Brow furrowed, April read what he had written. She turned the numbers over in her mind and then, with a shriek, pushed the paper off the table.
“What is it?” Sean yelled.
“3-2-5-9-6. March twenty-fifth, ninety-six. That’s Kayleigh’s date of birth.’
“Call her now. I’m calling the police.”
KAYLEIGH STEPPED INTO the basement and onto the set of the videos they had viewed for the past week. In real life, it didn’t look quite as menacing. The robed man was in his usual spot, applauding as she took the final step. A pair of ring lights stood on either side of the door, and a table holding all manner of computer equipment sat to her right. Glancing up, Kayleigh saw a camera mounted above the door.
The robed man spoke in what appeared to be his natural voice, inviting her inside.
“Welcome to the party. Please come and join us.”
“I thought you would have had the whole hood and robes things off by now. I also thought you might have her unshackled,” Kayleigh said, pointing to the chair, where the girl sat, head down, and seemingly out of it.
“It’s all part of the fun, my dear. Think of it as a Scooby-Doo unmasking.”
That voice sounded familiar. Kayleigh wracked her brain but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “Although, it’s usually villains that Shaggy and the crew unmask.”
“Now you’re getting the idea.” The robed man reached behind his head and pulled the sack upwards, shaking his head as it came loose. “And voila,” he said, bowing like a medieval knight.
“You’re that old dude from the phone shop.”
“Peter, at your service. At least, I think that’s the name I used. It’s so difficult to keep track of such things.”
Kayleigh backed up, her heels connecting with the bottom step and causing her to lose balance.
“No point in trying to run, my dear. I’m sure that the basement door is now locked. Plus, you need to meet the other players in this game.”
Turning to run, Kayleigh ran into another robed figure who had crept down the stairs behind her. She tumbled backward, landing on the hard floor with a grunt.
“Please have a seat, my dear,” Peter said. “Allow me to introduce the star of the show. May I present, the hollow-eyed girl.”
The girl slipped out of the shackles quickly and reached up to remove the soiled fabric covering her eyes. In the same motion, she pulled off the stringy wig and tossed them all aside while bowing.
“You must remember my daughter, Sheila. You made quite an impression on her at the movie theater,” Peter said.
Kayleigh could feel the bile rising in her throat, could feel her legs begin to give out from beneath her. The robed man behind her grabbed her by the back of the shirt and held her before she buckled.
Now over here,” Peter said, striding towards a bundle of cloth in the corner, “Is another one of our players.”
With the fabric pulled away, Terry’s limp body slid sideways across the wall, the gash in his throat still oozing blood. “Poor lad,” Peter said. “I’m afraid he got a whiff of what we were up to, so he had to be taken care of. I took no pleasure in it, my dear, I can assure you of that.”
Kayleigh tried to wrestle free, but the man behind her had a firm grip. He squeezed a little tighter, his nails digging into her arms. Her phone rang in her pocket. “My friends know I’m here. I told them where I was going.”
“Not true, my dear. I took the liberty of installing some delightful spy software on your phone. I’ve seen everything that you’ve been doing and tracking, all your movements. Those little chums of yours know nothing.”
“You are such a stupid bitch,” Sheila spat.
“Fuck you,” Kayleigh screamed. “Fuck all of you.”
“You and that stupid phone. Every time I see you in the theater, you have your face stuck in it or are taking selfies. So vain. You make me sick. It was worth letting that moron Lyle feel me up to get him to smack it to the floor. The Coke bath was just a bonus,” Sheila laughed.
“What? You did all this out of jealousy? You are the sad one.”
“Oh, my goodness, no. We did it for money. Perhaps I should allow our benefactor to explain.
The man behind Kayleigh shoved her roughly, sending her across the room and into the arms of Peter. He spun her around so that she could finally see the robed man who had come down the stairs. Removing the hood, he smiled and said, “So nice to see you again, Miss Barnes.”
Anger and frustration welled up inside and revealed themselves as tears. Kayleigh hung her head and sobbed. “Why?”
Leaning in close, Gallagher lifted her by the chin and gazed into her watery eyes. “Have you never heard of a May-September relationship, Miss Barnes. Yes, I may be old enough to be your father, but I would have treated you right had you given me the opportunity.”
“You’re a fucking creep,” Kayleigh spat.
“Perhaps, but a rich one. It’s how I was able to convince my older brother and his foul-mouthed daughter to do my bidding. Daddy did indeed screw them over in his will, but I am willing to share the wealth to have you as my own.”
“I’ll fucking kill myself before that happens.”
“We shall see. I don’t think we will need to play too many rounds of the new game before I break you. My brother has a taste for young girls, so I’m sure he won’t have much trouble luring in new players.”
“Please, just let me go.”
“It’s all a little too late for that now, Miss Barnes, but tell me, are you ready to be the new hollow-eyed girl?”
Chapter Eleven
One Month Later
April and Sean sat in the cafeteria at FinaCol and listened to the detective drone on, telling them the same shit he had served since day one of the investigation. “The reality, at the moment, is that we have run into a series of dead ends. Is there anything else you might have remembered that we can use to head in a new direction?”
“You have it all. We aren’t sitting on some amazing piece of evidence that we plan on springing on you at a later date,” April said defensively.
“That’s not what I’m suggesting, Miss Navarro. You gave us a lot of great stuff. I’m just trying to cover all the bases. I want to find Kayleigh as much as you do.”
“I doubt that.”
Sean took his girlfriend's hand and gave it a squeeze. “We appreciate all your doing. Can you tell us what you think happened?”
The cop shifted nervously in his seat. “I’m really not at liberty to say.”
“It might help us, even if it’s bad. We need some sort of closure.”
“I get that. How well did you know this Terry Romig guy?
“Not at all. Kayleigh spent more time with him than we did.”
“See, here’s the thing. The stuff that he told your friend mostly checks out. He was an aspiring actor, and he did receive a significant payment prior to the start of the game. He did not know Jenna Carlson, so we assume that he used that little nugget to add some intrigue to the whole thing.”
“He did that alright. Creep,” April mumbled.
“Anyway, the day before Kayleigh disappeared, he cleaned out his bank account. As you know, we found his car ditched at the Florida border, with his and Kayleigh’s phones inside, smashed to bits. We were unable to retrieve anything off them, but we do have a theory.”