finding her daughter.”

  “Wait,” Ms. Dee answered quickly, her eyes bouncing between Erin and me. “I’ll tell you the truth, but not here.”

  We agreed to meet outside. As Ms. Dee left for the breakroom in the back to clock out, Erin and I headed for the exit.

  “Nice work,” I told her.

  “I knew she would cave.” Erin playfully nudged her shoulder into mine. “Maybe she really does love her daughter.”

  Not long after, Ms. Dee was leading us to an empty picnic table on the far outside corner of the grocery store. Cars lazily passed by and the rattle of shopping carts being pushed kept our conversation hidden.

  “Detective Campbell said that Cameron was missing because I wasn’t being cooperative, and he might not be wrong.” Ms. Dee spoke without any prompting on our part. “But I couldn’t tell him about that.” She jutted her chin to my phone’s screen. It lay on top of the table in front of me.

  “Tyler told us about the affair,” I said. “You think he would keep something like that a secret?” It was clear to us Ms. Dee knew more than she had told anyone—including Detective Campbell—so I did my best not to push her too hard with hopes of finally hearing the complete truth.

  “It was a mistake.”

  “You think?” Erin’s mouth slackened.

  I shot her a look to keep her mouth shut. Now was not the time to be judgmental.

  Ms. Dee squinted off into the distance when she began speaking. “Things moved quickly and I lost track of my role as a mother—how a woman my age is supposed to act.” She flicked her gaze over to me. “Tyler has that effect on women of all ages, and I fell for it.”

  “Tell us what happened. Where was Cameron when all this was happening?”

  Ms. Dee’s hands shook as she wrapped her lips around a smoke and lit up. “I didn’t want Cameron to be like me.” She pulled a deep inhale into her lungs—the end glowing a cherry red—and exhaled a big plume of smoke.

  “What do you mean, you didn’t want her to be like you?”

  “To become a teen mother.” Ms. Dee’s face hardened, the look of a lifetime worth of mistakes and hard knocks. “But that is exactly what happened and Tyler was never going to admit that the baby was his.”

  “But you knew it was.”

  “Cameron knew it, too.” Ms. Dee tapped the ash off the end of her cigarette. “My baby was scared, but not as frightened as I was. Of course, I could never admit that to my daughter. I was already struggling to survive, and the thought of having to do it all over again—for the next eighteen years…” Ms. Dee shook her head. “I just couldn’t do it.”

  Erin brought her elbows to the table and asked, “What are you saying?”

  Ms. Dee’s expression pinched. “What I’m saying is that I thought if I could win Tyler over, he’d offer to help with the expenses.”

  I watched Erin’s shoulders relax before turning back to Ms. Dee. “When did your affair with him begin?”

  “I wouldn’t call it an affair. It was only one night; the night of that video.” She stamped out her cigarette and muttered, “I can’t believe it’s posted online.”

  “Did Cameron ever find out?”

  Ms. Dee stared into the grains of the picnic table wood as she nodded. “You can imagine how awkward it was for her. I’ve never seen her so angry.”

  “Did you try to extort him for money?”

  Ms. Dee’s mouth twisted with a sour expression. “Tyler was generous with his money, fun, and liked to party. We don’t have much. So, when someone like Tyler came around, it was easy to get sucked into the glamorous life he lives. To this day, Tyler has never owned up to being the father of my grandbaby, nor has he offered to help with the expenses. The party stopped for him and Cameron the moment shit got real.”

  “Ms. Dee, how is Cameron paying for her healthcare?”

  Ms. Dee’s gaze went distant as she shook her head. “When Tyler pushed both of us out of his life, I knew I had to do something to help Cameron. There were only so many hours I could pick up here, so when I came across a website promising first-time mothers financial assistance,” she rolled her neck and looked me straight in the eye, “it was like God had finally answered my prayers.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Jonny Montoya had had the night of his life, letting it continue through most of the morning. He was still floating on cloud nine when he arrived home safely, well into the next day. His breath smelled of alcohol and he felt the effects of micro-dosing designer drugs while partying it up at a local nightclub where his roommate was host to a party.

