Page 42 of The Captive Missing

Sensational curves marked every aspect of her figure from the fullness of her chest to the way her uniform drew tight across her hips. Layered strawberry blonde hair was silky as it fell around a porcelain smooth face. She was impressive, Val thought, and also vaguely familiar.

“Val, right?” The woman purred.

“Yes. I should know you… but I’m sorry, I can’t seem to remember your name.” Val stuck out her hand.

The other woman let it hang there for a beat. Eyes dropping to the space between them, she seemed to think. Val waited. Her flush of embarrassment was dampened, as were all of her immediate reactions. In the end, the other woman clasped it briefly in her own.

“I’m Mandy,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

“Mandy, that’s right.” Val’s mind focused on a memory of a gawky girl four years her junior. “You looked different back then.”

“All knees and elbows, right?”

“Right.”

An awkward silence filled the small space as Val blinked at Mandy, and Mandy just blinked right back. Suddenly remembering her manners, Val stepped aside and gestured for the other woman to sit. Ducking her head prettily, Mandy hopped onto the bed and let her legs dangle over the side.

“I can see why they talk about you.” Mandy crossed her legs before shifting back to get a more comfortable position.

“They?”

“Charlie and all his little freedom buddies.” Mandy huffed a breath, but kept a placid smile on her face. “Practically everyone here at Cambric thinks you’re their savior.”

“Oh.”

“You should have seen this place after Sharon’s conviction. No rules, everything in chaos. People just waltzed right out the door.”

“Did you?”

“No.” Mandy gave a quick shake of her head. “Most of us stayed. Nowhere else to go. But in the end, it didn’t matter which way you went, the mighty hand of Cambric gathered them all back.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.”

“Exactly.” Mandy’s eyes narrowed. “They think now that you’re back, you’re going to bring the captive industry down once and for all. But you and I both know the truth.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t-”

“You aren’t anything special.” Mandy cut her off. “You do what you’re told, when you’re told to do it, same as everyone else. Charlie thinks you’re here to save everyone, that you’re part of some undercover investigation to track down the missing.”

“Missing…” Val frowned. “What missing?”

“You don’t even know?”

“Know what?”

“Unbelievable.” Mandy was smug now, her chin tilting up. “A lot of bad things can happen in here, we all know that. But before your testimony and your government regulations, no one ever died.”

“Died?”

“Yeah, died. Poof. Gone,” Mandy sneered. “Too many times on discipline? Too many days in Isolation? Refusing too many clients? You go to sleep one night and the next morning… your bed is empty. Don’t suppose they just release the troublemakers into the street, do you?”

“How many? How many have disappeared like that?”

“Four or five a month, every month, for the past three years.”

“That’s what?” Val tried to do the math in her head, but her mind was still slow, she hadn’t been able to avoid the medication. “Over a hundred people?”

“One-hundred and sixty-two, exactly.”

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