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

you and your mommy sure had a lot of friends,” I remarked as I looked at the drawing. I counted at least ten blobs around the little one. “Were the ladies nice to you?”

“Yeah.” Eddy nodded. “Dey play with me when Mommy gone, and we play hide and seek from the bad guys.”

“Uh-oh,” I replied. “Who are the bad guys?”

“Dey mean,” Eddy mumbled. He was rocking back and forth more intensely now, and his chin was tucked into his chest. I’d noticed that the kid hadn’t been making eye contact with me the entire time we’d been talking, but I’d assumed it might just be a result of his developmental issues. Now that he’d brought up “bad guys,” I wondered if there might be more to it.

“They were mean to you?” I frowned. “I’m very sorry to hear that, Eddy.”

I wanted to ask him for more details on what he meant by mean, but I was worried that it might just upset him. He already seemed like he was in distress.

“Eddy,” Agent Hastings chimed in.

He looked at her right away, which confirmed my suspicion that it was me, specifically, that the kid was unable to look in the eye. My stomach churned at the thought of what he might have experienced to have that kind of reaction to men as opposed to women.

“You want to know something cool about my friend Ethan?” she asked him as she placed a hand on my shoulder. I might have laughed at the idea of her calling me her ‘friend’ when she’d been practically murdering me with her eyes earlier if it hadn’t been for the kid. “He’s got a super cool power. See, Ethan is a good guy. His special power is beating up bad guys, just like that stegosaurus beat up that mean T-Rex.”

Eddy glanced over at me for just a second, his eyes wide and sparkling with a mix of awe and skepticism.

“Isn’t that right, Ethan?” Olivia muttered pointedly.

“Yep.” I grinned at Eddy. “I’m gonna find those bad guys and beat them up for being mean to my friend, Eddy.”

A long moment of silence passed before Eddy replied.

“Okay,” he mumbled. He was looking away from me again, but I could see the ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Eddy, could you tell us more about what happened with the men?” Olivia asked.

I held my breath as I waited for the kid to answer. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Mrs. Abernathy was hovering nearby, likely ready to step in the moment the kid got too stressed.

“Dey were mean,” Eddy repeated his earlier statement. “Dey got mad and hit. Hitting not nice.”

“You’re right,” I agreed as I attempted to maintain my cool. “That isn’t nice at all.”

“Did they hit you, Eddy?” Olivia asked directly.

“No,” he mumbled to my intense relief. “When dey get mad, Danny play hide and seek wit me.”

“So they would only hit the ladies?” I asked as the picture started to become clearer.

“Yeah,” he replied. “But no face.”

“What?” I asked.

“No face,” he repeated. “No hitting face, or no money.”

“Oh my word,” Mrs. Newark cried suddenly, her face ashen white.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I could barely believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. It was obvious he was just parroting what he’d heard someone else say, but still, it was obvious what the implication was.

“Why don’t we stop here for now?” Mrs. Abernathy suggested as she strode back into the room. “Mrs. Newark, can I get you some water?”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Agent Hastings replied before looking straight at Eddy. “You’ve been a super big help, buddy.”

She stood up and indicated for me to follow with a quick flick of her head. I got up and followed her into the kitchen, passing Christina as she made her way back into the living room.

“Well, as horrified as I am, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Olivia sighed as we stepped into the kitchen. “I mean, Allison was missing for twenty years and suddenly reappears with a kid?”

“How much of that did you manage to catch?” I turned to look at Holm.

“All of it, pretty much,” he replied, his face twisted into a disturbed sneer. “Ugh, that poor kid.”

“Well, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what the situation is, right?” Olivia looked between the two of us. “Judging from the circumstances of her disappearance and Eddy’s description, it’s likely that Allison was being trafficked. She must have gotten pregnant at some point and had Eddy.”

“And… they just let her keep him?” Holm asked incredulously. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they did, but surely it would have been easier and safer to just get rid of him, right? I feel like the last thing a pimp’s going to want around is a screaming baby.”

“You’re not wrong,” Olivia muttered. “It is strange. Regardless, that’s what we have to work with right now.”

Before either of us could respond, Holm’s phone went off.

“It’s the office,” he informed us. “Just a second.”

He stepped out of the kitchen to take the call, leaving Olivia and me alone.

She was staring off into space, an unsettled look in her eyes.

“You okay?” I asked.

She blinked at me in surprise before smiling ruefully.

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “It just never gets easier, you know? Kids, I mean.”

I knew exactly what she meant. I’d thought the same thing myself several times just today. It was always worse when kids were involved.

“I hear you,” I sighed.

“You were great in there, by the way.” She smiled at me. “With Eddy, I mean. A lot of people freeze up or put their feet in their mouths when it comes to interacting with kids. You managed to connect with him, though. I’m impressed.”

“Well, I’m glad I surpassed your expectations.” I smiled back at her. She had an adorable, toothy smile and a little dimple on her cheek when she did.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” she scoffed playfully. “I could definitely use a drink after