Chapter 4

FOUR

The drive to the Shoebridge ranch house took about ten minutes. The home sat on a decent block of land. A chicken coop was at one end, and a garden bed dug over for planting sat ready beside a garden shed. Beth glanced at Styles. "You okay?"

"I'm a little apprehensive." Styles climbed from the vehicle and straightened. "If it is her, I have a ton of questions."

Dogs barked and Bear's hackles raised as he took a position in front of them. The front door flew open, and a woman stopped in the doorway gaping at them. They'd decided to wear their FBI jackets as visiting properties uninvited could be dangerous. Beth raised her voice over the dogs. "FBI, ma'am. Could you control your dogs, please? We need a word with you."

The woman yelled at the dogs, and they slunk off around the back of the house. Beth glanced at Styles. He was wearing his shades and had his hat pulled down over his eyes. He looked intimidating but Beth could feel his anxiety. "Thank you." She moved forward. "Rene Shoebridge?"

"Yes, that's me." The woman looked from one to the other, her expression startled. "Is there something wrong?"

"Is your husband at home?" Styles moved forward.

"No, his shift started at one." Rene's brow wrinkled. "What do you need to speak to me about?"

"Can we come inside?" Styles lifted his chin. "We need to talk to you and it's freezing out here."

"I want to see some ID." Rene looked at Beth. "Just because you're wearing an FBI jacket means nothing."

Surprised by her diligence, Beth pulled out her cred pack and held it up for her to see. "Agent Beth Katz, and this is my partner." She avoided mentioning Styles' name in case it spooked her.

Beside her, Styles flicked open his cred pack displaying the FBI badge. The woman nodded and stood to one side. "Not the dog. I don't allow dogs inside the house."

"Sure." Styles walked back to the SUV and opened the back door and waved Bear inside.

Stepping inside the home, Beth took in the polished floors, kids toys everywhere, and the face of a young boy peeking out from behind a door. "Is that your son? How old is he?"

"Yeah. He's four." Rene waved a hand at the boy. "Go upstairs and play in your room while I'm talking to these folk." She waited for the boy to slowly climb the steps and then led the way into a warm kitchen. She sat down at the table. "Take a seat and tell me what this is all about."

Inside the bright kitchen, Beth got a good look at Rene Shoebridge. She appeared to be the right age and had the same coloring as Styles, light brown wavy hair, and cornflower-blue eyes. She sat at the table, leaving Styles in the doorway. She looked at the woman. "It's a delicate subject. We've been hunting down missing persons using facial recognition and you came up as a match for a girl who went missing over twenty years ago by the name of Ginny Styles." Beth noticed a flicker of recognition in the woman's eyes and placed a photo of Ginny and Dax on the table and pushed it toward her. "Ginny was out fishing with her brother, Dax, when she went missing. We assume she was abducted by a person or persons unknown." She met the woman's startled expression and pushed on. "Ginny's family and her brother have been searching for her since she went missing. We need to put their minds at rest one way or another. Are you Ginny Styles?" Seeing her resistance to talk, she leaned forward. "You've seen our credentials. You can trust us. Nothing bad will happen. We just need to know what happened to Ginny."

Beth watched as indecision crossed the woman's face. She was fighting an internal battle. Beth tried another angle to break through the resistance. "I can tell you about Dax. I just happen to know him very well." Her gaze moved over the woman's face. "You're safe. We already got the bad men. Now it's time to set Ginny free. Are you Ginny Styles?"

"Okay, yes, my name was Ginny Styles, but I didn't go missing." Ginny took the picture in her trembling hands and stared at it. "A cop in the forest told me he'd come to get me because my parents were dead. He told me his partner had got Dax." A confused expression crossed her face. "How could my parents look for me? They were all dead. All my family, every last one murdered."

Beth nodded. "I understand there was some confusion at the time. So why did you change your name?"

"The cop told me bad men wanted us dead and they'd already killed Dax." Ginny frowned. "The cop took me a long way away and cared for me. He has ever since. If you tell anyone my name, more bad men will come and kill me and my son."

