Atkins looked panicked, glancing this way and that.
“Let me tell you what I think happened,” said Pine. “Mercy was running toward the road because that was her escape route. But before she could do that, she ran into you and Joe. There was a confrontation. Joe and Mercy went at it. She hit him in the head and fled. Somehow a shot was fired. Then something happened. And Joe ended up dead from a knife in his back. Then you got your stuff together and called the Atkinses. Wanda met you at the Esso station, drove you to Atlanta, and put you on a bus, and you got the hell out of Dodge. You ended up here and got yourself another slave because that’s just the sort of sick person you are.”
“You have no proof of anything that happened in Georgia.”
Pine shook her head. “You’re going to prison. It’s long overdue.”
“What if I told you your precious Mercy was killed that night?” sneered Atkins.
“You can tell me, but that doesn’t make it true. The fact is, if she was dead, you’d have had no reason to kill Joe, and if you hadn’t killed him you’d have had no reason to run, would you? Because the cops didn’t know you were holding a young woman prisoner. You’d just bury her in the woods and that would be that.”
Defeated, Atkins looked away and said nothing.
Pine stared at her for a long moment, disgust dripping from her features. Then she called the police.
CHAPTER
32
WE’VE CONTACTED GAIL’S FAMILY, Agent Pine,” said Deputy Sheriff Tate Callum. Pine and Blum were at the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office in Asheville. The battered Atkins was just down the street at the county detention center after having been arrested and formally charged.
Callum was in his late thirties, trim, with a brisk manner and blue eyes topped by close-cropped blond hair. He was heading up the North Carolina piece of Desiree Atkins’s crime spree.
“She told me that her parents overdosed and were dead.”
Callum nodded thoughtfully. “That’s true. But we found an aunt and uncle. Apparently, they were in no financial condition to take Gail in when her parents died. Now they are and they want her to come live with them. They’re coming here to get her, in fact.”
“That’s wonderful news,” said Blum.
“What about Desiree Atkins?” asked Pine. “Or Dolores Venuti, as she’s known around here.” Pine had filled in Callum on Atkins’s true identity and her being sought on suspicion of murder in Georgia.
“Fact is, once she gets a lawyer and he sees what the evidence against her is, she’ll probably do a deal. But there’s more. My deputies are at her shop right now and they’ve been reporting in what they’ve found. Kidnapping and imprisoning Gail is bad enough. But they found evidence of what looks to be a drug distribution operation in a secret room at her shop. I guess the occult business wasn’t making enough money. She’s looking at a minimum of twenty to life when all is said and done. And that doesn’t take into account the Georgia piece you told me about. I plan on calling the Georgia folks tomorrow.”
“Can we see Gail now?”
“Sure thing. If you hadn’t come along, I’m not sure what would have happened to her. I know she’s been through a lot but she’s showing some real pluck.”
Callum led them to a small office where Gail was seated and eating a sandwich and a bag of chips and drinking from a bottle of water. There was a bandage on her head from where Atkins had struck her with the gun.
Callum left them and Pine and Blum took seats opposite the girl.
“How’s your head?” asked Blum.
“It’s fine.” She smiled weakly and rubbed the spot. “Dolores has hit me lots harder than that.”
“We heard about your aunt and uncle, that’s really good news,” said Pine.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Did you have a good relationship with them?”
“They didn’t live that close to us. I suppose that’s why I went into foster care. But they have a daughter my age, Sarah. We used to get together way back.”
Pine said, “It was very brave what you did. You saved our lives.”
Gail put her sandwich down and took a drink of the water. “I couldn’t believe she was just going to abandon me like that. It made me so mad. After all I’d done for her.”
Pine and Blum exchanged a nervous glance. Blum said, “She’s not a good person, Gail. You’re far better off without her. Just put her out of your mind. She’s not worth thinking about anymore. She’s really not.”
Pine added, “You can see that, right?”
Gail looked up at her. “I just don’t want to be left alone again. It’s . . . scary.”
“You won’t be. But after what happened to you, you’re going to need some counseling.”
“Counseling?” Gail looked terrified.
“Just someone who’s trained to help people through some bad events in their lives. The person will just talk to you, Gail. And you can talk to them about . . . things. It’s only meant to help you put this awful experience behind you, and get on with your life in a positive way.”
“Oh, okay.” She munched on her sandwich, but still looked wary of the whole thing.
“And like you said, you have a cousin your age. You can grow up like sisters. It’ll be fun. Always someone to talk to and share stuff with.”
Gail looked intrigued by this possibility. “I never thought about having a sister. Do you have a sister?”
Pine said slowly, “Yes, I do. A twin sister, in fact. It’s . . . pretty cool. She was . . . she is my best friend.”
Gail smiled. “That’s pretty dope. A twin. Are you identical?”
“I . . . I, uh, think you could probably tell us apart now.”
“Okay.”
Pine handed her a card. “This is my contact information. Any time you want to, please give me a call. I mean it, okay?”
They exchanged hugs with the girl and left her there.
“Do you think she’s going to be all right?” asked Blum.
“Right this minute, there’s no way to tell. She was with Desiree only six months, so maybe the damage won’t be permanent. She’s been through a lot for someone so young. She probably just needs time to heal.”
As they walked down the corridor Blum said, “Are you okay?”
“I will be okay. If I ever find my sister.”
“And if we don’t find Mercy?”
“I’m not going to think about that possibility right now.”
“What do we do next?”
“We need to talk to Desiree again, hopefully for the last time.”
CHAPTER
33
THE DETENTION FACILITY WAS CLEAN, sleek, and modern looking, but it still had bars and secure doors to keep the bad people away from the good. Pine had learned there were more than five hundred prisoners kept here in the main facility and in a jail annex. She was only interested in one.