AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you for the advice,” he said with genuine appreciation in his tone. “My wife died a year ago.”
Reese’s heart nearly cracked in half at hearing him talk about the mother of his children to Virginia.
“I’m on this road by myself,” he said. “It’s nice to get a female perspective, and from someone who has a lot of experience.”
Virginia clutched the center of her chest. “Dear boy. I remember you being a handful in your youth.” She looked at him with such appreciation. “Look how you’ve grown into an amazing person. Your girls are lucky to have you. And don’t you think for a second you’re not going to be enough.”
Darren nodded. “Thank you.”
Virginia sucked in a breath. “I just remembered something. The sheriff never took me seriously because I believed my daughter ran away for a long time, but then I remembered two people had interactions with her that, looking back, made me think twice.”
“Who were they?” Reese asked, leaning into her elbows that were already on the edge of the table.
“Phillip Rhodes and...” She snapped her fingers but Reese’s body tensed at the mention of that name.
DARRENWITNESSEDAchange in Reese. It was almost as though her muscles coiled. He made a mental note to ask her about it in the SUV on the way back because her lips pressed together like they were locked.
“And the Archer boy,” Virginia continued. “What was his first name?”
“They have three boys in that family. All close in age,” Darren said as Reese seemed to have suddenly gone mute. “Andrew, Alexander or Aiden?”
“Aiden,” Virginia confirmed. “Aiden Archer.”
“What made you suspicious of these two?” Darren asked.
“Phillip Rhodes was a summer camp counselor at the Camp Needles,” Virginia said. “He seemed to take an extra interest in Camree Lynn when he was here, but he always got nervous if he saw me.”
Darren didn’t put a lot of stock into the comment. “That could be any teenager around a girl’s mom, especially one he likes.”
Virginia nodded. “That’s true, but I would see him stand close to her with his back turned to me. Later, I found out he wasn’t a teenager even though he looked like one. He was twenty-four at the time of her disappearance.”
“Did the law list him as someone she might have run off with?” Darren asked.
“I’m not sure if you remember but the camp closed the next year, so he never came back. The sheriff dismissed my concern. Said there was no evidence linking Rhodes to Camree Lynn because no crime had been committed.”
“She was fifteen at the time she went missing,” Darren said.
Virginia’s lips thinned. “The sheriff said fifteen was the most common age for runaways. He said she’d be back once she realized how hard life was. Said she’d most likely return home on her own accord by month’s end.”
Darren took in a deep breath to calm his rising anger. It was impossible not to imagine this happening to one of his daughters and the lengths to which he would have gone to locate her and bring her home. No judgment on Virginia, but he wouldn’t have been able to sleep until his daughters were tucked into their own beds again.
“When she didn’t come back, did he have an excuse?” Darren asked.
“He’d already tried to track her cell phone,” she said. “Couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary on the call logs that ended the day before she left.”
The lawman had mishandled the case from day one. He’d read somewhere that the first twenty-four hours were the most critical in an investigation. After twenty-four hours, trails went cold. Probably less than that when it came to children and stranger abductions.
“The person who abducted her could have made sure there would have been no way to track them,” he countered, realizing he was preaching to the choir when Virginia nodded.
There was something to be said for a mother’s intuition. He made a mental note of the two names Virginia had supplied. The first one would be difficult to track and he had no idea what Aiden was up to now. Darren didn’t keep up with folks in his own grade, let alone kids who were two years older.
Virginia bit back a yawn. Her red-rimmed eyes looked like they were trying to close on her. Dredging up the past had to be awful for her. His heart went out to Camree’s mother.
“Is there anything else you remember about that time?” he asked, figuring they’d learned enough for one evening. Besides, he wanted to get Reese home and to bed. She’d been through more than anyone should have to endure and needed sleep.
“Just those two names stick out in my mind,” she said on a shrug. “As far as the other one goes, Aiden Archer, I didn’t like the way he was always watching her when he was around. I asked if he ever tried to speak to her and she said he gave her the creeps. She brushed him off.” She stopped and took in a deep breath. “What I wouldn’t give to go back and do things differently with Camree Lynn. Hug her more. Tell her how much I love her.” More tears streamed down Virginia’s cheeks. She apologized as she wiped them away. “I certainly would have gone back and talked to those men once I suspected she didn’t run away.”
“No need to be sorry,” he said to her as he stood up.
