The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4)

by Remington Kane

  The woman pointed at the stack of flyers in Keri’s hand.

  “May I see one of those?”

  Keri handed the flyer to the woman and saw her study it carefully.

  “I’ve seen her,” the woman said, and Keri felt her hopes soar.

  “Where? Where have you seen her?”

  “That I’m not sure of, but I know it was a day or two after New Year’s Day. She was with her boyfriend, Richie.”

  “Yes, I’m sure she was, but please, please try to remember where in Miami you saw her.”

  “Oh, no it wasn’t here, it was in the Keys, but I’m not sure which one because we were traveling about at the time, but hold on a second and let me call my daughter. She might remember exactly where it was, because she and Rachel had talked for a while.”

  The woman called her daughter, but she was equally unable to recall where she’d seen Rachel, although she did remember her. She also recalled that Rachel and Richie were with another young couple. She couldn’t recall the boy’s name, but the other girl was named Olivia.

  When the call ended, the old nurse tried to recall the name of the Key, but could only say that it wasn’t one of the better known ones.

  In the end, all Keri could do was pass along a contact number and hope that the woman would recall more later.

  Keri thanked the woman, who was named Margaret, hung a few more flyers, and walked out to the front of the hospital to find a cab to take back to her motel.

  When she had one foot inside a taxi, she heard her name being called, and looked back at the hospital entrance, where the older nurse was running towards her and waving.

  After asking the cabbie to wait, she met the woman, who had to catch her breath before she could speak.

  “Oh, I’m so glad I caught you. I remembered which Key it was as I opened my purse to take out my reading glasses, because I bought the case for them there. It’s a hard case made of real tortoise shell, and I remembered that Rachel admired it.”

  “What’s the name of the Key?”

  In answer, Margaret showed Keri the inside of the tortoise shell case, and pointed to a small tag that read: THE ODDS & ENDS SHOP - KITAMURA KEY, FLORIDA

  Keri grinned.

  “Oh thank you so much, now I have somewhere to search.”

  “You’re welcome, dear, but I remembered something else too. Rachel was looking for work, she and Richie were both going up and down the boardwalk there filling out applications.”

  “Good, maybe someone will remember them.”

  Keri gave Margaret a hug.

  “Thank you,”

  “I wish you luck, dear, I can only imagine how hard it must be to not know where your child is, even if she is grown.”

  “She’s grown, but she’s also my baby,” Keri said, and then she headed towards her motel room to pack for Kitamura Key.

  ***

  San Diego, California

  Summer Gray sent forth a dazzling smile, as she entered the small hotel conference room and met the man who would be ghostwriting her upcoming book.

  The book would deal with the role she played in ending the reign of the serial killer, Numerical, but would also be part autobiographical as well.

  The ghostwriter was a middle-aged man named Robert Weaver, and when Weaver saw Summer enter the room, his mouth went dry.

  Her pictures don’t do her justice. Weaver thought, as he answered Summer’s smile with one of his own.

  Although he had authored over thirty books, Weaver’s name had never appeared on any of them.

  And while his specialty was the ghostwriting of celebrity autobiographies, he had also written several novels under a pen name.

  Weaver was thirty-two, divorced, and the father of one child, a boy of six. He was a handsome man who stayed in shape solely by the blessing of a fast metabolism, as he was a junk food addict who hated exercise.

  Summer walked over, shook his offered hand, and asked a question.

  “Are you my writer?”

  Robert felt his breath catch as he stared into her green eyes.

  “Yes, Dr. Gray, and my name is Robert Weaver.”

  “Call me Summer, Robert.”

  They took seats across from each other at a small corner table. There was another table in the room, one built to seat ten. It was unneeded, but they were in the smallest conference room the hotel had, and the publisher was footing the bill.

  A floor to ceiling window offered a view of the Pacific Ocean, while also filling the room with light.

  Summer was using her own money to rent a room on the seventeenth floor.

  “Have you ever worked with a ghostwriter before, Summer?”

  “No, but my agent said that all I really had to do was answer your questions and that you would write the book.”

  “Your agent is right, but I need more than answers to questions. What I find that helps, is to let the client just talk about themselves, their relationships, their childhood, things like that.”

  “My childhood?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do we have to talk about that?”

  “Yes, to some extent.”

  “Couldn’t we just skip that completely?”

  “Not if we’re to stay within the publisher’s guidelines.”

  Summer frowned and then heard her phone ring. When she checked the caller ID, she didn’t recognize the number, but would answer it anyway, to put off talking about her childhood.

  “I’m sorry, Robert, but I have to take this.”

  “Go ahead, and while you’re doing that, I’ll order a pot of coffee.”

  While Robert picked up the house phone, Summer stepped into the hallway and answered the call.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me, Summer.”

  “Todd? Why are you calling me?”

  “You know why?”

  “I already told you, my lawyer says that I don’t have to give you a cent of my book deal money. We’re divorced now, so stop calling me.”

  “I’m a damn cripple because of you, Summer! That bastard Numerical crushed my legs to stumps and now you think you can just make millions off writing a book about it while I receive nothing? No damn it, No! I want every penny of that book deal, or I’ll get a book deal of my own.”

