The news that Lisa had been definitely linked to the child porn ring and sex slave trade up in Bellingham hit Tess hard.
She expected something bad happened to Lisa, but wasn't sure which was worse -- to die immediately or to die slowly, after years spent as a child sex slave. The stories she had heard about some of the young girls who became caught up in the trade -- being kept in a dark basement room, sold to men dozens of times a day and night, drugged and beaten to keep them compliant, made her sick to her stomach. She often wondered if it might have been more merciful to kill her immediately, rather than subject her to years of slavery and drug abuse only to die of an overdose before she'd reached twenty, like so many young girls Tess had read about. But perhaps Lisa had escaped that end -- maybe she was still alive and had been able to get free of that dark world.
Tess could only hope as much. It would be hard to learn that Lisa survived the initial abduction and assaults, rapes, only to die on the streets years later from an overdose of Fentanyl. The streets of most American cities were littered with people overdosing from the high-potency opioid, especially on streets of the West Coast, where so many homeless addicts lived and died. When Tess drove down the streets where the addicts clustered, she would often see an ambulance pull up and EMTs jump out, Narcan in hand to save a person's life. When she had done research, she had examined the photos of missing women posted on the walls of the shelters, asking if anyone had seen so-and-so, missing since some date in the past, family wishing they could come home safely, all is forgiven.
It made Tess's chest hurt when she thought of Lisa being on that wall of faces.
She dragged herself into work the next morning, forgoing the usual run with Michael to prepare for FBI Academy -- if she was accepted.
Tess had been so preoccupied with finding Rachel and what happened to Gemma and the most recent cases to even focus on her application. Part of her looked forward to attending the Academy, and learning everything that Michael already knew about law enforcement methods, so she could get directly involved in investigations. Another part, a small part of her that she pushed into the back of her mind, wondered if she could handle it. People all said she was a shoo-in because of what happened with Eugene, but she'd had nightmares ever since that night, and she was starting to doubt her ability to deal with the kind of life that an FBI Special Agent led.
It had forced Michael to resign and consider a different occupation. Maybe she would be happier writing about crime from the outside rather than dealing with it from within.
Regardless, it was moot until she learned one way or the other if the Bureau wanted her. If they did, she'd have to make a decision. Until then, she was too busy to spend too much time worrying about it. She had other matters to focus on.
Like Eugene.
The fact that Eugene was loose and could be anywhere gave Tess a vague sense of impending doom. Police suspected that he'd already killed someone -- the man found in the mountains, car having been driven down an embankment, his head bashed in, his car set on fire. The man lived too close to where Eugene got loose for it to be anything else but Eugene taking the man and killing him. Tess hoped that Eugene was caught quickly before he did any more harm, but he was smart, and he was knowledgeable about police techniques. That could help him elude being recaptured for quite a while. He was skilled in survival in the woods, had many places he used for his purposes.
If he truly did leave with his prison girlfriend and was on the way to Vegas, it would be better for her own peace of mind as well as everyone in Washington State, but there was no reason to think he wouldn't wreak havoc in Nevada the way he had in the Pacific Northwest.
When Tess finally dragged herself into the Sentinel's newsroom, she sat down at her desk and felt a sense of gloom. On the wall, one of the many television screens was tuned to local news. On the screen played a news report about Gemma, Parkinson, and the murder of Ericsson. Tess glanced at her calendar and saw that the lead detective on the case was holding a press conference after lunch to update the public about the case and what would happen next. The wheels of justice turned slowly. It would be months before any trial took place, but there would be a hearing about Gemma's fate, now that she indicated she couldn't go back home.
Tess wanted to go to the news conference and get some quotes for her article. It would break up her day, and help fill out the series she was doing on the case. Her cell chimed, indicating an incoming text. She pulled it out of her bag and saw that it was Michael.
MICHAEL: Hey, there. Looks like I'm going to miss dinner tonight. I'll be working until late afternoon or early evening.
TESS: That's too bad. I have to get my article finished before the end of the day and I was hoping we could meet for a beer after that and something meaty, like ribs.
