Laughter bubbled inside him as he stood, teetering on the three-inch tiny heel and he wobbled and hit the wall. Pretending he was his mother, he righted himself and turned in a slow arc, smiling as the shoes clicked on the floor.
Suddenly the closet door swung open, and his mother stared down at him. She was half-naked, her eyes fuming, her breath puffing out like fire. “You sick little pervert!” She slapped him so hard his ears rang and tears stung his eyes, then she shoved him down and yanked off the shoes. “Don’t ever touch my things again.”
Then she closed the door and locked it and left him there for two days in the dark.
He jerked himself from the memory, his hand sweating as he walked to his trophy case and added Jacey’s red boot to his collection. “You can’t take them away from me now, Mama. No one can.”
SEVENTY-THREE
DAY FOUR
Athens Police Department
Ellie and Derrick ate breakfast on the hour drive to Athens, which was the heart of the University of Georgia and home to approximately 37,000 students per year. The sheer number of dorms, apartments, fraternity and sorority houses, and rental properties would make finding a runaway more difficult, especially with off campus housing stretching for miles.
“Cameron would fit the median age for a freshman,” Derrick said, “but Jacey was only fifteen and might garner attention if they’d frequented bars or if they’d lived on the streets.”
“True,” Ellie agreed. “We should check with real estate agents for a property they might have been living in.”
“Let’s hope they were in an apartment or house and not homeless like so many runaways,” Derrick said with a scowl.
While she drove, Derrick compiled a list of real estate agents and started making phone calls.
Ellie’s chest ached at the idea of a fifteen-year-old girl living on the streets. If Cameron and Jacey hadn’t had jobs, they might have resorted to stealing to survive. There were other ways for a girl to make money, none of them which she wantedto contemplate. If Jacey was living with Cameron, they were probably sexually active but Laney hadn’t mentioned sexual assault.
Derrick made call after call and texted each real estate agent a photo of both Jacey and Cameron, asking if they recognized either of them or had rented property to Cameron. Most rental properties didn’t rent to minors but required an adult signature. Neither Jacey’s nor Cameron’s parents knew where they were so obviously had not cosigned for them.
Ellie heard the frustration in his tone as he seemed to be striking out.
Thirty minutes later, just as Ellie drove past the UGA arches, Derrick heaved a sigh. “So far nothing. Which could mean they’re not in Athens. Although with so many young people in this town, they wouldn’t have stuck out.”
Ellie glanced around as students walked and rode bikes to class, backpacks slung over their shoulders, jackets pulled tight. Her adopted mother, Vera, had wanted her to attend college, not the police academy, although her father had been more supportive. Until she wanted to assume his job when he retired as sheriff. She’d been mad as hell when he’d supported Bryce Waters to replace him instead of her. But later she’d realized he simply wanted to protect her.
Cord’s face taunted her. After leaving an abusive foster home, he’d run away and lived off the grid. “It’s possible they were living with a group or on the streets,” Ellie said. “Any word on Cameron’s Pathfinder?” Ellie asked.
“Not yet,” Derrick said. “But the police issued an APB for it.”
She pulled into the police department’s parking lot and they walked up to the entrance. They entered and introduced themselves to the desk sergeant.
He was a brawny man with thick gray hair and led them to Detective Henry Willet’s office. A younger man in a campus police unform identified himself as Paul Lansing.
“What makes you think Jacey Ward was in Athens?” the detective asked.
Ellie explained about her clothing, that she’d wanted to attend UGA and that Jacey’s mother thought she’d run away with Cameron.
“People of all ages across the state wear UGA attire,” Lansing said. “Do you have proof they even came to Athens?”
Ellie squared her shoulders. “I know it’s a long shot, but Jacey lived in Watkinsville so not far from Athens.”
A heartbeat passed. “We received the photos you circulated to law enforcement agencies,” Detective Willet said. “I’ve already passed them around to our officers and instructed them to keep an eye out.”
“We’d like for the local news stations to post them,” Ellie said.
He nodded. “Done.”
“And we need campus police’s help as well,” Ellie said.
Lansing nodded. “Will do.”
