Killer Honeymoon (11 page)

She spotted Rocky behind a far tree, his hand on
his hip, a perfectly legal weapon ready to protect his wife and friends. A man
of action.

The plan would work. They would surround the
encampment. They would come in with the law and rescue the girls.

She turned her eye back to Josh, waiting for the
signal. Waiting for permission to move.

Nothing in the camp stirred.

A branch cracked behind Jane.

She turned, her heart in her throat.

Nothing. Ken and Miller hadn’t moved.

From the corner of her eye she saw a splash of
white as it ducked into the brush. A deer? A bird? A person?

She inched her way back.

“What?” Ken’s voice was low, but not a whisper.

Jake followed, but she shook her head.

Ken dragged Miller to the tree, to take her
spot.

Jane ducked under a low branch and off the
trail. The flash of white, the noise. It had been human. Not animal. Animals
were too careful, too quiet.

She pushed her way through a patch of Oregon grape.
A movement to her right caught her eye. She kept low, skirting a patch of berry
brambles.

On the other side of the brambles, she found a
fallen evergreen, its huge trunk resting over a smooth, long hollow in the
land. The hollow sheltered two scared girls in white nightgowns.

One girl was curled up, shivering in the cold,
her face hidden. The other stared at Jane with huge brown eyes. “Run!” the girl
whispered. “Don’t stay here!”

“I’m here for you,” Jane said, careful not to
make any sudden movements. “We’ve come to rescue you.”

The other girl looked up, shaggy blonde hair
hiding most of her face. “We can go home?” Her voice seemed to surprise
herself.

“Yes. There’s lots of us, with cars and the
police. We’re going to take you all home.”

She scooched out from her hiding spot. She was a
small girl, but clearly a teenager. Her friend put her arm around her waist.
“Rosie got hurt, but they wouldn’t let her go to the doctor.”

“Did you try to get away?” Jane asked.

Rosie nodded. “But they followed me and brought
me back. I was almost there. I just needed a car. Someone to drive me.”

Jane’s heart fell. Hannah had been right there.
Hannah had had a car. She had tried. Jane held her hand out. “We’re here now.
But I want you to stay right here, where I know you’re safe, while we get the
other girls. Can you do that? Have you been hiding here?”

Rosie nodded. “Me and Emma have been sleeping
out here. We didn’t want to marry them after all. We didn’t know we were
supposed to…share. So we come out here at night and they can’t find us.”

“Real fast,” Jane said, “tell me about your
injury. Do you need help this minute?” Rosie’s face was ashy white, and her
forehead dappled in sweat as though she were feverish.

Rosie held out her hand, revealing a large,
infected gash on the underside. It looked as though it had started to heal, but
it was green and swollen, and long veins of dark red infection traced up her
wrist. She needed medical attention, but it would have to wait for a few more
minutes.

“Is everyone still asleep in the cabins?”

“Yes,” Emma said. “Only two girls like the plan,
so they are with their husband. Otherwise the boys are in the boys’ cabin and
the girls are in the other one. But we didn’t want to be there at all in case
the boys changed their minds.” She held her chin out stubbornly. And Jane
couldn’t blame her.

“It’s okay. Stay here and we’ll get everyone
out.”

She turned and tried to remember how she had
gotten to the hollow spot.

“We’d better take you back. If it wasn’t so easy
to get lost, we’d all be home already.” Emma helped Rosie up and then led Jane
through the bushes and to the cabins.

Josh stood in the middle of the cabins, face to
face with one young man. They spoke too quietly for Jane to hear. She kept one
eye on the interaction and walked Emma to her daddy.

“Baby girl!” His voice broke the stillness of
the woods. He ran to her, snatching her into his arms and holding her, tears
streaming down his face.

She clung to his neck and didn’t let go.

The door of one of the cinderblock cabins flung
open and three boys poured out, one with an axe held like a weapon.

“Hold it!” Rocky’s voice rang through the trees.
He held his gun up, pointed at the boy with the axe. “Don’t take another step.”

“Put it down.” Josh held his hand up to Rocky.

Rocky lowered the weapon, but kept it in his
hand.

“You, drop the axe.” Josh pulled out his own
gun, held it up, and pointed it, somehow in control of the moment, somehow
handling it though every nerve in Jane’s body was ready to explode. How he
could do that, how he could face those boys and the axe, she didn’t know.

