“No, it’s not. Adair told me of your involvement, along with his agent, Toni Long. And he made it clear that neither of you are a part of the official investigation. Which means I won’t be able to share any information with you. I wanted to let you know right up front so there won’t be any hard feelings when I refuse.”
Clay fisted his free hand. “I understand.”
“Sorry, I wish we weren’t bound by the rules of engagement, but we are.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I get it. I’m just glad you’re the one doing the recovery. Means it’ll be done right and the girl will have the best chance at finding justice.”
“Girl?” Her voice went up. “Someone told you it was a girl?”
“Nah, I’m assuming it is. The remains were small, the shirt feminine, and with girls being trafficked at the school, it seemed to make sense.”
“I can’t confirm that, of course.” She paused for a moment. “But you do make a lot of sense.”
He couldn’t tell if she was indeed confirming the body belonged to a girl or simply saying his logic wasn’t faulty. If he asked, she wouldn’t confirm it either way. “Thanks for the head’s up.”
“Sure thing. And good luck with your investigation.”
He didn’t correct her assumption, just said good-bye and took his bag into the family room. Toni was sitting on the couch looking at her phone. He was still uncomfortable about his mother’s forward behavior. He’d seen it directed at Harper and Jenna, so he should’ve expected it. She instantly mothered every person any one of them brought home. It’d been far more embarrassing in high school, though. Even if their mom had been their teacher, they still participated in homeschooling groups.
Toni looked up, her eyes troubled.
Clay set his suitcase near the exit. “Everything okay?”
“Just trying to find out who’s working the investigation.” She shoved her phone into her pocket. “I’ve been getting the runaround.”
“Adair’s lead and Hunter’s his wingman.”
She blinked a few times. “And how do you know that?”
“Got a call from the forensic anthropologist at Veritas.” He shared the gist of Kelsey’s call.
She frowned. “So we’ve got a challenge before we even begin.”
“Hey.” He dropped onto the couch next to her. “You’ve got five former law enforcement officers working with you. We’ll figure this out.”
“Still, it would help if I could get someone on the inside of the investigation to help with official records or documents if we need them.” She clasped her hands together.
“We’ve solved two big cases recently without an inside source. We can do this one, too.” He made sure he sounded positive, though he had his doubts.
She took a long breath and pinned her focus to him. “How can you sound so confident? Especially on an investigation we couldn’t close when we did have access to all the databases and files?”
He returned the same focus her way. “Because we have to figure it out. Your life could depend on it.”
6
After a sleepless night, Toni stepped off the elevator with Clay and entered the Nighthawk Security office. A wall just inside cordoned off a small reception area where a perky redhead Toni put in her early thirties with big green eyes and a ready smile sat behind an aged wood desk.
Clay stopped by the desk. “Toni Long. Meet our receptionist, Stella Carpenter.”
Stella held out a freckled hand. “Nice to meet you, Agent Long. I heard we’re working with you on an investigation.”
“Please call me Toni,” she said.
Stella smiled. “They’re all inside waiting for you. Aiden’s chomping at the bit to get going.”
“We best get in there. Hold all calls, please.” Clay opened the door and stood back.
Toni stepped into the wide-open space and found the brothers sitting at a long live-edge table with eight chairs and black steel legs. Three flat-screen TVs were mounted on the wall behind the table. Industrial in design, the space had exposed metal ducts and beams. A small office took up one wall, and cubicles lined the back of the room.
No longer in shock from a snake, she took a good look at Clay’s brothers. Thankfully, their expressions were more relaxed today. Still, she had to dig up confidence to walk into this fierce group of men.
“Glad you could make it. When you were late, we all figured you might’ve gotten locked in a closet again.” Aiden grinned, and his brothers chuckled.
Clay fired a testy look their way, silencing them all.
Toni wished the brothers weren’t teasing Clay, but she couldn’t do anything about it except change the subject. Her attention went to a golden lab sitting on the floor by Erik. Interesting to see Erik had chosen a dog with his same light coloring.
She went over to the dog. “And you must be Pong.”
He looked up at Erik, his eyes big.
“It’s okay, boy,” Erik said. “You can say hi.”
Pong shoved his snout under her hand, and she dropped to the floor to pet him. “Aren’t you a pretty boy.”
“Takes after his owner.” Erik laughed.
She smiled up at him for only a flash before she returned her attention to the dog. She’d loved dogs since she played with the neighbor’s poodle, named Sprinkles, and she wasn’t kidding when she’d told Clay she wanted one someday. She would have to change jobs for that to happen, and she wasn’t ready to make a change. Maybe wouldn’t ever be ready. She loved being an agent.
She kept petting Pong’s soft fur but looked at Erik. “Why a lab?”
“Temperament. Sniffer dogs need to be methodical in their searches. Be calm, handle confined spaces, and be around a lot of people and not get easily excited. Labs fit that profile.”
“Our family gives him a lot of practice with the last one.” Clay grinned.
“That we do.” Erik laughed.
“We should get started,” Aiden said.
