Sara (2 page)

At the top of the trail, Sara was told to drop the mattress on the rocky ground
. The heavy man began to untie her leash as the tow truck driver used a shovel to begin digging a shallow hole in the earth. Loud metallic scrapes and tiny sparks invaded the dark night as the shovel forced jagged rocks from their resting place. Sara wept silently and winced while the rope was yanked from her neck.

             
Pop began tearing at her blouse and pulled her bra harshly up over her head, exposing her breasts to the night’s chill. Sara cried out and used her arms to cover herself.

“This isn’t happening. Please
, God, don’t let this happen to me.”

             
Her breath was forced from her lungs as the heavy man shoved her hard to the mattress. Sara tried to curl into a fetal position to protect herself but her attacker seemed to grow even more crazed by her cries and resistance. She grabbed at her panties as he pulled them from her hips and tossed them to one side. Sara screamed and tried to push him away but he was on her like a beast, forcing her legs apart and suffocating her under his tremendous weight.

             
She lay pinned beneath the heaving man, gagging at the odor of his putrid sweat and sweet cologne. She screamed as he entered her and struggled against a vice-like grip that pinned her wrists to the mattress. Unable to stop the attack, Sara began to shut out her physical body, searching for a safe place in the dark corners of her mind. Her screams quieted. She could fight no more.

             
Warm drool drained from the man’s mouth and found the grooves in her neck as he grunted like a savage animal. Stiffening, he emptied his disgusting seed inside her in a great spasm of brutality. The rape was over, and Sara lay still. The heavy man finally relaxed on top of her and breathed heavily into her hair.

             
“The grave is dug, what do you want me to do now?” This was the tow truck driver, standing nervously, hugging himself to ward off the icy vapor that rolled down from the highest peaks.

             
The heavy man pushed himself off the girl, breaking her left wrist with the weight of his body. The driver heard the bones snap and watched in fascination as the pain registered on her dirty face.

             
“Kill her. It’s about time you learn how,” was all the man said.

             
Zipping his fly, Pop drew a hunting knife from his boot and handed it to the driver before walking into the darkness.

             
The young man stood looking at the battered shell of the girl who only six hours before, sat at the side of the road waiting for a flat tire to be changed. He walked to the head of the filthy mattress and tried hard to avoid her eyes. This would be his first kill. He had only watched in the past.

             
The girl looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please,” she said in a whisper, “I just want to go home.”

             
The driver ignored her and studied the broad silver blade of the knife. The girl was attempting what every girl before her had.

“What is
your name?” she asked, still speaking in a whisper. “I am Sara Haller.”

             
The driver knew what she was thinking---that murderers remain distant to their victims, sometimes regarding them as no more than animals for an easier kill. He knew that she was trying to present herself to him as a human so he would feel sorry for her and spare her life. Pop had prepared him for this moment.

             
“I’m eighteen years old and I am going to be a nurse. I want to be a pediatric nurse because I love children. Do you like children?”

             
The young man grew more agitated and looked over his shoulder toward the trail. He didn’t like being left alone on this dark mountain to do
the dirty work
.

             
“Please, you don’t have to do this,” she continued. “I won’t tell a soul about what happened here. I just want to live.” The girl sobbed. “I just want to see my mom and dad again. Please don’t do this,” she pleaded.

             
The driver raised his hands to his ears. “I’m not listening, bitch!” he said.

Refusing to make eye contact with the girl, he dropped to his knees.
Using his left hand to cover her mouth, he brought the knife around and pulled it hard across her exposed throat. Blood covered the blade but the artery failed to open as it should have. She flailed under his grip. Through a pond of tears, her frightened eyes revealed a sense of betrayal.

             
“Your knife is dull, Pop,” he yelled. “It won’t even cut her throat.”

Only silence greeted his revelation.

              “What the hell do you want me to do now?” he asked louder.

             
From a distance down the trail, Pop scolded, “Watch your language, young man.” After a brief pause, he ordered, “Stab her in the heart and bury her.”

             
Releasing his left hand from her mouth, the driver circled around the terrified girl to complete his grisly task. She began screaming, causing him to panic. In a flailing motion, he dropped to one knee and drove the knife into her chest. The girl’s eyes rolled back, the screaming stopped, and the forest became dead silent.

             
For several seconds, all the driver could hear was his own heavy breathing. Finally, a shutter of breeze forced its way through boughs of lodge pole pine and spruce, causing limbs to groan against the force of Mother Nature’s resentment.

