Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Styles soon discovered that dealing with Sheriff Jenna Alton wasn't as easy as he had anticipated. She couldn't understand the reason to remove a girl in potential danger from a safe house just to be interviewed by them and refused absolutely to give them the details of her whereabouts. He glanced at the images on Beth's laptop screen, took in her blank ashen expression, and cleared his throat. "Beth is going to send you a small portion of the media files we found on Shoebridge's property. It's his private collection. It's sickening. Take a look and call me back if you change your mind." He disconnected and looked at Beth. "Can you send the sheriff a small excerpt of that footage. I believe it's self-explanatory."

"I've scanned the first three files and they're all the same." Beth ran a hand down her face and then looked at him. "It's times like this, I wish I weren't an FBI agent."

Horrified at what he'd seen on the screen, he nodded. "Agreed, but we need proof he's abducting kids and involved in selling babies and children into slavery. Likely he's involved in murder as well." He ran a hand down his face trying to block out the images stamped in his brain. "The people involved were careful to keep their faces off camera. These movies wouldn't be enough to convict the men we believe are involved. Ginny and Ava aren't talking. Making even abduction and deprivation of liberty charges stick will be a problem."

In truth, all they had on Shoebridge was possession and maybe distribution of child pornography. He had no absolute proof that Shoebridge abducted Ginny. He'd never seen the man, and Ginny was so twisted in her mind that whatever she said in court would go in Shoebridge's favor. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. He understood Beth's inner struggle to take down monsters like this and then trust the legal system to do the right thing. Agreed he'd see many such men walk in his time. He looked at her. "I know this stirs memories you'd rather forget, and I know deep down inside you want to do the right thing. What you feel now, I feel too. Trust me, if it were legal, I'd break both their necks in a heartbeat."

"You would?" Beth looked at him, her expression softening. "That's good to know. I figured it was just me who wanted to exterminate every last one of them."

Styles nodded. "Yeah, but not doing it and taking them in is the difference between us and a psychopath. We might want to kill them, but we don't act on it… Well, I admit, sometimes I let my disgust with the men who abuse kids sway my judgment, and my takedowns of them are never gentle if they resist arrest." He shrugged. "It's my way of getting even for the kids, but I never take it too far. I just let them know they're dealing with a man and not a helpless kid, is all."

"You could just shoot them if they make a break for it." Beth shrugged. "Many city cops wouldn't think twice about taking down men like Shoebridge and Benson with a bullet. It's only fools like us who run after them and bring them in alive." She looked away from him, her shoulders dropping in defeat. "This evidence will get them five years if we're lucky. It's not enough. If we catch them, they'll be out hurting kids in three years. That's not acceptable." She turned slowly to look at him. "We must build a convincing case."

He started the engine, and after waving to the deputies, they headed along the driveway. "I agree. If you enter the doctor's address into the GPS, we'll go and search his house. Although, I believe we've stumbled on a team. This cache of thumb drives might be their entire private collection. You could be right about Billy's paternal father. I noticed he has brown eyes, unlike me and Ginny. Shoebridge, according to his driver's license, has blue eyes, and guess what? Benson has brown."

"That poor girl. She went through hell and yet she's sticking by him. It's hard to believe she figured Shoebridge was protecting her." She shuddered. "The doctor gives monster a whole new meaning. The man disgusts me. They both do, but he swore an oath to do no harm." Beth pushed both hands through her hair, removed the band around her ponytail, and slid it onto her wrist. She pulled a comb from her pocket and slowly combed her hair staring into space.

Styles glanced at her. "I can see the wheels turning in your mind. What are you thinking?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Beth put the comb away and retied her ponytail.