Ten Little Girls

  "Goal!" he yelled and looked at me triumphantly. I chuckled again. I looked at my phone on the table. I was sick of waiting for it to ring, but still, I couldn't help myself.

  I felt Sune's hand as he placed it on top of mine.

  "You want more coffee?" he asked as I turned to look at him.

  I nodded. "Yes, please. I need it today."

  He leaned over and kissed me. I was so happy that he was in progress and that all his bitterness toward the world was gone. He was back to being my happy Sune, my sweet, caring, happy Sune, who—even though he was slightly younger than me—always carried my every burden.

  He looked into my eyes. "We'll get her home."

  I sighed. "You know she would have loved this weather, right?"

  He scoffed and nodded. "I'll get you that coffee."

  30

  May 2018

  Alicia was throwing up too now, and Julie could barely restrain herself from doing it as well while listening to the sounds of her losing the contents of her stomach. Many kids were crying, calling for their mothers, and the heat was making the air thick.

  Julie tried for hours to be strong for the little ones, but even she had her limits to what she could bear. The stench was agonizing.

  "This is it," Alicia said when she was done throwing up, and she laid down on the dirty mattress. "They're not coming for us. They don't care. They're just going to let us die down here, aren't they?"

  Julie wanted to say something; she wanted to be the one to comfort them all and tell them everything was going to be all right, that, of course, they wouldn't just let them suffocate and die down here, that the police would come, their parents would come, or the kidnappers would come and show mercy on them. But she couldn't find the words to say it.

  Julie looked at Nikki, who was sitting with her head leaned against the side of the box. She hadn't said a word for at least an hour and wasn't even crying anymore. Suddenly, Julie missed her constant crying and calling for her mother.

  "Nikki?" she said and reached out her hand toward her. But the girl didn't react.

  Julie got up and staggered to her, then pulled her shoulder. "Nikki?"

  The girl fell backward into her arms.

  "NIKKI!"

  Julie felt her forehead. "Oh, my God, she's burning up. She's sick. Nikki, wake up. Please, Nikki."

  Julie asked Alicia to bring her some water. Alicia helped Nikki drink a little, but most of it spilled onto the floor.

  "Is she…?" Alicia asked.

  Julie shook her head. "No. She's still breathing."

  A new wave of panic erupted inside Julie. Was this the way it was going to be? One after another, they were going to cave in?

  "Please, Nikki. Please, drink some water," she said, then grabbed the bottle and placed it on Nikki's lips. She poured some in and soon Nikki was drinking. Julie breathed a sigh of relief when there was a sound from above them, and the metal plate that the kidnappers had closed was pulled aside, and a wave of fresh air came in. All the kids ran to the opening and gasped for air, taking in every last bit of it.

  A figure showed up in the opening, and they all screamed and pulled away. A ladder then came down, and someone stepped inside. It was one of the kidnappers. He was still wearing pantyhose over his face.

  "Hey," Julie yelled and walked toward him, still holding Nikki in her arms. "She's sick. Please, help her."

  The man looked at Nikki, then shook his head. "Not her." He turned around and spotted Alondra sitting on one of the mattresses.

  "That one."

  31

  May 2018

  "It's a nightmare, Rebekka. People are coming in from everywhere."

  Jack sounded used up on the phone. I couldn’t blame him. It was late in the afternoon before I called him again and I felt pretty good about myself for waiting so long. It took all my strength to not constantly bother him for news. But as the day went by and evening approached, I was beginning to fear that I would have to go through yet another night without my daughter.

  The thought was excruciating.

  Sue and Nancy had both been over for a few hours earlier, and we had tried to talk each other up and not let fear get the better of us, but, boy, it was hard to do. Close to impossible. Especially when you know that in cases of child disappearances, the first twenty-four hours were so crucial in the chances of finding them again.

  "Investigators and reporters have flown in from all over the country, turning the town into a frenzy," Jack said. "Even the city council is all over it. This thing has hit Cocoa Beach like a freight train. And those poor parents. It's getting to me; it really is."

  "Did they find anything on the bus?" I asked.

  "All we know is that the bus was stolen from a local school down in Melbourne eighteen months ago. Since it was submerged under water, there are no fingerprints or anything we can get from it."

  "And what about Mrs. Baker and Mr. Meckler? Are you getting anywhere with them?" I asked.

  "I’m afraid not. The FBI is here and has taken over the interrogations. But they haven't been able to get any closer to the truth than we have. I am sorry, Rebekka. I wish I had better news. We have search teams out everywhere, especially focused on the area around where we found the bus. They are searching with dogs and helicopters, and all the police in the entire state are on high alert looking for these girls. Plus, it's all over the news. We are doing all we can."

  "But sometimes that even isn't enough," I mumbled and looked at William who was doing a puzzle in the living room. The clouds had finally been angry enough to rain, and now I heard thunder as well.

  "Where the heck can you even hide ten kids?" I asked, shattered. "Without being seen?"

  "I know. It seems impossible. It's like they have vanished from the surface of the earth."

