Page 45 of Hurt for Me

“No, but she had dark, wavy hair, and I think she might’ve been Hispanic because she spoke Spanish a lot.” Rae recalled how Maria would curse at Clint and Bobby in Spanish because she knew they wouldn’t understand her, and Rae caught a few words because of her two years of Spanish in school.

“And what were the men’s names?”

“Clint and Bobby.”

“And why were they holding you and Maria?”

Rae stared down at the erratic gouges in the table. “For the other men who came to the house. They ... they kept us for them.”

“For sex?”

This was so much harder to talk about with a stranger, and she wished Viv were sitting next to her. She sucked in a breath and nodded.

“I need you to please say it aloud, Rae.”

“Yes, for sex.”

“And how did you meet Katelyn?”

“One of the men, the one named Clint, forced Maria to get a little girl from the pier, so she brought back Katelyn.”

“And what did Maria do with Katelyn when she brought her to the house?”

“Maria didn’t do anything to her. She only got her and then she ... she died the next day.” Her vision blurred with tears, but she forced her emotions down. “She didn’t want to get Katelyn, but Clint threatened her, so she did it. I think she overdosed on purpose because she knew what would happen to Katelyn, and she felt responsible.”

Detective McHugh was taking notes. “What was going to happen to Katelyn?”

“These rich men were going to buy her from Clint and Bobby. I’m not sure what they were going to do with her, but I think the same thing they did with us. The rich men were upset because the first girl, Beth, died when Clint accidentally killed her.”

The detective’s expression grew grimmer. “I know this is difficult to talk about, Rae, and you’re doing a really good job.” He paused. “Now, I need you to tell me everything you know about Beth. What she looked like, her last name if you know it, her age—anything that could be helpful for us to identify her so we can inform her family.”

Rae told him everything she could remember, including how Beth died.

“It sounds like she was a fighter, like you,” Detective McHugh said. “I have another difficult question for you, Rae. Katelyn’s family wants to get her the best possible help for what she’s gone through, so they need to know if anyone ever touched Katelyn sexually.”

“No, never. I was always with her so they wouldn’t touch her.”

“Okay, that’s good. She was lucky to have you watching out for her.” The detective offered her a small smile and wrote down more onhis notepad. “So, now, we need to know how you and Katelyn left the house.”

This was where Rae knew she had to stay strong. Say the lie and mean it. “Clint left the house, so it was just Katelyn, me, and Bobby. Then Bobby took some drugs and passed out on the couch, so I got Katelyn, and we left.”

“And that’s when you took her to the fire station?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know if Clint or Bobby tried to search for you and Katelyn?”

“I don’t know. I just tried to get far away from where they kept us.”

“And when you escaped, why didn’t you go back home to your family?” he said. “Why did you come here with a woman you didn’t know?”

Rae dug her thumbnail into her palm as hard as she could and imagined she was hurting one of her dolls during a live stream. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go. My mother and I ... we don’t talk, and my dad’s dead.”

He nodded, writing more down. “Is there anything else you can tell us about Clint, Bobby, or the other people they were working with, the rich men, that might help us find them?”

Rae knew Clint’s last name—Clarkson—but she didn’t want the police to know and find some way to identify the bodies in the house and connect them to her. She knew Clint didn’t own the house since a company called Felton Holdings LLC did, and she couldn’t find information on it, no matter how much she searched online.

“All I can do is describe them.”

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