Surprised by her naivety Beth tread carefully. "Nothing can happen to you. We'll protect you and your son. You have my word." She took a chance and smiled at Ginny. "There's someone here I'd like you to meet."

Behind her Styles walked into the kitchen and removed his sunglasses and hat. Beth inhaled, smelling furniture polish and cleaner. Apprehension gripped her stomach as she waited for him to speak.

"Ginny?" Styles looked at her. "It's me, Dax."

"Dax?" Rene stared at him, and her mouth hung open in disbelief. "It is you. You haven't changed a bit. I thought I'd never see you again. What happened to you?" Her gaze moved over him. "I can't believe it's you." She burst into tears.

"It's me." Styles sat down and took both her hands and stared into her eyes. "What we want to know is what happened to you. I went home, and Mom and Dad had search parties out for a week looking for you. I've been searching for you for years, and Beth found you this morning."

"Mom and Dad are alive?" Ginny dropped his hand to pull tissues from her pocket and wiped her nose.

"Dad died a year or so after you went missing, but Mom is still alive and living in the same place." Styles frowned. "Can you recall exactly what happened in the forest that day?"

"It was like I told Agent Katz. I searched for you and then I saw a cop." Ginny's mouth turned down. "He told me Mom and Dad had died and he would look after me. He said his partner had you safe, so I went with him. He wasn't a cop. Ethan is a security guard."

"Why didn't you run away and tell the cops what was happening to you?" Styles' gaze was intent on her face, but he still held her hand.

"I couldn't." Ginny dropped her eyes to the table. "Ethan kept me locked up for years because the bad men were after me too. He told me if they found us, they'd kill us both. He told me they'd killed you too."

"You went to school. We've seen the yearbook. That's how we found you." Styles examined her face frowning. "Why didn't you tell someone then what Ethan was doing to you?"

"Why? Everyone in my family was dead. I had nowhere else to go, and Ethan told me he loved me. He didn't beat me. I don't understand what he did wrong. He was protecting me from the bad men." Ginny looked confused. "When I went to school, he told me we don't discuss our private lives with anyone, and if the cops found me, they'd take me to jail. He said the cops blamed me for Mom and Dad's deaths."

"So why marry the guy?" Styles wiped a hand down his face. "He took you to his bed, Ginny. That's not acceptable behavior and it's against the law. Can't you understand he's been abusing you for years."

"No, he protected me and cared for me. You're wrong about him. He loves me." Ginny met his gaze. "I love him, Dax. He'd never hurt me."

Beth gave Styles a side-eye to pull back with the interrogation. She smiled at Ginny. "He seems to be a caring man. So what happened after the forest? Did you move around or were you here the entire time?"

"We moved around all the time, but when I left high school he told me I would be safe if I agreed to move here and tell everyone we were married. We didn't have a wedding, but I didn't mind because that was when I had Billy." She mopped at her eyes. "When he came along, Ethan said we were a real family now. Billy was a sign we were meant to be together. You see, he wasn't my first baby."

Beth stood and went to the sink and filled a glass with water and handed it to Ginny. "How many babies did you have?"

"Five." Ginny's face paled. "They died but it wasn't my fault."

"No, it wasn't. You were very young. Did Ethan tell you what happened to the babies?" Styles gripped her hand. "You can tell me, Sis."

"Okay. When the pains started, a doctor came to the cabin where we lived." Tears streamed down Ginny's cheeks. "He took my babies away and told me they'd died, but I heard them crying." She sobbed into her tissue. "Ethan said I was too young to keep a baby. He said we could move to another town and I could go to school, but I got pregnant again. We left that town and moved back to the cabin and the same thing happened."

This was Stockholm syndrome, and Beth glanced at Styles' sheet-white face. His hands trembled with anger. She looked at Ginny. "Then what happened? Did you come back here after the baby was born?"

"Not here. The doctor said I needed a break from having babies and gave me pills. I finished high school, but Ethan didn't want me to get a job. He told me we could move here if I agreed to say we were married. That's when I became Rene Shoebridge. The doctor told Ethan we needed to look like a family to keep the bad men away. Ethan told me to stop taking the pills and we had Billy. This time the doctor told me Billy was healthy. Ethan was happy, and the doctor sent a woman to show me how to care for Billy. Her name was Rose and I didn't like her." Rene rubbed at her puffy red eyes. "She only came by the one time and then I didn't see her again."

