Chapter 20
Nick
C aitlin was badass. Caden had gathered everyone in the apartment she and Nadia shared with Jesse and Luke. Luke was out of town due to an ill family member and Nadia was at work, but everyone else was there, gathered around and worried. I could sense the feeling of déjà vu in everyone but Jamie, who understood just like I did.
“Ok, everyone,” Caden had said, “Crash course on Gavin and how he actually got here.” None of them, even Jeff, knew that Gavin and Caden had dated when they were teenagers. Jamie was the only other person in the room besides me who knew Gavin’s story.
We had to go over everything quickly, because time was of the essence. I had to give away Gavin’s past, because even though he never wanted to talk about it, it was necessary for them to know. I told them about his dad, about the type of conversion therapy he’d endured, his dad taking everything away from him and lying to everyone about the reasons Gavin had left. I tried to keep it to the point, but all of it seemed important.
Caden jumped in with the reason Gavin had chosen to come there in the first place, and what Gavin’s dad had done when he’d caught the two of them together eight years ago. Then we had to let them know that Gavin had disappeared, and we knew his dad had been looking for him and questioning his friend about Gavin’s whereabouts. “They took him,” I said, “He left this for me to find. He did it so I’d know he didn’t just take off.” I showed them the penny and explained my thoughts.
They all looked a little dumbfounded with so much thrown at them at once, but Caitlin was the first to jump into action. She got on the computer without bothering to explain what she was doing. Caden got on his phone at the same time. “I’m going to see if it was Collin who messaged him last night,” he said, “I think he’s still on my Instagram.”
I’d simply told the others that I’d found Gavin having a panic attack holding his phone the day before and he was acting weird that morning. Caden hit send on the message, and still looking at his phone said, “Collin, you better not ignore me you little bitch.” I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t been so stressed.
It was only a few minutes later that Caden’s phone pinged with a message. Everyone looked over, including Caitlin, who’d been working away on her computer and phone simultaneously. Caden held up the phone for me before he read the message out loud.
Caden: Did you message Gavin yesterday? Something upset him and his boyfriend said he was acting weird this morning. Now he’s missing .
I couldn’t lie. I was definitely not upset that Caden had thrown in the part about Gavin having a boyfriend.
Collin: What?? Missing?? Yes, I did message him yesterday. I tried to warn him that his dad knows he’s in Florida. His dad came in all smug telling me they’d found him, someone had pulled a credit report on him and they’d figured out where he was. He keeps saying Gavin’s an addict. Dude, I know Gavin. He’s not an addict. What the fuck is really going on? Has he been near you the whole time? Why?? I’m so confused about all of it.
“Well we can officially assume that they took him somewhere,” Caitlin said, going back to work.
Caden typed out another message right beside me. We’re not sure what’s going on yet. He’s been down here, living with my friend. Please message me if you hear anything new. We’re afraid he’s in danger.
He shared Collin’s replies with me but not the others: I’m afraid of that too now. I’ll definitely let you know. There was a pause, but then another message came through. I’ve been messaging him. I wanted to make sure he was ok, but also about other things. I didn’t know he had someone. Tell his boyfriend I’m sorry this shit is happening. I wish I could have warned him sooner. I told him as soon as I found out. But I think they’d already known for a while.
Caden gave me a pat on the back. “Told you he wasn’t a complete asshole.” I tried to smile, but I couldn’t. Not with Gavin gone.
It was right about then that I realized how glad I was Caitlin was on our side. “The last place his phone was active was at the airport, but it disappears there.” She looked up at us. “I can’t tell which terminal he was in, but it was past security. I can trace it from the bus stop where you found the penny to the airport, but then nothing. It hasn’t gone back online. I can’t say where he went from there.”
She looked a little frustrated, but Caden spoke up before I could. “I know where the fuck he went from there.” Caden looked downright pissed. “They’re in North Carolina. I can get us to the right town, but I don’t know where to go from there. The church we went to wasn’t necessarily small, but it didn’t have enough room for the kind of shit Gavin said he went through. I mean, I’ve been everywhere in that building and there’s nothing there.”
Caitlin nodded. “Ok. Give me the pastor’s full name. Let’s see if he owns anything else or is involved in other organizations.”
Caden appeared to be racking his brain. “Jeffries. His last name was Jeffries. His first name was…Kevin? Yeah. I’m pretty sure that’s it. Kevin Jeffries. He was one of those older, old-fashioned preachers, always screaming about hell and gay people. I never paid much attention to him, to be honest.”
Caitlin went back to work. Jesse, sitting near her, looked at me, the horrified expression he’d had since I first spoke had never left his face. “You said they put him in ice baths? Gave him electric shocks and burned him? This shit is still happening? That’s medieval. I can’t believe kids are still going through this.” He looked like he might cry. I just nodded.
“No wonder he has panic attacks,” Amber said softly, “God, I wonder what that guy said to him at the party.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, he never told me what the guy said. It could have been anything that reminded him of his time there.” Since the guy was hitting on him, I had a feeling it was something that reminded him of the bastard who took advantage of him there, but I didn’t say that.
