Page 31 of Justified Fear

They both waited for her to sit down.Interestingly, Maya had followed them in.Once all of them were sitting, Maya looked from Keely to Ryan, then back to Keely.She surprised Keely by walking to her side and lying down next to her chair.

Ryan’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything.

“So, how can I help?”

He blinked.He really did have the longest eyelashes.

“Okay.Well…”

He seemed a little confused.She looked at Kap.“What about me did you need to know?I assumed that you could find anything about me online or with your supercomputers or whatever.”

“We want to talk to you about an incident a few years ago in San Antonio.”

Flashes of that scary time came to her.That’s the way she always remembered it.She was fourteen and should remember those moments, but they were blurry.

“The Boot Mall.”

“Excuse me?”Kap asked.

“Sorry.There’s this giant boot in front of the mall.I’ve always called it The Boot Mall.”

“What can you tell us about that?”

“Not much.I was with a few of my friends.Jennifer’s mom dropped us off.Luna’s mom was going to pick us up.We did stuff like that all the time.”

“But you felt off?”

“Not at first.At first, we were having a blast.”She smiled as that memory came back to her.“We were really having such a good time.Shopping—mostly window shopping—and eating.That’s what did me in.We went to have a snack, and something just felt off after that.I didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s day, so I called my mom.I told them I would just wait for my mom outside and then…”

She blinked.

“And then?”Ryan asked, his voice gentle.

She shook her head.“Nothing.It’s all kind of blurry.Like I can remember something…but it’s all foggy.”

The agents shared a look.

“What?”She sighed.“It was years ago.What does this have to do with what happened Saturday night?”

Ryan opened a folder.“Do you know any of these people?”

She looked through the photographs.They all looked like teenagers.

“No.”

“All of these kids were kidnapped in the eighteen months leading up to your incident.”

“What?”

“They were all kidnapped from malls.”

She looked down at the pictures.“They all made it home?”

“Yes, because their parents paid a massive ransom.”

She looked up.“There was no ransom demand.If it wasn’t for the security guard, I might have been wandering around forever.”

“This guard, where did he find you?”