followed him outside and started in the direction of the vehicle they’d arrived in.
Four years. The words burned through her. Eight had been dead a year after Mia had escaped. How had Mia’s gamble for freedom impacted the others? She’d often wondered. Had the women been moved? Treated more harshly?
The heat dampened her temples as she strode along. She’d worried that he might have killed them all to avoid police scrutiny. But Dr. Halston hadn’t thought so. The victims were too important to him. What was a collector without his collection?
But he’d killed one. And although living as the captive of a monster was its own kind of death, Eight’s was much more final.
If Michigan was indeed the woman’s home, she’d never see it again.
At her approach, the driver started the vehicle and cruised up to her. Mia got inside and let her head fall back on the headrest. The day seemed interminable. It would be longer still before she’d get to sleep tonight.
Because now those pictures of the corpse Raiker had shown her this morning would all wear Eight’s face.
It was several more minutes before Jude joined them. Although he shot her a concerned glance, he was silent other than to give the driver instructions to return to the apartment where she was staying. They collected Mia’s knife at the security station at the gate. The drive back to DC was slower than it had been on the way down. The afternoon was getting later, and traffic was thicker, although not yet as snarled as it would be in another hour. They’d traveled nearly forty minutes before he finally spoke.
“Adam said they’ve also submitted a DNA sample taken from the remains to the missing persons’ databases.”
“Let me guess.” She felt as though she’d been drained of all emotion. “There have been no matches.”
“Nothing yet. But not all missing persons reports are submitted to databases. He’s going to make sure the sculpture photos get to all law enforcement agencies in the country.” When she said nothing he continued, “That’s big, Mia. Any detective who’s taken a missing person’s report across the nation will see this. Someone is going to recognize her.”
She lacked the strength even to lift her head, so she merely rolled it on the headrest to look him. “Unless she’s like me.” The bleakness in her tone couldn’t be tempered even if she tried. “And no one missed her after she disappeared.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Something she couldn’t identify. “I wondered about something you said.” He folded his arms, the gesture pulling the shirt across his chest. “About the woman in those photos not coming with you when you escaped.”
The last few hours had hollowed her out. She drew her bent knees to the seat, arranged the skirt of her dress and wrapped her arms around them while she shifted her gaze. Talking about her captivity was more difficult with his eyes on her. Maybe because she still felt like he was weighing her every word. Searching for nuances and fabrication.
“There were cameras. Wired for sight and sound. We were punished for anything we might say or do when he came back. He must have monitored us remotely. We were never let out of the building. Never went outside. Once he brought us there, that became our world.” She stopped for a moment. Found it more difficult than it should have been to go on. It wasn’t her world any longer. She’d beaten the odds. But the past still had a death grip on her. Perhaps it always would.
“The only time I could be sure he couldn’t view the cameras, at least immediately, was when he was assaulting one of us. So I knew that would be my only chance. We were locked in our cells if he…when he chose someone else. Except when he selected…a group of us.”
She focused on the horizon, the rise and dip of where sky met land. “He took sexual enhancement pills. At least I assume so. And when he was finished with one or more of us he’d send us back
Four years. The words burned through her. Eight had been dead a year after Mia had escaped. How had Mia’s gamble for freedom impacted the others? She’d often wondered. Had the women been moved? Treated more harshly?
The heat dampened her temples as she strode along. She’d worried that he might have killed them all to avoid police scrutiny. But Dr. Halston hadn’t thought so. The victims were too important to him. What was a collector without his collection?
But he’d killed one. And although living as the captive of a monster was its own kind of death, Eight’s was much more final.
If Michigan was indeed the woman’s home, she’d never see it again.
At her approach, the driver started the vehicle and cruised up to her. Mia got inside and let her head fall back on the headrest. The day seemed interminable. It would be longer still before she’d get to sleep tonight.
Because now those pictures of the corpse Raiker had shown her this morning would all wear Eight’s face.
It was several more minutes before Jude joined them. Although he shot her a concerned glance, he was silent other than to give the driver instructions to return to the apartment where she was staying. They collected Mia’s knife at the security station at the gate. The drive back to DC was slower than it had been on the way down. The afternoon was getting later, and traffic was thicker, although not yet as snarled as it would be in another hour. They’d traveled nearly forty minutes before he finally spoke.
“Adam said they’ve also submitted a DNA sample taken from the remains to the missing persons’ databases.”
“Let me guess.” She felt as though she’d been drained of all emotion. “There have been no matches.”
“Nothing yet. But not all missing persons reports are submitted to databases. He’s going to make sure the sculpture photos get to all law enforcement agencies in the country.” When she said nothing he continued, “That’s big, Mia. Any detective who’s taken a missing person’s report across the nation will see this. Someone is going to recognize her.”
She lacked the strength even to lift her head, so she merely rolled it on the headrest to look him. “Unless she’s like me.” The bleakness in her tone couldn’t be tempered even if she tried. “And no one missed her after she disappeared.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Something she couldn’t identify. “I wondered about something you said.” He folded his arms, the gesture pulling the shirt across his chest. “About the woman in those photos not coming with you when you escaped.”
The last few hours had hollowed her out. She drew her bent knees to the seat, arranged the skirt of her dress and wrapped her arms around them while she shifted her gaze. Talking about her captivity was more difficult with his eyes on her. Maybe because she still felt like he was weighing her every word. Searching for nuances and fabrication.
“There were cameras. Wired for sight and sound. We were punished for anything we might say or do when he came back. He must have monitored us remotely. We were never let out of the building. Never went outside. Once he brought us there, that became our world.” She stopped for a moment. Found it more difficult than it should have been to go on. It wasn’t her world any longer. She’d beaten the odds. But the past still had a death grip on her. Perhaps it always would.
“The only time I could be sure he couldn’t view the cameras, at least immediately, was when he was assaulting one of us. So I knew that would be my only chance. We were locked in our cells if he…when he chose someone else. Except when he selected…a group of us.”
She focused on the horizon, the rise and dip of where sky met land. “He took sexual enhancement pills. At least I assume so. And when he was finished with one or more of us he’d send us back
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