Those Girls (31 page)

A car pulled up in front of the garage.

“I’ve got to help these customers,” Riley said.

“If you think of anything else, please give us a call.” I scrawled my number quickly across the back of a pad of invoices lying on the bench.

“Hope you find her soon,” Riley said as he ran out.

*   *   *

As we were walking back to the motel, I said, “We have to tell the police Skylar was working at the ranch—and what the men did to us.”

“They’re going to have questions.”

“We just have to tell them enough so they know Brian and Gavin are dangerous,” I said. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to speak about what had happened to us, but I had to somehow find the strength.

“I don’t trust Riley,” Dallas said.

“You think he could be involved?”

“We know his dad’s fucked up, and he was nervous. Something’s weird.”

Could we have it all wrong? Could it be Noah and Riley who did something to Skylar? But why would Riley admit he’d seen her?

“That’s why I want to talk to the police,” I said. “They’ll be able to figure out if he’s lying.”

“There’s a risk they could start looking into our past.”

“They have no reason to at this point, no way of knowing about Dad.” I still had nightmares sometimes, could hear him calling me “Peanut.” I would stay awake for hours, replaying that last night, wondering what would have happened if I’d just injured him, where we’d all be now. And I often worried about what Skylar would think if she ever found out. I told myself that I’d had no choice, but I was haunted by the idea that everything that had happened in Cash Creek was a punishment somehow, that our lives had been broken that day.

“We need to make sure we have our stories straight,” Dallas said. “And whatever we do, we can’t let them know Crystal had a gun.”

*   *   *

We walked into the station together. It was an older square building with white wood siding, looked like it had been built in the seventies and smelled of burnt coffee. It wasn’t very big, and only a few police cars were in the parking lot. On the way we’d talked over a few things they might ask, worked on our cover story, but we knew it was the things we weren’t thinking about that might screw us up.

I told the woman behind the counter that we wanted to report some missing people, and an officer came out a couple minutes later. He introduced himself as Sergeant McPhail and led us to a small interview room with a table and a few chairs. He sat on one side, the two of us across from him. He was an older man with snow-white hair, brown eyes with eyebrows that slashed down at an angle, a long nose, and a stern mouth. He reminded me of an eagle, the way his eyes stared intensely at one of us, then flicked to the other. I got the feeling he didn’t miss much, which was good if it meant he could find the girls faster but bad if he sensed we were lying about parts of the story.

“You want to file a missing persons report?” he said, making notes on a pad of paper.

“Yes, my daughter and our sister,” I said. “We live in Vancouver, but they were staying here at the motel.”

“Their names?”

“Skylar and Crystal Caldwell. Skylar is only seventeen.” I curled my hand into a tight fist, digging my nails in hard, focused on the pain.

“When did you last hear from them?” he said.

“We haven’t heard from our sister since Sunday. Skylar texted me after she left Thursday morning, but I haven’t heard from her since and their phones are just going to voice mail. We went to the motel.…” I couldn’t go on, kept seeing Crystal’s shirt lying on the bed like she’d planned on coming back at any minute.

“Crystal’s things are in her room,” Dallas said, “but the lady at the motel hasn’t seen her all week and she should’ve checked out today. Skylar stayed only one night there. We think she started sleeping in her car after that.” Usually it pissed me off when Dallas stepped in and spoke for me, but this time I felt a wave of gratitude that she was there, that I had her strength to lean on.

“Was Crystal’s purse in the room?” he said.

“No,” I said.

“Why were they in Cash Creek?”

“Eighteen years ago we passed through town.…” My skin was on fire, my face burning hot. For a minute I couldn’t find my breath, felt like a hand was clamping down over my mouth. I wondered if I was having a panic attack. “Our truck broke down.”

“Brian Luxton and his brother picked us up and took us back to their parents’ ranch so we could make some money,” Dallas said, speaking fast and angry. “They attacked us one night and took us to an empty warehouse. They raped us. They kept us there for five days.”

The sergeant sat up straight in his chair, his eyes watching us intently.

