Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold (top novels TXT) 📗

wearing sunglasses. Now that Amanda was able to peer right into the girl’s eyes, she saw she was much younger. Also, the words best friend kept circling in Amanda’s mind, and she recalled the card at the memorial signed off “Always” followed by C and a doodle. “Did you leave a card at the memorial on Bill Drive with a dragonfly on the front?”

Cindy licked her lips, bit down on her bottom one, and nodded.

“And you love dragonflies?” The Fosters said their daughter did.

“Yeah. So?”

“Are you… Crystal Foster?” Amanda had a hard time getting the words past the lump in her throat.

Cindy—Crystal?—burrowed against Simon’s side. She clung to him like she depended on him to protect and save her. Amanda looked with closer scrutiny at Simon. He had to be several years older.

Amanda scanned Crystal for any signs of branding, and any other red flags she knew about sex trafficking. Normally the girls were spoken for and never let out of their pimp’s sight. Simon tended to do the former, but maybe it was just his personality or desire to shelter her. She had left Simon’s side without supervision to get coffee the other day. It wouldn’t seem Simon was controlling her in the obvious sense, and he gave Amanda the impression that he really cared about the girl. But did he know that she was only sixteen? The mother in Amanda wanted to react, slap cuffs on him, and put him in jail without hesitation. The cop in her cautioned that if she wanted Crystal, a.k.a. Cindy, to talk, she had to remain cool.

“Are you Crystal Foster?” Amanda repeated.

The girl’s eyes connected with Amanda’s, and eventually, she sluggishly nodded. “But not in a very long time.”

“And the girl in the picture here… Who was she?” Amanda wanted further confirmation.

“Ashley Lynch.” Crystal bit her bottom lip.

Amanda left the screen in Crystal’s face. “Do you know who killed her?”

Crystal kept her eyes on the image.

“Your best friend, Ashley Lynch, was murdered.” Putting it out there so bluntly to a young woman pierced Amanda’s heart, but this girl needed to know there were consequences to striving for so-called freedom. Amanda also wasn’t too certain of her innocence just yet. She let the image stay in front of Crystal for several seconds before she pocketed her phone and sat in a chair next to Trent’s and across from the couch.

Crystal was sobbing, and Simon passed her a tissue. Considering their illegal union, she didn’t give Amanda any obvious signs that she was there against her will. Then again, that was the power of a talented abuser: mind control. The restraints were there but not visible. Even if they considered themselves in love, it still came down to the fact that Simon was much older, and as such, could manipulate her.

“We need you to start talking to us, Crystal,” Amanda said. “Did you know Ashley was inside that house?”

Crystal rubbed her arms. “I didn’t know, but—” She stopped talking and let a fresh batch of tears fall in silence. She dabbed them with the tissue and continued. “I ran into Ash a couple of weeks ago at a vintage clothing store. I hadn’t seen her in years.” Pain riddled the young woman’s expression, wrenching Amanda’s heart.

“You ran away together, didn’t you?” Not so much a question but a way to keep her talking.

“We did.” She rubbed a cheek to a shoulder. “I left mostly for her. She met some guy online and was obsessed with him.

“Can you tell us about him?” Amanda asked. “Did you ever meet him?”

“No.” Crystal played with the hem of her pajama top, seeming to search her mind for the words to express herself. “Ash was a little nervous. She’d only met him online, but he wanted to hook up in person. He told her to go the food court in City Center Mall. She asked that I go along with her. The guy wasn’t there, but some woman was. She said that Riley sent her—that was Ash’s crush—and he wanted her to go to Corner Pocket Billiards here in town.” Crystal shivered, and Simon hugged her tighter.

“What happened then?” Amanda was curious how it had all unfolded.

“The woman gave us some cash—said it was a gift from Riley—and bought us bus tickets to Dumfries. I wanted to turn around and go home, but Ash said we’d come that far and it wasn’t fair to bail on Riley now. She told me he must have a good reason for changing locations. That woman tagged along with us.”

It was likely the woman that the kid from the burger place had described to Detective Robbins, but maybe Crystal could give her more. “Did she tell you her name?”

“Nah. Just that she was a friend of Riley’s.”

“What did she look like?”

“She was pretty. Blond, but had a large tattoo up the side of her neck.” Crystal ran her hand over the left side of hers. “There was something really, ah…” A shudder tore through her. “She sort of looked like she could be someone’s aunt or mother, all kind and pleasant to your face, but there was something so fake about her—and very dark. I still have nightmares about her.”

“What happened when you got to Dumfries?”

Crystal took Simon’s hand and squeezed it. “I had a really bad feeling, and I… I left Ash…” She let go of Simon and started sobbing. She sniffled and said, “That lady turned her over to some very nasty men. Ash confirmed I’d been right to leave. It doesn’t mean I forgive myself for abandoning her.”

Amanda wanted to reach out and offer Crystal comfort, but it wasn’t her place. It was apparent that Crystal was well aware of Ashley’s fate. Not surprising, but something else was. “How did you get away?”

“I told that woman I needed to use the restroom and snuck out a window in the stall.”

Smart girl. Did Crystal have any idea how lucky she’d been? Or was she? Amanda glanced at Simon, wanting to broach the