Wanting (7 page)

“
For the majority, yes. The
main reason kids runaway is abuse, followed by arguments with
parents, friends, and finally romantic interest. Very rarely is it
something else.” Carrie stepped over a small pile of lumber that
blocked the muddy path to the back of the site. “So do you have any
theories?”

“
I’m not sure if Sherry has
been completely upfront with me.”

“
We’ll need to talk to her
again. Find out—” The sound of running feet cut off the rest of
what Carrie had to say. “Sebastian! There!”

“
I see her! Go around!”
Sebastian took off after the runner. He couldn’t tell the exact
color but the jacket the runner wore was dark, with a stripe
running around its middle. The height was right, too. “Ashleigh?
Ashleigh! Wait!”

He followed the runner
around the back of the building, but the kid knew the place better.
He—she—darted beneath a half-hung sheet of metal fencing, using the
mud beneath to increase speed. Sebastian had to stop, his frame
much too large to follow. He’d have to climb the fence to get
through.

The runner disappeared into
the next construction site before Sebastian had cleared the fence.
He cursed. If Carrie didn’t catch the kid, they had lost the
chance.

But Sebastian still
followed.

The runner was nowhere to
be found, and the construction site was deserted. That left the old
building across the street. He could just make out the outline of a
person on the fire escape, near the top story. The street lamp
highlighted red hair.

He jogged toward it and
started up after her.

“
Carrie? Are you up
here?”

“
Sebastian…”

Carrie’s voice was soft and
Sebastian barely heard it.

He crossed the roof, his
feet falling silently on the rooftop. It took him a moment but he
spotted her.

She knelt in front of a
sobbing girl who appeared no more than thirteen. Fourteen at the
most. The mocha skin told him it wasn’t the teenager they were
looking for.

“
Does she need medical
care?” He kept his voice as low as possible, not wanting to startle
the girl. To scare her.

“
I think so. She is thin,
probably very hungry. Shhh. We didn’t mean to scare you. It’s ok.
We’re not social services. I promise. We just need some help.”
Carrie’s words were equally low. “Can I have your jacket? She’s so
cold. That’s what the worst part is, the cold...”

Sebastian shrugged off the
thin jacket and slipped it into Carrie’s hand. She wrapped it
around the girl. Sebastian placed a hand on Carrie’s back as she
attempted to pull the child to her feet. “Let’s get her downstairs.
I think the hospital is three blocks north of here. Can she
walk?”

“
Maybe. Stay close in case
we need to carry her.” Carrie looked at him, and he had no trouble
seeing the misery and tears in her eyes. She turned back to the
girl. “Can you tell me your name? I’m Carrie and this is
Sebastian.”

“
Sophie...” the little girl
said. “My name is Sophie.”

Chapter 13

*****

Lorcan stood by his
partner’s side while they waited in the hospital waiting room.
Carrie didn’t like hospitals; it was evident in the tension running
through her shoulders, in the abnormal paleness of her skin. He’d
also heard about how she’d protested going for treatment after
Stephenson’s attack. He’d put it together; she feared hospitals. He
wrapped a hand around her arm before he thought. She tensed, then
forced herself to relax. “You ok?”

“
I’m fine. I have a problem
with hospitals.” Carrie’s words were low, her eyes bleak when she
looked up at him from the computer screen she’d been staring at for
almost forty minutes. “She was so thin. She’s been out there a long
time.”

“
Did she tell you much?”
Carrie had accompanied the girl to the exam room and waited until a
social worker had been called. The girl had claimed to be
seventeen; Sebastian wondered what her story was.

“
She just...left home. She
lived with her grandmother, her mother disappeared years ago. She’s
been out here two years, and I think she’s sick. I think she’s
probably hooked on something—meth or homemade chemicals. She has
the burns around her nose and mouth for household cleaner abuse,
though lord knows where she gets the money to buy it. I have my
suspicions. She’s refused a SART exam.”

A Sexual Assault Rape
Trauma exam would tell whether the girl was a victim. It didn’t
surprise Sebastian she’d refused. She’d probably survived by
selling—herself, drugs, stolen goods. It was a hell of a life for
such a young girl. What had Carrie and Paige done to survive? He
wasn’t sure he ever wanted to ask that question of them. “Did she
say anything else about Ashleigh?”

“
Just what we already
know.” Carrie slid the laptop closed. “Said that Ashleigh and she
shared a camp spot two days ago. Ashleigh never revealed she was a
female. Said Ashleigh insisted she take the jacket. And food.
Ashleigh said she could get more. And that Ashleigh asked her how
to get a bus ticket without going through the proper
channels.”

“
So we need to see if she
got on somewhere here in the city.”

Chapter 14

*****

Kevin had the address
written on the back of the private investigator’s file. It wasn’t
in the Houston area like he’d expected; his baby lived in the
Midwest. He’d been to St. Louis a time or two. He and his wife had
brought the girls on vacation once. The other time was back in his
college days. He’d driven a buddy back after the guy’s dad had
died. That hadn’t been a fun trip.

His daughter’s building was
in the old downtown district. The red brick shouted age, but from
what the investigator had found, the building was now in decent
repair. The entire area was being revitalized. Kevin could see that
from where his car was parked, despite the heavy rain. He studied
the three-story apartment building illuminated by plenty of street
lights. His daughter owned it. Had her adoptive parents helped her?
Had they taken care of her? He’d found no record of their names,
but he was still searching.

His daughter Brynna had a
good hand with computers—made her living at them—and was searching
for that information. The girls had jumped in to help him find
their sister.

He and his wife had raised
a good group of girls. Any father would be proud to call them his.
And Kevin was.

