Lena's Happily Ever After (The Town of Pearl 3)

As the picture popped up in the right corner of the screen, Lena covered her mouth and gasped.

Ariel!

She paused the screen, absorbing the bruises and injuries to her face. The picture partially showed her neck and more bruises. The facts of the case began to pour into her mind. Stab wounds, sexual assault, murder.

She felt as if she were going to vomit as the tears hit her eyes.

Ariel was dead, murdered, and the police had no leads. Lena knew who was responsible, and the fury hit her so hard she wanted to scream or hit something. Instead she calmed her breathing. Oh my God, Sage?

She couldn’t make noise. She needed to look further. She was so worried about Sage that she began to panic. Sage was only sixteen and now on her own. She hoped that Triumph hadn’t taken her, too.

She felt the sadness begin to overwhelm her. Ariel was dead and no one even cared except for her, and she was all the way in Texas. If the police couldn’t identify her, then what?

Lena pulled up the article again. She grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote down the number for the police department and precinct plus the detective involved. She needed to know what would happen to Ariel if she wasn’t identified.

She logged off the computer and walked down the hall to the pay phone. There was a door for privacy. With shaky hands, she dialed the number. She asked for the detective involved, and they connected her to the gang unit. Could they already think that a gang committed the murder?

“Detroit Police Department, Detective Reynolds speaking.”

“I’m calling to inquire about the young woman found murdered.”

“Which woman would that be, ma’am?”

Lena swallowed hard, of course there would be more than one woman murdered in the city of Detroit. She had to be more specific.

“The one found in the Dumpster on the twentieth.”

“Oh, the Jane Doe?”

“Yes.”

“Who is this?” he asked.

“I just want to know what will happen if she isn’t identified? Will you still find her killer?”

“Honey, if you have information on this young woman, you need to come down to the department and speak with me.”

“No. I just want to know what will happen. What is the procedure?”

“Well, unfortunately if she’s not identified, her case will be put aside. We have bodies popping up left and right around here with people whose names and place of residence we can identify and locate. We don’t have the manpower to initiate all the protocol necessary to search for this woman’s identity. So, if you know who she is, it would be great if you could tell me so I can put the individual responsible behind bars.”

“Ariel Burres,” Lena stated then hung up the phone.

She opened the door and took a deep breath. Very quietly, she exited the library, hopped on her bike, and began to ride. As her mind thought about what just happened and what she read, the tears began to stream down her face. Soon she couldn’t see. She thought about Kenny and how upset he was thinking about the woman and how easily that could have been Lena. It could have been her. She could be dead instead of out here in Texas in love with four amazing men.

Poor Sage, she must be scared out of her mind.

Lena couldn’t ride her bike anymore. She got off and began to walk toward the back of the buildings and toward the fields and a sitting area way up on the hill. She made her way there, grateful that no one was around. She laid her bike down and stared out at the wild flowers.

It was already getting late, the sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning gray. A storm was brewing. A cool breeze caressed her shoulder and blew her hair back behind her. She lifted her chin toward the breeze as she thought about her life.

If she had stayed in Detroit, perhaps Ariel would be alive. If she had stayed in Detroit, Triumph would have raped her and maybe even killed her by now. She shivered as she remembered his attack before she escaped. The tears rolled down her cheeks as sadness overwhelmed her.

* * * *

It was getting dark and Lena had not returned from town. The rain began to fall, and Bryant was concerned. He called Kenny again.

“There’s still no sign of her anywhere. Blake and Quinn are looking and so are Wyatt, Kyle, and the other ranch hands. She was last seen in town around five o’clock in the library.”