Page 18 of Hack
Archer nodded as he stood. "I've got a file filled with young, blonde girls who have gone missing. I keep hoping I'll find a pattern to where he finds them, but so far nothing. It's impossible to know which girls he has until we find the bodies, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try and figure out his system. I'm grabbing more coffee. Do you want some?"
Carter shook his head. "No, but thanks." He reached for another file and opened it.
Archer headed into the kitchen, excited to have Carter there to talk through things, but he really worried that this was going to open up too many memories, too many unhealed wounds for Carter. All he could do was trust that Carter knew what he was getting into. A lot of the information was graphic and hard to read. He hated that anyone had to know what happened to many of the young girls and how tortured their bodies had been.
With a fresh cup of coffee, he wandered back into the living room. "Are you looking for something certain?" He sat down, setting his coffee on a coaster, away from all the files.
"I'm not sure where to even begin. I've been through everything the FBI has on file. I've pored over each gravesite, looking at every photo taken. I guess I'm looking for information I haven't seen yet." Carter glanced up at Archer. "Anything that might spark some new way of looking at things."
Archer reached for a stack of files. "These are interviews with parents that I've managed to get. Not all would talk to me, and a lot of the older cases, like your daughter's, I didn't go seeking out the parents. I figured too much time had gone by." He handed the files to Carter. "The bottom one is my notes and thoughts."
Carter opened the file and started to read.
Hoping Carter would see something he hadn't, Archer let him read. He stared at the stacks of files, thinking about the girls Lyle had killed over the years. He could name each girl by sight. He'd stared at their photos so many times, they all held a special place in his heart. To be able to take Lyle down would hopefully allow the girls to rest in peace.
He slid onto the floor, leaning his back against the couch as he opened the file in front of him. It was the list of current missing girls. There were seventy-two girls who fit Lyle's profile. Not all of them would be victims of Lyle, but they were all in danger. It killed him to think that only a small percentage would ever show up again. Most would be located dead, and the others would never be found. He hated there wasn't more he could do. If he had the means, he'd hunt for each girl, giving each case the attention that the overwhelmed law enforcement couldn't.
As he skimmed through the information about each missing girl, he started to reorder them according to location. In the past, Lyle's victims were always taken from various locations, but they always seemed to stay to the southern and eastern parts of the United States. Seldom did he take girls from the western area or far northern states. He set the ones that were the most unlikely aside, then separated the others by state. As he did, he thought about the parents of each child and what it would be like to go to sleep every night not knowing where your daughter was. It would be impossible not to think the worst.
He glanced over at Carter. He'd lived through all of that. He'd lived through much worse. He didn't blame Carter for wanting to make Lyle suffer. The medical reports didn't hide the abuse. It was all laid out for Carter to read. He knew what had been done to his daughter in graphic detail, and that had to tear a man up inside. Archer wasn't sure he would be able to get through the day if he had to face everything Carter had.
Then to lose his wife on top of it. The loss had to have been immense. There wouldn't be anything that could ease that kind of pain. How Carter was as strong as he was now was a mystery.
Carter's phone rang, disrupting the comfortable silence.
With a quick glance at his phone, Carter stood. "I've got to take this, it's work."
As Carter left the room, Archer wondered exactly what Carter did for work. He hadn't said much about it. He'd done a quick search about him before contacting him about the case, but he hadn't found much. Most of the stuff he pulled up was years old, relating to his daughter's disappearance. The newer stuff was mostly his involvement in local charity events, and even then, it was often nothing more than a photo and mention of his name.
It really didn't matter what Carter did, but Archer was curious. Hopefully, as they worked together to figure out the case, he would open up and tell him more about his life. Archer wanted to know what motivated Carter to wake up every morning, what pushed him to go on with life when most men who had faced what he had would have given up long ago.
