25

Tyler

Sunday, January 8

Tyler looked in the cabinet for a juice glass. Most were in the dishwasher, so he reached further in and pulled a bottle from the shelf. Vodka. Why would Lana have stored it at the back of the glasses? Throughout the morning, he mulled it over. He sensed this was something to which he should pay attention.

Celia climbed up on the stool, rubbing her eyes, still half asleep. Her red curls were a tangled mess. He’d have to ask Katherine to brush…

The pain in his stomach followed. He didn’t know where Katherine was. She hadn’t come home, and Christina hadn’t heard from her either. Never in a million years had Tyler ever thought he would have to file missing reports on two of his children. Within one month’s time, no less.

“When is Mommy coming home?” Celia whined.

“Your mommy… your mommy needed some time away, Celia. She’ll be home soon,” he said the words mechanically.

“From us?” Celia’s big, blue eyes peered out from under her too-long bangs.

“No, not from you, honey. She loves you guys a lot. She’s just not in a place where she can call right now.” Even as he spoke the words, fear assailed him. What if she never calls? What if we never hear from her again? What will I tell the kids then?

His cell phone rang.

Molly.

“Hello?”

“I just saw Katherine.”

“What? Where?”

“On Elden Street. I’m following the car right now. It’s a blue Camaro with the license plate M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N.”

Tyler’s heart stopped. “Molly, no. What are you doing?”

“I’m following them right now, Tyler. Katherine was practically forced into the car.”

“I—I need to…well, I mean, I’m not even dressed!” Carrying the phone, Tyler rushed upstairs to throw on a sweatshirt and jeans as he listened to Molly.

“They just turned down Grace Street!”

Tyler let an expletive fly as he pulled on his shoes. “Have—have you called the police? Have you called Josh?”

“Yes, I’ve called both.”

“I’ll stay on the line with you, but I’ve got the kids and…” Suzanne. He would ask Suzanne if she could watch the kids.

Dashing across the street, he knocked on Suzanne’s door, quickly blurting out his emergency situation and need for a temporary place for the kids. All the while, Molly’s voice echoed on the speaker phone. “I’m on Locust Street. They’re turning right onto Lynn Street.”

Suzanne seemed confused by his stammering explanation, but she agreed at once. “Of course, I’ll do it, sweetie. Just bring ’em on over.”

It seemed to take forever for Tyler to get the kids up and out of the house and over to Suzanne’s, but some ten minutes later, he was finally behind the wheel of his car. “OK, Molly. Where are you?”

“I’m on Pearl Street. They’re turning into The Pearl Street Motel. I’m going to park at the back of the lot.”

Tyler dodged traffic, weaving in and out of cars, praying to hear the peal of sirens in the distance. Please Lord, please save my daughter…I’ll do anything you ask. I just…can’t bear the idea of something happening to her. He heard the sirens before he reached the motel, and tears sprang to his eyes in response. “Thank You, God. Thank You, thank You.”

Tyler had never noticed the motel on the corner before. It was a non-descript, respectable-looking place. It was an independently run establishment, but from the outside it looked clean and appealing. He took a sharp turn into the parking lot, his tires skidding slightly on an icy patch. Dodging mounds of shoveled snow, he found Molly’s car at the back of the lot. Josh’s car appeared moments later, followed by several police cars.

Tyler bounded from his car and moved toward Molly, who stood outside her car hugging herself to stay warm. “They were dropped off at the front of the building.”

“How many?” Tyler asked.

“Katherine and two others.”

Tyler’s heart quaked. He was surrounded by police and their cruisers.

Josh stepped out of his car.

“Josh, the driver just dropped them off. Then he took off again,” Molly explained.

Josh nodded and hurried over to the police cruisers. From the third cruiser, a familiar face appeared. Abbie Jackson.

Tyler moved toward Abbie.

“Are they inside?” Abbie called out.

“Only three of them. The driver of the blue car, license plate M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N—he sped off that way toward Elden.” Molly pointed.

Abbie nodded and spoke directives into her walkie-talkie. “Suspect on the move…driver of blue Camaro, license M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N…headed east on Herndon Parkway toward Elden.” She turned back to Tyler. “With a license plate like that, he shouldn’t be hard to find. And you saw the other three go inside?”

“I did.”

“OK, let’s go,” Abbie motioned the patrol officers toward the building.

Tyler followed.

“No, no, Tyler. You have to stay here with us,” Josh instructed.

Tyler longed to rush into the place with the rest of the officers, find Katherine and tear her abductors limb from limb.

“You have to stay back, man. That’s the only way you’re helping her. Let the police do their job.”

With something between a sigh and sob, Tyler slumped over and placed his hands on the hood of his car, breathing hard.

“Come on,” Josh suggested. “Let’s all wait in one car. It’s freezing out here.”

All three climbed back into Molly’s car and silently watched as the police entered the motel. Tyler could feel his heartbeat in his temples. Adrenaline stimulated every nerve in his body. God, please protect her.

“Let’s pray. Right now,” said Molly.

The trio joined hands, and Josh began to pray for Katherine’s protection, for God to lead the police straight to her, for the entire operation to go smoothly and without incident.

Tears burned Tyler’s eyes. “Oh, please God!” he wailed. “Please help her!”

