The Stolen Girls: An absolutely gripping and emotional thriller by Jeff Stetson

Author:Jeff Stetson [Stetson, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2024-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

FORTY-ONE

Todd drove along Pacific Coast Highway past the Big Rock Area. Ron pointed to the police activity, and Todd pulled behind several emergency vehicles. Ron exited the car before it had come to a complete stop. Todd followed behind, but both were prevented from moving beyond the area cordoned off by the police. The demarcation of the crime scene, highlighted with yellow tape, created a barrier of more than twenty yards.

Ron inched as close as possible, but stopped when he noticed a white sheet over what appeared to be a child’s body. He spotted the coroner’s van backing up to within a few yards of the paramedics, who were milling around. They unloaded a gurney from the back of the van, rolling it toward the remains.

Ron’s heart sank. His knees weakened, and he looked for a place to lean against, settling on a signpost.

“You all right?” asked Todd.

Ron stared ahead, his focus shifted from the vast ocean in the background to the small lump underneath a sheet that rippled with the wind, resembling a wave breaking against the tide of life and death. A police photographer snapped pictures of the scene, the flashbulbs ricocheting off the water’s surface like fallen stars sacrificing their last rays of light.

Private investigator Harrison left the officer in charge and approached Todd.

“Do you know?” asked Todd before Harrison could extend his hand in greeting.

“The body’s too decomposed,” replied Harrison, who turned his attention to Ron. “Is this Mr. Butler?”

Todd nodded. Harrison extended his hand. Ron shook it.

“James Harrison,” he introduced himself. “Mr. Roth retained my agency to assist in locating his daughter.”

“Is there any way we can see the body?” asked Ron.

“I’m afraid not.”

One of Harrison’s assistants approached and whispered information into his ear. Ron’s gaze was glued on Harrison’s face, searching for any clue, whether an expression of relief or dread.

Harrison released a deep sigh. “Just got word that it’s a boy.”

Ron turned his attention to the gurney carrying the boy’s remains. Two attendants lifted the stretcher and slid it into the van that swallowed it whole, like a hungry beast accustomed to being fed, but never fully satisfied.

The back doors of the van closed, and death was successfully hidden from view, but not from the imaginations of the police, who despite their experience, appeared deeply affected. A few walked aimlessly, while others stood with their heads lowered. One young officer was comforted by an older detective, who offered him a handkerchief.

“Thank God, it was a false alarm,” said Harrison, without any awareness of his own emotional detachment The statement, however, did not go unnoticed by Ron.

The coroner’s van snaked its way through the barriers past spectators who had gathered near the scene, snapping photos with their cell phone cameras. Ron assumed the pictures would appear on Facebook or YouTube, within the hour.

Harrison placed his hand on Todd’s shoulder and patted it twice. “Don’t give up hope,” he said, and then walked away.

Ron thought of the boy underneath the sheet making his way to some cold slab, where he would rest with a tag on his toe and a temporary John Doe I.

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