“So we didn’t pay her much attention then,” Ben continued. “Thought she might just be settling in and waiting for a ride or something.” He frowned and brushed the greasy strands of hair away from his face. “But then Netty showed up.”

“Netty?” I asked.

Ben nodded. “Local girl. Runs with some of the bangers. Likes to try and hassle me and Jesse when she’s bored. Goes out of her way to drive through puddles if she sees us sittin’ on the curb and thinks she can soak us.” He shook his head. “Crap like that.”

“Lovely,” Anchor said.

Ben nodded again. “Yeah. Some people, they’re just like that, I guess. Anyway, Netty showed up and she knew the two girls with the girl you’re lookin’ for. And she was all friendly and everything, but I’m tellin’ you. There ain’t nothin’ friendly about Netty.”

A cloud passed in front of the sun, momentarily dimming the sky. A soft breeze blew across the lot and I shivered harder than I should have.

“Train pulls in,” he said. “Southbound. Jesse elbows me. All four of ‘em got on. They were on before we could get across the street to ‘em. If we’d been watchin’ more, we might’ve been able to get to ‘em before they got on. But we weren’t.” The lines around his mouth deepened. “I woulda liked to warn that girl that goin’ anywhere with Netty was probably a bad idea. Not sure if she woulda listened to an old man like me, but I woulda tried.” He winced and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Lauren sighed audibly. Kitting’s eyes scanned the area. Anchor looked at me.

“It’s okay, Ben,” I said. “Not your fault. And you’ve given us more than we would’ve had if we hadn’t talked to you. So thanks.”

He nodded. “Just sorry I didn’t know someone was lookin’ for her.”

“You know Netty’s last name?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. Just Netty. And I only know that because one of her friends yelled at her to knock it off one time when she was trying to soak us. Locked it away so I wouldn’t forget it.” He thought for a moment. “But she’s always got all of this jewelry hanging from her ears. Feathers, hoops, you name it, she’s worn it.”

I nodded. “Okay. Thanks for your help, Ben. Appreciate it.”

Ben nodded.

Anchor offered his hand to Ben. “Thank you. To both you and Jesse.”

Ben took his hand and held on for just a moment, then pulled his hand away.

I spotted the thick fold of bills Anchor passed him before he shoved the wad in his pocket.

Ben looked at me. “I hope you find her.”

I pulled a card from my pocket and handed it to him. “Me, too. And if you ever want to find your daughter, give me a call.”

Ben studied the card for a moment, then looked at me. “You do this a lot? Look for kids?”

I smiled at Ben, truly grateful we’d run into him. “More than I’d like to, Ben. More than I’d like to.”

THIRTY-FIVE

“That’s her,” I said, staring at the iPad screen. “At the ticket window.”

We were back in the car and the AC was filtering into the backseat from the front vents. Anchor had taken a minute to boot up the iPad, then passed it over the seat to me.

A black and white closed-circuit feed showed a split screen at the Capistrano terminal: left side the ticket window, the right side a long shot of the boarding platform. Military time ticked away in white numbers on the bottom. Elizabeth was standing at the ticket window.

Lauren leaned in closer to me, up against my shoulder. “Yeah. Definitely.”

She passed several bills across the metal counter to the cashier behind the glass partition. There was no audio but they appeared to be talking a little bit. Elizabeth gave a nervous laugh, then tried to smile, but it came off as something masquerading as a smile. The woman behind the partition passed a small white piece of paper back to her and then Elizabeth stepped away, out of the view of the camera.

I watched the left side for another minute. No one else stepped to the window.

I switched my gaze to the right side. The platform was mostly empty. An older lady stood with a small roller bag next to her. A man was on the far side of her and I couldn’t see his face.

Then Elizabeth appeared between the woman and the camera. A small backpack hung on her shoulder. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was too far from the camera and the footage was too grainy to get a good look at her face, to see any emotion in her expression. She sighed noticeably a couple of times, her shoulders rising and falling. She looked around quite a bit, her head rotating from side to side. I couldn’t tell if that was because she was scared or bored.

Finally, the train came and she followed the old couple up the portable stairs and disappeared from the camera.

I handed the iPad back to Anchor. “Absolutely her.”

He nodded. “Hang on. The other feed from here in Oceanside should be ready now.”

“You got it already?” Lauren asked.

Anchor nodded, staring down at the screen.

She looked at me. I just shrugged. She shook her head, looked away.

Anchor passed the iPad back over the seat and Lauren leaned in to watch with me.

The screen looked nearly identical, split in half with a ticket window on the left, the platform on the right and the military time down in the bottom right corner. The window side again showed Elizabeth buying a ticket, but it appeared as if she barely spoke to the cashier this time. No nervous laughter, no half-smiles. She stepped out of view of the camera.

I waited for her to show up on the right side.

She finally did, a girl about her age talking animatedly to her, two others trailing behind her. Her hands were tight on the strap of the backpack, as if she was worried it might get taken from her and she was listening to the girl next to her, whose mouth was still running. The girl had long, curly black hair, multiple piercings in her ears and wore tight skinny jeans and a gray hoodie. The two girls behind them were dressed similarly and appeared maybe a bit younger than Elizabeth and the girl she was talking with.

“That’s Netty,” Lauren said. “The one she’s talking to. The earrings.”

I nodded and watched.

The train came quickly and Elizabeth took a step back from the steps, almost like she was changing her mind about going.

The two girls behind her stepped in closer, crowding her.

Netty’s face went from animated to…hard. No smile, no expression. Her mouth was still moving.

She put her hand on Elizabeth’s elbow. Elizabeth started to move it but Netty kept her hand on it and Elizabeth winced.

They all paused for a long moment.

Then Elizabeth nodded and went up the stairs.

Netty followed close behind her and the other two girls boarded behind them.

Then the train pulled out and they were gone.

I touched the rewind button and watched it play again. Then I touched it again and watched it one more time.

I handed it back to Anchor. He raised an eyebrow at me.

“She didn’t want to go,” I said, glancing at Lauren. “I think she was changing her mind. Those girls forced her on.”

“Alright. So we head to the downtown depot?” Anchor asked.

I stared out the window. We were so close, but we couldn’t catch her. And it seemed like each time we missed her, things got a little worse. The mugging. Aaron Simmons. The AMBER Alert. Now these girls. I wasn’t sure how many more chances we were going to get to catch her.

“Yeah,” I said. “Hurry.”

THIRTY-SIX

The clouds had cleared and the sun sat directly in front of us as we drove southward. The northern part of San Diego County had exploded since I’d last spent any real time there, nearly every empty space filled with homes, businesses and people. What used to be considered a place that you only went when you had to was now where many San Diego residents called home. And with the surge in population in the northern counties, the southbound traffic on I-5 had snarled even further and even in the middle of the day, we were doing less than the speed limit, stopping and surging every few minutes.