  “What book deal?”

  “How’s this for a title, ‘Summer Gray: The real truth about America’s Sweetheart Profiler,’”

  Summer said nothing for a few seconds, but then she smiled into the phone.

  “You can’t tell the truth, if you did, you would go to jail too.”

  Todd laughed, and the sound was harsh and full of bitterness.

  “I’m a damn cripple, Summer, and I’ve got no money. Do you know what kind of life I’ll have? Prison doesn’t scare me; it’s all I can do some days not to blow my brains out. I want that money, I need that money, and I’ve got nothing to lose. Do you hear me?”

  Summer was standing alone in a hallway that led to several conference rooms, but she looked around warily and spoke in a whisper.

  “I never killed anyone, Todd, that was all you. The worst thing I ever did was hurt that girl, Missy Collins, but you, you’ll be locked up for life.”

  “You’re an accessory you stupid bitch, don’t you get that? You’ve got one week, and if I don’t get the money, I’ll publish my own book. I’ve started writing down everything I remember, and let me tell you, we did a lot of bad shit.”

  Summer pouted.

  “You did the bad things, not me.”

  “We’ll see what the law and the public think about that, Dr. Summer Gray. You’ve got one week.”

  Summer’s phone went dead, and she began to scheme about ways to get rid of Todd.

  CHAPTER 6

  The following day, Jessica laughed as she watched her husband playing with their children in the sand.

  It had been a long time since they enjoyed a real vacation, and this was the first one they’ve shared as a family.

  Out in th
e water, she could see Maggie learning to surf, thanks to lessons from their neighbor, Cole Renner.

  Jessica thought that it might be the beginning of a romance, but Maggie seemed to be keeping the handsome Cole at a safe distance, and Jessica wondered if Maggie’s relationship with Jace was more serious than she or her husband had guessed it was.

  When she reached for the suntan lotion and found that it was nearly empty, she rose up from the blanket she was sitting on and grabbed her beach robe. She was wearing a red bikini and had received several admiring glances, some that came from men years younger than herself.

  The polite ogling pleased her, as she had recently gotten back in shape, and planned to stay that way.

  When her husband looked over at her, Jessica held up the tube of sunscreen and called to him.

  “I’m going to get more. I don’t want the kids to burn.”

  He waved to her, and off she went, as Maggie’s laughter carried on the wind.

  ***

  On the Kitamura Key boardwalk, Keri was hanging more flyers.

  She had been to every store along the boardwalk and all the hotels, and came away with only one more bit of news about her daughter.

  She had learned the first names of the other couple who were seen with Rachel and Richie, but no one had seen her daughter in months, although one woman did mentioned that she tried to contact Rachel to come in for a job interview and never heard back from her. That took place not long after Keri had last heard from her daughter.

  Keri had just finished putting up another flyer when she turned and found a woman reading it over her shoulder.

  “Is that your daughter?”

  “Yes, have you seen her?”

  “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t.”

  “She was here in January, her and her boyfriend. From what I’ve gathered, they spent nearly a week here.”

  “In a hotel or at the home of a friend?”

  “I don’t know, but they were seen in the company of another couple. A girl named Olivia and a boy named Cole.”

  “Cole? Cole Renner?”

  “I don’t know his last name, but yes, his name is Cole. Do you know where I can find him?”

  “I don’t know if it’s the right Cole, but he’s on the beach. I’ll take you to him.”

  “Thank you, and my name is Keri.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Keri. I’m Jessica.”

  ***

  Cole recognized Rachel’s picture right away.

  Jessica had caught Maggie’s eye when they returned to the beach, and she and Cole joined Jessica and Keri under a beach umbrella, as Jessica’s husband kept watch on the children.

  “Yeah, I was with my ex-girlfriend Olivia back then and the four of us hung out together. Richie knew how to surf a little, but not Rachel.”

  “Did they say where they were staying?”

  Cole seemed to tense up at the question and Jessica noticed.

  “Cole, Mrs. Taylor needs to know everything, it may help her to find Rachel.”

  “Yeah, all right, they were staying on a sailboat at the marina, a big one, and the guy it belonged to liked to party.”

  Maggie touched Cole on the arm.

  “Do you know the guy’s name?”

  “His name was Sonny, but I don’t know his last name. He was about thirty, blond like me, and wore his hair in a long ponytail. He docked at the Marina and let another couple like Rachel and Richie live aboard. Richie said Sonny paid for everything.”

  “Why would he do that?” Keri said, fearing the answer.

  Cole understood what she was asking and shook his head.

  “Rachel and Richie said that Sonny didn’t ask for anything in return. They said he just liked to party and hated doing it alone. I believed them, he was a really friendly guy who smiled all the time, and he had a nice smile, his teeth were perfect.”

  “Party? You mean drugs?” Jessica asked.

  “Booze mostly, maybe a little pot, but I never saw Rachel or Richie looking stoned.”

  “This other couple you mentioned, do you know where they are?”