The young man dropped it.

It hit his foot and he jumped, biting off a cry
of pain.

Josh didn’t move a muscle. “That’s better. Now,
you boys stand together over there. Are there more of you?”

Jane counted…four young men, all about the same
size, all blond and muscular. One taller than the others by several inches.

“Yeah. We’re it.”

“Is that true?” Jane asked Rosie.

“Yes, that’s all of them.”

“That’s all of them, Josh!” Jane called out.

He nodded.

“I want Flora and Jane to go into the cabins
now, one by one, and help the girls out. You four just stand there. Don’t move,
don’t speak. Do you understand?”

“Yessir,” the tall one answered for them.

Jane and Rose walked into the clearing.

Ken broke from his spot in the woods and ran to
her. He lifted her up like a young child and held her in his arms, wordless.

Flora and Jane went to one of the cabins and
pushed the door open. Two girls sat on a pile of blankets on the floor, one
braiding the other’s hair as though they hadn’t heard what was going on
outside. She chomped her gum. “I turn eighteen next week, so you can’t make me
leave my husband.”

The other girl grinned. “I’m already eighteen,
so just try to get me out of here.” She laughed. They both wore cutoff jeans and
tank tops despite the chill morning air. “But you’re welcome to the other girls
because they aren’t worthy anyway.” She stretched her legs out and crossed her
ankles.

“If you aren’t eighteen yet,” Flora said to the
girl on her knees, braiding the hair, “I can absolutely take you with me, and
arrest the boy who brought you here, and arrest everyone who was a part of
taking you here. So you,” she said to the girl getting her hair braided, “can come
willingly with me and your friend, or my cop with the gun can put you in
handcuffs. Totally up to you.”

The seventeen-year-old stood up. “Whatever.
We’ll just come back next month. They can’t stop us.” She sashayed past Flora
and Jane.

“There,” said the eighteen-year-old. “I didn’t
stop you from taking her, so you can’t make me leave.” She crossed her arms and
smirked. She had a red welt on her shoulder and the yellowish remains of a
black eye.

“Are you sure you don’t want to leave with us?”
Jane asked.

“What for? So I can go home to my stepdad who
hits me?” She clenched her jaw. “Levi loves me. He’ll take care of me.”

“Leave her for a minute.” Flora walked the other
girl out.

Jane didn’t leave her. “You’re an adult. You don’t
have to go back to your stepdad.” She stooped to see eye to eye with the girl.

“I don’t want to leave Levi. I love him.”

“But what about Eric, didn’t you love him, too?”

“Who’s Eric?” The girl narrowed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Jane leaned back. “You’re not
Cherry?”

“Ahh. Cherry’s old boyfriend. No, I am not
Cherry. I’m Shannon White and no one cares that I’m missing. I knew they
wouldn’t. Everyday Levi goes and reads the paper in town and he told me. No
one’s looking for me, and you just proved it.” The tip of her nose turned red.
She was holding it together but just barely.

“Shannon from Astoria?” Jane asked. “You’re all
over the news. Everyone’s worried sick. I’m sorry I messed up.” Jane prayed she
had guessed right. She had been so focused on the Warrenton kids she had
forgotten to get the names and pictures of the other missing girls.

“Yes. Shannon from Astoria.”

“Why don’t you come out with me now? Levi is out
there. He can explain it all. Explain that he loves you and that he will take
care of you.”

“He does. Me and Lauren both. He loves us and
vowed to protect us.” She stared square in Jane’s face.

“Then let’s get outside where he is and work it
out.”

“Yeah. Why not.” Shannon stood and brushed her
knees off. She pushed her way out in front of Jane.

Jane stood in the door for a moment. Flora led
two other girls to where Dave stood in back of Josh a few paces.

Shannon ran to Levi. No one stopped her.

As much as Jane had promised she had been missed
and that people were looking for her, no one in the rescue squad was there for
her in particular.

Jane followed Flora to the next cabin, her heart
sick. Who else was hiding, wishing and dreaming they could be important and
cared for?

Flora knocked lightly and opened the door. Two
dishwater blondes were packing up backpacks. One turned. “Thank God!” she said.
“I never thought we’d get out of here. Come on, Skye, let’s go.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” The two girls rushed
out of the cabin without so much as a thanks for their rescuer.