I knew the Kolders guy was a part of his disappearance, and I hoped he wouldn’t try that shit again. I knew better, though. Gavin had said it happened after he left, and that the guy was still trying to contact him occasionally. It wasn’t simply that Gavin was attractive and easy to get to there, or even that he was a teenager. It was obviously Gavin himself that the guy couldn’t stay away from. If I found out he’d coerced my boyfriend into sex while he was imprisoned at a torture camp again, I’d rip the asshole’s head off his shoulders with my bare hands.
I would get that opportunity, because I was going to find Gavin. There was no not finding him. That wasn’t even an option. I wasn’t sure what exactly we were going to do when we figured out where he was, but the main thing was get him the fuck out of there. My mind was on a single track. Find Gavin. Bring Gavin home . That was all I wanted to do. No matter what I had to do to accomplish it.
Caden was distracted on his phone again, but he suddenly looked up and said, “Got it. We’re going to North Carolina. It’s a cheap flight and the quickest there. No luxuries, sorry.”
I looked around to see that none of them looked surprised and none of them were arguing about going. “How long do I have to figure out where we’re going there?” was all Caitlin asked.
Caden glanced at his phone. “About an hour before we have to leave for the airport.”
She just nodded and went back to work. Jesse and Jamie got on their phones and called their jobs. Caitlin glanced at Amber. “I’ll grab some of my clothes for you and bring them.”
Jesse threw some sweatpants and t-shirts to Jamie along with a backpack while they were both still on the phone. Caden spoke up, “I still have clothes in North Carolina. My parents haven’t gotten rid of anything.” He glanced at me and Jeff. “We’ll all be ok.” I knew we weren’t the same size, but I was pretty sure I could wear some of his sweatpants if I needed to.
“Caden, I don’t want you paying for all of it.” I started to pull out my wallet because I felt horrible.
“Don’t,” he said, “I want to find Gavin, too. And I already knew everyone in this room would be down for it. We’re in it with you, Nick. The more of us there are the better our odds.” Their immediate acceptance of it, being completely ready to put their lives on hold so abruptly to help me find Gavin, made the tears I’d been trying to hold back overflow and a few spilled out.
Caden just hugged me. “Let’s get these fuckers,” he said, “I’m really tired of assholes trying to ruin the people I care about.” He looked at Jamie, and I knew it wasn’t the first time any of them had dropped everything to take off and help a friend.
Caitlin, staring at her computer, still looked frustrated. “You said the pastor led it?”
“That’s what he implied, yes,” I said, “But that doesn’t mean someone else wasn’t pulling the strings. Gavin mentioned that three people seemed to always be involved in the torture.”
Caitlin looked up at me. “This is so serious. Even if conversion therapy is legal there, this shit is definitely not . We can do more than help Gavin. We can take them down for good if we can get proof. I have a friend, but he won’t help us without proof, so I need to find these assholes.”
“What friend?” Caden asked her.
“Our class got to work with the FBI for an entire semester. There was this younger agent who worked with us, and he and I really hit it off. He would take this more personally than some because he’s gay. His husband is a cop here. Being FBI, though, he has more reach and jurisdiction, and we can do this the right way. We can blow it up if we can prove it. We can protect Gavin from it in the future, and we can protect anyone else who might end up there. I need more, though. I’m not finding anything on the pastor. He lives in the pastorate behind the church. He files his tax-exempt paperwork promptly. No criminal record, no businesses or other real estate. I don’t even see any non-profits he’s involved in. Just the church. You have any other names?”
“Kolders,” Caden and I said at the same time. I went on, “He never said the name of the other guy who was always in the room. I’m not sure Gavin even knows his name. If he did, he never told me.”
“First name?” Caitlin prompted, but she was already typing.
Caden had his head in his hands. “Fuck, I knew this was going to be important.”
Caitlin rolled her eyes. “Never mind. Damien Kolders. He’s the associate pastor at the church. You guys are so helpless, how do you even survive without me right next to you twenty-four-seven?”
Damien. I finally knew that fucker’s name.
Caden spoke up again. “Whatever happens, can I punch Gavin’s dad in the face? I just really want to punch him in the face.”
“I think you definitely deserve that right,” Jamie said.
“Oh, well, look at this guy,” Caitlin said, her eyes still on the screen in front of her, “We have way more information on him. But unfortunately he looks good on paper. He lives about three blocks from the church. He’s a member of the Carolina Youth Coalition. Volunteers as a mentor. Does free tutoring. He has a bachelor’s in ministry from a bible college. He’s affiliated with Habitat for Humanity. It’s like, almost too much. Hm. He’s married to Dionne Kolders. They have two kids, both in public schools.” She sighed as she scrolled. “Damn, he’s good at hiding who he really is. He’s cute, too. That’s so unfortunate.”
I was fuming a little bit, but they didn’t know about him and Gavin. I wasn’t mad at her, just at the confirmation that he was currently still good-looking. The guy was also apparently good at pretending he actually cared about kids. I wondered if he had ulterior motives in all of his charity work, and Gavin wasn’t the only one, even if he’d taken a particular shine to the man I loved.
