“I can’t. They’ll hurt him.”
“No, they won’t. We won’t give them a chance to.”
Through her tears, the look Beth gave her could only be described as one of pity. “You have no idea how powerful these people are or how far their reach goes.”
“And you do?”
“I have an idea—probably just an inkling.” A pause. “They were going to sell them,” Beth said, her voice so low Chloe almost couldn’t hear it.
“Them?”
“The girls in the cages. The ones who were in the back of the trailer.” Her eyes widened. “There are others still at the house.”
“Where were they going to sell them and when?”
“At the auction. I’m not sure when it was supposed to take place. In the next couple of days, I think. That’s where we were going when the wreck happened.”
All senses on alert, Chloe took note. “Do you know where the auction was to take place?”
“Um . . . I don’t know. I just overheard them talking about it. Somewhere here in Columbia, though, I think. They said the trip wouldn’t take long, but they could have been lying.” Her eyes welled again. She dabbed them with a tissue. “I heard them mention a senator and making sure they had a girl that fit his tastes.”
Chloe grimaced.
“They take precautions with masks,” Beth said, “but they’re pretty much unconcerned about being stopped.” Tears squeezed from under her lids. “My dad’s a cop. If anyone can protect himself, it’s him, and I still don’t want to tell you who he is because if I do, they’ll know and they’ll kill him.”
A cop? Chloe mentally reviewed the news. She hadn’t heard of an officer’s daughter being reported missing.
Chloe passed Beth several tissues. “What else can you tell me, hon?”
“They held a gun to my head and took my picture,” Beth said. She swiped the moisture from her cheeks.
“Did they say why?”
“No. Sometimes they talked freely, other times they just did what they needed to do and left without saying a word. But this time, Carson came and got me. He shoved me into a room and Manny was there. Carson put the gun to my head while Manny snapped a picture with his phone.” Her frown deepened. “He didn’t do that to the other girls. I asked.”
“I don’t know. I’d say that’s not typical. Unless it was an intimidation tactic to convince you that they’re serious.” Or to post on the internet so potential buyers could take a look. But the gun nixed that idea. They might make her pose, but why hold a gun to her head?
She huffed. “Well, it worked. Scared me to death.” A pause. “Something else that’s weird. They gave me my insulin. The prescription was correct and everything. And they made sure I checked my sugar levels whenever I needed to with the PDM. And I ate well. They had healthy foods ready for me.” Her fingers curled into fists and Chloe watched her consciously relax them. “They were prepared. They planned this way ahead of time.”
“It sure sounds like it.” She squeezed the girl’s fingers.
“They had a doctor there. He examined each girl and then gave certificates to the man who was going to sell them. Certificates for the, uh, untouched ones, if you know what I mean.”
Chloe kept her grip from tightening on Beth’s fingers through sheer will. “I know what you mean.” Untouched, pure. Virgins. Ones who would bring more money than the more experienced girls.
Beth’s brows dipped. “They treated them like prize cows or something—complete with that stupid certificate. They weren’t human to them. They were . . . inventory. How can people do that?”
They? Chloe wondered. She didn’t include herself in the group? Was there some psychological reason for that? Denial? Her way of processing and coping?
Beth finally looked up and met Chloe’s gaze. “I know about human trafficking. I’ve heard the warnings, I’ve seen the ads on television.” A harsh laugh escaped her. “But . . .”
“Yeah.” Nothing could prepare someone for what she’d just gone through. Chloe swallowed against the nausea that threatened. “Did they drug you? Get you hooked?” Beth showed no signs of it, but some traffickers were known to get their victims addicted to drugs to keep them in line. And coming back for more.
“No, not me. They threatened to. Said if we gave them any trouble, they’d shoot us up. Carson carried a syringe full of heroin and he flashed it a lot. Almost no one gave them any trouble except one girl. Katherine. She fought back.” She swallowed. “Actually, I think she just mentally snapped or something. She was completely hysterical and screaming at the top of her lungs.”
“What happened?”
“They stuck a needle in her arm and she passed out. When she woke up, they did it again. And again. It was definitely heroin.”
“She was a lesson to the rest of you.”
“A very effective one. Pretty soon, she was begging them for it.” Beth’s eyes flooded with tears again and she sniffed. “No one else misbehaved. Including me.” The girl dabbed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “I didn’t fight. I just did what they said.”
Now, she was including herself. There was something odd about the phrasing of her story, but Chloe couldn’t put her finger on it.
“You did the right thing.”
Beth shrugged.
“They wanted you—the girls—clean,” Chloe murmured.
“They said their buyers were picky.”
Picky. That was one way to put it, she supposed.
Another wave of nausea swept over Chloe and she shut her eyes for a moment. Keep your emotions out of it, remember?
The nurse came in and Beth fell silent. Once she checked Beth’s blood sugar with the new PDM, she gave Beth supplies to change her pod, tossed the old one, and turned to leave.
“Could I have an extra one?” Beth asked.
The nurse raised a brow. “Why?”
“I just . . . I don’t know. I just want one. Please? I ran out one time and it’s not an experience I care to repeat. Now, I always carry a spare. Or two.”
Chloe met the nurse’s eyes and nodded, doing her best to encourage the woman to agree. Compassion darkened her gaze. “Sure. I’ll get the doctor to order you an extra one.” She winked. “Or two.”
Beth relaxed a fraction. “Thanks.”
Once the nurse was gone, Beth turned back to Chloe. “They had cameras everywhere and they were always listening. At least it seemed that way. We managed a few whispers here and there, but conversations didn’t happen often.”
“Was Katherine in the truck with you? Is she here at the hospital?”
“No. They kept her with Lindsey and some others back at the house. I don’t know why. I think it was because there wasn’t enough room in the truck—or they were saving them for the next auction.”
Chloe touched her hand. “You’re very brave.”
She grimaced. “No, I’m very scared. And I want to know about Skye. Why won’t anyone come tell me anything?” Agitated, she started to pace the small area.
“Want me to see what I can find out?”
Beth’s eyes met hers. Gratitude filled them. “Thanks. That would be great.”
Chloe stepped out of the room and found Eve at the nurses’ station. “Eve, could we get an update on the girl who came in with the pneumothorax and high fever? Her first name is Skye. That’s all I know.”
“I can’t tell you much, you know that.”
Chloe sighed. “These girls came in together. Rescued from a human trafficking ring. She’s desperate to know about her friend.”
Eve flinched. “Poor thing. All right.” She consulted her computer. “I’ll just say that she’s out of surgery and in recovery.”
“So, she’ll be all right?”
“Looks like it.”
“I’ll pass this bit of encouragement on. Thanks.” She ducked back into the room to find Beth pacing from one end to the other. “It looks like Skye’s going to be all right.”
The girl’s shoulders dropped, her relief palpable. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Chloe held out her phone. “Now, call your dad, okay?”
Beth didn’t respond.
“Beth?”