“Did you report it?” he said.

“We were too scared,” I said. “We just wanted to get away from this place. What the men did to us—” I broke off, caught my breath. “It’s still very hard for us to talk about.”

“We don’t want to press charges,” Dallas said. “We just want you to know that they’re dangerous. We believe Crystal came here to confront them, and Skylar followed. We think Brian and Gavin have done something to them.”

“We know Crystal was at the bar at the same time as Gavin Luxton, and we know Skylar was working at the ranch but she didn’t show up this morning,” I said. I told him everything we’d learned from Owen and Riley.

“You need to search their properties,” Dallas said.

“Before we can do anything, I need some more information from you,” the sergeant said. “What were the girls driving?”

“Skylar has a red Honda Civic, and Crystal drives a black Acura.”

“Do you know what they were last wearing?”

I shook my head. “No. But Skylar was probably wearing shorts and flip-flops. She has a leather pair with a daisy on them, between the toes.” I swallowed hard against the tears building in my throat. “She wears them all the time. Crystal often wears yoga shorts and tank tops.”

“We’ll find out if the motel has a surveillance camera. We’ll also ask local businesses in the area. I’ll need a recent photo and the girls’ descriptions, names of their friends, any associates or employers.”

I gave him Crystal and Skylar’s details, their dates of birth, names of their friends. “I have some photos on my phone,” I said.

“Can you e-mail me?” He gave me his address and I sent him the photos.

“Crystal’s hair is dyed brown now,” I said.

“Where’s Skylar’s father?”

“He’s not in her life.”

He looked up, met my eyes briefly. I wondered if he was going to ask for her father’s name or contact information, but he just made a note.

“How did Skylar seem the last time you spoke to her?”

“She was upset and worried about her aunt, but she told me she was going to stay with a friend at her lake cabin. She lied to me.”

“Has she run away before?” he said.

“Skylar’s never done
anything
like this,” I said.

“What about their lifestyle? Any medical conditions? Drug use?”

I thought about what to say. “Skylar’s a good kid. Crystal’s had a few problems, but she wouldn’t just disappear on us.”

“You said Skylar was worried about her?”

If I told him the truth, would he not take things as seriously? Would he just think Crystal was a flake or a screwup? I had to say something.

“Crystal had something upsetting happen to her that weekend, a fight with a guy she was dating. We think that opened up some of her feelings about what happened to us when we were teenagers, and that’s why she came back here.”

“Any indication she may be suicidal?”

I thought about Crystal locked in the bathroom, a gun in her hand.

“No.”

He made another note. “You said you went into her motel room. Did you see any signs of a struggle?”

“No, but it was messy,” I said.

“We’ll check it out—don’t enter the room again.”

“We’ll get another room at the motel.”

“I’m going to need their cell numbers—we’ll ping their phones.”

“What does that mean?”

“If they don’t have GPS, we can see where their phone last bounced off a cell tower and triangulate the signals. It will give us an indication of where they might be located, but if there isn’t any cell coverage or their batteries are dead, it won’t help us. We’ll still get an idea of where they might’ve been recently.”

“That’s good,” I said, starting to feel hopeful they’d find them soon. I glanced over at Dallas. She gave me a small smile.

“We’ll pull their text messages, but that might take a couple of days to get from the phone company. Their description and vehicle will be entered on CPIC, the Canadian Police Information Centre. We’ll also notify other detachments.”

“When will you talk to Brian and Gavin?” I said.

“As soon as possible. We still need to go through the process. I understand your concern about the men, but we can’t pigeonhole our investigation because of your bad history with them. If we put all our focus on them and they don’t have the girls, we’ll have wasted a lot of time and the girls could still be in trouble.”

“Will it be on the news?” I said.

“We probably won’t release it to the media right away. We’ll start our investigation and see what we discover by canvassing. If the men do have them, we don’t want them to react in a dangerous manner.”

“You’re worried they might kill them,” I said, a stab of fear thrusting deep into my guts. I stared hard at his face, trying to find some hope, reassurance.

