I stared at the airport image until the shapes stopped looking like pixels and became people again.<\/p>\n
Dererick stood beneath the arrivals sign with the black bag hanging from his right hand. Jennifer Collins was beside him, thin enough that the dark coat seemed oversized on her frame.<\/p>\n
She was not restrained.<\/p>\n
She was not struggling.<\/p>\n
She was walking with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s her,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Detective Shaw kept the phone angled toward me. \u201cYou\u2019re certain?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw enough photographs to recognize her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDozens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare leaned closer, studying the image.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe looks sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had thought the same thing.<\/p>\n
The earliest photographs on Dererick\u2019s laptop showed Jennifer with a rounder face and healthy color. The woman in the airport image had sharper cheekbones, narrow shoulders and the wary posture of someone expecting the floor beneath her to move.<\/p>\n
But she was alive.<\/p>\n
For eighteen months, somewhere, she had been alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Shaw was already typing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAirport security is tracking their route through camera footage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t anyone stop them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis image is from earlier this morning. We\u2019re working backward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much earlier?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout forty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forty minutes.<\/p>\n
Dererick had been standing in a public airport with a woman whose disappearance had generated an active police investigation, and nobody around them had known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did they go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJennifer could tell us everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we find her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what she looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo do several officers now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw\u2019s phone rang again.<\/p>\n
She answered, listened, and walked toward the far end of the hospital waiting room.<\/p>\n
Clare kept looking at the frozen airport image.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would she meet him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he did to her what he did to you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe should be terrified of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennifer\u2019s position in the photograph bothered me.<\/p>\n
She was walking beside Dererick, but there was space between them.<\/p>\n
Her hands were visible.<\/p>\n
No handcuffs.<\/p>\n
No obvious physical coercion.<\/p>\n
Yet freedom could not be measured by the distance between two people in an airport.<\/p>\n
Dererick had spent months making me doubt my own mornings.<\/p>\n
What could eighteen months do to someone?<\/p>\n
Shaw returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey exited through the east parking structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVehicle?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack SUV.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRegistered to Dererick?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthstar?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRental.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElaine Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman from the licensing photograph.<\/p>\n
The woman Mr. Peterson might have seen smoking outside our house.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Elaine driving?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the SUV now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAutomatic toll records may help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw gave me a look.<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
She was moving as fast as she could without pretending certainty.<\/p>\n
Price appeared several minutes later with a tablet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have better footage.\u201d<\/p>\n
He placed it on a table.<\/p>\n
The video began with Dererick entering the arrivals hall.<\/p>\n
He carried the black bag and wore the same coat he had left home in.<\/p>\n
He checked his phone.<\/p>\n
Waited.<\/p>\n
Then Jennifer appeared.<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
She walked toward him from a corridor near baggage claim.<\/p>\n
Dererick did not hug her.<\/p>\n
He said something.<\/p>\n
Jennifer stopped.<\/p>\n
Even without audio, I could see the tension in her body.<\/p>\n
Her shoulders rose.<\/p>\n
She looked behind herself.<\/p>\n
Dererick spoke again.<\/p>\n
Then he reached into his coat.<\/p>\n
Jennifer recoiled.<\/p>\n
Clare whispered, \u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dererick withdrew his phone.<\/p>\n
He showed Jennifer the screen.<\/p>\n
Whatever she saw changed her immediately.<\/p>\n
Her shoulders dropped.<\/p>\n
She stepped closer.<\/p>\n
He spoke.<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Then they walked away together.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe showed her something,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Price nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA threat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone she cares about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw said, \u201cAnna.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
But the thought had already settled.<\/p>\n
Dererick did not need to drag women through airports.<\/p>\n
He knew how to create leverage.<\/p>\n
Maybe Jennifer was cooperating because she believed refusal would hurt someone else.<\/p>\n
The footage changed to another camera.<\/p>\n
Dererick and Jennifer entered the parking structure.<\/p>\n
A black SUV waited near the elevators.<\/p>\n
The driver\u2019s door opened.<\/p>\n
A woman stepped out.<\/p>\n
Dark shoulder-length hair.<\/p>\n
Even through grainy video, I recognized Elaine Mercer\u2019s face from the licensing photo.<\/p>\n
She approached Jennifer.<\/p>\n
Jennifer froze.<\/p>\n
Elaine touched her arm.<\/p>\n
Not violently.<\/p>\n
Jennifer flinched anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Elaine,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Price nodded.<\/p>\n
The three entered the SUV.<\/p>\n
Elaine drove.<\/p>\n
Dererick sat in front.<\/p>\n
Jennifer climbed into the rear.<\/p>\n
The vehicle disappeared down the ramp.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you track it?\u201d Clare asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price closed the video.<\/p>\n
My mind returned to Northstar.<\/p>\n
Four procedure beds.<\/p>\n
Cameras.<\/p>\n
Personal belongings.<\/p>\n
Graduation Protocol.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Jennifer completed graduation, why is she still with them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw leaned against the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is one of the questions we need answered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did graduation actually accomplish?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe documents describe conditioning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat word could mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this context, it appears to mean creating dependence and compliance through cycles of sedation, confusion, isolation and controlled information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s torture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw did not disagree.<\/p>\n
I thought about the photographs.<\/p>\n
Jennifer\u2019s gradual deterioration.<\/p>\n
Perhaps those pictures were not simply documenting drug effects.<\/p>\n
They were recording a person being dismantled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecords suggest some victims were moved to other locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor customers?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t established that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe messages talked about permanent access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still determining that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think Dererick was selling women?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw chose her words carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is evidence he received money connected to the exploitation and control of incapacitated women. We are investigating what those transactions purchased.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was more frightening than a simple yes.<\/p>\n
The organization might not fit one familiar category.<\/p>\n
The customers requesting photographs could be different from the people requesting access.<\/p>\n
Northstar might be only one stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many victims?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe five IDs?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLikely relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly five?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price\u2019s phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