  “Let me inside,” the woman to his left mewed as she clawed at his belt.

  “Patience baby.” Johnny pecked at the soft spot behind her ear.

  Jonny tripped over the curb, and the woman to his right giggled. Then the other woman joined in on the laughter. Soon, they were all laughing over the lawn when Jonny spotted Tyler’s black Range Rover parked at the neighbor’s. The wheels were half on the sidewalk, half on the lawn.

  “Son of a bitch got home before me,” Johnny muttered to himself.

  Tyler was as crunk as Jonny, but Jonny couldn’t recall when Tyler left the party, just that he seemed to have disappeared earlier than usual.

  “Is that Tyler’s car?” one of the women asked.

  Jonny told her to shut up and remember who brought her home—him.

  “That is Tyler’s car,” the other woman responded. “Maybe he’ll show you how to treat women right.” The women shared a giggle as they teased Jonny.

  Jonny slapped her butt and told her to behave.

  “And if I don’t?” she tempted him.

  “Wait to find out.” Jonny pinched the woman’s mouth and shoved his tongue deep into her throat.

  The two of them were busy making out on the front lawn when the other woman said, “What is that?”

  Jonny slowly peeled himself away, turned, and looked at what the woman was pointing at on the ground. A dark stain colored the grass. Jonny wasn’t sure what it was, but he thought it looked like oil. “It’s nothing. Let’s get our asses inside so I can finally do something about this hard-on.”

  The three of them stomped over another splotch on the ground before marching up to the front door. Jonny kept taking turns nuzzling his face in the crooks of their necks, making them squirm and beg for more.

  He reached for the door handle and felt his heart drop to his stomach. It was cracked open, something that neither Jonny nor Tyler would do. Tyler owned too many valuable electronics and had thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry and clothes inside to be so careless to have allowed this to happen. Something was up.

  With his brows pinched, Jonny stepped forward and nudged the door open with his foot.

  The girls covered their noses. “Oh, my God. What is that smell?”

  Jonny smelled it, too, but didn’t react. His pulse was ticking hard and fast now, only getting worse when he noticed the blood everywhere on the floor. It looked like a deer had been dragged from the woods and had somehow found its way inside his house.

  Reaching for the window, Jonny peeled the curtain back and both women screamed in horror at the same time.

  “Get out of here!” Jonny yelled at them.

  They took off running. Jonny didn’t care where they went, just that they got the hell away from his house. He turned back around and stared at the back of Tyler’s head. His roommate kneeled over the body of a woman, a bloody kitchen knife by his side.

  “Tyler?”

  Jonny’s roommate glanced over his shoulder. Tyler’s eyes were bloodshot, his face ghost-white. It was the first time Jonny had ever seen Tyler actually look scared.

  “Get out of here, Jonny.”

  “Fuck, Tyler. What did you do?” Who was the woman who had her guts spilling out of her?

  Chapter Forty-Five

  When word came through the radio, both King
and Alvarez knew it had to be one of the missing girls. Already in the car and leaving the bank, King flicked on the lights and turned on the siren as they raced through LoDo toward the Chaffee Park neighborhood.

  King weaved through traffic with a flexed stomach.

  The description of the crime sounded horrendous, and King prepared himself to deal with another visual that would be permanently engrained in his memory forever.

  Several patrol cars were already on scene when they arrived. King curbed the sedan off to the side and flicked his gaze to the EMS wagon. A couple paramedics loaded up the gurney into the back when King kicked his door opened. He ran as fast as he could to get a visual on the victim but, by the time he arrived, the doors were slammed shut in his face.

  Pounding his fist on the back of the van, he demanded they open up. Instead, he swallowed a thick puff of exhaust as it turned on its lights and sped away.