  "So, you say they stole the bus eighteen months ago, huh?" I said. "Guess they’ve been planning it for a long time. You think they did this for a ransom?"

  "It's possible," he said, "since most of the girls come from wealthy families and several of them live in beach houses. It might be why they targeted this bus route because there are a lot of wealthy kids."

  "Just doesn’t explain why they only took the girls," I said. "And no boys."

  "True. Maybe they are easier to control."

  "Then they don't know my daughter very well; that's for sure," I said with a scoff.

  Jack went absent for a second, and I could hear someone speaking to him in the background. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard that person say, "We just received a tip you need to look at."

  My heart started to pound.

  "I need to go, Rebekka," he said.

  "Of course. Of course."

  Then we hung up, but this time I felt a pinch of hope emerge inside me, a feeling I hadn't had for many hours.

  They had a tip.

  32

  June 1999

  Jane kept getting pregnant in the following years, and when the twins were seven years old, she had her fifth child, the first boy. Bob was excited to have a boy finally, but things between them weren't the same anymore. He still hit her from time to time, and she had learned how to live with it, and how to hide it should anyone come to visit. She loved the children. They were her entire life. They were all she had. All she lived for.

  Jane never left the house much since Bob didn't want her to, and she didn't want to face people being bruised and answer questions. She had even stopped seeing her mother, telling her they were busy whenever she asked to see her grandbabies. Most of her life was spent taking care of the children and making sure Bob was kept happy.

  When the little boy, Matthew, was three months old, Bob came home from work one day in the middle of the day. He walked into the living room where Jane was sitting on the couch. She was breastfeeding while the four girls were all running around and screaming.

  Seeing him come in, she put the baby down, even though he wasn't done eating. She got up and walked to Bob.

  "Why are yo
u home now?"

  "I was fired," he said and kicked a doll on the floor. Jane picked it up and started to clean up. The doll lost her arm when Bob kicked it and seeing this, their daughter, Anna, threw a tantrum. Throwing herself on the floor, she squealed and screamed that it was her favorite doll, and now it was ruined. Fearing Bob's reaction to this, Jane tried to comfort her, but that just made things worse. Anna yelled at her dad for kicking her doll, and her dad responded by slamming his fist into her nose. Much to her horror, Jane heard a crack as the nose broke. Jane screamed, and so did three-year-old Anna. Blood was gushing from her nose onto her face. Jane stood like she was paralyzed for a few seconds. Then she attacked Bob. She threw herself at him and started to hit him, but he was much stronger than her. He grabbed her arms and threw her to the ground. Then, towering above her, holding her down using his weight, he beat her. He beat her till she was so broken she couldn't even feel the punches anymore. But, worst of all, he did it in front of all the children and even called them to come out and watch while he did it, telling them this was what would happen if you didn't behave properly.

  Then he left, slamming the door behind him.

  Through curtains of blood, Jane made eye contact with one of the twins and told her to call for an ambulance. When the paramedics came, along with the police, they were all taken to the emergency room. Anna was treated for her broken nose, while it took Jane three days in bed to be able even to stand up again.

  That was when she’d had enough.

  Bob came to her in the hospital, carrying flowers and balloons. He told her he was never going to do anything like this again and he promised things would be different, just as he had so many times before. But this time, Jane wasn't buying it. She was going to leave him, she told him, and he would never see her again. When he cried and told her he loved her and that he couldn't live without her, she simply answered:

  "What kind of man loves like this?"

  Little did she know that her struggles had only just begun.

  33

  May 2018

  I was doing exactly what I wasn't supposed to, yet I couldn't help myself. I was watching the news over and over again, then reading about it online, about what they said about the mysterious disappearance of ten girls from Cocoa Beach. I knew it wasn't good for me since it only added to the fear and anxiety, especially the many speculations and so-called experts, but I had to do something while the rest of the house slept. I couldn't just go to sleep; I could find no rest.

  Yet somehow, I must have dozed off because once I woke up again, it was light out. The sun was shining above the ocean and hitting my eyes. Gone were the dark clouds from the day before.

  I blinked my eyes, then looked at the wound in my thigh. It was healing nicely already even though it was still swollen, but the pain was almost gone. I still popped a painkiller, then got up and managed to walk to the kitchen. I was limping, yes, but I was back to walking again and moving around on my own. It felt good. I made myself some coffee and enjoyed it while looking at the sunrise, savoring the last few minutes of quiet before William woke.

  The coffee felt good, and soon I was fully awake when the door to William's room opened, and he came out, still in his PJs, looking all adorable with his unruly hair and rubbing his eyes.

  "Morning, buddy. You sleep well?"

  He nodded with a yawn and sat by the breakfast counter. I poured him some cereal. He ate it in silence, crunching loudly. I usually didn't like that sound much, but today, I enjoyed it. I liked that at least one of my kids was safe and getting something to eat.

  "Is Ju-Ju home yet?" he asked.

  I shook my head.

  "Ah, man," he said. "She promised to go in the pool with me. Tobias never wants to."