Josh and Molly squeezed his hands.

It was up to God now. There was nothing he could do. He had to trust the Lord with his daughter’s life.

He caught sight of his own face in the rearview mirror. His skin was a pale shade of winter—his eyes heavily lidded with lack of sleep and worry.

The three of them sat motionless, barely breathing.

Tyler shivered with cold, fear, and anticipation, while silently watching the doors of the motel.

Molly turned the vehicle on and cranked the heat.

Time ticked by with only the sounds of cars moving up and down Herndon Parkway, distant sirens, the sound of their breathing, and the rustling of their coats.

Flashes of blue moved around the side of the motel—two officers who had been investigating the back entrance and now made their way to the front.

“Look,” Josh said. “Here they come.”

Tyler, Molly, and Josh scrambled out of the car as Abbie marched through the front door of the motel flanked by officers holding onto three handcuffed kids and leading them toward the police cruisers. One of them was unmistakably Katherine.

Tyler gasped, his heart pounding. “There she is.”

What a terrible and wonderful sight. Tyler moved toward his daughter but was stopped by Josh’s arm.

“Wait. We’ll meet them at the station.”

Tyler’s hands shot through his hair, pain and anguish assaulting him. He longed to snatch his Kaki up in his arms, keep her safe from any more harm. “She…she looks cold,” he whispered.

His little Kaki, dressed in skinny jeans, a T-shirt, and a lightweight jacket. Elevated on heels that were too high for her slight frame, Katherine tripped and leaned into the officers escorting her. She looked scared.

Tyler climbed into Josh’s car, and they rode silently up the street to the Herndon Police Station.

“Will they charge her with anything?” Tyler finally asked as they turned into the parking lot.

“Not if I can help it,” Josh said.

They all climbed out of the police cruiser and entered the station.

Tyler spotted Katherine right away, sitting on the bench beside Abbie.

“Katherine!” He rushed to her.

She was still handcuffed. Her facial expression was hard and angry, her mouth a solid, frowning line, and her eyes dark and emotionless. She would not look at any of them.

Tyler squeezed her, holding her head just under his chin as he kissed her head. After a few moments, he pulled back from her and touched her hair, which looked and smelled like it needed washing.

She jerked her head away, refusing to make eye contact.

“I love you, honey,” he said. She stiffened at the words.

Abbie motioned for Tyler to speak with her a few feet away.

Molly moved in and took his place.

“Hey, could you take the cuffs off of her at least? I mean, why is she cuffed?”

Abbie motioned to one of the other officers to remove Katherine’s cuffs. “We had to handcuff all three of the kids. When we arrived at the door of the motel room, the male suspect who was with them pulled a gun on us. The girls tried to run out the sliding glass doors and out back, but we already had officers on that side of the building. They caught the girls pretty quick. Another officer came in through the glass doors and got the boy, too. The driver—we think that’s probably your daughter’s pimp, Damien Rosas-Diego—he got away.”

Tyler groaned. “Who is the other boy?”

“His driver’s license says he’s nineteen. Name’s James Hubbell. He goes by Hubby, apparently. He has a few drug charges on his record from a couple of years ago. Spent a little time in juvie. I’d say once we pick a little more, we’ll find he’s up to his eyeballs in gang activity.”

“What about the other guy—Damien?” Tyler couldn’t stand the idea of that guy getting away. When he thought of what he had done to his daughter…he wanted to kill him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get him. He’s very engaged in this area with gang activity. He’s got a long list of drug possession and violent assault charges on his record, and maybe now we’ll have cause to go after him for human trafficking.”

Tyler looked at his daughter with watery eyes. Why hadn’t he protected his child? His head was reeling…he didn’t know what to do. Where did one begin with a girl who was probably so damaged, so angry?

“Mr. Jones,” Abbie said, turning to him. “I’m sorry to do this, but we need to question Katherine. Afterwards, we’ll release her to you. You should take her to the hospital right after. Have her checked out. There are no charges against her at this time, but we need to try and get information if we can. There’s still a missing girl.”

“I understand.” Anything to catch that monster.

“But I’ll be honest with you,” Abbie continued. “These girls coming out of traumatic sex-trafficking situations don’t talk, so I don’t have high expectations of her giving us names or much information. And the other thing is, once you get her home. You can’t just settle back into normal…like nothing’s happened. These girls have been programmed. Police are bad, parents are bad, and anyone trying to help them is bad. Yeah, they may be scared of their pimps, but I can’t even tell you how many girls end up back with their traffickers because they think they’re in love…or they’re better off with them.”

“How could they even think…” Tyler broke off. He was over trying to figure all of this out. Now, he just needed to get help for his family.

“She’ll need intensive help and rehabilitation. And she’s high risk for running away again. Especially with her trafficker still out there.” Abbie tucked a card into Tyler’s shaking hand. “Here’s the number of a local group who works with girls coming out of trafficking and prostitution. Call them today. Don’t wait.”

Tyler swallowed hard and nodded. “OK.”

Molly approached slowly from the side and put her hand on Tyler’s arm. “Tyler, Josh, and I will take Celia, and Micah for a few days—as long as you need them to stay with us. You take care of Kaki and Brandon.”