Calling My Children Home by Lauren Street

Author:Lauren Street [Street, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

The dispatcher stood in the door to Mitch’s office, keeping her voice calm and professional, but you could see the excitement in her eyes, the hope there.

“Sheriff, we just got an anonymous tip that there is a registered sex offender. Well, not registered, that’s the point,” she stopped and started over. “The caller said that there is a sex offender who lives in Yarmouth County. His name is Damian Eugene McCauley, and he was at the carnival Monday, but he’s not registered.”

Mitch glanced at Rileigh, who was seated in the chair across the desk from him, going through the files that had come back from the FBI, the background checks on all the people who had been at the carnival. Mitch had been surprised at the amount of information the FBI was able to gather up about so many people in such a short period of time. He had a bio on every man and woman, teacher, parent, aide, grandparent, uncle, every person whose name Rileigh had collected. Rileigh was now going through the background checks the FBI had returned to him.

Rileigh looked back at Mitch and said, “It’s not listed in here. There’s no Damien⁠—”

“That’s not the name he goes by here. In Yarmouth County, his name is Roderick Styles.”

Rileigh began to shuffle through the files of the background checks and finally landed on the one she was looking for. She pulled it out of the stack.

“Roderick Styles,” she said, and looked up at Mitch. “There’s no mention here of a sex offender status.” Rileigh flipped through the pages of information. “It says here that he’s married to Amanda Styles and that they have two children, Jenny, who is five, and Alex, who is three.” Rileigh was running her finger down the information on the page and her eyes shot back up to Mitch. “Jenny Styles is in Chloe Malone’s class. And he must have been at the carnival, or his name wouldn’t be on the list.”

Mitch got to his feet as Rileigh. “What’s the address?”

“Burnside Pike,” Rileigh said, “that’s on the south end of the county. I’m not as familiar with those roads as I am the ones in the north end, where Georgia lives.”

Black Bear Forge was not in the center of Yarmouth County. It was in the northeast corner, and most of the county’s rural farmland and mountains stretched out to the west and the south of the town.

Three of the other deputies showed up in the doorway to Mitch’s office as if they’d been summoned by magical command.

“We heard we’ve got a lead,” Jeb Rawlings said.

“Any of you guys know much about the geography of Burnside Pike?” Mitch asked.

“I do,” Beau Mullins said. “My grandmother lives on that road.”

“Tell me about the terrain.”

Mullins shook his head. “Steep. It winds up through Haneke Hollow and along the south side of Wilson Creek. What’s the house number?”

When Mitch gave it to him, he said, “That’s pretty close to where my grandmother lives.”

“Let’s go have a look at it,” Mitch said, gesturing toward Rileigh to follow him.

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