Read Chapter 1 of Enticed

Chapter 1
Shae

The flashing lights from the squad cars reflected through the front windows as Shae stood at the bar listening to Tate’s mother. 

“I just can’t believe this,” the other woman said. “I knew my son was acting a bit strange, but I never expected him to get in trouble like this. I thought he would have to spend the night in jail. And those poor children? I knew that woman was a psychopath. I should have called social services on that bitch a long time ago. I just had no idea sick she really is.”

“Well, she likes to present herself in a certain way. It’s hard to read people like that, and it’s understandable not to want to get involved.” Shae could tell by the way Tate’s mother kept one protective arm around her son that the boy was the whole world to her.

The woman was frazzled but probably doing her best to take care of her son. Shae understood that feeling but couldn’t quite imagine herself in the position. She had to remind herself that if she still had her baby, she might act the same way.

That feeling of envy pinched a little deep within, squeezing her heart and reminding her that she’d never get to hold her own child. Another part of her, the part that helped her cope, was thankful she didn’t have to put up with the teenage drama, at least not from her own child. But that only made the guilt of not protecting her baby sting harder. It was a vicious cycle, a process that was never ending.

“Do you need my son for anything else?” asked Tate’s mother. “I’d like for him to get home. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“You mean you’re still taking me to get my license?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, I don’t condone what you did, and don’t think for a minute I do, but I’m proud you’re the kind of kid who will look out for someone else. Just promise me you won’t go off and do something that stupid again.”

“I can’t promise you that. I’m only sixteen.” Tate’s big smile was honest, and his mother tousled his hair and hugged his neck.

“It’s okay,” Shae said. “He’s free to go. Detective Murphy is going to make sure the charges are dropped because of the circumstances, but Tate.” She glanced over to give him a stern look. “Do not come back to this house.”

“Did anyone ever reach her? You know, to tell her I was here?”

Shae shook her head. “No, the number wasn’t working. And if you happen to hear from the girl, you call me as soon as possible. I want to try and put a trace on any calls we get so we can find her.”

“I sure will. Will you please give me Mackenzie’s number? Or at least give her mine?”

“I’ll have her hit you up on social media,” Shae said. “How about that?”

He nodded. “That’s fine. I just want to know that Gemma is okay.”

Shae got a sinking feeling in her heart. “You and me both.”

Tate’s mother led him out of the house, and Shae followed, finding Cam on the lawn. The woman he was speaking with was in her long blue bathrobe, and her hair was tied up in a bun high atop her head. She wore a long mumu underneath, which nearly dragged the ground, and her words were spoken with so much body language that Shae thought she might start dancing.

“I told my husband that woman was a little off. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t think the young man had any right being in her house, but she was weird.”

“So you’re the one who called the police on Tate?” Cam asked.

“Yes. I figured if he was so bold to go sneaking into her house at night, what’s to stop a boy like that from sneaking into mine? Next thing you know, he’ll be peeping through windows.” She clutched her robe at her chest as if to keep her modesty.

“Don’t worry, Edna,” said a balding man who was standing just behind her. “That boy wouldn’t want to get a peek at you. Besides, you have the windows all foiled up.”

“You hush, Benny.” She waved her hand at him. “Boys like that should be in jail. He’s got no business being out on the streets.” She pointed across the lawn in Tate’s direction.

Cam gave Shae a look like he was about to lose his mind. “Actually, the boy was very helpful in a very important case we’ve been working on. He’s a good kid and was just trying to help.”

“Well, he’s a snoop if you ask me.”

“Takes one to know one,” said Benny, stepping forward to shake Cam’s hand. “Thank you, Detective.”

The woman’s mouth popped open, and as they walked away, she smacked the old man in the arm.

“Just think,” said Cam. “In another thirty years, that could be us.” He wagged his brows at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. “You should set your standards a lot higher. Dream big. Like that receptionist. What was her name?” 

He hadn’t so much as mentioned the other woman, and while part of her was glad, another part of her thought the other woman was just what he needed.

“Stop it,” he said. “Did you find out anything about Leah?”

“Tate’s mom didn’t know her that well. It seems like no one did. But I expected that.” When she had lived with Leah, they had lived a very private life.

“Neither did they. I have a feeling no one really knows her.” Cam let out a long breath. “And here I had hoped that this was all about to be over. I thought we’d come down here and arrest that woman on the spot. Instead, she’s gone again.”

“That’s Leah. Just when you think you have the jump on her, she disappears.”

