“I’m sorry, honey.” Clay took hold of her shoulders and not even his endearing use of the word honey for the second time eased her pain. “I’m hoping it’s not true, but from a law enforcement perspective, it seems very likely.”
She couldn’t hold back her tears. She wanted to run away to hide and lick her wounds. She tried to move, but Clay had a firm hold of her shoulders, riveting her in place. That was just her excuse, though. She could certainly break free if she really wanted to.
“I’m sorry I made you cry,” he said softly, releasing her shoulders. “I didn’t want to have to tell you.”
She waited for him to offer a hug, but he stood looking at her, a question in his eyes. Was he asking permission? Certainly something she could see one of the well-mannered Byrd brothers doing. But she didn’t want well-mannered right now. She wanted to know someone cared.
She stepped forward and lifted her arms around his neck.
He circled his arms around her waist and held her with such tenderness. Her tears intensified. She would probably be sorry tomorrow. Embarrassed even, but at this moment she needed his touch, and she would take it for as long as he would hold her.
Tomorrow when everything ugly she’d learned was exposed to the light of day, she would once again become the strong agent her father had prepared her all her life to be, even if his actions were part of the very reason she was struggling so hard right now.
13
Toni stood with Clay in the doorway of the beach house, the morning sun climbing higher in glorious shades of orange and yellow over the sparkling ocean. She’d caught Clay sneaking looks at her as they’d eaten an early breakfast. He’d made omelets and toast for everyone before getting ready to leave for Jason’s rental house.
And she could feel Clay looking at her now. He was probably trying to find out how she was doing after the shocking news yesterday. The answer was not good—so she forced a smile and pretended to enjoy the sunrise.
The roar of an SUV’s engine shifted her attention to Drake, who was behind the wheel of one of the team vehicles parked in the driveway with Kelsey and Sierra in the back seat. Aiden sat behind the wheel of the other SUV, and Blake climbed into the passenger seat, Brendan the back seat. Erik stood halfway from the house to Drake’s vehicle and gave a sharp nod.
Clay pinned his focus to her. “I don’t think our suspect knows where you are staying, but stay by my side all the time. When we reach Erik, he’ll take the other side. No stopping for any reason. Straight into the vehicle.”
Clay was probably overdoing her security today. After all, he’d let her go out on the deck alone last night, but she was too emotionally worn out to question it. He stepped out, took a long look around, then reached for her elbow, drawing her into the crisp morning sunlight.
He closed the door behind them, and they hurried past Erik to the open back door of the SUV. Kelsey and Sierra had been waiting, and Toni felt guilty for her special treatment when she didn’t think it was necessary.
Sierra looked at Toni. “You’re in violent crimes, right?”
She nodded as she clicked her seatbelt in place.
“So you and Hunter work together.”
“We do,” she said, wondering where this was going.
“He’s married to Maya, one of our partners,” Sierra said. “Great guy.”
“He really is a great guy,” Toni said. “It was a good day when our supervisor decided we needed someone with cyber experience on violent crimes and moved Hunter.”
“Violent crimes has got to be a tough area to work,” Kelsey said. “I could never do it. Especially with the human trafficking and crimes against children.”
“I didn’t really choose it,” Toni replied. “It chose me.”
“How so?” Sierra asked.
“When I learned about the different investigative areas at the academy, I felt like victims of violent crime and their families needed me most of all. Plus, since I’m single, I can work the hours needed.”
“Don’t all agents work crazy hours?” Sierra asked. “I mean, that’s what Reed tells me.”
“Most do, but in some areas, like white-collar crimes, they often work a more regular schedule. But with violent crimes you can’t just go home at the end of a typical work day. Lives are on the line in the cases we investigate. Means I need to work as long as it takes to make sure people are okay.”
“Reed was in white-collar crimes when I met him,” Sierra said. “I need to get him to switch back.” Sierra laughed.
Clay looked over the seat. “You do, and he’ll see how many hours you work.”
“Oh, right. Don’t want that.” She shifted to look at Toni. “The job must wreak havoc with your social life.”
“What social life?” Toni laughed, but she had to force it. “It’s not like I have any plans to get involved with a guy in the near future, so I really don’t mind.”
“And the emotional toll?” Kelsey asked.
Yeah, that. “Some days are hard. Really hard. But when you put one of the perpetrators away and rescue people in difficult situations, it’s all worth it.”
“Is human trafficking really that prevalent in the United States?” Kelsey asked.
Toni gave a sad nod. “More than two hundred thousand children are bought and sold online in a year in our country alone.”
“Wow, how sad.” Kelsey frowned.
“ICE arrests nearly a thousand people a year involved in trafficking humans for sex,” Clay added.
Kelsey shuddered. “I had no idea.”
Toni had to work hard not to shudder with her. Working these investigations brought all kinds of emotional struggles to the people dedicated to end human trafficking. They even had to go through an annual psych evaluation to keep working in the area.
“Well, I say God bless you for doing the job,” Kelsey said emphatically. “Some days I think my job is hard, but I could never find people in conditions you must see them in. Especially kids.”
