The 24th Victim

Lillian Cowfer, a human trafficker who had been on the run for ten years, was finally caught. On the day of her public trial, she listened to the charges against her. Then she suddenly smiled. "I object. The indictment says I kidnapped 23 people, but that's not true. I kidnapped 24." The entire courtroom fell silent. Lillian's smile grew more mysterious. "You all say I destroyed 23 families and that I'm guilty of the worst crimes imaginable. But this 24th victim didn't have a family to begin with. I even found her a new family. Isn't that a good thing?" The prosecutor leaned toward the judge and whispered, "Your Honor, there have only been 23 kidnapping cases over the years. She may be making this up on purpose to delay the trial and buy herself more time." But just as the judge was about to bring down the gavel, Lillian suddenly shouted. "Your Honor, your daughter hasn't come home in three years. Don't you want to know where she is?" Chapter 1 Everyone in the gallery, including me, stared at my father, Mason Leighton, in shock. But he stayed calm. "My daughter Claire is at home," he said. "Stop making up lies. Statements like these will only make your punishment more severe." I had already guessed he would say that. But hearing it with my own ears still broke my heart. Lillian Cowfer was just as shocked. "Your Honor, you're so heartless. Carol waited for you to come home and get her until the very end. And you didn't even report her missing." Lillian stared straight into his eyes, as if trying to find even the smallest crack in his calm expression. "If that bitch hadn't secretly let them go, I never would have been caught. She was so stubborn. Even after being assaulted by 23 men, she still had the strength to curse at us. She kept saying that her father was a judge and that he would have us executed." Mason's breathing grew heavy. "Enough! If you keep making these ridiculous claims, the court will consider it a refusal to confess and sentence you more harshly under the law!" Just before the court was adjourned, Lillian suddenly said, "Carol is already dead. I'm doomed either way, but before I'm executed, I really want to see your reaction." Mason said nothing for a long time. I floated in front of him, hoping to see even the slightest trace of shock or pain on his face. But there was nothing. His fists were clenched so tightly that the veins on his hands bulged. He was angry. After a long silence, he finally forced himself to speak. "This case will be postponed and returned for further investigation." As soon as he stepped down from the bench, he went straight to the head of the criminal investigation team, Alexander Lockwood. "Carol may be one of their accomplices," he said. "Lillian's statement is most likely meant to buy Carol time to escape. Focus your search on Harmony Estates and Greenwood Cemetery." I almost laughed until I cried blood. For more than 1,000 days after I was kidnapped, I had imagined how heartbroken Mason would be when he finally learned what had happened to me. I never imagined that he would think I was an accomplice of the kidnappers. Worse, he believed that my old home and my mother Sofia Leighton's grave were places where I might be hiding. Alexander said nothing. He simply patted Mason on the shoulder. Because I was involved in the case, Mason had to recuse himself from the investigation. As the court clerk handled the handover, he couldn't help whispering to another clerk. "Life is so unfair. Judge Leighton's career has gone so well, but his wife died when he was still young. Now his own daughter has become a criminal suspect. At least he has such an outstanding stepdaughter. She may even follow in his footsteps someday." The new judge gave the clerk a warning look. The clerk immediately fell silent. Mason never heard any of it. He hurried out of the courthouse. Everyone thought he had been unable to handle the shock. But only I knew the truth. He was rushing home to celebrate Claire's birthday. Claire Leighton was the perfect stepdaughter everyone was talking about. She was Mason's precious little girl. And she was also the person who was truly responsible for my death. Chapter 2 The moment Mason opened the door, Claire ran straight into his arms. "Happy birthday, Claire." Mason smiled warmly as he pulled out the strawberry cake he had hidden behind his back. "Wow! Thanks, Dad!" Wendy Leighton walked out of the kitchen and laughed when she saw them. "You're already 24. How can you still act like such a little kid?" I floated in behind Mason. Seeing the happy family of three together broke my heart. I hadn't been home in three years. Now, everything that belonged to me was gone. 15 years ago, Mason had decided to marry Wendy because he wanted me to have someone to take care of me. He also thought I would have a sister. But in the end, I became the most unwanted person in the family. Back then, he often took me to court with him and let me sit in the gallery during his hearings. He would also laugh whenever I seriously recited laws to him. I didn't know when he had started to hate me. Maybe it was when Wendy secretly bought me a