  “Did you see who it was?” Alvarez’s face was red as he struggled to breathe after chasing after King.

  “No.” King cursed.

  Heading for the house, King badged his way to the front. A young officer stood guard at the front door. “Were you first on scene?”

  The rookie nodded.

  The rookie’s blank stare and pale face told him the young officer had never seen anything like it. The rotten smell of infection and death drifted over King’s shoulder and circled back around into his nose. His insides curdled. There was blood everywhere.

  “Jesus Christ.” Alvarez pinched his nose before peering inside the house.

  They could see everything they needed from the front step. Lab techs and forensics were inside, moving across the floor in their plastics, scouring for evidence.

  “Anybody know what happened?” Alvarez asked the rookie.

  “The woman’s womb had been cut open.”

  Alvarez’s eyes went wide. “Someone ripped the baby from the womb?”

  The rookie nodded. He looked like he was about to hurl his lunch any second.

  King’s insides froze. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The scene playing out inside his head was the stuff that made horror movies. He looked around the room once more.

  “Who called it in?” King heard Alvarez ask the rookie.

  “Her.” The rookie pointed to the young brunette whose wrists and clothes were bright with florescent colors. She looked like she had just come from a concert.

  King followed his finger and felt his ribs squeeze when he met eyes with Detective Campbell. He had missed seeing Campbell on his way in, but of course he wasn’t surprised he was here.

  Campbell told the woman to take a seat in the front of his cruiser when he saw King approach.

  “Nikki, over there,” Campbell flicked his eyes to his car, “called it in.”

  “Does she live here?”

  “No. But the man she came home with does. He’s over there.” Campbell nodded to a police cruiser. “That is Jonny Montoya, the man who thought he was going to be getting lucky with Nikki. Apparently, they met at a club on South Federal and were coming here when they discovered the victim inside.”

  “Is he talking?” King asked, referring to Jonny.

  Campbell nodded. “Their statements line up. But Jonny also happens to be on probation and had one too many drinks, hence the cuffs.”

  King watched the spooked young man blankly staring through the cruiser window. The petite woman shook, a ghostly look stamped on her impressionable face.

  “Has the victim been IDed?” King asked.

  “Name is Cameron Dee. It would be a miracle if she makes it.”

  King didn’t react to the news. This was Campbell’s case. If he had only taken it seriously from the start, then maybe he could have saved at least one life.

  King remained calm. “But there is a chance?”

  Campbell nodded once. “Sounds like Jonny Montoya came home to find his roommate, Tyler Lopez, hovering over the body. The techs found a kitchen knife near where the victim was unconscious. Forensics will confirm if it was the one used on the victim’s body, but first impression paints an easy picture to assume it was.”

  King looked for the second suspect.

  As if reading his thoughts, Campbell said, “Tyler Lopez fled the scene. Last I heard, he’s still on the loose.”

  “With or without the baby?”

  “No one ever saw a baby. At this time, internally, we’re saying without.”

  “And publicly?”

  “Nothing is being ruled out.”

  King stepped away, wanting to speak with Jonny. He opened the door and introduced himself. “I know you’re not going to want to repeat what you’ve already told the other detective, but I want to hear what you saw.”

  Jonny didn’t fight. He spoke in a whispery monotone, telling the same story King just heard from Campbell. Then, suddenly, he went off script. “This is all my fault.”

  King tilted his head to the side. “Tell me, Jonny, how is what happened here your fault?”

  Jonny lifted his sunken eyes up to King and said, “If only I would have told the truth yesterday, maybe then I could have saved her life. But I never thought Tyler would actually kill her.” Jonny’s head hung. “This is so fucked up.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Ms. Dee couldn’t recall the name of the organization Cameron responded to, but now I knew we were getting close. The ad—a website—existed. Now we only had to find out who posted it, and where. No easy feat.

