Chapter 15
Cassidy Garner was in Fern’s room when Ava arrived for their session. The other woman had pretty blue eyes and strawberry blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She waved at Ava as she walked in.
“Heard you had a scare last night,” Cassidy said.
“Yeah. We’re fine now. My parents went all overprotective. I spent the night with them.”
“Be glad you have them,” Fern said from the bed.
“I am every day,” Ava said. “How are you feeling today?”
“Not too bad. The pain is at a manageable level,” Fern said.
“Let’s keep it that way. It’s totally okay if you want some medication for the pain. No one is going to call you weak for taking it,” Cassidy said.
“I know.”
Cassidy said goodbye, and Ava took a seat near the bed were she normally sat during their sessions.
It was cloudy today, so little chance that Fern wanted to be outside. To be honest, there was little chance she wanted to be. It was bitterly cold, with an artic blast coming down on them.
“What happened to you?” Fern asked.
“Someone broke into my house. They think it might be related to the baby I’m caring for,” Ava said. Not sure how much Fern would remember about Ava’s personal life. Ava really didn’t like to talk about it too much.
“Annie Ross’s baby, right? Ryan mentioned the baby had been left at the fire station,” Fern said.
“Yes. Her mom was found in the wilderness not really dressed for the weather. She died from hypothermia.”
Fern’s hand clenched into a fist. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Does that stir up memories?” Ava asked. Certain it would.
“Some. I mean, I was lucky that I started that fire I guess. I could have been like Annie Ross.”
“Possibly. But your situation is different. Do you want to try to unpack some more of what happened? I know you said they kept you drugged and that you hated it.”
“Yeah, sorry. It’s just as a recovering addict, I really hate feeling strung out. And there’s always that chance I relapsed.”
Ava sympathized. “Is that why you’re refusing the pain meds?”
“Some. Mostly I want to be aware of what’s happening around me,” she said.
“I don’t blame you for that. So for today…are we ready to talk about the cabin?”
Fern took a ragged breath, fingers working those pyramids on the blanket. Her gaze firmly averted from Ava.
“No, but I really am not sure putting it off is helpful, either,” Fern said. “I have to start getting better.”
“You are doing wonderfully. No pressure. It’s just as you recover and start to regain your strength, your mind will relive a lot of what happened. I want to give you a chance to talk about it. It’s always better to get things out.”
Fern toyed with a strand of her hair and then closed her eyes. “I didn’t eat the food at first. They offered me a granola bar, and I threw it at them.”
“Bet they weren’t expecting that.”
“No. One of them hit me. I remember that. Then there was the needle, which sort of sent me into a spiral.”
“They injected you with drugs?”
“Yes.”
Ava sat forward. “Oh that’s a lot. What about this tattoo?”
Fern touched the side of her neck. “I can’t remember getting it, but I probably always had it.”
“When did you discover it?” Ava asked, taking careful notes. She had a feeling Chay would want to know about this.
“I had a nightmare two days ago. Things are getting tangled in my head. I was a heavy drinker as a teenager, and a lot of my memories of that time are fuzzy…like it might be a dream and not real,” Fern said.
Ava jotted that down. She kept her gaze on her notebook, because at this moment she was so angry on Fern’s behalf. These men had reintroduced something that Fern had taken steps to move past. She’d had so much trauma already. None of it seemed fair.
But then, when had life ever been fair?
Ava went over and squeezed the other woman’s shoulder gently.
She wanted to hug her but didn’t want to cross the patient/doctor boundaries.
The tattoo was a rose with a dollar sign.
It wasn’t the typical teenage one as far as Ava could tell.
It might not mean anything, but she thought she’d mention it to Chay.
Why had Fern been taken? It was hard to understand it exactly, but she knew that Chay would figure it out.
“Is it okay if I mention this to Officer Benally? This might help in his investigation,” Ava said.
“That’s fine. I don’t want to show it to anyone,” Fern said.
“You won’t have to,” Ava promised. No one was going to make this woman do that. Not while Ava was around. “I promise you. If they want to ask you more questions—”
“I don’t have answers for him.”
Ava did hug her that time. “You don’t have to.”
Ava turned the conversation from the past to the present. “So, no sun today…how do you feel about that?”
“Good. I wasn’t going to be able to go outside, and now I don’t have to disappoint you.”
“I would never be disappointed. You are so brave. We only need to go outside when you are ready.”