Beth nodded. "So Rose was only there to give you advice on caring for Billy?"

"Yeah, how to feed him, change his diaper, bathe him. That sort of thing. She said she visits many first mothers who have home births." Ginny frowned. "The doctor insisted she drop by to make sure I could care for Billy. I cared for him just fine. I wasn't stupid."

"The doctor sounds like a nice man." Styles' voice dropped to just above a whisper. "What's his name? I'd like to meet him."

"Dr. Paul Benson." Ginny frowned. "He doesn't live in town. I think he's out at Blackwater."

Beth nodded. "What's he like? Is he young and handsome? I've always wanted a doctor like that."

"He's about fifty, fat and bald. He's nice to me, always gentle, and sometimes lets me call him Paul." She went to a drawer and pulled out a book. "I have his number. If Ethan is at work and anything happens, or someone comes by the house, I call him. He takes care of me and the others."

"I'm sure he does." Styles rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked away as if unable to meet her gaze.

Concerned, Beth had never spoken to a woman so completely oblivious to the outside world. She leaned forward and kept her voice low. "You mentioned others? Did Ethan bring home other girls?"

"Yes. Ethan likes to help kids in trouble. He's brought home girls since I turned sixteen." Ginny's eyes flashed with anger at Styles' sharp intake of breath. "He doesn't hurt them. He loves them and cares for them. They stay for maybe six months or so and then the doctor comes by and takes them away to their new homes. I don't get to speak to them. He keeps them in the root cellar in the barn out back. He leaves food for them and takes a hot meal to them when he comes home. I always cook them a nice supper."

"What time does he finish work?" Styles glanced at his watch.

"Around nine." Ginny met his gaze. "Will you come by and meet him?"

"I sure will." Styles nodded. "Where does he work?"

"The Broken Hill Mine." Ginny smiled. "It's an important job. He guards the gemstones."

"I bet he has a ton of friends there too." Styles flicked a knowing glance at Beth. He looked back at Ginny. "I need to go check on my dog. Can you give me a hand, Beth?"

Beth stood and laid a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "We'll be right back." She hurried after Styles and had to run to catch up to him. "Hey, slow down. Getting angry won't help."

"We need to get her and Billy out of here right now." Styles was heading out of earshot. "Who is the priest who runs the Her Broken Wings Foundation in Black Rock Falls?"

Beth pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts. "Father Derry." She turned to Styles. "I'm so sorry."

"It's Ginny, but I don't know this version of her. She was so responsible, and my mom drummed into her the right and wrong of things. She'd know better than to cover for this pedophile. She'll go to jail for standing by and allowing him to abuse kids. I can't believe she can't see that it's wrong." Styles shook his head. "I'll call the priest and make the arrangements. The local sheriff here will need to take them to the shelter, and we'll need him to take charge of the prisoners when we find them. As soon as the sheriff arrives, we'll locate Shoebridge and that darn doctor. He is in this up to his neck." Styles pulled out his phone.

Beth swallowed the bile creeping up her throat. "I'll go and see what I can discover about the other girls she mentioned." She hurried back inside.

"Is Dax staying for a while?" Ginny looked toward the door. "I'd like to assure him we're safe here with Ethan."

Beth nodded. "He is very concerned about you. What can you tell me about the other girls? How often did he bring them home?"

"One would go and another would arrive soon after." Ginny shrugged. "Ethan brought Ava here a couple of weeks ago. I saw her but she was asleep when he took her out to the barn. He's been spending all his time with her because she needs him." She looked at Beth and smiled. "Isn't he just the kindest person?"

Alarmed, Beth tried to keep calm. This woman was so far gone, saving her would take years of counseling. She'd attended high school and yet was so under Ethan's control she appeared to have no concept of right and wrong. "Where is Ava now?"

"In the root cellar." Ginny picked at her nails.