He looked at the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cVehicle ping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw straightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCounty Route Sixteen. Heading north.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToward Northstar?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere does Sixteen lead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price enlarged a map.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustrial park. Reservoir. Two rural communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he pointed farther north.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd an old rehabilitation facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something about Shaw\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat facility?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClosed six years ago. Private neurological rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOwner?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChecking.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthstar?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElaine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Price typed.<\/p>\n
\u201cProperty transferred twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
A result appeared.<\/p>\n
His eyebrows rose.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrent owner is Bellweather Recovery Holdings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShell company, looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw said, \u201cPhone it in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price stepped away.<\/p>\n
I watched the map.<\/p>\n
A rural road.<\/p>\n
An abandoned rehabilitation center.<\/p>\n
A missing woman.<\/p>\n
Dererick carrying his black bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that where graduation victims go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re thinking it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thinking it is a location worth checking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her phone rang.<\/p>\n
This time the call lasted less than thirty seconds.<\/p>\n
When she hung up, she looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cToll camera got the SUV.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame road.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the rehab center?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut north.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan police intercept?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
Shaw held up a hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
For once, that was true.<\/p>\n
I no longer wanted to be near Dererick.<\/p>\n
I wanted distance, locked doors and people with radios between us.<\/p>\n
Price returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBellweather has a registered manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at his screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second Northstar employee.<\/p>\n
Clare whispered, \u201cSo it\u2019s theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConnected,\u201d Shaw corrected.<\/p>\n
Another officer entered and spoke quietly to Price.<\/p>\n
The conversation was too low to hear.<\/p>\n
Then Price said, \u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer handed him a printed photograph.<\/p>\n
Price looked at it.<\/p>\n
Then at Shaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to talk outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Both detectives looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is about me, say it here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price hesitated.<\/p>\n
Shaw held out her hand.<\/p>\n
He gave her the photograph.<\/p>\n
She studied it for several seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Shaw placed the image on the table.<\/p>\n
It was a photograph of a room.<\/p>\n
White walls.<\/p>\n
Hospital bed.<\/p>\n
Camera tripod.<\/p>\n
A chair bolted to the floor.<\/p>\n
On the far wall was a corkboard.<\/p>\n
Several photographs had been pinned to it.<\/p>\n
Most were too small to identify.<\/p>\n
One was not.<\/p>\n
My face.<\/p>\n
I recognized the picture.<\/p>\n
It had been taken at Clare\u2019s apartment the previous Christmas.<\/p>\n
I was standing beside her tree holding a glass of wine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t from Dererick\u2019s camera.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Clare said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI posted that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat picture was on my Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second photograph on the board showed me leaving a grocery store.<\/p>\n
Another showed me walking from my car to my office.<\/p>\n
They had been watching me outside the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor how long?\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Shaw pointed to the bottom corner of the image.<\/p>\n
A handwritten date was visible beneath one photograph.<\/p>\n
Almost eleven months earlier.<\/p>\n
Before Dererick began drugging me regularly.<\/p>\n
Before the tea.<\/p>\n
Before the missing mornings.<\/p>\n
Before I knew there was anything to fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat room is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthstar,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were planning me for eleven months?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
Dererick had not slowly become dangerous.<\/p>\n
There had been no recent turn in our marriage.<\/p>\n
No single decision caused by money or opportunity.<\/p>\n
For almost a year, perhaps longer, my husband had gone to bed beside me knowing that strangers were studying my routines.<\/p>\n
Then Shaw\u2019s phone rang again.<\/p>\n
She listened without speaking.<\/p>\n
Her expression became hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepeat that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny visual?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not approach until backup.\u201d<\/p>\n
She hung up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found the SUV.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the rehabilitation facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDererick?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVehicle is empty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJennifer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one visible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElaine?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw reached for her coat.<\/p>\n
Price was already moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Shaw stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Jennifer is with him, don\u2019t treat her like she\u2019s helping him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t assume anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe may look cooperative.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You saw the airport. He showed her something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw held my gaze.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will treat her first as a potential victim.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was enough.<\/p>\n
She turned toward the door.<\/p>\n
Then Price\u2019s phone sounded.<\/p>\n
He checked the message.<\/p>\n
\u201cLena.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw looked back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMotion at the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPerson?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCamera team can\u2019t tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another message appeared.<\/p>\n
Price\u2019s expression sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have someone at a window.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDescription?\u201d<\/p>\n
He read.<\/p>\n
\u201cFemale. Dark coat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennifer.<\/p>\n
I moved toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she alone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo visual on anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then another message.<\/p>\n
Price read it aloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s holding something against the glass.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He enlarged the attached surveillance photograph.<\/p>\n
Jennifer stood behind a dirty second-floor window.<\/p>\n
Both hands were raised.<\/p>\n
Between them she held a sheet of white paper.<\/p>\n
Three words had been written across it in thick black marker.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T COME IN.<\/p>\n
I stared at the airport image until the shapes stopped looking like pixels and became people again. Dererick stood beneath the arrivals sign with the black bag hanging from his … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13673,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13649\/revisions\/13673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}