  “Was it North Denver Reproductive Medicine?” I asked, hoping to spark Ms. Dee’s memory.

  Ms. Dee thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “That doesn’t sound right. I would have to do some searching.” Her brows knitted. “Why are you asking?”

  I shared that the police were actively searching for another woman who’d gone missing around the same time as Cameron.

  “Oh my god.” Ms. Dee gasped.

  I didn’t mention Tracey’s name, or tell Ms. Dee of Kate’s death, but Ms. Dee needed to know there were others. “That’s why it’s essential you’re telling us everything you know.”

  Ms. Dee shared a look of confidence when her cell phone lit up.

  Without a thought, she picked it up and answered.

  Erin stood from the table and stretched her arms over her head when I noticed Ms. Dee stop breathing. What did she just learn?

  She stared into my eyes but I knew she wasn’t looking at me. Her distant gaze and flaring nostrils had me thinking something was wrong. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand, and a shiver worked its way up my spine.

  I angled my head and listened intently, trying to hear as much of the conversation as I could. Then I felt my stomach drop and I knew that Ms. Dee was getting bad news.

  Tears filled her eyes and suddenly Ms. Dee’s fingers snapped open as quickly as a mouse trap. The phone dropped to the concrete, its case shattering upon impact. It all happened in slow motion and I wasn’t fast enough to react.

  Ms. Dee flung her head back on her shoulders and released a ripping wail into the air that was powerful enough to shatter glass. Twirling to the side, I watched Ms. Dee collapse to the cold concrete.

  I immediately reached for her but I was too late to keep her from smacking her knees hard on the ground.

  Erin spun around to see what was happening.

  I had my arms draped over Ms. Dee’s shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Her body was tense and coiled; nothing I did could release the tension I felt radiating in the tips of my fingers.

  “It’s Cameron,” I said softly to Erin. Then my heart said a quick prayer for the girl, hoping it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

  “My baby. They hurt my baby,” Ms. Dee cried.

  “Who called?”

  Ms. Dee continued to cry, slapping her palms down on the concrete. “How could they?”

  I let her do what she needed to do before helping her to her feet. She clung to me for support and I brushed off the dirt from her knees.
A flood of tears pooled in her eyes when she locked her gaze with mine.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “They found my baby but she’s badly injured and on the way to the hospital now.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I hugged Ms. Dee and she accepted my embrace. She whispered more of what she’d learned into my ear. We didn’t know the details but we both assumed the worst.

  “Let us take you.” I pulled back and looked her in her eyes. “We have a car. It will be quicker.”

  Ms. Dee swallowed back the tears and agreed, telling us Cameron was taken to Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center.

  We left the picnic table without telling her boss she was leaving. It didn’t matter. Not with her daughter having been found. Everything else seemed so small.

  The drive across town was silent and felt like it took forever. My thoughts were scattered, churning with possibility as I tried to hang on to hope. I thought about how Kate was found, how Tracey was still missing, and kept circling back to questioning what happened to Cameron.

  Ms. Dee sat in the backseat and I kept stealing quick, unassuming glances.

  She quietly stared out the window—her tears now dry—busy flicking an unlit cigarette between her fingers. Ms. Dee respected my request to not light up in the car. She didn’t even bother once we arrived to the hospital.

  I pulled up to the entrance with Erin sliding behind the wheel as I led Ms. Dee through the front doors. We tracked down her daughter to surgery, and immediately began fighting with the staff to learn what happened.

  All anybody could say was that Cameron had been found unconscious and was badly hurt.

  Erin soon met us in the waiting room, taking turns holding Ms. Dee’s trembling hands. We offered food and drink, but Ms. Dee was too anxious to accept any kind of offering.

  My thoughts went to Mason and I gave him a call. When he picked up, I could breathe again.

  Our conversation was short, and Mason thought it was ridiculous for me to call just to say I loved him, but that’s what I did—all I needed to say. Then I called King while I had the chance.