Chapter 15 - The Car at the Service Station
Beth hadn't called me Dad in years. I wanted to answer, but Moreno told me to preserve the message.
Ruth read it over my shoulder. "She went to him, didn't she?"
"We don't know if she went willingly."
"She called you Dad."
I put my arm around her. "She's our daughter. That hasn't changed. But what she did hasn't changed either."
Police located the vehicle near a busy service station outside town. Moreno told us only what she could confirm: the car matched a reported description, and officers were approaching carefully. She asked us not to drive there.
For forty minutes we sat in Anita's office. I heard cars pass outside and imagined every one was carrying Beth farther away. Ruth held my hand so tightly it ached.
Then Moreno called. Beth was alive and with officers. Simon and Doss had left her at the station after a dispute. She had refused to sign another statement blaming me for the property conflict, and Simon had driven off when he saw patrol cars on the highway.
"Does she need a doctor?" Ruth asked.
"She's being checked. She can speak with you after her attorney arrives."
We went to the station later that night. Beth sat in a plain interview room, wrapped in a borrowed sweater. She looked up when I entered.
"You came," she said.
"Of course."
"I thought if I told him I'd go back to his side, he'd leave you alone. He wanted me to say the camera was fake."
"You don't owe him another lie," I said.
Beth's eyes filled. "I know. I think I finally know."
May you like
Through the door, we heard Moreno speaking quickly to another officer. Simon's car had been found abandoned at the edge of a warehouse district. Doss was still missing.
And in the back seat was a folder marked with our family name.