Jane hurried to the last cabin, but it was
empty.

Rosie and Emma, Cherry and Skye, Shannon and her
friend, and the two girls Flora had just walked to Dave. Was that everyone?

Out in the clearing, two other girls slunk in
from the woods, one with a bucket full of berries, the other carrying an
armload of firewood.

“What’s going on?” The girl with the berries
stared at Josh.

“It’s going to be okay,” Josh said. “We’re here
to take you girls home.”

She set the bucket down silently, but her friend
dropped the firewood with a happy cry.

Shannon clung to Levi’s arm. “I don’t have to
go, do I? I’m eighteen. I can stay with you forever.”

He put his arm over her shoulder and kissed her
forehead.

“Why don’t you girls all go back with Ken and
Jeff. Can you do that? Take them back to the van. Plenty of seats for everyone.
Give ’em some water. There’s a first aid kit in there. See that they’re all
okay, yes?”

“Absolutely.” Ken rounded the young women
up—except Shannon—and led them back to the van.

“You boys, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Got
any place to sit around here?” Dave smiled, approaching the young men. “One of
your friends from back home is dead, and we’re hoping you can help us find out
who killed him.”

One of the boys, baby faced but still big and
broad, backed away from the others. He looked side to side with wide, scared eyes.

“Easy,” Dave said. “We just need to talk.”

“They’ve got nothing to say to you.” Shannon’s
voice was brassy.

“Hush.” Levi’s word was a command. “We’ve got
rights, and we know it.”

“You’ve been trespassing for quite some time on
land belonging to the Methodist church. I checked it out this morning, just to
be sure. So we can take you all down to the station now, or you can have a
friendly chat.” Dave chuckled, at complete ease. “But you don’t have the right
to resist arrest.”

“Don’t talk!” Shannon shouted. “Don’t say
anything. They can’t stop us. We’ve got squatters rights. We can stay here and
be a family and they can’t stop us at all.”

Levi jerked his arm off Shannon and pushed her
to the ground. “I said hush. What’s wrong with you? Keep sweet, you hear?” His
voice cracked—too young despite being twenty-one—to hold as much anger as it
did.

“Josh? Do you mind?” Dave nodded at his young
partner.

Gun at ready, Josh stepped forward. “That’s
assault and battery, buddy. And now you are under arrest. Put your hands up.”
He began to repeat the Miranda rights as he opened a pair of handcuffs.

“You can’t arrest the prophet!” Miller’s scream
was of full panic. “He has a vision! He’s God’s chosen!” He ran at Josh, tripping
as he grabbed something out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. He rolled
with it and got back on his feet, a small, sharp knife in hand. “He’s got
religious freedom and you can’t arrest him.”

“Hold it, son,” Dave said. “I can arrest him,
and I can arrest you too, so why don’t you take it down a notch. Put away your Boy
Scout toys and go stand with your dad.” Dave scanned the tree line around the
cabins. “Gerald, why don’t you come here and control your kid before he makes a
real big mistake.”

Miller’s father held out a shaking hand. “Come
on, kiddo. Stop playing.”

“I’m not playing!”

Shannon crawled away from Levi. She got up
between Dave and Miller. “Don’t be an idiot, kid.” She squared her shoulders.
“You were never going to be a part of this.” She held her hands out for the
cuffs. “But if you are going to arrest somebody, make it me. Let me be the
martyr to the cause. Not Levi. He has good work to do.”

“They were going to let me come! You were,
weren’t you? I know you were! You just wanted me to bring in money. You needed
me to work a little longer. I totally understood.”

Shannon laughed bitterly.

Miller lunged at her with an animal grunt and
plunged the knife into her shoulder. “You girls are all the same.” He beat her
back with his fist as he screamed. “All of you. You’re nothing but stupid
whores who don’t know anything. You need a real man to teach you something.
Levi could have done it. But you don’t even deserve it. None of you do.” Tears
of anger streamed down Miller’s face.

Josh hooked Miller around the neck with one arm,
pinning his flailing fists behind him. “That’s enough. You’re under arrest for
assault. You have the right to remain silent.”

Shannon stood her ground, her face red, her
shoulders shaking, but her arms held out to Dave, asking to be arrested. Asking
to take the fall for the man who had pushed her to the ground.