  "Maybe you and he can play soccer today?" I suggested. "Have him teach you that trick you like so much."

  William sighed. "He doesn’t want to."

  "Maybe if you ask him again nicely, huh?"

  I sipped my coffee and looked at my son. Then I grabbed some toast and buttered it, thinking I had to eat something to keep strong. It was so easy for me to forget to eat with all this going on. I wondered about my dad back in Denmark and whether he was all right. I hadn't called him and told him what had happened since he didn't need the worry. He had enough to deal with as it was.

  "I'm gonna watch TV," William said.

  "Okay, buddy."

  He was supposed to go to his pre-school today, but Sune and I had decided to keep him at home while all this was going on. Tobias was home anyway since the school had closed while they searched for the girls. The entire town seemed to have shut down. It was like everyone was paralyzed, the other moms had told me when they stopped by the day before. Bars and restaurants had closed down, except for Juice N' Java that had somehow become a gathering place for police and townspeople. The owner made sandwiches for the search teams, and there was free coffee for everyone who needed it. I hadn't been down there myself, but I had seen in articles online how there were signs in the windows downtown with posters and pictures of the girls. Some had even written on plywood. BRING OUR GIRLS HOME!

  I sighed and finished my coffee, then grabbed a refill before I walked out to the pool area and sat in a chair, putting my foot up on another chair to rest it a little.

  I sat in the shade and stared at the cars and trucks driving by on A1A, listening to the steady music they made, and it came to me with a sudden vicious realization that the kidnappers who had taken my kid could be in one of them, simply passing by, chuckling as they went to town for whatever they needed. My kid could be hidden nearby, and there was no way I would ever know. The thought made me walk to the street and start staring at each and every car that passed me.

  It was while I watched a huge moving truck pass me, thinking that could easily carry ten little girls, hiding them in the back, that I heard her scream.

  34

  May 2018

  The scream came from a couple of houses down. It was followed by a couple of deep groans and then more screams. They weren’t normal screams like the ones you'd hear from kids in the pool or playing in the waves on the beach. No, this was different. These screams harbored deep anxiety inside of them, despair so profound it could only come from a mother who feared for the life of her child.

  I hurried as fast as I could on my hurt leg toward the house and spotted Nancy in her driveway. She had sunk to her knees. In one hand, she held what looked like a piece of paper. On the ground in front of her lay an envelope that had contained the letter she had just gotten from her mailbox, only a few steps away.

  "Nancy!" I said and limped closer. "What's wrong?"

  I knelt next to her and ignored the pounding pain in my wounds. The look on Nancy's face made everything inside me want to scream. Never had I seen so much torment in a person's eyes, so much horror, such blackness covering her entire face.

  Nancy couldn't speak. Instead, she held out her hand and showed me something. Even before I looked, I knew it was going to haunt me in my dreams for days to come; I just knew it. Yet I looked. Because I had to. I had to see the blood and the two fingers. I had to see the two small fingers that could only belong to a child, one carrying a ring Nancy had given her when she had been promoted from second grade because that's what people did these days. You celebrated the small victories every year when your child had survived yet another year of elementary school and not been run over by a bus or even shot by some sick kid who one morning woke up and decided today was the day to shoot everyone down.

  "It came in the mail," Nancy said, almost wailing. Spit and saliva spurted out from her mouth and nose as she said the words. "This. This…"

  Her hand quivering, she showed me the letter that only had one sentence:

  Ten little Injuns standin' in a line.

  I shook my head, not understanding any of it. "What's it supposed to mean?"

  But Nancy was out of reach. She merely stared at the fingers, her lips shuddering.

  "I??
?I can't…Alondra, my sweet, sweet Alondra," she said, then cried while touching one of the fingers lightly. She looked up, and our eyes met.

  "She just had her nails done."

  "We need to get you inside," I said and helped her up.

  It wasn't easy, and the pain in my thigh was excruciating, yet I managed to ignore it and let Nancy rest on my shoulder while helping her back to the house. She was mumbling her daughter's name over and over again. Once we were inside the house and Nancy was put in a chair in the living room, I grabbed my phone and called Jack Ryder.

  "You need to come, now."

  35

  May 2018

  A mob had gathered in front of the police station in downtown Cocoa Beach when we got there. We had spent hours at Nancy's house while the forensics team took care of the fingers and the letter and while a doctor came and gave Nancy an injection to calm her down. Her husband, Kyle, had come back from work after Jack called him and he was taking care of her. Jack had told him just to let her sleep. Jack had then asked me to come with him back to the station and give my testimony. Exactly how these people had known so quickly about what had happened, I had no explanation for, but it was a small town. News traveled fast here and, apparently, the rumor of the letter and the two fingers had beat us there because most of the people gathered outside the entrance were parents of the ten girls.

  As soon as they spotted Jack Ryder, they addressed him, their faces angry and eyes torn in fear. I had borrowed one of Sune's crutches that he barely used anymore to support me.

  "What are you going to do?" Emmy's dad asked and grabbed Jack by the shoulder.