“And I know that’s why you didn’t want to take things public, but it’s not working this way. And frankly, I can’t waste any more time. With Charlie’s situation and everything happening with Mack, it’s putting us farther away from Leah.”

“That’s what she wants, and I get it. I didn’t expect her to make this kind of move. It’s not how she operates. I think the boy and what happened with Olive put her on the run.”

“Well, I’m beginning to think that expecting her to stick to one pattern is our biggest mistake. She’s not organized, and she’s not succeeding. Everything she’s doing is going wrong. When things go wrong, she’s not getting the sense of control, and people like her? They scramble. That mess with Olive was a desperate move. We should have seen this coming.”

“Did any of the neighbors see what moving company she used? Were there any cameras?” She thought there might be a chance.

“In this neighborhood? No.” Cam looked back to the house and across the lawn. There was an officer in his car, writing something on a clipboard. “Come on. Let’s see if he found out anything about the cameras in the house.”

He took off across the lawn toward the car, and she followed. When they got to the car, the officer stood up and tossed the clipboard into the passenger seat. “Detective, I was just about to come and see you.”

“Did you find out about the cameras?” Cam asked. “What company installed them?”

“I talked to the tech specialist from that company. It hasn’t been in business for a long time and was never installed in this area, which means the homeowner probably had them put in on her own or through a private company using second-hand equipment. They only worked within the house on a closed circuit. There was evidence of a monitoring system in the one bedroom.”

Shae knew what Leah had been doing with the cameras. She always had to know what was going on. She had been especially nosy when it came to Shae’s contact with family and her day-to-day whereabouts. Leah had eventually encouraged her to be homebound, and it was widely known that others had been kept almost like prisoners. 

“So, she was keeping an eye on the girls she brought home,” Shae said. “If there was any problem, if they tried to step out of line with the girls, she would know.”

“Yeah, mother of the year,” mumbled Cam. “Thanks, Tim.” He patted the officer on the back and stepped away.

“Now what?” she asked, catching up to his side. “It’s hard to believe no one saw anything.”

“If they did, they aren’t saying anything. But we can still ask around. We’ll have to get a list of all of them and reach out. Someone knows something, and it’s about time that we start asking for their help.”

“I agree,” she said. “Did you talk to the people over there?” She pointed to the house on the other side of Leah’s. “Did they see anything? What about the neighbors behind her?”

A car pulled slowly from the street and into the driveway. 

Cam shrugged. “Well, I was going to say they aren’t home, but it looks like they are now.”

“Let’s go see what they know.” Shae walked across the lawn to the neighbors and met the man who stepped out of the car.

“Is everything okay?” the man asked.

“Do you live at this residence?”

The man wiped his brow. “I own the house. Rent it from time to time. Something happening with that bitch next door?”

“I see you’ve met Leah.” Cam gave Shae an exhausted look. He seemed as if he was beginning to believe everything that she’d told him about the woman.

“Is that her name? I never knew it. But I can tell you that she’s a piece of work. I went over to the house one day and knocked on the door to tell her that the house would be empty for a few months. Thought maybe she could keep an eye on it for me. Figured it was best to be neighborly. She informed me that I shouldn’t be lurking around her house and that she wasn’t interested in playing house sitter. I apologized, but she bit my head off for coming to her door and even warned me that she had a gun. She made damned sure I didn’t want to be her friend. I thought about calling you guys out then, seeing if she was as unstable as she seemed, but I thought better of it.”

“Did you ever see anyone else there?” Shae asked.

“Nah, but I thought she had kids. At least that’s what Edna and Benny had said. They keep an eye on the house for me. Good people.”

“Yeah, they are.” Cam smiled and cleared his throat. “We’ve been looking for the woman in connection with a case we’re working, and we have reason to believe that she’s dangerous. She’s moved away from here in the past few days, and we were hoping that you might have seen something.”

“I came by yesterday. There was a big white moving truck out here.”

“Did you see the company name by chance?” Shae thought it was worth a shot to ask.

The man shook his head. “I can’t tell you what company it was because they didn’t have anything on the truck, not even a phone number. I think it was probably a private company. Most don’t take the time to splurge for a fancy setup. All I know is if she’s moved away, good riddance. I hope she never comes back.”

Shae sighed. “I can understand that, but it doesn’t really help us get her off of the streets.”

“That bad, huh? Well, good luck. I always thought she seemed like the type of angry person who would go postal or shoot up her place of work. Something in her eyes was pure evil. Like she was dead and had no soul.”

Shae nodded. She couldn’t disagree. That was why she needed to track Leah down and stop her from tearing apart more innocent lives.