“I don’t think he actually had any money. He just let the traffickers use his cabin as a stopping point. He kept girls in his basement until someone came to pick them up. In exchange, Larkin or whoever else brought the girls also came bearing food and supplies. I think when he saw me, he decided he wanted me for himself. Apparently, they had told him he could choose a girl to keep if he played nicely. I was that lucky girl.” She shudders.
I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. Rubbing her soft skin against mine, I wonder how “lucky” she was. “What did he want you for?”
“Apparently, his wife had died several years back. He wanted someone to take care of everything she used to do. Cooking, cleaning, washing…”
“Did he…” I swallow. “Did he force himself on you?”
She smirks, sitting up taller. “Oh, he tried. The first night I was there, he came to me. I was sitting in the corner of my room on that mattress. I hadn’t been asleep. How the fuck could I sleep in that cabin? All I had was that one dress, so I had it pulled over my knees where I sat under the window. I didn’t want to rock the boat and risk him locking me in the basement again, so I played nice all day. But when he came to me, opening his pants, I lost it. There was no way I was going to let him touch me with even his hands, let alone his fucking cock.”
I’m rather shocked by Eloise’s crude words, but I shouldn’t be, nor do I blame her.
“When he grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me toward him, I screamed and fought him. I got several kicks in, but the clincher was when I bit him. I sank my teeth deep into his forearm. I drew blood.”
“Good girl.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t pleased. I thought he was going to kill me. While he was wailing and gripping his bloody arm, I ran out of the room and locked him inside. I paced outside the door while he shouted and kicked at the hardwood. It didn’t budge, which is how I knew better than to bother trying to escape that room myself.”
“But you didn’t run?”
She looks down. “Maybe I should have. I don’t know. He’d told me it was twenty miles to town and that there was only one road. I searched the house while he was locked in the room. He was wearing the only pair of shoes. I could have put on socks, but how was I going to walk twenty miles in the mountains? And to what end? The moment Larkin found out I was gone, I would have been arrested.”
Eloise is calmer now. She’s telling all of this matter-of-factly as if it happened to someone else. As if it were fiction.
She lifts her gaze. “I bargained with him through the door instead. I told him I would stay and be his fucking maid if he agreed to never touch me. I told him if he ever opened his pants in front of me again, I would kill myself. Then he wouldn’t have a maid.”
“And he agreed?” I lace my fingers with hers.
“Yes. I’ve asked myself a million times if I should have run that night. I’ll never know. I decided biding my time and playing the dutiful maid was preferable to risking prison time for crimes I did not commit.”
“And Larkin came to make sure you were being the obedient slave once a month.”
“Yes. Give or take. He wasn’t specific about when he showed up. Sometimes only a week later. Sometimes five weeks. Never more than that.”
“Did he continue to bring other women and girls, using the place as a waystation?”
She shakes her head and shivers. “No. I don’t think I could have handled that. I heard Larkin and Westin arguing about that the first time Larkin came to check on me. He must have found another place to stash his victims. No one besides Larkin ever came to the cabin.”
“Until when? What changed?”
“Westin died about six months ago.”
“Died?”
She nods. “I guess he had a heart attack. He was eating breakfast, suddenly clutched at his chest, and fell onto the floor. I stared at him for a long time. There was no way I was going to help the piece of shit. I think he died instantly because his eyes never blinked. They stayed open and never closed. His body went slack and still.”
“Jesus, Eloise. That must have freaked you the fuck out.”
“It did. I didn’t have a clue what to do. On the one hand, I felt freer than I had in years. On the other hand, what the hell was I going to do? I figured I had two choices. Wait for Larkin to come, who would undoubtedly sell me to someone else, or make a run for it. So I stole the shoes off Westin’s feet, strapped them on tightly, stuffed my backpack with sandwiches, took all the money from Westin’s wallet, and started walking. I should have known they’d both lied to me. It was only a few miles to the nearest town. I didn’t dare stop there, though. I went around the town that night and kept going. I walked that entire night until I got far enough away that I thought I could at least stop for shoes that would fit me better. I went into a gas station that morning, hoping for tennis shoes. Instead, I got lucky. An older woman was pumping gas. She saw me approaching and offered me a ride. I took a chance. She didn’t ask me a single question. She simply made small talk as she drove for miles and miles until she came to a larger town. She stopped in front of a bus station, opened her purse, and handed me all the money she had. I don’t know how she knew I was in trouble, but I thank God for her every day. She patted my hand and told me to get a ticket as far away as I could go.”
“Do you suppose she knew who you were or where you’d come from?”
Eloise shakes her head. “No. She said someone once helped her when she was in a dire situation. She recognized that I was desperate, so she wanted to pay it forward.” My girl wipes at her eyes. “It had been so long since I’d known kindness.”
“Thank goodness for her. So this was six months ago?”
“Yes. I figured Seattle was as far away from Virginia as I could get, so I bought a ticket in cash and rode that bus across the country.”
“And you’ve been looking over your shoulder ever since?”
