Those Girls (36 page)

“It was smart you never came back. Look what’s happened now.”

“Yeah, they’ve got Crystal and Skylar.…” She turned away, hiding her face. She got up and grabbed a cigarette from the pack.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve killed Dad, it should’ve been
me
. I screwed up, and I screwed up when we got to Cash Creek. I didn’t protect you.” She sat back on her bed.

I didn’t know what to say, had never heard Dallas talk like this.

“You always look out for us,” I said. “We know you tried.”

“I just want to kill those fuckers and make it right.” She took a drag, blew it out in an angry rush.

“Nothing will ever make it right,” I said. “It happened. We just have to find the girls and get out of this shitty town.”

She looked down at the cigarette in her hand, rolled it between her fingers, her eyes narrowed. “We should go back to the ranch, wait until Gavin leaves, then sneak onto his property. We have to find out if the girls’ cars are there.”

“You think they would’ve kept them?”

“Maybe this all came down on them too fast,” Dallas said. “They haven’t had time to deal with everything.”

“Bring your gun,” I said.

*   *   *

We drove down the same side road and stared at the driveway. My temple was pounding with a headache, all the muscles in my body tense. We assumed Brian lived in the bigger house with his family and Gavin lived in the smaller one below. We figured we could cut across the field and avoid the driveway after he left.

We sat in the car for an hour. We were hot, sweaty, and smoking too many cigarettes. My throat was dry, my head aching. I glanced at my watch. It was almost one, and there’d been no sign of them. We’d brought water but had almost drunk all of it when we finally saw Gavin’s black truck pulling out of his driveway, and then going up to the main house, a plume of dust behind him.

“He might be gone for only a few minutes,” I said.

“It might also be our only chance,” Dallas said.

“Okay, let’s go.”

We climbed the fence and cut through a lower field, trying to stay on the edges of the ranch until a house came in sight. “That must be Gavin’s,” I said.

The front doors on the shop wouldn’t slide up. We circled the garage and tried the side door, but there was a big padlock on the door. We noticed a window at the back. Dallas hoisted me up. I wiped at the dirt on the window.

“Can you see anything?” she said.

“It’s dark, but it looks like there are two cars—they’re both under tarps.” I looked around. “And some cutting tools on the bench! Shit, I think they’re stripping the cars.”

Dallas lowered me, and we looked for a way to break into the garage.

“Maybe we could smash the padlock with a rock,” I said.

Dallas was staring at the house. “Listen how loud that music’s playing.”

“Should we try to break in?”

She looked down the driveway, then in the direction of the ranch.

“This might be our only chance,” I said.

She nodded. “Let’s do it.”

I tried the back porch door. Locked.

Dallas was looking up at the porch roof. “Do you hear something? Like underneath the country music?”

The music was even louder near the house.

“That thudding sound?”

“Yeah.”

We were both quiet, but we couldn’t hear the sound anymore.

“Maybe we should smash one of the windows,” I said.

“Let’s check the front first.” Dallas was walking around the corner of the house when she stopped suddenly. “Crap, I think a truck’s coming!”

We ran for the back of the garage, keeping low. We’d just made it when I heard the truck pull up. We leaned against the wall, our bodies tucked behind some old barrels, staring at each other. The truck shut off and a door opened.

“Wait.” Dallas peeked around the corner. I held my breath. “Okay, let’s go.”

We were crossing the field, trying to get to a cover of trees, when a shout rang out behind us.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I glanced back and saw Gavin running down the hill after us. I started sprinting, Dallas running hard beside me, our feet thudding on the compact ground. I looked over my shoulder, almost tripping on a rock. He was slowing down, then stopped in the middle of the field, watching us.

“That was really stupid, bitches!” he yelled.

*   *   *

We clambered through the fence, dashed across the road, jerked open the car doors, and jumped in. Dallas tore off down the road.

I looked out the rearview mirror. No one was following.

“We can never go back now,” Dallas said. “He’ll be keeping watch.”

