Chapter 3

Justin mulled everything, read every single note, every interview the chief himself had conducted. Not much of a struggle, no sounds, no one seemed to know anything. The only thing he could do was go to the wooded area and begin his own search.

“Mind if I keep these?”

“Sure, no problem.” The chief waved his hand.

Justin headed out of the office with the folders and headed to Clay and Iris. They looked like they hadn’t slept at all since Marnie went missing. He couldn’t blame them, but they needed to rest to welcome Marnie back home when he brought her back.

Gray eyes locked with Clay’s brown eyes, “Come on, let’s get you guys home, I’m going to need some supplies to get ready for my search.”

“I’m so worried about her, Justin.”

“I know, I’ll find her, I promise.” He didn’t know how he could make a promise like that, but he just did, and he’d do everything in his power to deliver.

As they headed out to their vehicle Justin pulled out his phone, eight a.m. Yeah, he needed to make a phone call. He scrolled to his partner's name, and pressed call. The line rung twice before he answered.

"Justin? Where are you?" Ben Tambird demanded.

"It's a long story, I have to keep it short though, I'm in Ohio, Iris called me this morning, Marnie is missing." Justin paused for a moment, knowing he was about to be interrupted anyways.

"Why didn't you call me this morning? I would have gone with you, are you going to need any help? I can be on the next flight."

"Slow down, Ben, look I want to look into this myself for a couple of days, if that, but dude, there are four other girls missing besides Marnie, this is going to take a lot of work and if I need help you know I will call you and Cierra, but I need you to go to the airport there and grab my bike, take it home for me, if things get to the point I can't handle them I will call you right away."

Nothing but silence met Justin's ear from the other side of the phone for a minute, then came the sigh. "Fine, but the minute you need help we will be there, I'll go get your bike and keep working on the cases here, don't hesitate to call us, Justin."

"I won't, you know I won't, I'll be in touch." Justin ended the call then got into Iris's car and headed back to their house. he had to figure out how to keep the two of them a little busy while he worked on some things and began his search for their daughter.

They pulled up into the driveway, and Justin made his way over to his bike just as his phone began to ring. He pulled it from his belt, “Yeah, Holly?”

“Justin, oh my gosh I was so worried about you when you didn’t come in today, where are you?” Holly’s gentle voice asked.

He rolled his eyes, he should have brought someone else with him from the station. A man would have been better, they wouldn’t have been overly worried, and he wasn’t even sure what Holly brought to the table to their little group, “I’m going to be gone for a couple of days at the least, my niece is missing, I’ve got to find her.”

“We’re not busy here, I could come help.”

Justin rolled his eyes again. He was surprised they weren’t permanently skyward because of how often this annoying woman made him roll his eyes, “No, I’ve got it, for now, just stay there.” He didn’t know how much more obvious he could be. She was interested in him; he was not interested in her.

“Are you sure? I’m bored here, Justin, please?” she begged.

He could imagine her sitting at her metal desk, puckering out her bottom lip, batting those eyelashes over her green eyes, and twirling one of her slender fingers around her straight red hair, “Whatever, Holly, just let Ben know.”

“Really?” she practically squealed.

“Doesn’t mean anything, I’ve got to go, bye.” He hung up and jumped on his rental bike and made it rumble to life. He went to the camping store in town to get all the supplies he would need.

Once he gathered everything, he threw the backpack onto his back and headed to the area they believed the SUV had been lost. When he pulled up to the woods, he was taken aback. He never expected it to be as thick as it was.

He grumbled as he cut the engine and steered the bike a little way off the road and hid it hopefully well enough that no one would spot it. He began the trek through the thick woods.

She sat there a while longer and still hadn’t heard the door lock of her prison. Had Burly been that upset that he forgot? She slowly made her way to the door and pushed. It opened quietly. Could she escape? She swallowed the barely there salivia.

She opened the door enough to slip out and pushed it shut. The floor was ice cold against her bare feet. It was quiet. She knew what was to the right, stairs, but she couldn’t escape that way. She went left, and she froze when she heard a sob.

“Hello?” she called out softly.

“Help, get us out too, all of us, there are at least six of us.” the voice whispered behind a metal door like her own.

She stepped closer, “I’m one of them. They forgot to lock my door, who are you?”

“Marnie Benson, please."

She looked around the area, the darkness enveloped everything so much she couldn't make much out. "I don't see any keys to unlock any of the doors, I could try to go upstairs and find them."

"No, don't you might get caught, just try to get out for now, please, get help, go to the police station in town, tell them to find a Justin Mathers when you’re out, he’s my uncle, in Oklahoma City, he’s also a cop, he’ll know what to do, please?”

“I’ll try, Marnie, I have to get out of here first.”

“Which one are you?” Marnie asked.

“The one who bit the lanky man when he touched me, I don’t know which way to go, I don’t even know who I am.”

“Okay, listen to me,” her voice sounded calm but worried at the same time. “Go down the hallway, there’s a window I seen it when that burly guy made me change into these god awful clothes he likes, it looked like it would open out, it swings, go that way from the window, you’ll come to a road, eventually, please hurry,” Marnie begged her.

“I’ll go as fast as I can, thank you, Marnie, and I wish I could take you all right now.”

“It’s okay, when you get to that road, flag down a car, and tell them to take you to the station here, and tell them to get a Justin Mathers, from Oklahoma, please remember that name and city.”

“Justin Mathers and Oklahoma, right, okay.” She ran down the hall and found the window Marnie mentioned. She got it unlocked and began to slip out just as the loud voice shouted.

“No, One six nine get back here!” It was Burly’s voice. She was in so much trouble if she didn't get away, she was most likely going to die.