Quita Wheeler: OMG! @Tyesha816 I’m crying for you. This is horrible!
CousinPete: Did this little girl really get taken? Or is this SPAM?
VVS Vernon: I hate seeing shit like this. Whoever took her needs to be shot in the streets like the old days.
Rita RealSpit Gibson: I just inboxed you a number to a private detective if the KCPD won’t help. I’m praying for you as well.
Joanne Dunley: All my love and prayers are going out to you and Kylie tonight
I kept reading, looking for whatever it was that Gideon wanted me to see. But all I was seeing was a whole bunch of posts from people wishing me and Kylie well. The posts, though, seemed to revitalize my energy. I felt a stronger sense of hope knowing I had so many people—some of which I never met—in my corner.
Finally, I asked Gideon what he was talking about. He took the phone back and scrolled back up to where I started. There was a comment I didn’t see, right above God’s Angel’s post, and he showed it to me.
Ladykiller: You’ll find her soon
It floored me. I read the four words over and over, trying to interpret the meaning. Was he saying he was going to give her back? Would she still be alive?
I told Gideon I was going to show the comment to the detective.
“Okay,” he said. “But bring my phone back when you’re done. I have to make a run. Let Rodrick know too. If yall need anything, just call.”
Quickly, I reached in and gave him a hug. “Be safe,” I said.
“I will, Tyesha.”
I kissed him on the cheek.
Then I paced back over to the side of the building, where the detective was explaining to Rodrick what he could do through social media to help expedite the return of our daughter.
Rosan stopped mid-sentence when he saw the urgency in my eyes.
“What is it?” Rosan asked.
“Ladykiller just responded to my status update. Look at it.”
He read the screen and said, “Can you respond back to him?”
“Yeah. What am I supposed to say?”
“Ask him what he wants. Then try to get him to meet you somewhere. Kidnappers usually want a ransom. But in your case, it seems like he’s more infatuated with you as a woman than anything else. He’s a stalker, so he might not want money. He might want to trade you for her. Let’s find out.”
I used my own phone to go to Ladykiller’s page. I clicked on the message icon so anything I posted would be private between me and him. My first post was a question asking him what he wanted from me. It took him exactly six minutes to respond.
Tyesha816: What do you want from me?
Ladykiller: I want you to have your daughter back.
Tyesha816: How do I get her back?
Ladykiller: Keep looking. Don’t give up.
Tyesha816: Look where?!
Ladykiller: I don’t know. But I’ll help you.
I turned to the detective. I was frustrated with the conversation already. “He’s playing games with me,” I cried. “He’s not gonna give her back!”
“Yes, he will,” the detective assured me. “If he wants you to play a game, then we have to play. The ball is in his court right now. It looks like he’s gonna give you clues. Ask him can you meet him somewhere for the first clue. If he’s as obsessed with you as it seems, he won’t turn down a chance to see you again face to face.”
Looking down at my phone, I started tapping letters with my thumb.
Tyesha816: Okay, I need your help.
Ladykiller: Let me know what you need me to do.
Tyesha816: Can you meet me somewhere?
Ladykiller: Name the place.
CHAPTER 14
I sat on a bench at the Crown Center Square Fountain on Grand Boulevard, a line of shade trees behind me nearly hiding me in darkness. I stared at the water spouting out of the fountains in front of me and felt angry tears welling up in my eyes. This is where I took Kylie on her third birthday. She had played in this very Square with one of her cousins of the same age, screaming with sheer joy whenever she got splashed.
Kylie always loved the water.
I tried my hardest to blink back the tears and stay focused.
The boulevard was deserted. Just me… sort of. There was a staircase to my right leading up to a row of manicured bushes, where Detective Rosan promised me there’d be two cops hiding in wait. Maybe fifty yards in front of me, on top of the Halls building, there was a railing protecting the roof’s edge where a sniper was supposed to be positioned, but I didn’t see him. I hoped he was there. And if he was, would he be able to get a good shot through the trees?
I turned quickly when I caught sight of a man walking casually down the sidewalk. Tonight’s half moonlight wasn’t enough to get a good look at him, but I could see he had on a backpack.
I was startled by my own phone when it buzzed in my hand. I had a text message.
Detective Rosan: Is it him?
I couldn’t tell yet. But as the unknown man drew near, I suddenly realized that he was closer to me than any of the officers in hiding. This man could beat me to a pulp before they cleared the stairs.
The sniper, I reminded myself, taking deep breaths. The sniper will get him.
My thumb instinctively hovered over the “y” on my phone’s keypad. But when the man with the backpack got close enough for me to see his face, my thumb went down to the “n” and I typed in “no.” The man was old with a dirty white beard. Probably just a homeless wanderer.
A Metro bus thundered down the boulevard then, its headlights and MAX route display waking up the darkness. I had forgotten how loud and scary buses were at night time. It stopped across the street from me, and a couple seconds later it was drudging off again.
And suddenly there was a man standing on the bus stop. No, not standing anymore but running across the street towards me!
I typed in “yes” and hit send as quick as I could. This was Ladykiller racing up to me, tall and slender. I could see the whites of his eyes now as he cleared the curb.
The plan was to sit and talk with Ladykiller for a moment to make sure he was really who he was. Detective Rosan hoped I could even get him to admit that he kidnapped my daughter, and then they would come storming out of hiding with their machine guns out.
Fuck that!
I got up and started running in the opposite direction. I was scared out of my mind.
“Tyesha!” Ladykiller called after me.
I pumped my legs so fast I almost lost my balance. Stupidly, I looked back, my long hair flipping over my shoulder—and I saw Ladykiller gaining on me.
“Tyesha, stop! Come back!”
That’s when I heard the first shot. Ladykiller shooting at me or the sniper shooting at him, I didn’t know. But I was still on my feet. Then I did another stupid thing—I looked back again, I couldn’t help it. Ladykiller was still on his feet too, and a lot closer than before.
As I climbed the stairway, panting as hard as I ever had before in my life, I saw the two officers hustling down with their guns in their hands. I passed them and ran behind the bushes, hunkering down out of sight and not caring about the stench of those officers’ cigarette butts.
“Freeze! Get on the ground!”
I didn’t look. I stayed crouched.
“I said freeze!”
“I didn’t do anything,” I heard Ladykiller say. “What did I do?”