Something moved in her rear-view mirror and before she could react, a gun was pushed against the back of her head.

“Start the car.”

She started to cry but did as she was told.

“Now drive.”

“Where?”

“Turn right out of the lot and go north.”

“Why? What do you want from me?”

“No questions, just drive.”

She drove until they got to Huebner road.

“Turn right.”

Chelsea did and after less than a mile, he instructed her to turn left into a cement plant. The yard was huge and she didn’t see anyone around. After directing her to the back, the man had her pull up along an old van.

“Stop here.”

The gun had left her head while they drove but Chelsea could feel it pushing into her back through the seat. Now it returned to her head.

“Get out.”

Chelsea did as she was told; sliding out of the front seat at the same time he slid out of the back, the gun trained on her the whole time.

“Put your hands behind your back.”

“Please don’t hurt me. I don’t have much money, just today’s tips, but you can have them.”

She had stopped crying but her voice was still trembled.

“I said put your hands behind you!”

She did and felt handcuffs click onto both wrists, quickly followed by a hood pulled over her head. Panic filled her and she started to cry again. Her captor steered her forward until she heard a sliding door open. It sounded like the side door on the van.

“Lie down.”

Chelsea fell forward onto some carpet that smelled of oil and grease. She rolled on her side in an effort to be more comfortable and to try and look out under the hood. She couldn’t see a thing and when he slid the door shut, she felt cut off from civilization, alone in the world. Isolated in a world filled with fear.

She heard a door open and close.

“Don’t move, don’t say a word. I won’t hesitate to kill you if you aren’t doing exactly what I say.”

Chelsea lay on her side as the van started and they began to move. She began to quietly pray in between her sobs.

****

The ex-wife of Ed Garland lived on the opposite side of the city and it took Jason and Nina almost an hour to get there.

Rita Garland’s address was a second floor apartment on a quiet street in East San Antonio. She opened the door but didn’t invite the detectives in. She was tall and skinny with bleach blonde hair. A down-turned mouth gave her a seemingly permanent sad face. Jason tried to see into the apartment while he talked.

“Mrs. Garland?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Detective Strong and this is Detective Jefferson. We’re here about your husband.”

“My husband and I are divorced. I’m not sure how I can help.”

“You told the officer you spoke with that you weren’t surprised to learn your ex-husband is missing. Can I ask why?”

She seemed unsure how to answer and finally she pushed the door open all the way.

“You might as well come in. No sense in you standing out in the heat.”

The two detectives followed Rita Garland into the small living room and, as Nina shut the door behind them, the room went dark. After letting their eyes adjust, Jason took a seat on the couch while Nina stayed standing by the door. She had her notepad out.

Opposite the couch was a recliner which Rita Garland settled into with grunt. There was a half empty glass of a caramel colored liquid on the side table. Jason figured scotch.

“Would you like a drink?”

Both Jason and Nina shook their heads.

“No, thank you.”

Rita took a sip of her drink and looked at Jason over the top of her glass.

“Detective…Strong, did you say?”

“Yes, maam.”

“My ex-husband is a troubled man. A fact I wasn’t aware of when we got married.”

“Troubled how?”

“Emotionally, mentally. Not crazy or anything like that. It’s just that there seemed to always be something at the edges of his consciousness, tempering his enjoyment of life. Depressed, I guess.”

“Is he on any anti-depressants?”

“Not that I’m aware of. He’s troubled because of something that happened before I met him.”

“Did he say what?”

“His best friend committed suicide. Ed never told me the whole story, but he did tell me he was there when it happened and he felt responsible.”

“Why?”

“Don’t know. I guess Ed thought he should have stopped him but he never told me for sure.”

“Do you know when this happened?”

Rita shook her head.

“Just that Ed was a teenager. About ten or twelve years ago, I figure.”

Nina spoke up.

“Do you know how the friend died?”

“Shot himself.”

“And you mentioned you didn’t know before your marriage, are you suggesting that the friend’s suicide was responsible for your divorce?”

“Oh, I’m not suggesting, I’m saying. Look, there’s a lot of things that go into a failed marriage but that particular cloud never seemed to lift. It was like he felt he didn’t deserve anything good to happen to him.”

“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

“Not a clue. Like I said, we don’t talk much, but he was a home-body. I can’t imagine anywhere he would want to take off to.”

Her words were getting more slurred and the glass was empty. The two detectives got up to leave.

“Mrs. Garland, thank you for your time. We won’t trouble you any longer.”

Rita Garland got up as well, but not to see them to the door. She walked over to a cabinet and took out a bottle. She was pouring a refill as Nina and Jason let themselves out.

 

Chapter  7

 

Donnie stopped behind the house and turned off the van. Getting out and sliding the side door open, he forced Chelsea to sit up and get out of the van.

She had stopped sobbing on the way to the farm and Donnie was relieved, he never liked hearing girls cry. He steered her up the back steps and into the house.

“Where are we? Where are you taking me?!”

“Where we are isn’t important.”

Donnie opened the door to the basement and removed the hood. He watched as she blinked repeatedly, trying adjust to the light.

“We’re going down some steps. Just take your time and I won’t let you fall.”

Her hands still cuffed behind her, the girl didn’t speak as she focused on taking one step at a time. Donnie held the gun to her back. When they made it to the bottom, he motioned towards the open door of the second cell and watched as the girls eyes grew wide with horror.

****

Chelsea tried to keep it together. It was all so unreal, being taken, walked down into this man’s basement and now he was motioning her towards a small door. When she didn’t move, he pushed her from behind with the butt of the gun and she stumbled into a small room. There was some sort of a blanket on the floor that had some chain coiled on it. Her blood ran cold and she spun around to face him, trying to get back out of the cell.

“Please don’t do this! Please let me go.”

He blocked her way.

“Sit down on the blanket.”

“No, please no.”

“NOW!”

She collapsed on the blanket. Her captor took the chain and wrapped it twice around her leg tightly. He ran a padlock through the end link and the one of links leading to the wall. It snapped shut and after testing it, he took her cuffs off.

Chelsea rubbed her wrists and tried not to cry as the door shut. She heard another padlock snap shut and then footsteps going upstairs. Everything went quiet.

Chelsea had to let her eyes adjust again, this time to darkness and realized she could hear breathing.