Page 12 of Forgotten Girls

“Did the sheriff say anything else about the lawyer? Did he ask him any questions?” Beth twirled a pen in her fingers and leaned back in her chair, observing him with interest as he paced up and down.

Nodding, Styles stopped pacing and turned to face her. “Yeah, he asked about the search warrants that we’d requested. He insisted that the sheriff give him photocopies.”

“Oh, they came through, then? When is the sheriff going to drop them by?” Beth stood and peered out of the window. “Don’t worry, that’s not an unusual request from a lawyer.”

Mind reeling, Styles waited for her to turn back from the window. “No, it’s not an unusual request but how did he know we’d requested search warrants in the first place? The only person we mentioned it to was the sheriff, as the warrants would be delivered to his office.”

“I can see where you are heading with this.” Beth turned away from the window and sat down at the table. “You figure the lawyer wanted to know who applied for the search warrants. Now he has our names. It wouldn’t take too much brainpower to put two and two together and know we’re staying in one of the motels or hotels in the immediate area. Hmm.”

Styles sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand down his face. “What do you mean, ‘Hmm’? Come on, spill it.”

“The lawyer must be part of all this. Did the sheriff get a name? It will be phony for sure.” Beth waved a hand toward her laptop screen. “A doctor and now a lawyer. The latter no doubt wanted to know exactly what Ginny and Ava have told us. If she’d spilled her guts, there’s a good chance they might try and take her out.” She stared into space for a beat. “They know our names and approximately where we are staying. I would say they’ll try and nip the information leak in the bud by taking us out as well, before we discover anything else about their organization.” She shrugged. “Ginny and Ava could be in danger. They have information, but I doubt Shoebridge would have divulged very much to her. The organization would have strict rules to protect themselves against prosecution.”

Unconcerned about Ginny and Ava, Styles leaned back on his hands. “The sheriff of Black Rock Falls was made aware of the situation, and Ginny and Ava are on their way to a safe house. I actually spoke to Sheriff Alton about the foundation the last time we met. They will be initially taken to the Her Broken Wings shelter and then they’ll be whisked away to a safe house known only by a very few people in the sheriff’s department. She informed me they had many houses in the area they use to protect the vulnerable. This means, of course, that I won’t be able to see Ginny until the danger to her has passed.” He sighed. “In the meantime, it’s Sheriff Alton and her team that have taken over hunting down Ava’s next of kin. She has a skilled forensic team at her disposal, as we well know, to get as much evidence from the victims as possible.”

“How long ago did the search warrants arrive?” Beth chewed on the end of her pen. “We’ve been sitting here all afternoon waiting for them.”

Styles indicated with his chin toward the door. “They should be on their way now. The sheriff said they’d just arrived at the office when the lawyer showed. It was as if he knew that they were there.”

“Understand now why I’m so concerned, Styles?” Beth shook her head slowly. “Do you fully realize how deep and dangerous these pedophile rings can be? We’ll never be able to discover who we can trust and who we can’t. If the lawyer was tipped off by the judge or someone in his office, it will be difficult to prove.” She wagged the pen at him. “I’ve been investigating pedophile rings for years, and you will be surprised at the different walks of life of the members. Some years ago we pulled down a ring that included judges, law enforcement, teachers, and preachers. It seems to me that no one can be excluded if we’re making up a list of suspects. Right now, the only person you can trust in this town is me.”

Styles gave her a long look and pushed down the need to roll his eyes. “Yeah, I know all about the members of pedophile rings, Beth, and I agree, no one can be trusted.”

The sound of car tires on gravel outside the motel room had Styles jumping to his feet. He went to the door and pulled it open as a deputy stepped out of a cruiser. He relaxed and moved forward to take the paperwork from him. “Thanks, we’ll get through the searches as quickly as possible, but we’re going to need deputies to secure the scene for the next twenty-four hours at least. We can’t get a forensic team out until first thing in the morning.”

“That’s fine, we can call out deputies from Blackwater if necessary.” The deputy touched his hat and climbed back into the cruiser.

