Chapter 28 #2
After the chaos of our arrival, a social worker let us keep the girls company in a small playroom with board books, used toys, and a small table and chairs with a box of blunt crayons and cheap coloring books, the kind with thin, brown pages that rip easily.
Most were already colored in, but Gweneth and I managed to fill in the rest of a cartoon elephant together while I waited for Luke’s call.
When I left the room to take it, CJ was reading to McKenzie on the floor, their backs against the wall, while the social worker invited Gweneth to work on a puzzle.
“Not that I’d change how this went down, but with them escaping, it means our hottest lead just got a lot more complicated,” Luke says into the phone.
“I understand.” Arresting a couple of the Sons of Eden elders for kidnapping would have been a great way to show these assholes we’re not fucking around, but Luke and I both know the safety of the two girls comes first.
I push out the double doors leading to a small courtyard in the back of the building, separated from the busy road behind it by a concrete wall that feels distinctly prison-like.
The dry, cold air tastes stale, and if not for the cluster of tall ponderosas in the corner, the dead needles coating the two concrete picnic tables and ground would give this space an unwelcoming vibe.
Though maybe it’s the cigarette disposal stand beneath the eaves giving me that impression.
“Anything else I need to know about your visit?” Luke asks.
“Our goal of gaining an informant isn’t happening. At least not from my agency.”
“It was a longshot given that both Tolbert and his buddy are in the upper echelon of the cult. The true believers who are devoted to Wakefield. Someone lower in status or from the group of followers would be a better target.”
Getting Sheriff Thomas removed from office would certainly improve our odds. Would that be enough to destabilize Wakefield’s power? “I got inside two of the houses.”
“Probably couldn’t resist showing off.”
A car whizzes past on the road. “Why do you say that?”
“Toxic leaders like them truly believe their way of life is superior. Despite the suffering it causes. Inviting you in and acting like a gracious host feeds that insatiable ego of theirs.”
“No sign of Wakefield.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t far.”
Maybe watching from his palace.
“And no one approached you? Not even the women?”
In the first home, Wayne Gilbert’s pregnant wife whisked a whimpering toddler down the hallway the moment I stepped inside. In the second home, it appeared Tolbert Browning was alone, though I sensed movement from deeper inside the structure.
“The rooms were so…bare. No toys. Barely any furniture. The kitchen was spotless.”
“The women and children are likely restricted to a certain part of the house. Or they live in the dormitories or that farmhouse.”
Restricted. I kick a pebble across the courtyard. “Someone took a big risk getting Gweneth and McKenzie out of there today.” And they were able to do it without Wakefield knowing.
“That’s what worries me,” Luke says with a sigh. “It means the abuse could be escalating.”
“I might have done something stupid.” I run my hand down my chin.
“Define stupid.”
I limp to the closest picnic table and rest my butt against the top, but the ache in my hip just skips to my groin. “I asked to use the washroom then wrote my cell number on the underside of the sink. With a sharpie.”
“Your personal cell?” There’s an edge to his tone, but it’s not frustration. More like disbelief. It’s justified—I hadn’t exactly planned that little side trip.
Another car whooshes past. “I also might have collected a used tissue from the trash.”
“Ugh,” Luke chokes out. “Just so you know, that’s unlikely to be admissible in court. Even though it might be considered discarded. For legal collection, we’d need to pull it from the streetside trash.”
Not sure Sons of Eden are on the grid for curbside pickup. “I had a feeling you’d say that. But if it’s a match to the DNA from that trailer, it has to help our case in putting Tolbert behind bars for human trafficking.” Or murder.
Luke hums his acknowledgement. “Where is this, uh, evidence, now?”
“Wrapped inside the glove I used to collect it. I don’t exactly carry evidence bags around like you guys do.
” Most of the evidence I collect is too big for any bag—like the chain saw I packed out of Crooked Pine Basin, or the remains of a 700-pound bull elk.
I routinely confiscate compound bows and rifles, and I once took possession of an entire boat.
“Get it into custody as soon as possible. Did you tell Kaz about it?”
“Yeah, one of his deputies came to collect it.” Canyon County Sheriff Kaz Ballard was in court today. A personal matter, from what I could determine.
“Good. His team can fast-track it to the state crime lab.”
“So, what’s next?”
“We keep building our case, brick by brick.”
I exhale my frustration. “What if there are more kids who want out?” How do we save them?
Colton was on the run for nearly a month in the cold and the snow, surviving off whatever he could forage or steal.
Gweneth and McKenzie stowed away in my trailer, risking hypothermia and injury, not to mention death if I’d been in an accident on the freeway.
What about the kids who aren’t so brave? The kids without a family member on the outside waiting to take them in?
“We bring the whole thing down, but we do it right, with minimal harm,” he warns.
He’s right. We can’t go in, guns blazing.
History has shown us how dangerous that can be.
“Something else you should know, though I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise.
Tolbert and Wayne were both carrying, and each of them had a gun locker in their garage.
” When I asked Wayne to volunteer his rifles for elimination purposes, his friendly demeanor slipped.
Without a warrant, I knew it was another longshot, but it never hurts to ask.
The door opens and CJ leans out, his uniform shirt rolled up to his elbows. From behind him I can make out a woman’s excited voice. “The mother’s here.”
I nod and he retreats, the door clicking shut behind him.
“Can you do me a favor, Luke, but keep it on the down low?” I push off the table and breathe through the burn in my hip.
“I’ll do my best,” Luke replies, his tone wary.
“Here’s what I need.”