I calm my heart rate so I don’t freak her out with all my questions.
“That is horrible.Had she been a patient for long?Did you know her well?”
“Yes.At least eighteen months.That’s how long teenagers usually need their braces on for.At least.”
Jesus.
A young woman.
Louisa—it must be her.
Fuck.
My instinct was right.I don’t believe in coincidences, so when I remembered how Caylee had run off that day, at around the same time, I knew there had to be some connection.
Louisa went missing from the area, and the look on her face when she was on the phone wasn’t of someone learning they were late returning from lunch.
I had no idea the girl had been a dental patient, and as that starts to percolate in my mind, so do a lot more questions.
“What do you think happened?”
I keep my response tamped down, because while the case is obviously classified, I don’t want her to ask me any details about what might have happened.
The horrifying truth about what takes place once these innocent girls are taken is hard to stomach.They are sold to violent and evil people and violated on every level possible.
Right now, Louisa will be in shock.
Terrified.
And her fear is warranted.All her human rights have been stripped.If she hasn’t been raped already, she will be soon.Repeatedly.She no longer has free will—she’s a prisoner.A slave.
She belongs to the people who paid for her and are responsible for her kidnapping.
The reality of it, now over twenty-four hours later, will have sunk in.Assuming she’s conscious and not drugged.
Louisa will be hungry and dehydrated.
This is how they control them, how they make them compliant.Using drugs, hunger and fear.She’ll be told that her family’s lives are in danger and if she doesn’t comply, they’ll be killed.
Louisa is now a human slave.
She may still be in the United States, or she could be in a foreign country.There’s a ninety percent chance she’s already out of the country.
It’s estimated that less thanhalfof one percent of sex trafficking victims are identified and rescued.Put into perspective, if one hundred kids are taken, onlyonewould likely be recovered.
“I don’t know.”Caylee answers me.“She has a boyfriend, so everyone thinks she might’ve run away with him.”
“Do you?”
“No, Brad does.I don’t.”
“Brad is your boss?”I ask, and she nods.“Why does he think that?”
Caylee brushes my question off.“He has no idea; he didn’t even know she had a boyfriend.Her parents are horrified, and I would’ve liked to see him show more compassion.It surprised me, honestly.”
Interesting.
I note that in the back of my mind.