“He has their cars,” I said, starting to cry. “That’s why Gavin refused the search—he must have them in the house.”

“We have to tell the cops,” Dallas said. “They can get a warrant.”

I called McPhail as soon as we got within range.

“We found their cars,” I said.

“Where?” He sounded surprised.

“In Gavin’s garage. We snuck onto the property. There are two cars under some tarps, and cutting tools out on a bench. We also heard thudding noises coming from inside the house. We think he has the girls. Can you get a warrant?”

“Not if you didn’t see the actual cars. A vehicle under a tarp isn’t enough.”

I closed my eyes. Shit. Shit. Why hadn’t I lied?

“What about the noises we heard? He has country music on really loud too—like he’s trying to cover something up.”

“The noise could’ve been anything, even a washing machine out of balance. And if the music was that loud, how can you be sure what you heard?”

“We
both
heard it.”

“You need to let us do our jobs,” he said. “Putting yourself in danger is not helping. You’re just interfering with the investigation.”

“You’re not finding any fucking evidence!”

“Look. We have to do this the right way. If we force our way onto the property and find something we didn’t lawfully obtain, the whole case could get thrown out.”

“I don’t give a shit about some court case,” I said. “I want my daughter
now
.”

“Stay away from the Luxtons,” he said. “If you’re caught on the property, they could press charges. I don’t want to have to warn you again.”

*   *   *

Back in the room, I looked out the window and saw Riley across the street helping a customer.

“We need to talk to Riley again,” I said.

“The police aren’t going to like that,” Dallas said.

“I don’t care. He knows something.”

I’d wondered if Noah was going to be a problem, but as we walked over I could see him through the glass windows of the office, talking on his cell phone, turned away from us. We headed quickly to the shop. Riley was putting away some tools in the garage.

“We need to talk to you,” I said.

He spun around, his hand on a wrench.

I held my hands up. “Whoa.”

“Sorry.” He set the wrench back down, picked up a rag, and started wiping his hands. “What are you doing here?”

“We want to ask you some questions. It’s really important, Riley.”

“I already told the cops everything.” He looked uncomfortable but not hostile. I stepped closer.

“I don’t think you hurt Skylar, but I do think you know something that could help us find her.”

He was shaking his head. “I wish I knew where she was.”

“Years ago, your dad and uncle hurt me and my sisters—and now they’re going to hurt my daughter.” I was going out on a limb saying this stuff but I needed to see his reaction to know if he was part of it.

He jerked back, his eyes wide like I’d hit him. “That’s a lie!”

“There are two cars under tarps in your uncle’s garage—and cutting tools on the bench.
Their
cars. I’m sure of it. Just look and you’ll see.”

“You have to leave.” He looked angry now, his face red. I saw the resemblance even more between him and Brian and had a flash of fear.

“You know it’s true. Your dad’s violent with your mom, isn’t he? Maybe your sister?”

“Fuck you.”

“What if your sister went missing?” I’d been thinking about the young dark-haired girl but now I realized I’d spoken true words. Skylar
was
his sister. “What if she disappeared and the one person who could tell you something wouldn’t?”

He picked up the phone.

“If you know what happened and you’re covering for your dad, the cops are going to throw your ass in jail too,” Dallas said. “Your life is screwed.”

“I’m calling the police.” He was dialing now.

“Let’s get out of here.” Dallas grabbed my arm.

“Just look in the
garage
!” I yelled as she pulled me away.

Riley slid the shop door down hard until it crashed to the ground, almost catching our feet. We walked quickly across the road.

*   *   *

We’d only been back in the room for ten minutes when my cell rang. It was the sergeant. My breath lifted into my throat, hope and fear tangling up in my head.
Please let it be good news
.

“I told you to stay away from the Luxtons,” he said as soon as I answered. “Riley says you were harassing him at the garage.”

“He
knows
something,” I said.

“This is an active investigation. As soon as we have—”

“This is my
family.
I’m going to do everything I can to find them.”

