Chapter 20

TWENTY

WEDNESDAY

Rattlesnake Creek

A blue sky dotted with cotton clouds spread out across the mountains but an icy wind bit into Styles' cheeks as he walked across Main and into Sheriff Cash Ryder's office. He pushed open the door and held it to allow Bear to walk in behind him. The girl at the counter smiled at him and he nodded to her. "I'm Agent Styles. Is Cash in his office?"

"I'll see if he's in." The girl pressed an old-style intercom and announced him. "Yeah, go straight through." The girl smoothed a strand of hair over one shoulder and smiled at him. "I'm the new sheriff's assistant."

She looked straight out of college and Styles nodded. "Nice to meet you." He hurried past the desk and to Cash's office door, pushed it open, and walked inside.

"So you're back." Cash took his boots off the desk and straightened his chair. He held up one finger and pressed the intercom. "Bring in a fresh pot of coffee and two clean cups." He waited for the girl to come in and replace the coffee pot in the machine and then get two cups. "Thanks, Amber, that will be all for now." His gaze followed her out the door and when it shut behind her, he looked at Styles and grinned. "Recall when I put in a request for a deputy? Well, the mayor sent her . I'm not exactly sure what I'm meant to do with her as it seems the only thing she can do efficiently is answer the phone and make coffee." He stood and went to the coffee machine and poured two cups. He added the fixings and walked back to his desk.

Scratching his cheek, Styles stared at him. "I figure, as she's straight out of college, she'll have some experience in typing, at least, and computer skills they all have at that age. All those reports you're expected to write? You can just dictate them to her, and she'll type them for you and then upload them onto the server."

"You think?" Cash leaned back in his chair, making it creak. "I can't imagine describing some of the crime scenes that we've investigated over the last couple of years to that young girl out there. I figured she'd either go running down the street screaming her lungs out or be traumatized for life."

Styles removed his hat and dropped it on the desk. He picked up his cup of coffee and sipped the rich aromatic brew. "So I gather you didn't have the chance to interview her and ask her if she was interested in law enforcement?"

"Nope." Cash leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and stared at him. "The mayor called me and told me she'd be arriving this morning." He shook his head slowly. "I don't know a darn thing about the girl."

Frowning, Styles thought for a beat. "Maybe she is more experienced than you're giving her credit for? Do you mind if I speak to her?"

"Nope, I'll call her in." Cash pressed the button on the intercom and made the request.

The door opened and the girl walked inside carrying a notepad and pen. She looked expectantly at Cash. Styles turned to her. "We have an ongoing investigation and we'll be needing your assistance. I want you to check all the databases for any missing children, particularly girls, over the last week or so in this state. I also want you to contact all the employment agencies in the state and ask them to send you the names of any men in their fifties who have applied for a position of security guard in the last twenty-four hours. If you're able to obtain any information, make sure everything is forwarded to my office." He waited for her to finish writing and looked up at him. "Is what I asked within your job description?"

"Yes, of course." The girl looked slightly confused. "Office management is only a small part of what I can do. I could also be a legal secretary or a court clerk. I'm very interested in all aspects of law." She flicked a glance at Cash. "The mayor asked me specifically if I was squeamish when it came to taking down information about crime scenes, including violent homicides."

"And what was your reply?" Cash was looking at her with an interested expression on his face.

"I'm not squeamish and I'm very good at what I do." She straightened and gave him a tight smile. "Reading about forensic science and crime scenes is a passion of mine. I don't figure there's anything you can tell me that will give me nightmares."

Biting back the need to smile, Styles nodded. "Good. That's great. We'll leave you to it."

Once she had left the room, closing the door behind her, he looked at Cash. "There you go. She might be more help than you imagine, and looking at her more closely, I'd say she's in her early twenties. Next time you get the chance, ask her what experience she had prior to taking this job. You might be surprised."

"Sure, but now I'm intrigued." Cash sipped his brew. "What investigation is behind the questions you asked her?"