  “No, and I don’t recall the man’s name, but the girl was named Grace, and oh yeah, she was Brazilian, with really pretty blue eyes.”

  “Is Sonny still here?”

  “No, he’s been gone for a while, and I think Rachel and Richie went with him.”

  “Where to?”

  Cole shrugged.

  “I’m sorry Mrs. Taylor, but I don’t know.”

  “Check with the Dockmaster,” a voice said from the left, and when Jessica looked, she saw her husband walking towards them with their children in his arms.

  After he was introduced to Keri, he reiterated what he had said.

  “They should have a record of this Sonny’s boat in the marina office, but I’m not sure they’ll share the information.”

  “Will they be able to tell me where the boat went to?”

  “Not likely, but they’ll have a record of the boat’s name and possibly its identification number.”

  “I know the boat’s name,” Cole said. “It was called, Sea Predator,”

  And for some reason, the name sent a shiver down Jessica’s back.

  ***

  Jessica accompanied Keri on the short walk to the marina and was told by an officious clerk that they didn’t give out any information about their guests unless it was by court order.

  That’s when Jessica spun the logbook around on the counter, and began turning through the pages.

  The clerk shouted, “Hey!” and made a move to grab the book back from her, but Jessica hefted the large logbook off the counter and continued paging backwards. By the time the clerk reached them, they had found the page with the Sea Predator listed, but all it told them were the dates it had been docked there and its registration numbers.

  The clerk threatened to call the police, but Jessica ignored him and guided Keri back outside.

  Keri hung her head.

  “They left here nearly two months ago. Rachel wouldn’t go that long without calling me, and she could be anywhere by now, she might even be.... be...”

  Jessica took her by the hand.

  “Don’t think that way, and I have an idea. There are boats here and more coming back. We’ll talk to everyone we can and see if anyone knows this Sonny or knows where he is now.”

  Keri’s mood lifted as she thought that over.

  “Okay, yes, that’s a good idea, but Jessica, you don’t have to stay with me. You’re here on vacation and I know you want to be with your family.”

  “I do, but we’ll be here all week and I can spare a few minutes to help you.”

  “You’re very kind,”

  “I feel for you, Keri, and I’ll do what I can to help you find your daughter. Now, let’s start talking to people.”

  ***

  They spoke to everyone they could and found people who remembered Sonny, but no one knew where he might have gone to when he left the Kitamura Key Marina.

  “Maybe you should hire a private detective agency at this point,” Jessica suggested. “They could search for the boat far quicker than you could on your own.”

  Keri nodded in agreement, but she didn’t have money for private detectives, at this point, she barely had enough money to live on for another month.

  They walked back to the beach, where they said goodbye.

  “Thank you for your help today, Jessica, and it was nice meeting your family.”

  “You’re welcome, and it was nice meeting you as well, but where are you staying Keri, on the island?”

  “Yes,” Keri said, but it was a lie. The hotels on the island were too expensive.

  “You have my number, if you need anything, just call.”

  “I’ll do that,” Keri said.

  She and Jessica parted with a hug, and then Keri walked off towards her car, while thinking that she would sleep in it in order to make her money go further.

  She had come to Florida to find her
daughter and she wasn’t leaving until she did, even if that meant sleeping in the street. Keri started her car and went searching for a secluded spot where she could spend the night.

  CHAPTER 7

  Earlier that day, Jack Beck was on a yacht miles off the coast of Key West and wondering if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

  He had been expecting to be alone on the water with Angie and Brisbee’s representative, Mr. Clay Roberts, but he didn’t think he’d be dealing with anyone like the other man aboard, Boone Smith.

  Smith spoke with a Cajun accent and had plenty of that good ol’ boy charm, but Beck knew from the moment he shook the man’s hand that he was dealing with a predator.

  For one thing, Clay Roberts was terrified of Boone. Lawson had thought that Roberts and the woman were running the con on their own, but Beck now believed that Boone Smith was coercing Roberts, who was a thin, middle-aged man with graying hair.

  Smith was as big a man as Beck was, but thirty years younger, and he gave off a sense of quiet menace that Beck recognized right away.

  Boone had arms the size of most men’s thighs, and his crew-cut hair was either white-blond or had been bleached so, by endless hours spent in the sun, hours that revealed themselves in his bronzed skin.

  The hands matched the arms and were huge, with scarred knuckles and palms of a type that Beck had seen before. The scars weren’t caused by hours of manual labor, but rather by days spent in the sun battling man-size fish, and judging by the sport fishing gear that Beck had seen aboard the boat, he began to wonder if Boone, and not Roberts, was the true owner of the craft.

  Things had gone along in a polite manner and the conversation was all small talk during the trip out, but once they anchored offshore, Angie thrust a pen into Beck’s hand and asked him to sign the contract.

  When Beck said that he needed more time to think, Boone Smith had gotten up and stood behind him, while Angie snuggled against him and kissed him on the lips.

  “Come on, Johnny, sign the contract, don’t make me look bad in front of my friends.”

  “I like the deal, but I just need a little more time to think about it.”

  “What’s to think about?” Boone bellowed from behind. “It’s a great deal, guaranteed,”