It was while leaving the rest stop just above the little town of Cottage Grove that Claire had an idea that she thought just might work. She’d say she was a private investigator hired by an attorney to locate the two people who assisted with a multi-car accident on I-5. The victims and their families had put together a reward of $10,000, to split between the two. She wouldn’t even show the picture, she’d explain how she traced the license plate of the Dodge and had only a description of a tall, slightly balding man and a woman with long blonde hair. Claire ran the scenario over and over, even practicing what she’d say. When she reached Denton, she gassed up and drove a couple blocks without finding her turn off, then pulled into the parking lot of the Book Nook and asked for directions to Pericolo Lane.
The occasional house or mailbox became more and more infrequent as she drove on, until she hadn’t seen a house in twenty minutes. She was beginning to think that she had gone too far until she came to a hairpin curve and passed a steel reinforced mailbox with the correct address. A fifteen-foot high iron gate blocked the paved driveway. Attached on either side of the driveway were twenty-foot high stone pillars.
She parked a foot or two from the gate, got out and gave the iron bars a shake.
“Wow this is really made to keep people out,” Claire said, to no one in particular.
To the left and right of the pillars, barbed wire fencing lead off into the woods. Imbedded in one of the pillars was a speaker with a keypad.
Claire pressed the button marked “intercom.” “Hello, I need to speak to the owner of a black and red Dodge Caravan.”
The speaker crackled as a tinny sounding voice responded. “State your name and business.”
“My name is Claire Anderson and I’m a private investigator authorized to give the owner of the black and red Dodge Caravan a reward of ten thousand dollars.”
There was no immediate response and Claire was beginning to wonder if the speaker worked. When the tinny sounding voice caught her by surprise, she could feel her pulse pound in her ears.
“I’m sorry the owner of the Dodge isn’t here at this time.”
“Could I pass through? I just need to find out who the owner is.”
This time the response was immediate.
“Just mail the check to this address.”
Claire jabbed at the button. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I have to deliver the check in person.”
The reply wasn’t so congenial this time. “Then you’re out of luck.”
She tried several different approaches but the person at the other end either wasn’t responding or wasn’t there. She got into her car and drove slowly along Pericolo Lane until she found a break in the barbed wire.
She started to wonder if the young woman who asked Rye for help was being held against her will. She hadn’t really expected an open invitation to come inside, but it was obvious that these people had something to hide—and it wasn’t just pornography.
Pulling onto the shoulder of the road, she left a note under the windshield wiper—Won’t start, caught a ride into town.
Reaching behind the seat, Claire grabbed her butt pack and pulled on a down vest. Checking up and down the road, she quickly made her way down the little slope that led to the barbed wire fence where the top two strands had come undone from one of the fence posts. High stepping, Claire leapt over the fence and into the forest, quickly moving out of sight from the road. She made her way in the direction of the driveway, figuring that she’d need to come up on the house from behind. She’d been jogging for nearly twenty minutes, finally stopping to catch her breath. Bent over with her hands on her knees she looked up and began scanning the woods for a house. Spotting the driveway, she figured if she just stayed parallel to it, she’d eventually run into one.
After another half hour of hopping over fallen trees and branches, she spotted what she was looking for.
Walking now, she began to circle around behind the block building until she was directly behind it. She duck walked out of the woods up to a large boulder just twenty feet from the rear door, and peaked around the edge. “What the hell?”
Rocking back off her heels onto her butt, her back against the moss-covered boulder, she tried to figure out what she had just seen. The only door looked solid, the top was chicken wire and the bottom half was reinforced with metal. The door handle was a simple pull, no doorknob.
This could be the door to any clinic in the country, Claire thought. “What kind of house is this?” she said softly.
There were no windows facing the boulder except the one in the door. Taking a deep breath, Claire sprinted to the back of the house, pressing herself against the wall of the building next to the door. Her blood raced as the adrenalin surged. Taking another deep breath and holding it, she peeked in through the bottom corner of the window. She looked down at what could have been a hospital corridor, complete with crash cart and two gurneys sitting in the hall. Not seeing anyone, she took a minute to scope out the hall, but couldn’t see much beyond the first room.
“OK, Claire, you can do this.”
She took several deep breaths through her nose to help calm down, the way she did before a sparing match at the dojo. Gently, very gently, she reached up and tugged at the door handle. To her surprise, the heavy door opened easily. In one quick move she slipped into the hall and stepped into the first room she came to.
She did a quick scan, checking out what appeared to be an exam room. “Holy shit!” she cried out louder than she meant to.
There, sitting on an exam table, dressed in loose fitting scrubs, was the blonde from the porn tape. Claire checked the hall, still empty. She closed the door and turned out the light.
“Hi, hello?” Claire whispered.
She immediately recognized that the young woman was mildly sedated. She sat on the exam table tottering, as though about to fall forward, eyes glazed. In twenty years as an emergency room nurse and EMT, Claire had seen people in this state of sedation hundreds of times; usually she had put them there.
She climbed onto the exam table next to the young woman, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from falling.
“My name’s Claire. Crystal?”
She leaned forward putting her ear in front of the woman’s lips.
“Mu eve.”
“Mary, is that your name? I thought it was Crystal.”
The young woman’s brow furrowed and she pursed her lips to speak.
“Hep!”
Each time the young woman spoke she rocked forward against Claire’s steadying hand.
“Helen? Is that your name? Can I help you, Helen?”
Suddenly the young woman turned to face Claire, her eyes focused, her speech clearing a bit.
“Must leave now.”
As though someone had flipped a switch, the young woman slumped forward, her eyes once again glazed over.
“That’s all I needed to hear. C’mon honey, let’s get out of here.”
She placed a hand on the woman’s chest and in the small of her back to help her slide off the exam table. Crystal wasn’t steady, but was willing. Claire led her to the door and checked the hall.
“Get ready. On the count of three we’re going to run out the door.”
She knew that providing a mildly sedated patient advance notice allowed them time to adjust. On three, the two women stepped into the hall. She figured Crystal was stable enough that she could be pulled along. Claire was just at the back door when she stopped short at the slamming of a door at the opposite end of the building.