“He’s led youth retreats through the church. Helps with the monthly food pantry there. He was a boy scout leader. Worked with missionaries in Uganda…” God, was she still going? “Hold up.” She paused, looking up, “Hold the fuck up.”
Every single one of us stood and crowded around her as she pointed to the screen. “Way down here. He has his hands in a business called, ‘Recovery Support Center.’ It’s listed as an in-patient substance abuse clinic.”
I moved everyone out of my way. “ What?”
“Substance abuse treatment?” Caden said, his eyes meeting mine.
“Yes,” Caitlin nodded, already there, “It would explain why his dad wanted to convince everyone that Gavin was an addict. Why he framed him to look like it. So he could put him back in there without any suspicion.”
“Fuck,” Caden said, “What kind of hand does Kolders have in it?”
“He’s not just a volunteer,” she said, looking up at Caden, “He’s listed as a part-time employee.”
“What the fuck,” Caden said, “It doesn’t even have a real name, just some generic bullshit. Where is it? I don’t remember anything like that in my town.”
“Well, that’s weird, too. It’s kind of outside of town, in what looks like a more industrial area. Rows of warehouses and factories then, wham! A drug abuse treatment center. It doesn’t even make sense. Hold on.” She pulled up another page, revealing a street view of a bland, brick, two-story building. There was a small sign on the outer wall that she had to zoom in for us to read. It simply said, “Recovery Support.” The door was odd, in that it was metal instead of glass. There were few windows, most of them in the front of the first floor. The others were small and oddly placed. It looked more like a jail than an addiction treatment center.
Caitlin went on, “Another weird thing is that I can’t find a lot about it. It’s registered as a non-profit. All the info I can find, summed up is, ‘help for addiction. Inpatient and outpatient treatment.’ There are forms online you can fill out to admit yourself, but they’re pretty standard, and you could find something like them anywhere on the web. Its website is so unhelpful it makes me suspicious, actually. Bad ratings but no reviews. I don’t see any doctors listed.”
“Should there be a doctor listed?” Caden asked her.
“Well, there should be some sort of medical professional, if it’s truly a rehab center,” she said, “But I suppose being a non-profit there could be a rotating schedule of volunteers. The director is listed as D. Bradbury.” She looked at Caden.
Caden looked thoughtful but also confused. “The last name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.
“Should we call your friend?” Jesse asked, looking at Caitlin like he was ready to burst in, guns blazing.
“Well, we can’t be completely certain it’s the right path,” she said hesitantly, “I know they made that whole story up, but that could have just been a plausible excuse to find him and bring him back without anyone batting an eye. Gavin needs help, daddy swoops in to save him. He looks like the hero and Gavin goes away for help. I mean this Kolders guy could actually just work there, and there’s no paper trail tracing him to the conversion therapy thing. I don’t think this is solid enough proof.”
“Come on, though,” Jamie put in, “He would definitely look like the good guy, getting his son addiction treatment. It’s where he would take him for help. The whole story…it’s all planned strategically. This has to be it.”
“Right,” Amber put in, “And what better cover? They could hold people there, even against their will, under the pretense of helping them. The family signs them over, forces them in there, and they’re stuck. Maybe there is an addiction treatment center in there, but it’s not the only thing there.”
Jesse was still looking at the photo of the building. “I think we should go check it out for ourselves,” he said, “Because that place gives me the serious creeps and I hate it.”
Caitlin sighed. “Well, we’re obviously going there, since we have tickets. It does seem like the best place to start. I just don’t want to jump the gun and blow the whole thing. I’ll call my friend, though, just to give him a heads up. He won’t try to stop us, and I want him to be aware of what’s going on, you know, just in case.”
She called him. He did try to talk her out of it a little bit, but she told him about Gavin. She put him on speaker and gave me the phone so I could tell him the things Gavin told me. How he’d reacted to things and how strong his fear of being taken back was. He tried to get us to file a missing person’s report.
Caitlin snatched the phone back. “This again? No one will take us seriously this soon. Besides, if his dad checked him into a supposed rehab, I guarantee he did it correctly, and they’ll trace him there, decide he’s safe, and call it case closed.”
Agent Morris, her friend, conceded. He sighed but said, “Fine. You’re right. But I still don’t like this. I don’t know what you guys are getting ready to walk into.” He told us that we didn’t have enough evidence for him to officially go into the building and search, and he needed more. But at the end of the call, he said, “The hubby and I have a long weekend right now. We were looking forward to the time off together, but I think given the circumstances it might be time to see some mountains. I have a few friends up there, too, close enough to where you’re going. I might get in touch with them, because I feel like being around, just in case. Be fucking careful, Caitlin. Call me immediately if you find anything. Do not try to break into that place. Do it right.”
It was all too much, and I wanted to cry. Gavin had always felt like he wasn’t worth caring about, but if he could only see all the people who did. I bet he thought we wouldn’t even look for him. Fuck that. We’re coming, Gavin.