“Maybe never,” Fern said.
“You’ll get there. You’ve come a long way. Don’t doubt yourself, lady—you are the bravest woman I know.”
Chay found a quiet corner of the cafeteria and got Gracie sitting in a high chair playing with one of her toys while he reviewed some information that had come in overnight from one of the other police stations he’d contacted.
Not much there, Chay thought disappointingly. He heard someone walking toward them. Ava.
She took a seat across from him after kissing Gracie on the head. “Hey, you two. Got a minute?”
“I think she has all the time in the world, and I always have time for you,” Chay said. Still feeling a little uneasy at how much he liked her but knowing that he wasn’t going to back down from it. Guilt gnawed at him for last night.
She’d needed him, and he hadn’t been there. If there was one thing that Chay was really in tune with, it was that. He’d needed his mom a million times, and filling the void left had made him into the tough ass he’d thought he was until Ava.
“What’s up?”
“Um…were you aware that Fern has a tattoo that she doesn’t remember getting?” Ava asked.
“No. I wasn’t. I don’t think Jacob was, either,” he said. “Where and what does it look like?”
“On her neck, and this is a rough sketch. She doesn’t remember all the details and she has a cast on her leg so this is what you’ll have to go on.” Ava handed him a piece of paper that had been torn from a notebook.
Chay looked down at it. “This almost looks like a brand, maybe?”
More talking to himself than to Ava.
“What does that mean?”
“Human traffickers mark their property.”
That sent chills down Ava’s spine. “Do you think that’s what happened to Fern?”
“I’m not sure yet. I have some paperwork to do but should be done here in an hour or so.”
He was being so calm, as if he hadn’t just said human trafficking to her. But maybe that was the way he had to be in order to get the job done. “You good with me taking Gracie to the National Parks ISB offices?” he asked.
Ava beamed at him, and he realized he was playing straight into her fantasies of him as a dad. As much as he was reluctant to talk about adopting Gracie, Chay did spend a lot of time with the little girl.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Text when you’re back and I’ll meet you out front.”
“We’ll come in.”
Chay wasn’t taking any chances. The tattoo on Fern could link her to a trafficking gang.
Prove that she was taken for a purpose. Human trafficking seemed to be the main motive.
Still, he would be happier if he could tie those other disappearances to the same gang.
He wanted to talk to Jacob about the case.
“I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“Too bad,” he said. Meaning it as well. The break-in last night now seemed more important than ever. Had Annie Ross or her friend Camille Lancaster been taken for the same reasons as Fern? He needed to call the medical examiner and see if Annie had any tattoos.
“You’re bossy.”
“So are you. That’s why you like me.”
“True,” she admitted, leaning over to kiss him. “Tell Jacob thanks again for last night.”
Chay agreed and watched her walk away after she kissed Gracie as well. “Mama.”
“Yup, your mama is going back to work,” he said, gathering up their things. “Want to come to work with me?”
It had been on the tip of his tongue to call himself “daddy.” But he wasn’t Gracie’s father.
He was her uncle. Changing that relationship was going to require him to do some soul searching and heavy thinking.
He was already leaning that way. Last night had changed a few things.
Shown him that even though he felt he was protecting himself, he hadn’t been.
He got to the National Parks ISB offices and made a beeline for Jacob. He’d texted over the information he’d gotten from Ava and was ready to discuss it.
The baby strapped to his chest got a few smiles, and more than one person came over to say hi. Normally his gruff exterior kept most people at arm’s length, but no one could resist Gracie’s charm.
He caught Jacob up on the tattoo and the fact that Fern wasn’t sure if she’d had it since she was a teen.
The other man was just as interested in finding out what the rest of it was like.
“I think Fern will shut down if we push her. This is going to be all we have until Ava gets her talking more about it.”
“Agreed. But at least it gives us something to look for on other women. It’s got to be trafficking. Are they using the women as sex workers or for porn?” Jacob asked.
“We could check arrest records. But usually officers aren’t looking for tattoos.”
“Yeah. And the sketch…it’s not really enough to go on,” Jacob said.
“I’ll put it into the database and see if anything comes up. It doesn’t look tribal,” Chay said.
“I had that thought, too. What’s your next move?”
“Figured we’d get the medical examiner to check Annie Ross. Maybe they took her as well and she escaped them?”
“Yeah, I like that. Keep me posted.”