The sign on the door said
there were vacancies. Should he call the number? Pretend to be a
prospective tenant? Meet his daughter on somewhat neutral
ground?

Though he’d only met her
once, fatherly pride filled him. His kid had come out on her feet.
Kevin opened his car door. Surely the apartment building—which
housed nine units—would have an office with a super or some type of
information.

Chapter 15

*****

“
We had an incident
yesterday.” The manager of the bus station led Carrie and Sebastian
into the small closet that served as her office around eleven the
next morning.

“
What type of incident?”
Sebastian has shown Ashleigh’s picture to the different clerks
who’d worked the day before. Two had remembered possibly seeing a
child matching Ashleigh’s description. A third had directed them to
his manager, a look of apprehension on his face.

“
We had four school field
trips depart from here, going in different directions. One hundred
sixty-six children around the ages of twelve to fifteen. Seems one
bus had an extra passenger at boarding but at the final
destination, the extra had disappeared.”

“
Disappeared? How?” Carrie
asked.

“
We’re not entirely sure.”
The manager had a completely perplexed expression on her face. “In
all my years of working here I’ve not seen anything like
it.”

Carrie exited the restroom
behind a trio of thirtyish women, her red hair making her instantly
identifiable despite her being half hidden behind the older women.
Sebastian straightened and wrapped a hand around her arm to pull
her in his direction as she approached. This time she stiffened
even less. He took it as a good sign. She was getting used to him
touching her.

“
We can’t be sure it’s even
her. So what do you think we should do?” Carrie adjusted the straps
of her backpack over her shoulders.

“
We need to determine where
the extra passenger disembarked, then go from there.”

“
The bus was headed to St.
Louis. We need to check with the bus line to see if security videos
show her.” Carrie walked at his side, her shoulder bumping his. She
was the perfect height for a woman; with him being close to
six-four, she was only a head shorter. He liked that; it meant he
didn’t have to bend down to speak to her. And she could keep up
with him, her legs nearly as long as his. She had awesome legs.
Legs he’d dreamed about in excruciating detail the night
before.

“
Back to the manager’s
office?” Sebastian nodded in the correct direction.

“
Yes. But first, I want to
call the hospital and check on Sophie.”

“
This girl really got to
you, didn’t she?” Her compassion surprised him. Agents were
typically trained to not let the people they encountered in the
course of the job weigh on their minds. They had to remain
objective, or the job would eventually consume them.

“
She was forgotten. And has
no one else to help her. Shouldn’t we?” Carrie looked at him, her
expression serious and a little sad.

Sebastian dropped a hand to
her elbow and squeezed it in comfort. “How can we? Get her into
programs with housing? Reconnect her with the grandparent who
apparently didn’t bother looking for her? There’s only so much we
can do.”

“
I have some people back in
St. Louis. I’ve worked with them before. They’ll provide a bed and
food. Work with her on her education. Get her clean. It’s not a
halfway house, more of an assisted living facility for these kids.
I work there a few days each month. They could take her, if someone
provided some funds. I can swing it, I think. If she even wants to
go. Many of these kids are resistant to any kind of change.” She
leaned closer to him as she spoke.

“
You surprise me.” He
wanted to slip an arm around her back, but refrained. She wasn’t
ready for that kind of casual touching yet. He knew it, and didn’t
want to risk upsetting her even more.

“
Ok. Is that a good or bad
thing?” She pulled away slightly, confusion in her eyes.

“
Definitely good. I like
puzzles and surprises. You’re both.” One that he wouldn’t mind
figuring out. That had him pausing in his thinking. Was that what
he wanted? A chance to figure out just exactly how he felt about
Carrie Sparks? Maybe. He didn’t know yet.

“
I don’t try to
be.”

It confused her, his words.
That was clear for him to see. Sebastian squeezed her arm before
releasing her. “Well, you are. And I like it.”

***

They couldn’t be one
hundred percent certain the kid disappearing off the bus was even
Ashleigh. Security videos of the kid entering the vehicle were
grainy, poor quality at best. It looked like an average middle
school kid wearing tee shirt, jeans, carrying a hoodie, and wearing
a ball cap. Even the facial features were hard to determine. But
odds were good that it was, which meant they were headed back to
the St. Louis area. They’d eat first, visit with Sophie, and then
head home.

“
Do you want to go in with
me?” Carrie looked at the man beside her. He’d not protested when
she’d explained that Sophie was important to her, had actually
looked at her with admiration in his strange green eyes.

“
Yes.”

“
Let’s go then. When we’re
finished we can keep looking for Ashleigh.”

Chapter 16

*****

She hadn’t wanted to do it,
but she’d seen that man. The one her mom had had a crush on for so
long. He’d been looking for someone, and Ashleigh knew it was her.
Had her mom called him? Wasn’t he a cop? An FBI or Secret Service
guy?

If he found her, it was all
over.

She huddled in the vinyl
bus seat, praying the rest of the people on the bus wouldn’t
realize she wasn’t one of them.

How would she explain that
she’d locked some kid in the restroom? Told him some jerk was going
to kick her ass if she didn’t run right now. She’d slid her
favorite MP3 player under the door to make up for what she’d done;
she’d told him she was sorry. That would have to be
enough.

She pulled her zip-up
hoodie, thinner than the one she’d given to that girl Sophie, up
around her face and laid her head against the cool glass of the
window. She kept her hood up, hoping she wouldn’t stand out. With
forty other kids on the bus, surely she’d be overlooked?

Once she got away from the
city, she’d think about what to do next. Right now, she was just so
tired, all she wanted to do was sleep.