doll, then cried to Mason and claimed that I had stolen Claire's toy. Maybe it was when Claire hid a cheat sheet in my pencil case before an exam, then reported me to the teacher for cheating during the test. Because of that, my test was canceled, and I was forced to attend trade school. Or maybe it was when they went on a family vacation without me. When they came home, Wendy claimed that her gold necklace was missing. Then Claire "found" it under my bed. I still remembered how angry Mason was that day. He took me to the police station and forced me to admit that I had stolen it. I screamed hysterically. "I didn't take it! That bitch set me up..." A slap cut me off. Mason's hand was shaking as he pointed at me. "Carol, what happened to you? Your mother gave her life to bring you into this world. How could you do something like this?" "If Mom knew you were treating me like this because of that bitch, she would never forgive you!" "Carol!" Mason was furious. He ordered the police to arrest me for theft. I spent the night in a holding cell. The next morning, Wendy pretended to be kind and convinced Mason to take me home. But when I walked out of the police station, I refused to get into the car. The moment Mason looked away, I turned and ran. When I finally stopped, I realized I was standing in front of Sofia's grave. Sofia had died from complications while giving birth to me. I barely knew her, so I had never felt very close to her. But when I saw the smiling photograph on her grave, I still broke down in tears. By the time Mason found me, I had curled up beside the grave and fallen asleep with tears still on my face. It seemed like he finally realized that he had been wrong. He said nothing and simply carried me home on his back. I didn't want to live with them anymore. So, I moved back into our old house alone, the place that was still filled with traces of Sofia. I also decided to take the SAT and study law so I could get my life back on track. Mason didn't object. He even gave me some extra money for living expenses. He would also call me regularly to check on my studies. But just when I thought everything was finally getting better, everything changed. That night, I suddenly felt a sharp pain between my legs. When I opened my eyes, I saw a man on top of me, moving against me. I screamed in terror and tried to fight him off. Then, at that exact moment, someone slammed the front door open. Chapter 3 Mason rushed inside. The moment he saw what was happening, he almost fainted from shock. The man realized something was wrong. He quickly pulled on his pants and climbed out the window. Claire came in right behind Mason. She covered her eyes and screamed. "Carol, is this why you moved out? So you could sleep with men?" Wendy quickly supported Mason and blamed me. "Carol, this is too much." I immediately realized that this was another trap planned by Wendy and Claire. I fought through the terrible pain between my legs and reached for my phone. "I'm calling the police! I don't even know that man! You two set me up..." But Mason's eyes turned bloodshot. He snatched my phone away and gritted his teeth. "Carol, haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?" He wanted to say more. But suddenly, he froze. Then he collapsed right in front of me. "Dad!" Claire and Wendy exchanged a quick glance. They soon called an ambulance, but they refused to let me ride with them. I was about to call a cab to the hospital myself when someone suddenly pressed a handkerchief over my mouth and nose. That was how my three-year nightmare began. A short notification sound pulled me back to the present. Alexander had sent Mason a picture. It showed a bloodstained shoe lying on its side inside a pigpen. Mason recognized it immediately. It was my shoe. He suddenly stood up and almost knocked over Claire's strawberry cake. "This has to be one of Carol's tricks." Mason was extremely agitated. His hands were shaking so badly that he almost dropped his phone while typing. "Captain Lockwood, I request permission to go to the scene myself. Carol has pretended to be a victim many times since she was a child. I know her." The car sent to pick up Mason arrived downstairs soon after. My spirit followed him into the car. After leaving the city, the car entered the highway and continued straight. About an hour and a half later, we passed through a toll booth. Then we turned left and exited onto a county road. Once we entered the mountains, the car turned right. The slope grew steeper and steeper. Soon, we reached a series of sharp left turns winding up the mountain. I silently watched the road outside the window. It was exactly the same route I had sensed when I was blindfolded. Mason had handled many kidnapping cases during his career. Because of that, I had known since I was a child that a kidnapping victim must not panic. You had to stay calm and remember the route as much as possible. At that moment, Mason pulled his wallet from his pocket. I floated closer to look. Inside was a picture of Wendy and Claire together. He pulled the picture out. Underneath it was another photo. In the picture, I was still a