drew her feet up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around herself as she started to tremble. “I don’t know how he missed me. It was really close! It must have gone over the top of my head, just as I turned and fell.”
“Do you have any idea who it was?” asked Jack.
“No, but it was a biker.”
Jack and Danny exchanged a quick glance. Jack asked, “How do you know? You said you couldn’t see him too well.”
“Well, I just know. That’s who killed Crystal, ’cause she was runnin’ out on them. Red told me I was lucky I didn’t go with her or they’d have killed me, too.”
“Do you know who killed her?” asked Jack.
Marcie shook her head. “I don’t know. I hardly ever saw them. Just one guy. He’s really big and has a grey goatee. Red told me we all work for Satans Wrath. They charge all the girls a hundred bucks a day. She said they’d kill us if we try to leave owin’ them money.”
Marcie looked over at Danny and said, “Crystal did want me to go with her.”
“She liked you,” said Danny.
“She was my friend,” admitted Marcie, starting to weep.
“Try to relax,” said Jack. “I want you to tell us everything from the beginning. Why you left home. Who your relatives are. How you met Red. I want to know everything that’s ever happened to you, including things you’ve heard or saw. How much dope you’re using … everything. Understand?”
Marcie wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s gonna take a long time.”
“That’s okay,” said Jack. “We want all the details.” He looked at the frying pan and knew the smell of bacon wafting through the apartment would be hard to resist. “Are you sure you won’t change your mind on some breakfast? It’ll help warm you up.”
“Well, okay, thanks. Maybe a little,” replied Marcie, giving Jack a quick smile.
It was one o’clock in the afternoon before Marcie finished telling everything she could about herself, including what happened the night she was taken to a motel and what she knew about everyone else.
Danny went to the office and returned with two large photo albums.
“I want you to look through these pictures very carefully,” said Jack. “They’re photographs of every known member of Satans Wrath living in British Columbia. I want to see if you can recognize if it was one of them who drove you to the cabin.”
“If he’s in here, I’ll know him.”
Marcie turned just two pages before sitting up rigidly in the chair.
“That’s him!” She stabbed at the picture with her finger. “That’s the guy right there!”
“Are you sure?” asked Danny.
Marcie glared at Danny. “Of course I’m sure! I’ll never forget his face. Never!”
Jack took the book and looked at the picture. “Randy Bennett, alias Wizard. He’s the president of the west-side chapter.”
He thought about the significance of this. An executive member of Satans Wrath wouldn’t act as a pimp for some young girl or supply drugs to anyone who wasn’t a club member. Those jobs would be left for more expendable members. Whomever Wizard drove Marcie to meet in the cabin must be so important, or secret, that he wouldn’t delegate the job to someone else.
Jack looked at Marcie. How small and pathetic she looks. Life has dealt her a pretty dirty hand … yet there is still a spark of stubbornness in her. She’s not the type to give up easily.
“Good going, Marcie. I’m proud of you.”
“You’re proud of me?” She looked surprised.
“Yes, I am. You’re a fighter. You’ve been through a hell of a lot. Right now, though, I think you should go in there and get to bed. You’ve been through enough for one day!”
“What are you goin’ to do with me? Like, I can’t stay here. You’ve only got one bedroom. My grandma’s in a nursing home, so I can’t stay with her.”
“Trust me,” replied Jack, trying to give her a reassuring smile. “We won’t toss you out on the street. We are your friends. Real friends. I want you to remember that.”
Marcie smiled. “Thanks. For cops … I mean police, you guys are really nice.”
“Get some sleep; we’ll figure something out.”
An hour later Jack peeked in the bedroom and saw she was asleep. When he returned to the living room, Danny asked, “Do you think she’s honest about only using dope a few times?”
“I saw her arms when you went to the office. She pushed up her sleeves to wash the dishes. She didn’t have much in the way of needle marks. She told us about everything else, so I don’t think she would lie about that.”
“You made her wash the dishes after what she’s been through!”
“She insisted on washing while I dried. I think she wanted me to see her arms, to show she was telling the truth.”
“She’s a spunky kid. Most adults would be in a psych ward by now if they’d been through what she has.”
“She’s a tough little character. Pretty sharp, too. I also asked her if she told anyone about you being a cop. She said she didn’t. She was too scared.”
“Do you believe her?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe I can still give you inside cover.”
“I’ll meet Red tomorrow and try to arrange to meet her source later in the week.”
“So Eddy Trimble rides again.”
“A little longer, then he’ll disappear.”
Danny pointed toward the bedroom and said, “I still can’t help but wonder how she would have turned out if she had been raised by a real parent instead of a monster. I hope she’s not so screwed up now that it’s too late.”
Jack nodded in agreement.
“Too bad she doesn’t know who is supplying Red or who planted the bomb under Crystal’s car. Maybe it’s that Wizard guy.”
“I’m definitely going to take a personal interest in him,” said Jack. “But before justice is served on Wizard, I’m going find out who molested her in the cabin. From her description, it didn’t sound like a biker.”
Danny wondered what Jack’s definition of justice was. He cleared his throat and said, “She said something, that he called her cutesy, or something about, ‘Cutesy, it’s your turn now.’ Was he talking to her, or was he talking to the dog?”
“I don’t know.