Toni could only imagine the things Kelsey must’ve been called in to do, and Toni could never be a forensic anthropologist. Proved people gravitated to the careers that best suited them in law enforcement.
Kelsey rested her hands on her pregnant belly. “I wish Devon worked a less demanding job. DEA agents face some pretty ruthless people.”
Sierra shook her head. “After seeing what my mom went through with dad, I swore I would never marry someone in law enforcement, and here I am married to an FBI agent.”
Toni leaned forward. “My mom had the same struggle. I wonder how she would’ve coped if she’d lived to see me become an agent too.”
“I don’t think I could handle a child being in law enforcement or the military.” Kelsey cupped her hands protectively on her stomach. “This little girl will grow up to be a princess and that’s all.” She chuckled softly and looked at Sierra. “And your mom had all five boys in law enforcement at one time. She’s a saint for sure.”
Sierra nodded. “She struggled with it but never once tried to talk them out of it.”
They all fell silent for the rest of the drive, and Toni assumed they were thinking about the cost of their jobs, not just to the law enforcement officer but their families. It was a heavy price, one Toni was willing to pay.
Drake turned into Fritz Rader’s driveway so they could drop Kelsey off, and the tires crunched over rough gravel. Toni reached for her door handle.
Clay looked over the seat at her. “Do you mind staying here? I’ll get Kelsey started, and Drake will stay with her for protection.”
“No problem,” she said, as she wanted to review her granduncle’s arrest file obtained by Blake that morning.
As the others got out, she opened the folder, hoping to see that her granduncle hadn’t actually victimized a defenseless young girl.
Clay finished clearing the rental house and exited the building into a sharp wind. The place sat at the edge of the rustic beach, a large sand dune and tall swaying grasses hiding the p
roperty from nearby houses. Must be how Jason got away with johns coming and going at all hours of the day.
Clay nodded at Erik, who’d been standing watch with Pong while Clay cleared the house. They’d left Drake with Kelsey, and Aiden and Blake had gone to visit Trent, but Brendan was high up on a dune on overwatch. If anyone so much as approached the property, Brendan would report it on their comms unit.
Clay opened Toni’s door. “Place is clear. Straight inside and stay there, okay?”
He expected Toni to argue, but she nodded.
“Can you please stay in the garage until I can shoot the interior wide shots?” Sierra asked as she opened her door. “Then you can go in, and Erik and Pong can search the place.”
“Sure.” Toni marched into the garage. She’d been far too compliant this morning. He liked her easy agreement, and yet, he hated it because he knew she was being so agreeable because she was still reeling from yesterday’s news.
Sierra got out of the SUV and met Clay at the tailgate. “She’s a trained agent and knows not to linger outside.” Sierra grabbed her field kit, a near match to their dad’s giant tackle box. “And you’re setting a bad example.”
“How’s that?” He took the box from her.
She grabbed a bin labeled lights. “You were a target at the school too. You shouldn’t be standing here helping me.”
“Brendan’s on the dune on overwatch.”
Sierra lifted her eyebrows. “So what you’re saying is, Brendan would let Toni get hurt but not you.”
“No, I…” If Clay’s hand was free, he would run it through his hair, maybe tear it out. “Okay, fine. You’re right. And I hate it when you are.”
“I know.” She grinned. “You might want to tell Toni you’re sorry.”
“Yeah, I might.” He followed Sierra into the house, noticing her gait had changed from her pregnancy. He started to mention it, but saying she was waddling was the very last thing he should say. Not even in jest. Not even if the comment moved her mind away from his concern for Toni.
After Clay had picked Sierra and Kelsey up at Gage’s place, he’d listened to them compare pregnancy woes. He’d started to say something, but Blake slashed a hand across his throat to stop him. Later, he’d told Clay, “a woman may complain about getting fat, waddling, and many other things I wish I didn’t know, but you are never to acknowledge them unless directed to do so by her. Ever.”
Clay had laughed, but Blake had been deadly serious, and now Clay appreciated the advice.
At the front door, Sierra turned to him. “Where do you want me to start?”
“In the bedrooms with the bunk beds. It’s the most likely place to find something related to the trafficking.”
“Will do.” She got her camera from her kit, and her phone chimed. She hung the camera strap around her neck and looked at her screen. “Text is from Chad. Whatever Toni said to Hunter must’ve worked because Chad said the twine samples are on the way.”
Sierra’s assistant was good, but… “You trust Chad to do the comparison?”
“He’s a top-notch assistant. But do I wish I was there to compare the samples myself? Yes.”
“Maybe things will go smoothly here, and you’ll be back in time.”
“You did not just say that, did you? Talk about asking for trouble.” She shook her head, but he could tell she was kidding. “You can hang with Toni in the garage while I take the scene photos.”
He went back to the garage. Now that he had Toni alone, it was time for him to apologize for being pushy about her safety. She was intently studying the file from Martin’s investigation, but he wanted to get the apology in before talking to her about the report.
