I push the warped door hard to force it open, swipe a few cobwebs away, and duck to get through the low threshold. It's cold and empty inside. I didn’t expect anything different, but I still feel my shoulders droop in disappointment. It may be what I was expecting, but still, I had hoped she would be here, or that there would be some indication that she had been.
Now I'm not sure what to do, or where to start looking for her.
As I turn to hike back out to my truck, I see it. Tucked in the corner of the narrow bunk against the wall, almost hidden behind a pile of old moth-eaten blankets, is a flash of pink fabric. It's dim and dusty, and so out of place that I rush over and snatch it up.
Holding it in my hands, I stare at it, my heart in my throat, tears burning my eyes. I would know this anywhere. It's a little stuffed unicorn. I know it’s Faye's because I won it for her at a school festival right before I graduated.
She was here!
Obviously quite a while ago, but she made it this far. That means she has to be close. We had a plan, and I’m sure that she moved forward with it.
The real question is, where the fuck is she NOW?
Faye
It’s my birthday. Nothing has changed in my world. I’m still hiding, still looking over my shoulder. I don't know if I need to or not, but I'm afraid to do anything official in my real name and I’m even afraid to find out if anyone is still looking for me.
I bought an old pickup when I got to Spokane years ago. I found a homeless guy who was willing, for a little cash, to play the part of my dad while I bought a beater at a dumpy used car lot. I gave him $200 and he was happy with the deal. Since it still runs, I'm pretty happy too.
The past few years have really sucked. I stayed at the cabin as long as I could. It took about six weeks before I realized it could be a long time before Travis came for me, and that meant I had to figure it out for myself.
I couldn’t just live alone in the woods. If the winter didn’t kill me, I would probably go crazy.
I started out by going to Coeur D’Alene and finding a cot in a women's shelter. That kept me going through the winter, and they even helped me find a job waitressing and get my GED, even if it wasn’t in my real name. I learned a lot about blending in and disappearing from watching the women who came and went.
After almost a year I noticed one of the local sheriff's deputies showing up a lot at the diner I worked at. He was always trying to talk to me. Looking back, I realize he wasn’t that much older than me and probably wanted to ask me on a date or something. Not that I would have gone out with him. It scared me, though, so I apologized to my boss one evening, loaded up my meager belongings at the shelter, and headed to Spokane. Once there, I found a job. Thanks to the money I had been able to save, I was able to afford a tiny apartment over an automotive shop. No more shelter for me.
After that first year, I gave up hope that Travis would find me.
I was too scared to write him again. Afraid that somehow it would lead someone looking for me to my doorstep, or even worse, lead danger to him. So I tucked my memories of him away, just like his letters and photos, and I focused on saving myself.
I’ve proven I can do it. If, in my quietest, loneliest moments I wish to see his face again, to let him keep me safe, no one but me will know. It’s my one weakness, this hope that somehow Travis will find me. But in the light of every new day, I pack that dream away and get back to the business of surviving, even if I’m not thriving.
Chapter One
Present Day
Travis
I wake up in darkness, heart racing, like I do every day. I've been back in the real world for years, but I still can't shake the dreams of sand and heat and death. Or worse, dreams of Faye. She haunts me. Leaving her behind that day, all those years ago, has never left me. I’ve carried the small girl she was with me every day since I left. My promise to come back for her ringing in my memories. I should have gone back to New York to see her every time I made it stateside. I regret every opportunity I had and didn’t do something to force Brad to let me see her. Didn’t want to see her sad face when I had to leave again. It was easier not to push. I was selfish and I know it.
I’ve searched for her. I’ve never stopped. Hell, after my discharge from the Marines I spent six straight months going to every town and city within fifty miles of the cabin looking for her. Didn’t matter how big or small. When it became apparent I wasn't going to find her that way, I started a security and private investigations company wi
th my buddy Blake so I would have the resources to find her and support myself while I was doing it.
Our business has done well and now I have connections with every law enforcement agency nearby. They all know that I’m looking for her and I have been called in to look at dozens of photos of young women fitting Faye’s description who have been arrested or worse. It’s the ‘or worse’ cases that really dig into my heart.
Blake hasn’t been able to find any trace of her in his weekly internet searches either. I know she is out there somewhere. I can’t explain it, but I can feel her somehow. I just don’t know where to look.
The only lead I ever had was the cabin, and that ship has sailed. Something has to give or I won't ever find her.
After my return from Afghanistan, I was able to discover the home invasion that killed my uncle and Faye's mom was not what it had been portrayed as. I graduated high school with a couple of guys who are now on the local police force. They were willing to talk to me over a few beers one night. Off the record, of course.
It was a mafia hit.
The cops knew it. They had since day one. I had figured that Brad was mixed up in some kind of shit, but I didn’t ever suspect that he was working for the mob. The police believe he knew things that made him expendable when an FBI investigation started getting too close. Claire was either collateral damage, or she knew too much, and she paid the price for Brad’s bad business.
The most disturbing thing was that the police hadn’t seemed to know anything about Faye. She was just missing and considered a person of interest to the them.