Last Girls Alive (Detective Katie Scott #4) - Jennifer Chase Page 0,40
everything within your power to make sure that they’re okay—that you are all okay. But…”
Katie felt the ping of prickly energy shooting down her limbs. The mention and memory of her army team evoked so many emotions that it was difficult to process them all at once.
“The girls at Elm, we were like a team. And I was the one that was most able to take the discipline. I knew it wasn’t forever. Just like it was Candace’s place to protect us from…” She couldn’t finish. Her voice went hoarse and tears welled up in her eyes.
Katie swallowed hard, knowing what she was going to say, but she had to hear it from Tanis.
“Candace protected the rest of the girls from what?”
“From whatever he wanted… and whatever the she-beast wanted…”
“Tanis?” she said, and waited for the young woman to look at her.
Finally Tanis met her gaze.
“What did they make Candace do?”
“Awful things.”
“I know this is uncomfortable… but…”
Tanis blurted out. “They made her have sex with them. And they told her if she didn’t that they would do to us what they did to her. She protected us, just as I did from the physical abuse and so-called discipline.” She began to cry. Cisco snuggled close to console her.
It took everything inside Katie not to hug her and tell her that things would get better. But she had to remain professional and keep herself removed emotionally in order to work the investigation to the best of her ability. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do in police work.
“Tanis, are you aware that there was a body found at Elm Hill Mansion on Monday?”
“Um,” she said. “No.”
“They found a body that they thought was Candace, but it wasn’t.” Katie waited for her reaction.
Tanis took a deep breath to steady her emotions. “It wasn’t Candace?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“You said they thought it was her, but it wasn’t… I don’t understand.”
“We’ve just recently learned that Candace had a twin sister, Carol.” Katie thought there would be a reaction from Tanis, but there was none. “Tanis, did you know that Candace had a twin?”
“Yes.”
“You did?”
“That’s how Candace was able to sneak out all the time. Her sister was homeless for a lot of years and didn’t want to be put in the system and possibly lose contact with her sister.”
“So you’re saying that Candace and Carol would switch at Elm Hill and no one knew it.”
“No, not even the other girls.”
“Do you think Mrs. McDonald knew?”
“No way. Trust me, she never knew. She would have freaked and someone would have had hell to pay. Most likely, me.”
“What was Candace doing when they switched places?”
“She was setting things up for when we escaped.”
“Who did she come in contact with?”
“I’m not sure… the only name I knew was Ray. He was going to take us away from there. That’s why Carol wasn’t there. It was all planned out.”
“Did you ever see Candace or Carol again after Candace escaped?”
Tanis pulled her legs close to her body, wrapping her arms around them. “I saw her leave that night. It seems like yesterday…”
Katie felt compassion for the young frail woman and the emotional distress she was under.
“I… never… saw either of them again.”
“Tanis, this is important. Do you know who Ray was, or his last name, or anything about him that would help us?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t know. I just knew his name was Ray and he was older.”
Twenty-Two
Thursday 0715 hours
The early morning golden light had barely broken through above the hills around Pine Valley and the temperature was only just touching fifty-two degrees. It had rained overnight, leaving the trail and the forest area filled with a beautiful aroma.
Katie had been able to get to bed at a decent hour and was ready for the early morning to spend some extra bonding and training time with Cisco before work. She had already booked the time with Sergeant Hardy. Dressed in blue jeans, long-sleeved blouse, dark brown jacket, and brown boots, she prepared for the drill. She even wore her gun and badge for the exercise.
Katie knew it was as difficult for Cisco to retire from the army and just relax and be a civilian as it was for her. His days had always been filled with searching for IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and pieces of detonators. Depending upon their mission and special orders received, they searched for specific devices or did sweeps to clear buildings and key areas for other military teams. The least