“I’m still coming on too strong,” he said.
She looked up. “Yeah, you are.”
“I know you’re a capable agent. I really do. It’s just…” He moved closer. “I guess I don’t think of you as an agent anymore. At least it’s not my first thought.”
She arched an eyebrow. “What do you think of?”
“You’re the woman who has captured my attention, and I want to get to know you better.”
“But I—”
“Don’t think of me that way.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want to get involved.”
“But you’d think of me as a guy you’d like to get involved with if you wanted to get involved?”
“Absolutely.” Her conviction made his hope surge even in the face of her rejection.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been rejected so kindly.” He grinned to lighten the mood.
“I can do it differently if it would help remove that hopeful expression.” Her eyes narrowed. “Because, honestly, even if I already didn’t want to get involved, all this family drama would make me lean in that direction. I’ve got to work through everything first. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
He’d already told her what her family had done was no reflection on her, but he wouldn’t repeat it again. He knew she had to learn to embrace it.
He nodded at the report. “Finding anything useful?”
“Not useful, but I can sure see the case for charging Andrew.” She frowned. “He was guilty. The evidence makes me sure, but the detective didn’t get Andrew a lawyer when he requested, just kept questioning him, so Andrew went free.” She shook her head. “I’m sure if my parents knew this about Andrew, they would never have let him live with them in Virginia. They would’ve protected Lisa and not let her travel across country with the man.”
“It makes him a strong suspect in Lisa’s disappearance.”
“The beach visit would be the perfect place to approach her. Much easier to do than while he was living under my parents’ roof. Plus, he probably figured even if they considered him for it, my grandparents would support him.”
“You’ll want to see this,” Sierra called out from the house.
“You think she found something this quickly?” Toni tucked the folder under her arm.
“She is one of the best.” Clay held out his hand. “After you.”
They entered the house through a kitchen with stained Formica countertops, the small galley-size room smelling like garlic. They went down the hall and found Sierra squatting by the bottom bunk Clay had seen earlier.
“What did you find?” he asked.
She pointed a gloved finger at the side of the mattress.
He bent down. “I don’t see it.”
“I didn’t at first, either. But you know how I like to shoot my way in and out of a crime scene so I don’t miss anything. Well, on the way out, I focused on the bed and found this.” She stuck her finger in a narrow hole on the side of the mattress.
“So there’s a hole,” he said, not overly impressed.
“This isn’t from wear and tear. It was sliced open.” She stood and unfurled her hand to reveal a folded slip of paper. “And this was inside.”
He put on gloves and unfolded the paper to reveal the initials RSL written in red lipstick.
Toni stared at the paper. “What do you think this means?”
A cat-that-ate-the-canary smile crawled across Sierra’s face. “It means this scene is connected to the high school.”
Clay’s sister was talented, but this conclusion seemed farfetched. “How can you possibly know that?”
“Give me a second, and I’ll show you.” Sierra dug a memory card from her kit and inserted it in her camera. She started scrolling through pictures, stopped on one of them, and held out the camera.
The picture held a shot of a drawer in the workbench in the janitor’s closet, another small piece of paper boasting the same initials tucked in the corner.
Clay shot Toni a look. “RSL. Must be one of the trafficked girls.”
“And she’s telling us she was in these places.” Excitement rang through Toni’s tone. “Which is why we were sent to the closet.”
“And just as
important,” Clay said. “She connected Jason Rader and Rich Hibbard.”
14
“I need you inside, Erik, but not Pong yet,” Clay said into the mic on his comms unit as he marched into the living room, where he could pace and think.
“On my way,” Erik replied, the sound of Pong’s whine coming from the background.
Toni entered the room and stood watching him, but he couldn’t quit moving. This was a big lead. Big enough to break this investigation wide open. If they could identify RSL.
Erik stepped into the room, and Sierra joined them from the bedroom.
“I need that list of missing girls you’re working on,” Clay said. “And I need it yesterday.”
He told him about the initials.
Erik tilted his head. “The information is public knowledge, but gathering it will take more time. Trent could get us a list a whole lot faster.”
“I’ll get Blake to request one.” Clay dug out his phone and dialed Blake.
Thankfully he answered his phone even though he was meeting with Trent.
“We have a lead.” Clay told Blake about the initials and the photos from Rader’s place. “Trent knows about the photos but not the initials as we just found them. Can you get a list from him of every missing girl in the area since the eighties without telling him about this latest lead?”
“The database won’t hold old records.”
“Then get what he has.”
“Let me ask.” Blake sounded hesitant.
Why, Clay had no idea. He started pacing again across the dirty tile as he waited for an answer. His feet stuck in places, and he didn’t even want to think about what might be on these floors.
Aiden joined them, a puzzled look on his face.
“Someone fill Aiden in,” Clay said and resumed his strides. He heard Toni update his brother.
“Trent wants to know why you need the information,” Blake said.
Clay halted his movements. He didn’t want to share their lead. “If you tell him, he’ll take back this scene.”
Night Hawk Page 14