“That’s a lovely place to live.” Jenna squatted by the door. “How long have you been here?”
“A long time, lots of weekends. I can’t remember how many.” Zoe wrapped filthy arms around her knees, flinching away.
Why does she measure time by the weekends? Jenna turned and did a visual search of the room. She noticed a pile of blankets on a shelf and pulled one down then passed it through the bars. “Here, wrap this around you. Deputy Kane is going to break the door and get you out.”
“Can I have a shower?” Zoe’s sunken eyes pleaded with her. “Amos didn’t let me wash. They never let me wash until they’re ready to leave.”
“They?” Jenna stared at her.
“Yes, Amos brought three of his friends here every weekend.” Her small body shuddered. “When he went out, he said he was bringing a friend home for me. He said her name was Fresh Meat.”
The girl’s measure of time slammed into Jenna like a steel pole. She stopped the overwhelming wave of disgust from reaching her expression. “Amos won’t be bothering you anymore, he’s dead.”
Kane’s footsteps sounded on the stairs and Zoe cringed, her eyes filled with terror. Jenna reached through the bars and took her hand. “It’s okay, Kane is my deputy and he’s here to help you, just like I am. We will catch the men who did this to you.” She took the bottle of water Kane handed her and gave it to the girl.
“My dad is a lawyer. He says bad men go to jail.” Keeping her brown eyes firmly on Kane, she opened the bottle and drank thirstily.
“Oh, don’t worry, they’ll go to jail. Move away from the door and I’ll get you out.” Kane’s expression turned to one of determination as he slid a crowbar between the door hinges.
The metal creaked and groaned but moments later the door clattered to the floor. Jenna offered her hand. “Come with me.”
The young girl shrank back, her eyes filled with fear. Jenna held up a hand to keep Kane away. “I think she has had her fill of men. Leave her to me. We’ll take her to the hospital. Call ahead and arrange for a female doctor, will you?” She frowned. “The dog will have to come with us too. We can drop it at the animal shelter.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kane’s brow creased into a frown. “I noticed a laptop in one of the bedrooms. I’ll bag it then do a quick search while you’re getting her ready.”
“Sure, grab what you can but Zoe is our priority.” She waited for Kane to leave then helped the girl to her feet. “I’m taking you to the hospital. The doctors will check you then you can take a shower.”
“I’m hungry. I haven’t had lunch.”
Jenna placed one arm under the girl’s arm and helped her climb the stairs. “I have energy bars in my car and orange juice. I’d rather not touch anything here.”
“I like energy bars.” Zoe seemed to brighten. “I’m glad you found me.”
“So am I.” Jenna led her into the kitchen. “Sit down for a minute and sip the water. We’ll have you out of here soon.”
“Can you feed the dog?” Zoe’s lip quivered. “Amos was watching him starve to death. He thought it was funny. I’m glad he’s dead.”
Right now, so am I. “He wasn’t a nice man, was he? We’ll feed the dog, don’t worry.” She glanced down the hallway as Kane came out of a room with a laptop, a couple of external hard drives, and a number of DVDs in a large evidence bag. “Did you find any dog food?”
“Not yet.”
Jenna frowned. “He must have something we can give the poor thing. Check the freezer.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kane stood beside Jenna, despair etched his face. “Zoe, I promise we’ll catch the men who did this to you.” He pulled open a freezer, grabbed a couple of steaks, and threw them into the microwave to defrost.
Zoe leaned into Jenna and her big eyes moved over Kane’s face as if assessing a threat. “Maybe you should just shoot them dead.”
7
With difficulty, Kane tried to force down the rage bubbling inside him. He needed to portray a calm, professional persona in front of the girl. Any show of aggression would make her even more terrified of him. He ground his back teeth so hard his jaw ached. The sight of the girl’s bruised face made his blood boil. Amos Price might be dead but three lowlife animals walked the Earth, and right now, he wanted to tear them apart with his bare hands. What kind of a man does this to a child?
He waited for the old dog to finish eating and loaded him into the back of his SUV. Jenna had Zoe wrapped up and sitting inside the vehicle munching on energy bars. He slid into the driver’s seat and noticed the way Zoe flinched at his closeness. No one ever recovered from what she had endured, and she would suffer repercussions for years. After reading so many case histories of psychopathic killers, abuse as a child was a trigger no psychologist should ignore. He glanced at Zoe. She appeared to be communicating reasonably well, which was unusual after continuous trauma. He had seen kids shut down completely and not speak for years. The ones who blocked out trauma usually crashed and burned.
“Before we leave, get Wolfe and Rowley up here to go over the place. We need to find out who else is involved and tell them we have identified the girl in the photograph.”
“Okay.”
He contacted Wolfe, brought him up to date with the investigation and arranged for him to lead up a forensics team to sweep the cabin. As Zoe had implicated other men in her ordeal, they needed evidence. If the men had left a trace of DNA, Wolfe would find it. He would work hand in hand with the doctors at the hospital and confirm the findings by using his own lab to process the results.