MICHAEL: Yeah, unfortunately, I'm going to have to take a rain check. Nick wants me to have a report ready for his desk before I leave tonight. Ribs sound so good. Maybe tomorrow night? We could go to The Smokehouse since we haven't been there for a while.
TESS: Sounds good. Don't work too hard.
MICHAEL: You as well.
Tess put her cell away and worked for the rest of the morning, following up with several contacts she had in the police department to get details down about the Ericsson case.
When she was finished, she had a quick lunch from a sandwich shop down the street from the Sentinel's newsroom, and then gathered up her notes, her laptop and took her car to the police station for the press conference. There was a room set up for the press to wait for the conference to start. Tess spoke with a few of her fellow reporters from other papers who she had worked with and competed with over the years for stories and tips. Of course, since she had shot Eugene, she had become a bit of a local celebrity and other reporters often came over to speak with her and ask if she had any gossip that she could impart.
Max Crawley, a reporter for another paper, came over and shoved his face close to hers.
"Hey, Tess," he said, blinking rapidly. "Do you have a bodyguard?"
She frowned. "Why would I have a bodyguard?"
Then, she realized what he meant. The other reporters were understandably very interested in what she thought about Eugene escaping.
"No, I don't," she said. "I suspect he'll be on the run, maybe going somewhere far from here so he doesn't get recaptured. I doubt he's even thinking of me."
"I'd think he'd want to get revenge," Max said. "You should carry a gun, if you don't already."
She shook her head. "I do have a gun," she said. "I have protection if I need it."
"Good," he said. "If I were you, I'd be watching my back."
"I'll be fine," Tess said and waved him off.
The reporters entered the briefing room and took their places. Several photojournalists crouched or stood at the side of the room, their cameras in hand. Finally, the lead police detective and his assistant entered the room and went to the podium.
He thanked everyone for attending the conference and everyone in the Department and King County Sheriff's Office for their assistance in the case.
For the first fifteen minutes, he went over the case, from the day the remains of Marcy Kemp were found near Lake Whatcom. The detective discussed the case and how police became involved when Marcy went missing, how she had spoken to her friends of meeting a man who wanted to take photographs of her for a possible modeling job for a children's catalog, how she was seen on a 7-11 security camera in Bellingham the week after she went missing, and then how she wasn't seen or heard from until her remains were found in the woods. How she had been shot and her remains had been partially scattered due to scavengers. How the best estimate as to her time of death from the autopsy was soon after she had been abducted. Whatever happened to her happened within a week or so of going missing.
The next issue he discussed was the recovery of Gemma Bowman late at night, and how she had also been promised a modeling job for a children's catalog, how she had been taken to Parkinson's mansion in Bellingham, drugged and repeatedly raped and used in child porn. How Gemma mentioned Marcy Kemp's name and alleged that she had been murdered because she didn't cooperate with Parkinson. Gemma had admitted to attacking Ericsson and escaping from the mansion once the power went out. Police determined that Gemma had killed Ericsson, and that his body had been dumped in Bellingham's warehouse district. They had discussed with the prosecutor's office and had determined not to lay charges against Gemma, because she was a minor, was acting in self-defense and was merely trying to escape her captors and repeated rapes. Ericsson was the attorney for Parkinson. He was also the owner of an escort agency that was run out of a warehouse in Bellingham, which was a front for the child sex trafficking ring that was operating in the Pacific Northwest.
Finally, the police detective described how Gemma was being cared for in a secure custody facility and would be provided with support until such time as she needed to testify in any court proceeding arising from her abduction and the time she was imprisoned. Given issues with her safety in her own home, she would remain in secure custody facility until more permanent foster care could be found.
It was as Tess suspected. Gemma had run away because she was experiencing abuse at home. It was the same story for so many young girls who ended up in the sex trade and child porn industry.
Gemma was lucky that the power went out that night and she tried to escape. Tess knew that most girls her age and in her circumstances would not have had the ability to even try to escape. They would have been fearful, drugged, and merely trying to stay alive. Marcy Kemp had fought back, and she was murdered in response, her body left in the woods.
Lisa hadn't run away from home, but she had left the tent that night so many years earlier, alone and vulnerable. Had she fought back? Had she escaped her slavery?
Would Tess ever know?