She reluctantly got up and wondered if Clay would ever want a dog. Or children, which would mean an even bigger commitment to time off. She might love dogs, but children were foreign to her, and she didn’t know if she ever wanted to be a mother.
Embarrassed at the route her thoughts were taking in front of his siblings, she slipped into the nearest chair and took her time getting her phone out of her purse and setting it on the table.
Clay went to the whiteboard, but the door opened, and Sierra stepped in. The dark circles were gone from under her eyes, and she had a spring in her step. “Don’t mean to intrude, but I have a couple of things for you.”
She handed a flash drive to Erik. “Will you put the slideshow up on the TV?”
Erik inserted the drive in his computer. A photo of one of the high school bedrooms filled a screen. Toni’s stomach churned at the sight.
“We all saw this last night,” Clay said. “What are you seeing that we aren’t?”
“Next picture, please, Erik.” Sierra took a seat at the table as he advanced the slide. “This image is the same as the first one, but Nick cropped and enhanced it for me. You can clearly make out the carving on the inside of the bedpost.”
Sierra looked at Toni. “Nick’s our cyber expert and handles everything computer related for us and, Erik takes care of computer needs for this team.”
Erik frowned. “I could’ve enhanced this for you.”
“Nick pulled an all-nighter and was in his lab. You were still sleeping.”
Erik clicked the arrow, and it advanced to a close-up of a bedpost. Engraved into the wood was a tiny crown above back-to-back Rs.
“It’s him.” Toni fired an excited look at Clay. “It really is Hibbard. He’s involved. It’s the same bed as the video we have from Safe Harbor.”
“How can you be sure?” Drake leaned forward.
“Hibbard’s first name is Rich, and he goes by Richey Rich from the cartoon.” Clay sounded excited about the lead too. “He uses their family logo—the double Rs
you see on the screen—which proves his involvement.”
Sierra gave them all a satisfied smile. “I also analyzed the notes you both received. The paper matches and both were printed on the same printer.”
“How can you tell?” Clay asked.
“Erik.” She wiggled her finger, and he advanced the slides again.
She stood and stepped over to the screen where the corner of the note had been magnified. She pointed at the edge. “An old dot matrix printer was used to create the notes. You can see the perforations on the side of the page where they’ve removed the tab that feeds the paper into the printer.”
“We had one of those when we were kids,” Erik said. “I remember the fanfold paper and how the pins on the side grabbed it and pulled it through.”
“Exactly,” Sierra said. “And the next slide will tell you how I know they were the same printer.”
Erik tapped a key on his laptop, and the slide advanced to a close-up of the words high school.
“As you can see, a dot matrix printer creates letters by connecting dots together. In this example, the g in high is missing the dot in the right corner. It’s the same everywhere the letter appears in the document.”
She looked at Erik. “Last slide, please.”
He advanced to a slide that looked exactly like the prior one.
“The first g I showed you was on Clay’s note. This is a close-up of Toni’s note.”
“They’re the same,” Clay said.
Sierra nodded. “The specified arrival time is different in the notes, but the same printer generated them.”
“I still don’t get why we were sent to the closet,” Clay said. “Was it just to kill us?”
Brendan leaned back. “What if one person sent the note and another person tried to kill you? The first person wanted you to find the body and the rooms. They knew you’d search the whole building, but the closet is easier to describe than an unidentified room. The second person found out about the note bringing you there and decided to kill you before you could report it to anyone.”
“That makes sense,” Clay said. “But something that doesn’t make sense is why Hibbard would leave the beds and other items behind.”
“Maybe he didn’t have time to move things,” Drake suggested. “All he had time for was to get the girls out of there.”
“Could be,” Clay said.
Sierra looked at Clay. “You might want to give Malone a call. She works with runaways. Maybe she’d heard something about this.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Clay shifted to face Toni. “Malone is Reed’s sister, and a defense attorney.”
“If you don’t have any questions for me,” Sierra said, “I have other photos to review.”
“Can you send them to me?” Toni asked. “If Hibbard really did leave in a hurry, Clay and I might recognize something from Safe Harbor.”
“I knew one of you would ask.” Sierra held out the flash drive. “They’re all on here.”
“Thank you.” Toni loved Sierra’s proactive attitude. If only she’d been allowed to keep the forensic samples she collected instead of turning everything over to the FBI.
“Okay, gotta get back to the lab.” Sierra’s eyes tightened, and her focus traveled around the table. “You guys be careful out there. Someone who would traffic young girls like this won’t hesitate to take you out without a second thought.”
After Sierra closed the door behind her, Clay knew he had to tell the story of Safe Harbor. He didn’t want to share the information on such a gruesome investigation, but his brothers needed to hear about Hibbard’s deviant ways. And they needed all the facts to remain safe.
He took a wide stance and resisted crossing his arms. “Hibbard was on ICE’s radar for six months before the task force launched Operation Safe Harbor. We had very little information on him at that time, but an informant who escaped from him told us how he worked. He and his men would befriend or romance uneducated teens in Mexico, then promise a new life in Oregon and smuggled them into the United States. Instead, they put the girls to work as prostitutes. From there, Hibbard started grooming homeless teens in Portland and adding them to his stable.”
