Page 94 of The Girl Who Was Taken

“Three exes means he’d kill me,” Elizabeth Jennings said.

Megan’s eyes darted up and down the wall. Ever since her rogue therapy session things had been falling into place for her. With the lure of discovering the next bit of the mystery, she’d never stopped to piece it all together. Until now. Until she stood in the cellar with another girl her father had taken. A numbing sense came over her, and all the facts she had built up in hermind collided with the ache in her heart. She shined the light onto the thick bolt socketed to the base of the wall, and followed the chain to the girl’s ankle. Could her father really be responsible for such a thing? Megan remembered Nancy Dee. She’d read the articles that chronicled her parents’ desperate search. The shallow grave where her body was found. And just recently, she’d seen the leaked photos online that captured Paula D’Amato’s body lying abandoned in the woods next to an empty hole that waited for her. Could the man who raised her have done those things?

“Will you hold my hand?” the girl asked.

Megan looked up from the girl’s ankle, where her mind had wandered.

“Until the doctor comes back?”

Megan nodded. “Of course.”

CHAPTER 60

Since the tragedy last year—when he made the horrible discovery after walking down those stairs to adore his new Love and found his daughter instead—everything had fallen apart. He could still feel the humidity of that warm summer night when he thought back. He had believed, for the short while as he sped back to Stellar Heights, that he could make things work....

“Do you know,” the girl asked from the backseat, “about what happened? I didn’t mean to hit him. There’s a girl, too. We need to help her.”

Terry glanced down at the long fork on the passenger seat. It would solve his problem. He didn’t know exactly what waited for him back at Stellar Heights, or how difficult it would be to finish the man whom he’d left lying in the street. Discharging his firearm was out of the question. It would require paperwork and explanation. Strangulation carried the risk of bruising or scratching his hands should the man still have thestrength to resist. The fork was morbid, but the night was getting away from him and time was his greatest enemy. He could hardly control his longings to see the new arrival. He’d waited so patiently for her, and tonight’s rendezvous was an untimely annoyance. But now, from potential disaster came opportunity. He had just settled another girl into the backseat. She was exquisite. The night was turning out pleasantly well.

“Do you know about the girl?”

Terry was finished talking to this one. There would be time to discuss the rules later, but he needed to stay focused for the moment. He slowed his patrol car as he came to the entrance of Stellar Heights, waited for an oncoming car to pass and disappear in his rearview mirror before he turned into the dark subdivision. He stopped the car and exited, closing and locking the tall, cast-iron gates behind him. When he shifted the car into drive and continued along the dark road, the girl went frantic.

“Why did you close those gates?”

Terry blocked her out, compartmentalized her pleas. The Buick Regal came into view as he sped along the winding road.

“Good,” he said when he saw the man still lying in the street.

His first order of business from a long list in his head was to check his new arrival, make sure she was secure. He pulled the keys from the ignition and locked the doors. The girl in the back tried the handle but he knew she could go nowhere. He walked past the man in the road; he was still moaning but clearly unconscious from his deformed leg. Terry stepped over him.

He walked through the threshold of the home,number sixty-seven, and felt the familiar coital urge within him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to act on those desires tonight. It was a shame, but this evening called for diligence and efficiency. He took the stairs quickly and turned the corner at the bottom, redirected his flashlight to the girl who waited. But something was wrong.

The hair and headband. The slope of her neck and angle of her jaw. The freckles and eyelashes. It was not possible. His urgings suddenly made him ill. She stirred on the bed, and he went for her before stopping himself. He couldn’t. If she saw him, there would be no way to fix tonight. There was not enough time in a single night to hide his years of presence in the homes of Stellar Heights. And no matter how much he wanted to go to his daughter now and help her, he knew it was not possible.

From urgings to nausea, his emotions finally funneled to rage. He was a wild animal as he bounded up the steps and into the night, ripping open the front door of his cruiser and grabbing the long fork that was there. There was no thought as he approached the man lying in the road.

“Help,” the man whispered.

“My daughter!” he said as her brought the fork down. He repeated his motion five times with his teeth gritted and eyes possessed.