little girl sitting in the judge's chair, holding a toy gavel and smiling at Mason. He unconsciously rubbed his finger across my face in the picture. Then he opened my message thread. "Carol, stop resisting. If you turn yourself in, I can ask the judge for a lighter sentence." I scrolled up through our old messages. Only then did I realize that he had sent me so many messages over the past three years. At first, he had written. "If you don't come home soon, don't ever call me your father again!" Then. "I signed you up for the SAT this year." Later. "Fine, don't come home. But are you not even going to visit your mother's grave anymore?" His final message was. "Carol, I don't want the next time I see you to be in my courtroom." I silently floated in front of Mason. Dad, you'll never see me again. The pigs in that pen had already eaten me. "Judge Leighton, we're here." Mason looked up. But he seemed slow to understand what Alexander had said. When he got out of the car, his legs were trembling slightly. He stubbornly kept calling my phone. "Carol, please pick up. If you come out now, we can still count it as you turning yourself in. If we find you ourselves, it will be too late." Alexander held up a sealed evidence bag. His expression was complicated. "Judge Leighton, this is a tissue sample we collected from the scene. If Lillian's statement is true, then this is most likely..." Chapter 4 Mason's body swayed as he shakily took the evidence bag. Inside were bloody pieces of flesh and bone, mixed with several teeth and fingernails. Alexander watched Mason's face carefully before speaking. "Besides the two who escaped, we successfully rescued the other 21 victims. So..." I let out a sigh of relief. Thank God they had all escaped. When I was first sold to Blackwood Township, I acted extremely obedient to make the men lower their guard. I even helped the buyers brainwash the new girls who arrived. Once, I caught a girl who tried to escape. I knew the road she had taken was a dead end. If she were caught, she would suffer endless torture. That day, I grabbed Michelle Windrow by the hair and dragged her back toward town. "Try to run, huh?" I shouted. "I'll break your leg right now!" Her blood splashed across my face. Michelle's terrified face looked completely red through the blood covering my eyes. I dropped the hoe and went to talk to Michelle's buyer. "John, you paid 3,000 dollars for her. Breaking her leg should be enough. If you punish her too badly and she ends up mentally disabled, she'll only become a burden to you." John Walker thought my words made sense. Unlike the other women who had tried to escape, he didn't punish Michelle severely. He simply took her home in silence. After that, everyone in town trusted me even more. I became the only kidnapped girl who was allowed to move freely around town. I never wasted an opportunity to escape. I constantly tested different routes out of the town. On New Year's Eve, all the men in town were drunk. That was when I finally escaped from the mountains and reached the highway. I was overwhelmed with joy. But then I suddenly calmed down. I knew exactly what would happen to the girls who were still there if the townsfolk discovered I had escaped before the police arrived. So, I stood up and turned around. I went back. All I hoped was that when Mason came to rescue me, he would be proud of me. But now, Mason was holding the only pieces of me that remained. His lips trembled as he said, "These have to be pig remains. Carol sat in on many cases when she was young. She knows that pig bones and teeth look very similar to human ones. She did this on purpose to confuse us and buy herself time to escape." The two officers exchanged a glance. Neither said a word. Alexander sighed. "Let's take them back to the station and send them for testing." I never expected Wendy and Claire to be waiting at the station too. Claire hurried over nervously and grabbed the edge of Mason's jacket. "Dad, what happened? You didn't come home all night. Mom went to the courthouse this morning to bring you some food, but they told her you had left with Captain Lockwood. Did something happen to Carol? Did you find her?" "No." Mason's voice was hoarse. He looked much older than he had the night before. "But we're close." Wendy looked sad on the surface, but her words were clearly meant to stir things up. "If only we hadn't agreed to let her move out. Who would have thought she would run away with some man at such a young age? And now she's gotten herself into this mess..." So that was why Mason never reported me missing. Thankfully, the truth would soon come out. Just then, someone I never expected walked into the police station. "My name is Michelle Windrow. I'm the 19th victim kidnapped by Lillian." Mason immediately rushed over. He grabbed Michelle firmly by both shoulders. "Have you seen Carol?" Michelle nodded. Then she pulled up her pant leg and revealed her badly crooked left leg. "This is what Carol did to me when she caught me trying to escape." Just then, Alexander hurried into the lobby with a report in his hand. "Judge Leighton, the DNA test results are back."