Page 50 of Toy

“Yeah. A lot of them were found almost immediately, thank god, but some just vanish forever. It’s very sad.”

“Do you think the cult might have something to do with the rising rate?”

“Definitely.” She set her lips in a grim line. “I think this idea to look for patterns in the missing girl cases is a really good one.”

I gave her a wry smile. “Well, let’s get started. You take this half.” I heaved a thick sheaf of papers over to her side of the table. “And I’ll take this.”

“How do you want to begin?” she asked. “I was thinking we could find all the relevant ones first, before we start looking for any patterns. Otherwise it just gets too confusing.”

“Agreed. Set aside any cases of young females going missing. I’d say sixteen and under. Only the unsolved ones. All the rest go on the useless pile.”

A couple of hours later, I let out a relieved puff of air. I’d finally sorted all my documents into separate piles. The bigger one contained all the solved or irrelevant cases, and the smaller one had the rest. Across from me, Beck slowly massaged her temples as she skimmed another one of her cases and set it aside on one of her own piles.

I stifled a yawn and began to carefully read through all my missing girl cases. After learning the details of each one, I added a little red cross to a map I’d placed on my side of the table to signify exactly where the girl had vanished from.

“I think I might have something,” I said an hour or so later, furrowing my brows as I stared at the map. My heart was drumming fast in my chest and a niggling feeling gnawed at my guts.

Beck’s eyes snapped up. “Yeah?”

“Come look at this.” I beckoned her to my side of the table. She scooted over and looked at my papers. "I've already started mapping it all out.”

“I’m going to do the same. I’m just a slower reader than you,” she said with a rueful smile.

I nodded impatiently. “That’s fine. I have a feeling you’ll see the same results as me when you get to it.” I handed her the map. “Anyway, this is just 2015. Out of the hundred kids reported missing that year, eighty-four were female. Fifty were found right away, but thirty-four remain missing to this day.”

“Mostly around San José,” Beck said with a slow nod, peering at the crosses on the map.

I shook my head. “No.” I held up a palm. “I mean, not exactly. The majority were from there, but look at it this way. San José’s population is around 350,000. But if you count the whole metropolitan area, it’s around 2.5 million. Out of the thirty-three girls missing in 2015, twenty-three were from that metro area. But…” I traced my index finger southeast on the map, to the Limon and Talamanca Cantons. “Look in this area. Eight of the remaining ten missing girls vanished from around here in 2015. That’s not as many as the San José metro area, but considering the much smaller population, it’s a lot.”

Beck’s eyebrows rose. “You’re saying there’s a disproportionate amount of missing girls down there.”

“Exactly. Twenty-three missing girls out of 2.5 million people is bad, but eight missing girls in a population of under 150,000 is far worse.”

She let out a low whistle and went back to her side of the table. “Do you think this is it?” she asked. “The pattern we’ve been hoping to find?”

I nodded grimly. “I think so. I think the cult has definitely snatched up a few girls from San José and other areas, whenever they happen to be around there for whatever reason, but I’d say they’re getting the majority of their victims from this southeast region. That tells me they’re somewhere around there. They’re snatching up the closest girls, essentially.”

Beck’s forehead creased as she tapped at her phone. “I’m just Googling this area now,” she said. “I think you’re definitely onto something. It’s got a few popular tourist areas like Cahuita and Puerto Viejo, but aside from that, a lot of it is quite rugged and remote. Even in the tourist towns, you apparently need to hire a four-wheel drive to reach the beaches and hotels.”

“A ton of unexplored land around there, too,” I said with a nod. “Could be a good place to hide if you can acquire some property there.”

“Wow, yeah.” Beck’s brows shot up. “This article says that a lot of the mountainous areas in the south are completely unexplored on the Caribbean side. I had no idea.”

“Let’s finish mapping it all out to confirm,” I said.

We worked quietly for the next few hours. When we were done, the southeast end of our map was dotted all over with red crosses.

“You’re right,” Beck said, pushing her chin high. “In Talamanca Canton alone, thirty-two girls have gone missing in the last eight years. Never seen again. The population there is just under 35,000. That’s a shit-ton of girls who’ve disappeared. Extremely disproportionate to the rest of the country.”

I nodded. “Same with Limon Canton. The population is around 100,000, and forty-three girls have vanished without a trace from twenty towns in the last eight years.”

“Yeah. Definitely something fishy going on down there.”

“I’d bet my left nut that it’s because the cult’s new compound is somewhere nearby,” I said.

Beck began to gather up the papers. “Me too, if I had any,” she replied with a nod. She stood. “Let’s get down there and check it out.”

I nodded and closed my eyes for a brief second, picturing Jolie again. Soft skin, plump lips, mesmerizing eyes. I imagined her sweet voice calling out to me, telling me I was getting closer. Begging me to save her before it was too late.

Don’t worry, baby girl, I thought, wishing it would telepathically transmit to her. I’m coming.

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