“Here, grab the forensics kit.” Beth handed him a case and reached for her coat. “I figure we’re going to need a ton of evidence bags.” She bent to rub Bear on the head. “We’d better take him with us. I’d like an early warning system watching our backs. Like I said before, right now we can’t trust anyone.”

Styles nodded. “I’ll go and grab my coat. What about backup?”

“We have two deputies guarding each place.” Beth shook her head and raised both eyebrows at him. “It won’t take me too long to gather computer hard drives and other incriminating evidence. The rest we’ll leave to Dr. Wolfe and his team. I’m sure glad the Black Rock Falls medical examiner and his team are available to sweep Shoebridge’s place for evidence. It will save us time to move on with the case. Wolfe, I figure we can trust.”

Styles opened the back door of the SUV to allow Bear to jump inside. He gave the dog an affectionate pat and clipped in his harness. When he slid behind the wheel, he caught sight of a shadow moving through the trees opposite their rooms. He kept his gaze ahead. “Don’t look now, but I figure we’re being watched. Left at two o’clock.”

“Got him.” Beth moved around in her seat. “This is too open for a hit. There are people in the office and greasy spoon. If they plan to take us out, my bet is that they’ll try tonight, when we have gathered all the evidence.”

Styles backed out and swung the SUV around, scanning the trees. The person had blended into the lengthening shadows. He shrugged. “If they’ve sent one person to take us out, they sure are underestimating us.”

“You can say that again.” Beth chuckled. “I’m not too worried unless they come in guns blazing. After seeing what they did to your sister and Ava, I’m ready to work off some steam.”

THIRTEEN

They stopped by the greasy spoon beside the motel to collect four cups of coffee. When they arrived at Shoebridge’s house, Beth took two to-go cups to the deputies on stakeout. As they buzzed down their windows, she gave them a bright smile. “Anything unusual happen while you’ve been on duty?”

“It’s been as quiet as a mouse.” The deputy sipped the coffee and sighed. “Thanks for bringing the coffee. It’s been very cold today. I assume you’ve done your share of stakeouts?”

Beth nodded. “Too many to count.” She gave them a wave and headed into the house.

In the kitchen she found Styles wearing examination gloves and spreading out the evidence bags across the kitchen table in piles of various sizes. Beth collected a pile of medium-sized bags and looked at him. “I figure we leave all the forensic stuff to Wolfe’s team and rip this place apart looking for video or image files. Any evidence we find will give us an idea of the number of girls that Shoebridge abducted and sold. We might have a chance of tracing the girls now we know the doctor was involved, or at least their babies, if they were part of the scheme, and from what Ginny told you, I figure he didn’t stop with Ginny.”

“You’ve searched the dark web. What kind of money are we talking about when it comes to buying a child?” Styles removed his Stetson and dropped it on the table and pushed a hand through his light brown hair. “Thousands?”

Holding the evidence bags to her chest, Beth breathed in between her teeth. “It depends on the quality. From what I can ascertain, it can be hundreds of thousands. Not just little girls, they sell little boys as well, so if you figure they kept Billy because he was male, you’d be mistaken.”

“I’m fully aware of pedophiles’ preferences, Beth.” Styles pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and inclined his head to look at her. “If you want my opinion, I think Shoebridge kept Billy to appear like a normal family man to the neighbors and his workmates. I figure someone would have noticed that Ginny was pregnant at the time. I’m sure she went to the stores and he didn’t keep her locked in the house all the time. Like you said, by the time she went to high school she was well and truly brainwashed. She had lost her identity and believed every word that came from that assclown’s mouth.” He straightened, slapped his hands together, and turned toward the passageway. “Let’s get at it.” He headed toward the den, switching on lights as he went. “That’s strange.” Styles ran the scanner over a desk. “No prints. The place has been wiped down. Hang on, I’ll check the other rooms.”

Beth pulled on gloves and headed after him. She pulled out her scanner. “I have one set of prints that must be Billy’s.” She stared at him. “He wiped the place down before he left or made Ginny do it.”

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