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

“You noticed that too, huh?” I replied quietly as we made our way out of the station.

“How could I not?” she scoffed. “That guy’s smile was creepy. And what was up with how he suddenly came back all mad?”

“The captain doesn’t like it when things don’t go his way,” Carson laughed as we stepped out onto the street.

Olivia’s face flushed as she realized that he’d heard our exchange, despite the fact that we’d been whispering.

“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly as he noted the embarrassed look on her face. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop on ye. Don’t worry, though. I’m not gonna tell the captain what ye said! Anyway, now that we’re outta that stuffy old office, why don’t we introduce ourselves properly? I’m Officer Walter Carson, but you folks can just call me Walter.”

Unlike the captain, Walter’s smile seemed genuine, and I didn’t get the impression that he was putting on a show or hiding anything from us.

“Good to meet you, Walter.” Olivia moved forward to shake his hand firmly. “I’m Agent Olivia Hastings. This is Agent Ethan Marston and Agent Robbie Holm.”

“Nice to meet you,” he responded as he shook each of our hands. “Are ye all FBI, then?”

“No, actually,” I replied. “Agent Hastings is, but Holm and I belong to an organization called MBLIS.”

“Embolis?” Walter cocked his head at us, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“M-B-L-I-S,” Holm spelled the acronym out for him. “It stands for Military Border Liaison Investigative Service. We handle crimes that cross borders or that involve multiple countries, or that take place out in international waters, stuff like that.”

“Ah, I see.” Walter nodded thoughtfully. “That explains why you’re here in Turks & Caicos, then, right? I understand now. The office has been all abuzz since we heard that we’d be getting a visit from FBI agents.”

“Yeah, you mentioned something about that,” Olivia muttered. “You said that no one else wanted to be assigned to work with us. Why is that?”

“They don’t want trouble.” Walter shrugged. “I heard the details of the case earlier. Ye all found some girl dead, right? Be perfectly honest with you, no one around here wants to go anywhere near a case involving a dead American girl.”

“So why did you volunteer?” I asked.

“Cause, unlike them, I actually take my job seriously,” he retorted before giving me a grin. “And because I knew it would piss off old Turner. Only reason he wanted Keys on the case with you is that Keys is a brown-nosing little snitch who would have reported everything you did back to the boss.”

“I’m shocked,” Olivia deadpanned.

“Yeah, well, lucky for you,” Walter chuckled, “Keys is on administrative leave right now. And by that, I mean he was arrested last night up in Grace Bay. Guess he got a little too carried away with the cocaine this time! Ah, you shoulda seen the look on the captain’s face when he marched into the main office to ask where Keys was. It surprised me he hadn’t heard since gossip’s been going around all morning.”

“Your captain didn’t know that one of his officers is in jail right now?” I asked, struck with disbelief at his words.

“Man, the captain doesn’t know nothing,” Walter laughed.

Walter seemed positively gleeful about that, and I wondered just what went on behind the closed doors of that police station. Nevertheless, I was glad we had someone like Walter working the case with us.

“Let’s go speak to the owner of the boat,” I suggested after checking the time. We’d dropped our bags off at the hotel earlier, and there was still plenty of daylight left for us to begin our investigation. “According to the information we managed to dig up, he runs a boat rental shop on the beach near here.”

“Let’s go then,” Olivia agreed. “He might have seen something. He might even recognize her if he’s a local.”

Our destination was the beach located at the northernmost part of the city. As we started walking, I realized that Olivia’s earlier statement about nothing really being far away on the island was true, since it would only take us about ten minutes to walk there.

“It’s so pretty,” Olivia remarked as we walked past the brightly colored buildings, flanked on either side by massive palm trees. On the streets, I could see locals and tourists alike walking around, admiring the scenery at a leisurely pace. It didn’t seem like anyone was in a rush to get anywhere, and I imagined that it would be an amazing place to actually have a vacation. If only we weren’t here for such a tragic reason.

“You know exactly where the place is?” Walter asked us a few minutes later as we stepped onto the beach.

“No,” I replied as I looked out along the coastline. It was stunning, coated in sand so pure and even that it almost looked white. “His address is near here, though. I figured since it’s the middle of the day, in the middle of tourist season, that he’d be out on the beach right now. We can check his home next if we can’t manage to find him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Walter hummed as he led us down the busy boardwalk. Shops and stalls lined the wide pedestrian boardwalk, and I couldn’t help but have a glance as we passed by. One particular stall caught my attention, not because of the way it looked, but because of the way it smelled.

The plump woman running the little place was deep-frying something inside of a large vat of oil before placing it onto a thick bun and piling it high with lettuce, tomato, and some kind of sauce I couldn’t readily identify.

“Ah, shark caught your eye, huh?” Walter called as he turned to see what I was looking at.

“What?” I asked, a little embarrassed at having been caught staring.

“The shark.” He nodded toward the stall. “Kinda thing you can only find here. Mama Rosie makes the best ones on the Western Island, too. Wanna stop and have some?”

“It’s alright,” I replied a