             
A cold chill climbed the young man’s spine as he stood and kicked the broken body of the girl off the mattress and into the shallow grave. He began to panic as sounds from the darkened forest came back to life with accusing tones. An owl in the distance demanded the name of this helpless victim, while toads, in deafening chorus, called for the demons of hell to rise and collect the souls of these murdering men.

             
Instead of burying the girl as instructed, the young man quickly turned the mattress over on top of her, retrieved his shovel and her panties from the ground, and hurried down the long dark trail.

two

The Eagle County Sheriff’s vehicle sat on the shoulder of Brush Creek Road, fifteen miles south of Eagle, Colorado. Emergency lights on top waltzed in a dazzling rotation of blues to reds to yellows, signaling caution, but eliciting excitement in the hearts of those who passed on the dark mountain road.

             
Deputy Mike Haller sat behind the wheel of his Ford Explorer, filling in blanks on the probable cause affidavit used to justify the DUI arrest. Locals in this area had been complaining for months that “old man” Vossler had been driving recklessly up and down this stretch of county road. Deputy Haller had tried unsuccessfully several times to catch the recluse in his vehicle, but this evening, he finally got lucky. Ron Vossler had driven his GMC pickup back and forth along the dusty road looking for his Collie which had finally run away from home.

             
From the back seat, Vossler yelled, “What the hell did you do with ‘Dog’?”

The
drunk fancied himself a cowboy, consequently naming his dog after a similar looking mutt from the classic movie “Big Jake” starring John Wayne.

             
The smell of alcohol and vomit saturated the closed environment as Mike Haller lowered his window to let in some fresh air.

“Settle down, Mr.
Vossler. I’m sure your ‘Dog’ ran away because you wouldn’t give him a proper name. A dog needs a proper name.”

             
Deputy Haller’s radio crackled to life with a female voice from the main office in Eagle.

“Echo 7, this is dispatch.
”

             
Mike picked up his handset and replied, “Echo 7.”

             
“Echo 7, your wife is trying to reach you. She says it’s urgent.”

             
Mike retrieved his cell phone from the dashboard and frowned at the “no service” message on the display screen.

             
“Debbie, can you patch her through please?”

             
“Sure thing, Mike. Wait one.”

             
Deputy Haller was not excited to have a personal conversation broadcast over the airwaves for anyone with a scanner to listen to, but Jean would never call unless it was important.

             
The radio came to life again, this time with his wife’s voice.

“Mike
? I’ve been trying to reach you all evening. Is your cell phone turned off?” She sounded flustered and anxious.

             
Mike pressed the transmit button on his handset.

“Honey, we are broadcasting over the radio so be brief, okay
? My cell phone is out of range. What’s going on?”

             
“Mike, Sara hasn’t checked into her dorm room yet. The staff at the college say they haven’t seen her, she won’t answer her cell phone, and she hasn’t made contact with any of her friends.”

             
Deputy Haller’s heart skipped a beat as he tried to calm his wife.

“Jean, have you tried to send her
a text message? She may be taking a break from the road and sitting in a coffee shop in Cheyenne or something.”

             
“Mike, I have sent her at least ten messages. She’s not responded to any of them.” Jean’s voice broke, “Mike, oh my God, you should have gone with her. I told you that! I begged you!”

             
Mike sat quietly for a second as his mind raced through the possible scenarios.

“Sweetheart, I’ll be home in thirty minutes
. Contact the Colorado Highway Patrol and ask them if they have any reports of Sara’s vehicle stalled on the interstate. Then contact the Wyoming State Troopers and ask them the same.”

After a brief pause, he continued, “Sara is okay, Jean
. She’s just exercising her independence a little and showing us she can make it on her own.”

             
Jean’s voice whispered back over the airwaves, “God please, I hope you are right.”

             
Mike Haller waited a minute for his wife to hang up and the connection to be broken.

“Dispatch, this is Echo 7.”

              The dispatcher’s voice answered immediately. “Mike, I’ve already contacted Sheriff Casey. Ben Younger is coming in to cover the rest of your shift and I’ve dispatched a truck to bring in the DUI’s vehicle. Ben will be here to process the arrest when you get in so you can go home immediately. Is there anything else we can do?”

             
Mike cleared his throat. Panic was not in his nature. “Thanks, Debbie. I’m sure everything is fine. I’ll be in in twenty minutes.”

             
Deputy Haller checked his rear-view mirror to ensure the drunken “cowboy” was secure in the back seat. Vossler was leaning against the far window, snoring loudly.