“The informant was one of his original girls,” Toni took over. “Heidi said his guys would take every penny the girls earned, giving them only a small allowance to buy things from the store he set up for them. Things like shampoo, soap, toothpaste. Nothing extra. Just the basics. He kept them in line through physical and sexual abuse and by threatening their families.”
“Even worse,” Clay said, so Toni didn’t have to, “she told us that several of the girls had children with the Hibbard men. The men didn’t care about the kids. Not at all. In fact, they threatened to take the children if the girls didn’t cooperate.”
Aiden gritted his teeth. “That’s disgusting.”
Clay couldn’t find his voice to agree, so he nodded.
“Heidi also told us Hibbard appointed certain girls as group leaders,” Toni said. “He gave them extra perks to do things like post commercial sex ads online and book cross-country travel for men to engage in sex with the girls. He even tattooed the crown logo on their bodies to show they belonged to him. And they were trained to lie about everything. His motto is, you snitch, you die.”
Aiden shook his head. “Sounds like a real piece of work. So why couldn’t you bring him in?”
Toni sighed. “Trust me, we tried. How we tried. Heidi even led us to one of the houses he used, but he’d moved on. Likely because she’d escaped, and he feared she would turn on him.”
“Over the course of our six-month investigation, we’d get hints of him in the area,” Clay said. “Photos of him and three of his victims appeared on the dark web, which is where we got the picture of the bedpost. We believed other photos were of his victims and johns, but could never prove it. The guy’s smart. Real smart.”
Brendan clenched his hands on the table. “What’s the creep’s background?”
Clay took a long breath. “He came from money. His dad, Rich Hibbard Sr., made a fortune in day trading. Rich Jr. worked with his dad for a few years but then did something to cause his dad to cut him off. We’ve never found out the reason, since the dad died ten years ago, and Junior isn’t talking. When the dad died, he gave all his money to charity. Junior contested the will and lost. That’s when he basically disappeared, and we assume he started his own business.”
Drake shook his head. “Guess he got his entrepreneurial spirit from the dad, but man, what a business to choose.”
“Maybe he chose it because there aren’t any startup costs other than the incidental money needed to woo the first woman,” Aiden suggested.
“It’s often said that trafficking women is easier than the drug trade,” Toni said. “You have to replace drugs, but you can sell girls over and over.”
Clay gritted his teeth. “One thing I know for sure. Finding a sign of him out in Rugged Point is a strong lead. Maybe we couldn’t catch him because he was working a totally new market. If so, we need to investigate human trafficking along the coast.”
Clay looked at Drake. “Sierra’s right. Malone might be able to help. Since you’ve worked with her on prior abuse situations, can you call her? See if she knows anything about this, and if not, ask her to keep her ears out?”
“Sure thing,” Drake said.
The door opened, and Stella poked her head in. “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want any interruptions, but Blake Jenkins says he needs to talk to Clay right away, and he’s kind of insistent.”
“Send him in,” Clay said and looked at his brothers. “He was calling Sheriff Winfield to see if he’ll talk to us.”
Blake marched into the room looking very much like the former sheriff he was. He was over six-feet tall with dark hair and a muscular build. He wore the same black tactical pants all the guys liked to wear and a fleece jacket with the Veritas Center’s logo embroidered on the chest.
“Sorry to interrupt.” He stepped
to the end of the table and held out his hand to Toni. “You must be Toni.”
She shook hands. “Nice to meet you, and thank you for your help.”
He gave her a tight smile. “No problem.”
“What’s so urgent?” Clay asked.
“Hunter’s already called Trent and has an appointment at one. But Trent will see you this morning—if you can get there before Hunter.”
Clay looked at his watch. “You know we can’t do that. The drive alone would make us late.”
“No worries,” Blake said. “I called Gage, and you’re in luck. He’s in town for a doctor’s appointment with Hannah. You can catch a ride in their helo if you book it to the helipad.”
Clay jumped to his feet, dropped his car keys on the table, and looked at his brothers. “My car’s filled with boxes of records we’ll need in Rugged Point. There’s another stack in the closet in my spare room. Make sure you bring them and our usual equipment.”
He locked gazes with Toni, whose eyes flashed with excitement. “C’mon. We have a helo to catch.”
7
Clay found the county sheriff’s office to be small but organized with a security window in the lobby manned by an officer who called the sheriff. Trent marched out of a doorway next to the window. He had a definite swagger and perfect posture, exuding confidence that Clay respected.
“Sheriff Winfield,” he said, holding out his hand to Toni first. “Call me Trent.”
“Special Agent Toni Long with the FBI.” She gave Trent a wide smile.
Clay almost snorted, considering they weren’t meeting with Trent in any official capacity. Mentioning her FBI role could be misleading. Maybe she wanted that.
He jutted his hand out to Clay. “Blake tells me you’re former ICE.”
Clay nodded and waited for a negative comment about Clay having left law enforcement.
“Seems like a lot of the good ones are leaving for private employment.” Trent shook his head, his blond hair moving with the motion. “I never thought I’d see the day Blake would jump ship, but the guy’s happier, that’s for sure.”
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