Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16), Matt Lincoln [best book recommendations .txt] 📗

intimidating look, and I wondered if she was the reason MBLIS was squabbling with the FBI over jurisdiction.

“Nice to meet you,” the director said as he stood to shake mine and Holm’s hands. “I was the one who got in contact with your director. When I heard the details of the case, well, it became evident that this might be more complex than we initially thought.”

“Right,” Holm replied. “We heard that you think the kid came here from Turks and Caicos. That would put it under MBLIS jurisdiction.”

I noted as Holm spoke that one of the women, the older one, Barbara, seemed to flinch at his words. That was peculiar.

“Not necessarily,” Agent Hastings spoke up. “As it currently stands, only one of the cases falls within your jurisdiction.”

“Huh?” Holm raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean, one of the cases?”

“Why don’t we start from the beginning?” Director Evans suggested. “It would be good to get everyone on the same page before we decide anything.”

“I agree.” I nodded.

“I’ll make some coffee for everyone,” Mrs. Abernathy declared before bustling off to the kitchen.

“I’ll take the floor,” Holm declared before suddenly plopping himself down on the shaggy carpet. I was confused as to what he was doing until I looked up and realized that the only spot free was on the couch, directly next to the hostile Agent Olivia.

She shot me a cold glare, and I silently cursed Holm as I moved forward to take a seat next to her.

She didn’t even try to hide her disdain as she turned to glare at me. I felt goosebumps rise along my arm at her stare. Still, I couldn’t help but notice how nice her perfume smelled, like cotton and vanilla.

“Alright,” Mrs. Abernathy sighed as she handed out an assortment of mismatched mugs before taking a seat on an ottoman in front of one of the armchairs. “Mrs. Newark, I know we’ve already been through this a few times, but would you mind explaining everything one more time to the two gentlemen?”

“I think she’s feeling a little stressed right now,” the younger of the two women immediately piped up.

“No, it’s okay,” the older woman replied softly.

“Mom, don’t push yourself,” the younger one, Christina urged her.

“It’s alright.” Mrs. Newark smiled warmly at her daughter. “They’re here to help. All these years, I’ve hoped for a miracle, and now it seems like it’s finally happening.”

“Okay…” Christina muttered though she seemed reluctant to let her mother continue.

Mrs. Newark took a long, deep breath before continuing.

“Nineteen years ago, my daughter disappeared,” she began quietly. “My husband and I didn’t have a lot of money when we got married. We were young, and I was pregnant, and we decided that we should focus on our daughter, so we never had a honeymoon. Then, the year that she turned five, we got a big promotion at work, so we--”

She stuttered to a halt and bit her lip.

“Mom, it’s okay if you want to stop.” Christina gently rubbed her mother’s back.

“No!” Mrs. Newark croaked as she furiously rubbed tears from her eyes. “No. It’s alright. Just give me a moment.”

The entire room was silent as we waited for her to continue. I could tell, just by looking at her, that remembering this and talking about it was causing her a great deal of pain, and I didn’t want to interrupt.

“We decided we’d finally take a little vacation,” she continued after clearing her throat. “It was the honeymoon we never got to have, except this was even better because we’d have our little girl with us. We spent a few days researching vacation destinations before we settled on Turks and Caicos.”

I exchanged a silent look with Holm but didn’t say anything.

“We bought tickets and flew out the next day.” She smiled bitterly. “It was all so last minute and rushed. If only we’d… Anyway, we were on vacation. It was the fourth night, and Allison had fallen asleep. She was only five, she couldn’t stay up very late, especially after spending all day playing at the beach. My husband and I decided to head down to the hotel bar to have a few drinks.”

Her voice had become more distant and robotic as she continued her story, as though she was trying to disassociate herself from what she was saying.

“She was right upstairs in the hotel room,” she muttered weakly. “We… We didn’t even leave the hotel. We were right downstairs in the lobby. The door was locked. I don’t— I don’t understand.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what must have happened then. It was clear by the tone of her voice and the way she was struggling to even continue speaking.

“When we went back upstairs, she was gone,” she said flatly. “I thought we’d come into the wrong room at first because she wasn’t in bed where we’d left her. But all our luggage was there. Our money was there. The stupid little souvenirs we’d bought were still there. But she--”

She finally broke down, unable to hold back her tears any longer.

“We spent months looking for her,” she sobbed. “I didn’t want to come back to the US without her. But then we started having issues with our visas, and I found out that I was pregnant with Chris. I didn’t want to give birth there. I couldn’t stand the idea of having a child of mine anywhere near that place. So we came back without her.”

“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Newark,” I muttered, unsure what else I could possibly say after hearing such a horrific story.

“But now, Eddy’s here!” she rasped as she ran her fingers through the child’s hair before looking up at me with pleading eyes. “He said that he came here with his mom, on a boat. Turks and Caicos aren’t that far from Miami. He’s her spitting image, and Agent Olivia said they ran DNA tests! He’s related to us, s-so, that means she must be here too, right?”

Suddenly, everything began to fall into place,