             
With emergency lights still flashing, Mike pulled onto the dirt road and sped north, toward home.

Sitting at the dining room table, Mike Haller held a phone to one ear while stroking his crying wife’s hair with his free hand
. Jean had been inconsolable since he returned home over an hour ago.

             
Mike raised the mouthpiece to his chin when a voice from the other end rescued him from purgatory’s dead air known as “on hold”.

             
“Mr. Haller, this is Shawn Michaels. I am the evening supervisor, how can I help you?”

             
“Shawn, I am a deputy with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department. My badge number is 017. We are trying to trace the cell phone of a missing girl and I was wondering if you might help me?”

             
“Deputy Haller, being a police officer you must know that I cannot give out any information without a search warrant.”

             
Mike was afraid of this. The official route wasn’t going to work so now he would try to appeal to Shawn’s humanity.

“Shawn,
” he said quietly. “I know how things have to be done, officially. A young lady’s life may be at stake here and the time it would take for me to wake up a judge and get a proper warrant signed could determine whether she lives or dies.”

Mike looked at his wife sitting next to him
. Her hands were held close to her chin and her eyes watched the phone in his hands with burning intensity. Mike smiled at her and used his sleeve to wipe a tear from her puffy nose.

             
Shawn Michaels was very quiet on the other end of the phone.

“O
fficer Haller, you know that I could lose my job for releasing any information to you without a warrant---”

             
Mike interrupted, “This conversation is between you and me only, Shawn. I wouldn’t be talking to you if this wasn’t an emergency.”

             
The supervisor relented. “Do you have the customer’s name and cell phone number?”

             
Mike scrambled, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. He hadn’t memorized his daughter’s number yet.

“Yes, her name is Sara Jean Haller.
”

Mike quickly read off Sara’s number to the man in Lincoln, Nebraska
. Dead silence greeted him.

“Shawn, are you still with me?”

              “Deputy Haller, is Sara Jean Haller a relative of yours?”

             
Mike felt guilty not revealing this bit of information, but he knew the door would have been closed in his face if he had.

             
“Yes Shawn. Sara is my daughter. She left this morning for college in Wyoming and she hasn’t been heard from since. As a police officer, I can assure you that something is very wrong.”

Mike paused for a second
. “Please, Shawn, no one will ever know that we spoke.”

             
“Deputy, not only could I be fired for helping you, I could be prosecuted in a court of law. Looking at Sara’s records, I see that she is an adult, sir, and without her permission or a court order, I am not going to be able to help you.”

             
Mike held the phone tightly and tried not to sound desperate.

“Mr. Michaels, I am no longer asking you as an officer of the law
. I am begging you as a father. Please, Shawn, there is something wrong and right now you are my only hope. Please help me?”

             
A loud sigh escaped the ear piece. “Her phone is turned off right now, Mr. Haller. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t trace its location.”

             
“Can you share with me any calls she made today?”

             
“She made one call, Mr. Haller. When you present me with a court order, I will happily turn that information over to you. I am very sorry, sir. I hope everything turns out okay.”

             
The connection broke and Mike placed the phone back in its cradle.

Looking at Jean, he said,
“In the morning, go to the chief of police and file a missing person’s report.”

He held onto his wife’s hands and looked directly into her eyes
.

“Take Sheriff Casey with you so there
are no misunderstandings. Tell the chief that we need a warrant to secure her phone records so we can determine who Sara talked to today. Go to the bank and get her debit card transactions as well. You won’t need a warrant for those since your name is on the account.”

             
Jean shook her head, “Where are you going?”

             
Mike stood and placed his car keys in his pocket.

“I’m driving to Wyoming to see if I can find our daughter.
”

             
Noticing that his wife was about to protest, Mike spoke with a stern voice. “You need to stay here in case Sara calls. It’s very important that you file a report in the morning so we can get law enforcement involved. You need to make everyone understand that this is completely out of character for our daughter. You need to be strong, Jean, can you handle that, honey?”

             
Jean nodded her head and wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands.

             
“Call me on my cell if you hear anything, okay? And I’ll check in with you every couple of hours or so.”

Pulling his wife to his chest, Mike held her tightly and tried to reassure her
.

“Everything will be okay, honey
. You should try to get some sleep.”

             
Jean scoffed loudly into her husband’s uniform shirt, wetting it with her tears.

“I’ll sleep when Sara is safe, so go find her.”