“We just want to proceed with caution at this point,” he said.

“You
need
to find that warehouse,” I said, frustrated by all these delays. I knew who had the girls. I just needed him to find them.

“There are too many in the area, so that’s just not practical use of our manpower. We need to canvass, talk to people, and see what other leads turn up.”

“So you’re just going to walk around?” Dallas said, her tone making it clear she was not impressed. “That’s going to take too long.” I loved her for her bluntness, her ability to say exactly what we were both thinking.

“We’re going to do everything we can to find them quickly. If you hear anything, let us know, and we’ll keep you posted. I’ll give you my cell number.”

“What should we be doing?” I said.

“Call their friends, see if anyone has heard from them. If you decide at a later date that you want to press charges against the men for the assault, we can pursue that matter. Right now let’s focus on finding your daughter and sister.”

*   *   *

I walked out of the station with Dallas on shaky legs, the heat coming up off the pavement making me feel sick. When we got to the car, Dallas opened the doors.

“We should let it cool off for a minute.”

We leaned against the side, the metal hot against my back even through my shirt. Dallas’s hair was damp at her forehead, her eyes red-rimmed. She lit a cigarette, taking long inhales, her fingers pinching the cigarette like it was a joint.

“You okay?” she said, her shoulder bumping against mine.

“Yeah. What about you?”

She nodded, took another drag of her cigarette. It was so familiar, the way she held it, the tilt of her head. I felt like a kid again, watching my big sister.

“Give me one of those,” I said. Dallas passed me a cigarette and the lighter. I hadn’t smoked since I’d found out I was pregnant. I felt the smoke burn down my throat, my head instantly light from the rush of nicotine. I blew the smoke out, studying the police station, still trying to get a grip on my emotions. I felt busted open, scraped raw, dirty, like I wanted to take a long shower.

“I wonder what they’ll think after they start talking to Crystal’s friends and coworkers,” I said. We both knew the cops might find out Crystal was always taking off and getting into trouble.

“I don’t know, but they still have to see it through.”

“I’m pissed they can’t just search the ranch.”

“Hopefully the men will screw up on something when they talk,” Dallas said. “That’s all it takes sometimes. Then they can get a search warrant.”

I wanted to think positive, but I couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that we had just exposed ourselves and put Skylar in even more danger.

“What if he’s right? What if the guys do flip out and they kill the girls?” I put my head in my hands, took some deep breaths, trying to get a grip.

“You can’t think like that,” Dallas said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “The cops will find them.
We’ll
find them.”

I looked up, met her eyes, and gave her hand a squeeze, grateful again that she was there with me, then took a hard drag of my cigarette. “I still can’t believe Crystal came to this hellhole again.”

“I can.”

I turned to her. “You’ve thought about killing them?”

“Haven’t you?”

I remembered the rifle jamming in my hands, Brian down on the floor.

“Yeah. I’ve thought about it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

S
KYLAR

I turned my head away from Crystal and closed my eyes tight. I couldn’t believe we were both trapped. I should’ve just left the night Gavin found me at the creek. If I’d called my mom or the police, they might’ve been able to find Crystal. My chest was so tight it felt like someone was squeezing it. I couldn’t get a breath. I sucked desperately at the air.
Stop, Skylar, just focus, see if there’s a way out.

My body shook as I looked around frantically at the door, the boarded-over window. I could see sheer curtains at the top, in a burnt-orange color. They must be hanging on the other side of the boards. If anyone looked, they’d just see the fabric.

I’d never be able to rip the boards off with my hands tied. I tried to wiggle my hands over my butt, so I could slide my legs through, but he’d rotated my arms when he taped them, forcing my back to arch painfully. I couldn’t bend my arms enough to step through. Crystal was watching me, her expression sad.

The country music was giving me a headache. He hadn’t turned on the fan and the room was sweltering, making the odor coming off the bucket even worse. I had to try hard not to throw up. My lips were already hurting, and my tongue felt swollen. I was thirsty and I wondered if I’d die of dehydration.