Page 50 of The Vanishing Wife

“Saige is still out there, Moore. She still needs our help.” Leigh couldn’t argue with the detective. With any of it. Because she was right. There was a difference between not being able to prove your loved one’s killer had done the deed and an entirely different thing to not be able to do anything about it. She forgot all about the coroner on the other end of the line, putting everything she had into what came next.

She’d taken a private oath after the Chris Ellingson case. To find every single boy he’d hurt and bring them home to their families. To give closure and answers and peace. But they weren’t the ones who needed her now. Leigh centered herself in the detective’s line of vision. “And she might not be the only one.”

THIRTY-FOUR

Gulf Shores, Alabama

Monday, September 23

12:13 p.m.

Leigh presented her credentials to the Greyhound bus driver, ascending the stairs. “FBI, I’m looking for a fourteen-year-old girl, dark hair, traveling alone.”

“Toward the back.” The driver nodded as she grabbed for the PA handheld. “Ladies and gentlemen, this line has been delayed. If you could please collect your possessions and disembark, we’ll get you back on track in no time.”

She absorbed looks of frustration, some of fear, as passengers followed directions and passed her on the stairs. Hotel security had shown Ava leaving the hotel under her own accord. It’d taken one of the outside cameras to show the vehicle she’d gotten into. A white four door sedan with a ride-share light in the back corner. The front license plate hadn’t been entirely readable from the exterior camera angle, but it’d provided enough information for Detective Moore to narrow it down. And enough to track the car and the driver down.

“I’ll just be a few minutes,” she said to the driver.

Leigh took her time as she maneuvered down the center row of purple confetti seats. And into the seat beside Ava. She foraged in her blazer pocket and pulled a crisp yellow bag free, setting it on the extended seat tray in front of her charge. Peanut M&Ms. “Your mom told me once that these were your favorite.”

Ava didn’t answer. Didn’t move. Didn’t even seem to breathe.

That was okay. It’d taken a long time for Leigh to process what’d happened all those years ago too. On the outside, she’d made sure not to draw attention or add to her parents’ troubles, but inside, all she’d wanted to do was scream. Leigh would let Ava scream if she needed, and again, she couldn’t help but feel as if this was what parenting would be like. Not being able to fix the problem but being there nonetheless. To offer comfort and safety. Being someone who could just listen when things got hard. Maybe provide some advice along the way.

And right there, on a bus that would probably scare the shit out of any forensic unit, she considered what her dad must’ve felt all those years behind bars. Not being able to fix it. Not being able to be there for his only surviving child or give advice. In a way, she could see he was trying to make up for that now.

And she wasn’t letting him.

Settling back against the headrest, Leigh interlaced her fingers above the surgical wounds and closed her eyes. Suddenly more exhausted than she’d ever been in her entire life. “So where is this bus taking us?”

“Why are you here?” Ava seemingly refused to even acknowledge the bag in her lap. Instead, burrowing her hands beneath the seat tray.

Ah. Signs of life. Leigh cracked one eye open. “It’s dangerous to travel without snacks.”

Slowly, hesitantly, and with a great deal of patience Leigh had never personally owned, Ava reached for the yellow bag and ripped one of the sides clean. From there, it was like watching that starving puma Leigh had been forced to follow on TV while recovering in the hospital from surgery. She couldn’t move to find the remote. Within seconds, the M&Ms were gone. “Thanks.”

People passed on sidewalks and across the parking lot through ceiling-to-shoulder windows. Going on with their lives as if nothing had changed the past three days. When Leigh knew firsthand everything had changed. “We recovered your mom’s phone, Ava. From Samuel Thornton’s house. He’d tried to destroy it in the fireplace, but our tech guys were able to recover the last two photos saved in storage.”

Ava stared out the window. Intent on focusing anywhere but on reality.

But Leigh had learned you couldn’t pretend bad things didn’t exist forever. No matter how hard you tried. “It was a conversation. A text message exchange. Do you know anything about that?”

“No.” The girl’s shoulders shook slightly. She swiped at her face, failing to hide the tears she hadn’t let herself shed for so long. “Please. I just want to leave. I want to go home.”

“In Clarksburg? There isn’t a home to go back to, Ava.” That was only one of the sad truths Ava would have to face over the coming days, weeks, and months. The sins of her parents had taken everything she’d known and loved in a heartbeat. “I’m so sorry.”

“I have friends I can stay with. Cousins. My uncles…” The words escaped with far more vitriol than Leigh expected. “They wouldn’t just leave me here.”

Leigh held herself back from reaching out, from offering that physical comfort that might have made things a little better around this age. “We can go to Clarksburg. We can look for someone who will take care of you, if that’s what you want to do. Either way, I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Why?” Ava hugged herself, like if she didn’t, she would break apart into a million tiny pieces. Leigh knew the feeling, especially in the days after her parents had reported her brother missing. One small slip, and she would shatter. “Why do you even care? There’s nothing left for me here. My dad is dead, and my mom…”

Yeah. Leigh understood not wanting to finish that sentence. Because the truth was, if Elyse was alive, if she’d killed Samuel Thornton out of some distorted sense of protecting her daughter from ending up like those other girls, Leigh would still have to arrest her. Elyse would have to pay for her crimes. “I’m sorry. About what’s happened these past couple of days. It takes a lot of courage to be able to get through it like you have. I wish I had some of that now, but while you feel like there’s not anything left for you here in Gulf Shores, I’m not sure there’s anything left for you in Clarksburg either. What I do know though is that you have people who want to help.”

Ava didn’t seem to have a comeback for that one.

“Did you mom ever tell you about me?” A thick layer of emotion coated the sides of her throat. “About what happened to my family?”

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