Styles explained what had happened in Louan over the last few days. "I would like you to extend the all-points bulletin out on both men, across the state. The doctor has a young girl with him we assume is around twelve. He has an adopted daughter on paper. We're not sure if she's ever been seen. Beth will follow that part of the investigation today. We believe, if the doctor is as entrenched in the pedophile ring as we assume, he could be changing the girls at will. We believe there's a judge or judges involved and the paperwork to cover his predilection would be issued to his needs. It would be his cover story for having a young girl in the house."

"So I'm guessing he's telling everyone she's homeschooled?" Cash's mouth turned down at the corners in disgust. "No one actually gets to see her and she would never come in contact with anyone to ask for help."

Nodding, Styles placed one booted foot on his knee and leaned back in the chair. "The other guy, Shoebridge, will be under an assumed name, but most of these people moving from place to place still retain the same employment. We have a good chance of tracking him down if he takes another job in the next couple of weeks. The other thing with Shoebridge is that, according to my sister, he had a different girl frequently."

"So you want me to be on the lookout for any reports of missing children over the next couple of weeks?" Cash placed his cup on the table and let out a long sigh. "What's your take on the attack in the motel room? Do you figure it's all tied up with this pedophile ring?"

Images flashed across Styles' mind in vibrant color and he nodded. "Oh, yeah, they intended to kill us quickly and silently. It showed a complete lack of knowledge of the FBI. I guess they figured that we didn't have the chance to put in a report about Shoebridge and the doctor. They wanted to take us out before we had the chance to complete an investigation." He rubbed the scar on his chin. "What actually surprised me more than anything was the way the suspects vanished without a trace. This tells me these people have done this a hundred times before. Both Shoebridge and the doctor are two of the main players or very valued players."

"It would seem so." Cash thought for a beat, drumming his fingers on the desk. "Do you figure this is tied into the Pied Piper case?"

Recalling the hideous waste of life taken by the man they'd dubbed the Pied Piper, Styles nodded. "Yeah, he would have been a supplier. This is why he took two girls, one for himself and one for the organization. It was how he financed his life. To him it was a business arrangement." He finished his coffee. "We don't know just how wide this spreads, but I'm inclined to believe it will include a case handled by Sheriff Alton out at Black Rock Falls. Those monsters kept what they referred to as breeders. Although Sheriff Alton claims to have closed down the main players. They were getting their girls from foster care. The girls were reported as runaways. Their babies went through an adoption agency, which I assumed was investigated."

"That doesn't mean another wouldn't spring up, would it?" Cash turned his coffee cup around in his fingertips, moving the small residue around the cup. "If the organization is as big as you say and sent mercenaries to kill you, anything is possible." He rocked back in his chair. "We are three people. We have a snowflake's chance in hell of taking them down alone."

Styles stood. "We can only try, and we have the FBI hunting down the names of the girls on the DVDs. They'll isolate clues from the videos and locate them. They aren't our problem right now. Finding and destroying the pedophile ring is our objective."

The door opened and Amber walked in and stared at them, her expression etched in concern.

"What's happened?" Cash stared at her.

"A girl went missing on her way home from school out at Bison Ridge sometime after three yesterday. There's no sign of her and the townsfolk have been searching all over."

"Okay thanks." Cash took the report from her trembling fingers. He waited for her to leave and looked at Styles. "Do you figure Shoebridge is out at Bison Ridge?"

Styles shook his head. "Nope, he'd be long gone by now. I'd say he's heading for his new hideaway. He could be anywhere."

"Hmm, I'm not so sure. Like you said, Shoebridge wouldn't wait long before he took another girl." Cash gave him a long look. "I'll make sure to notify all the local counties and ask them to keep on the lookout for him and the girl. It's a big state, but if she's not found in the next twenty-four hours, we can assume Shoebridge has taken her."

Anger that another child had been taken slid over Styles like a bucket of ice water. "We'll find him."

"You should leave it to the local boys. It's way too dangerous for just the two of you. You know these organizations have the resources to hire killers to take you out. They're not going to risk exposure by attacking a complete sheriff's department. It will be subtle, like a mugging or a gas explosion—even a car wreck. That's not the type of confrontation you're used to handling." Cash frowned. "You know if you keep digging, you'll be painting targets on your backs."

After facing worse in his lifetime nothing fazed Styles, and Beth had just proved she could hold her own. He turned toward the door and glanced at him over one shoulder. "That's what I'm counting on."