“My daughter!” he repeated constantly until a noise brought him back. He looked around, panicked suddenly since there were never any sounds at Stellar Heights. The girl was screaming from the back of the squad car, staring at him through the window. He stood from his knees and kicked the front door closed to quiet her.

The man’s shirt balled in his fist as he pulled hislifeless body behind one of the houses where the rubble was cleared and soft clay waited. Retrieving a shovel from the garage of one of the homes, he dug a hole. He sweated through his uniform until the grave was large enough, then kicked the man in and threw dirt over him until he was no more....

Since that night, his life had been the rickety jerk of a rollercoaster climbing to its peak. He knew, deep in his core, that he would eventually reach the top, hang for a moment, and then crumble downward. He didn’t want to believe this, and did everything he could to convince himself otherwise. For a full year he’d managed to prevent the world from finding his secrets. After the release at the bunker and his daughter’s triumphant return, he should have known to lie low. He had made a terrible situation workable, and the world bought what he sold them. The media attention was greater than he predicted, and for a time he had pulled back. But then, as if the universe were conspiring against him, Stellar Heights was slated for demolition, threatening to expose all the secrets he had stashed within those houses. He berated himself now as he considered all the mistakes he’d made.

In a panic, he had dug up the man’s body and, without thought, disposed of it in the bay. The job was rushed and haphazard, without detail or clarity. It wasn’t long before the fishermen made their discovery. The stress caught up to him later when he too severely punished his Love when she tried to escape through the window. This error forced him to bring her to the forest, and there his mind played tricks on him. Hisfeelings for her were so great that his cloudy mind had caused him to leave her there, to be discovered next to her resting place. And now, the pathologist from Raleigh had shown up and was closer than she knew, offering him a profile that so closely described himself he could have authored it. This same woman had corrupted his daughter, filling her mind with things she should never have to think about.

Now, his hand was forced. Survival required him to make a move.

It was close to one a.m. when he pulled his squad car to the shoulder. The Stellar Heights sign glowed in his headlights. He tortured himself by replaying the last year, mulling each ill decision he’d made. He cursed himself for failing to control his desires. He’d spent hours playing out scenarios that would allow him to avoid what he was about to do. Hundreds of ways to prevent the proverbial rollercoaster from reaching the top and sliding into free fall. The opportunities were many, but they all required clairvoyance. And they would require him, as much as he despised the thought, to end the only relationship that remained at Stellar Heights. He’d kept her the longest, and their bond had once been undeniable. But, sadly, the events of the last year had caused them to drift apart. With the homes scheduled for demolition by the county, his survival could not be achieved if their relationship continued. He could trust only one with such a burden. The special one. The one that meant the most to him. So tonight he came to Stellar Heights to make his final visit to the one the media would soon call Elizabeth. It was a wretched name that did not suit her in the least.

Then, before the wrecking crews descended upon them, the houses would need sterilizing. Despite their imminent destruction, he couldn’t risk the discovery of evidence that might lead back to him. Too much had happened within those walls to hope that simply bringing them down would erase it all. The world knew about the ones they called Nancy and Paula. He’d make sure the world knew no more. And if he planned carefully enough, the one they might call Elizabeth would never be discovered. Four of the homes had, at one time or another, held girls. He would concentrate on them, expunge all evidence of their presence. Then, with breathing room, he’d tend to his daughter again and help her find her way back to the peace she was so close to reaching.

The plan, systematic and focused, would occupy many of the coming days. Time was both his enemy and savior. He needed to move quickly to erase his past. Taking too long would bring danger and exposure. But if he managed to pull off the first few steps—eliminating the last girl who resided at Stellar Heights and disposing properly of her remains, then making the homes immaculate before demolition—time would become his ally. He could concentrate on his daughter and help her heal. Days and weeks would tick past. Months and years, even. He would move further and further from his history. Stellar Heights would disappear and take with it all his secrets. His Loves would be missed, but with time the pain would resolve. He would be safe. His daughter would recover. The mysteries of the missing girls would fade. His heart would mend. Perhaps he could repair things at home and finda way to be happy again. He’d have to control the doctor. He’d have to placate her. He’d find a way.

His radio squawked and brought him back from his imaginings.

---