“I know you’re concerned, but we can’t have you getting involved in the investigation. When you go around talking to people and sneaking onto their property, it makes our job harder. You need to understand—”

“No,
you
need to understand. They’re going to
kill
my daughter and sister. So you need to hurry the hell up and find them!”

“Listen,” he said, sounding furious now. “If I see you anywhere near that ranch, or you come within two feet of
any
of them, I’m arresting you on the spot.”

He hung up. I tossed my phone onto the bed, punched my fist into the mattress a couple of times. “Shit, shit, shit!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

S
KYLAR

I paused from kicking the door. “Did you hear someone yelling?”

“I don’t know,” Crystal said. “It’s hard to tell over the music.” She was too weak to kick the door for long, her muscles cramping from dehydration. I’d been kicking at it for a while, still hoping to break through even after I knew it was a lost cause. It was solid wood.

“Maybe we should get back into position,” I said now.

“We’re going to have to go with our first plan,” Crystal said.

I nodded and pulled up my gag, stuck my wrists back together, and loosely coiled my rope around the bedpost.

Just in time—Gavin came in a couple minutes later. He was out of breath, his sweaty skin a grayish green. He had to bend over and rest his hands on his knees, catching his breath. He straightened up, gave me a dirty look.

“Your mother’s becoming a problem.”

My
mom
had been here?

He was pacing around now, looking agitated. He kept taking his cap off and rubbing his hands through his hair, his face stressed, like he was trying to figure something out. He wasn’t coming close enough for us to put our plan into action, and I was scared we weren’t going to have another chance.

He pulled his cell out of his pocket, punched in some numbers.

“It’s me,” he said. “I caught those two bitches snooping around, think they were looking in the garage.… No, they’re covered with a tarp. We should move the girls soon.… Come down when he’s gone.”

I remembered the yelling I’d heard. Was that my mom, trying to find us? I wanted to cry, thinking how close we’d come to freedom.

Gavin glanced at us. “Just a little longer, girls, then we’re going to set you up somewhere real nice.” He smiled at Crystal, then left the room.

We sat on the floor waiting for what felt like hours. Judging by the heat in the room it was now afternoon. What if Gavin didn’t come alone again? Brian had said they were going to move us in the afternoon. Would we be able to fight
both
Brian and Gavin? We hadn’t had water or food since the night before. Crystal was weak, and I was losing confidence with every minute that passed.

Gavin finally came in with some bottles of water. He gave me mine, then moved on to Crystal. I watched, my muscles tense, ready to break free of my bindings, but he stopped suddenly and stood straight, looking toward the door.

He walked over to the stereo and turned the music down. I shifted my body so I could see what he was doing.

Now I heard the noise outside. Sounded like a dirt bike or an ATV or something. Gavin leaned back against the dresser, lit a cigarette. He was watching the door, just waiting. It had to be Brian.

“You’re not answering your phone,” Brian said, walking into the room.

“I’m sick of you calling me every goddamn minute.”

“We had shit to talk about,” Brian said.

“So talk,” Gavin said.

“Let’s go downstairs.”

“I’m staying right here.” Gavin took a long drag of his smoke, then nodded at us. “We’ve got no secrets.”

“Fine, whatever,” Brian said. “We’ve got to get rid of the cars.”

“I’ve been stripping them.”

“That’s not fast enough. We have to hide them on the property. We can use the backhoe and bury them in one of the lower fields.”

“What about these two?” Gavin gestured in our direction.

“Change of plans,” Brian said, his eyes cold as he stared at me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

J
AMIE

We took turns pacing and looking out the window, like the street might reveal something. I couldn’t stop thinking about those thuds.

“We should just go to Gavin’s house with your gun and force ourselves inside,” I said. “By the time the cop catches us, we’ll already have the girls.”

“What if they’re both there?” Dallas said. “What if they’re both armed?”

She had a point. “I know where we can get another gun.”

“Where?”

“Owen—his dad used to keep one hidden under the cabinet, remember?”

“Okay, but he’s not just going to give it to us.”