by Willow Rose
Now, as darkness had fallen, we were lost. He could have gotten to Key West by now if he wanted to, or the Bahamas if he made it out on the open waters. I had this feeling that he hadn’t gotten that far, that he would stay close. But that was just a feeling.
I sat at the docks, staring out at the Intracoastal waters, while the marine patrol officers packed up their gear. I had been out on their boat all day and felt like the ground was still moving beneath my feet. My face had gotten sunburned, and I was very tired. I was thinking about Josie and getting home to her at my dad’s place when the phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, and immediately, my heart sank.
It was Jean.
I hadn’t heard from her in more than a week, ever since that day at her house, when I realized she was going to leave. I hadn’t called her since I wanted to give her space. If she wanted to start over somewhere else, then so be it. There really wasn’t much I could do about it. I had refrained from thinking about her all this time, well almost, as much as I was able to. But I was pretty sure she was in Savannah, and I didn’t really want to talk to her right now. I let the voice mail answer it. Once she had hung up, I could see she had called more than once. I stared at the name on the display, a deep sadness washing over me.
Had I been wrong in giving her space? Hadn’t I fought enough for her? Did she want me to?
I bit my cheek, contemplating this, when the voicemail showed up on the display, letting me know she had left a message. It took me a few seconds before I finally decided I wanted to hear it, and I pressed the screen.
At first, I thought it was a mistake. That she had probably just butt-dialed me since there was no voice, no one saying anything. Except, when I listened closer, I could hear a voice, one that made my blood run cold.
It was Fowler. Fowler telling her to move, while Jean whimpered and pleaded for him to let her go.
I stopped breathing while listening to this.
As the message ended, I replayed it, this time listening even closer. There was something there, a sound that I recognized. The sound of a gate slamming shut that I knew a little too well.
It was the gate to our neighborhood dock. It was located at the end of our street, and if you paid a monthly fee, you could keep your boat there. I kept a couple of kayaks in the shed down there, which I often took Josie out in, especially when she was younger. I knew the sound of that gate slamming because it always did so with such force that I feared it would crush Josie’s small fingers.
“He’s still here,” I said and leaped to my feet. I looked at the marine patrol officer, Officer Bryant, who was packing up.
“I know where he is,” I said. “Were gonna need to go back out.”
Chapter 44
It was hard to see anything in the darkness. The light from the marine patrol cruiser only reached a limited space out in the deep dark waters after the sun had set completely.
I had asked them to take me to our dock behind our neighborhood. Of course, Fowler was no longer there, but it was the last place I knew he had been, about half an hour or so earlier.
You could get pretty far away in half an hour in a boat, especially when hugged by darkness.
Where are you, Fowler? What have you done to Jean?
I cursed myself as I told them to try and go down the river. Why hadn’t I reacted faster? Why hadn’t I been better prepared for my meeting with him? I had let my feelings run away with me, let them blind me. I was angry, furious. I had felt betrayed, and it made me not think straight.
And now, Jean’s life was in danger.
Why are you such an idiot!
I was surprised that Jean hadn’t left since I had thought she’d be in Savannah by now, starting her new life. But Fowler had to have known that she was still there somehow, or maybe he had just taken the chance.
He knew my weak spot, my Achilles heel.
“It’s almost impossible to find anything out here at this time,” Officer Bryant said.
“Just keep looking,” I said. “We can’t give up now.”
The guy shook his head, then sighed. “As you wish.”
My heart was throbbing in my chest as I worried about Jean alone with Fowler. What was his plan with her? To keep her with him as collateral to make sure I wouldn’t harm him? Or did he want to hurt her to get back at me? Just how desperate was he?
I didn’t know.
I stared down at my phone when it finally rang—unknown number.
“Al, talk to me.”
“I traced her phone,” she said.
A wave of relief washed over me, and my shoulders came down slightly. I was so scared for Jean; it was unbearable.
“And?”
“I’ve got her on my screen now. They’re heading north of the Intracoastal waterways.”
“North?” I said. That was a surprise. I was so sure he’d try and go south, getting out into the ocean and maybe heading for the Bahamas. But, of course, he knew I’d think that, and that was why he was going in the other direction. This way, he could make it up to central Florida if he sailed all night, and disappear somewhere up there, while we searched the waters south of us and maybe even went to the Bahamas.
“Yes,” she said. “He’s not far from Bay Harbor Islands.”
I signaled to the marine patrol officer to turn around, and he did. He made a huge turn, then sped up. I kept Al on the phone as we raced across the water, the warm moist air hitting my sunburned face, wiping away the few tears that escaped my eyes, tears of worry and fear.
If anything happened to Jean, I would never forgive myself.
Chapter 45
She was lying at the bottom of the boat. He had tied her hands behind her back. Luckily, he hadn’t been smart enough to search her, and Jean prayed that they could trace her phone somehow, that someone knew she had been taken—hopefully Harry—and that they could use her phone to trace her.
But the chances were slim. She knew this much. Harry probably thought Jean had left for Savannah a week ago, so he wouldn’t even be over to check on her. He would have seen that she had called, though. He would know something was up, wouldn’t he?
Oh, Harry, I need your help now.
It was dark out, and Jean had no way of seeing where they were going. Water splashed down on her, raining on her face and hair. She was getting tired of the bumping. She kept knocking her head and shoulder hard against the deck every time.
Where are we going? What’s he going to do with me?
Fear rushed through her, and she groaned behind the gag. Fowler towered above her by the wheel, wind blowing in his hair as he rushed the boat across the choppy waters. Jean whimpered worriedly. They had been going at it for at least an hour. Where could he be taking her? Were they going north or south?
She didn’t even know.
Jean tried to fight the strips around her wrists. They were cutting deep into her skin and hurt like crazy. She kicked her legs and screamed behind the gag, but couldn’t even hear herself over the roaring engine and the sound of the boat hitting the water. It didn’t matter how much she screamed; Fowler couldn’t even hear her.
But as she kicked her legs, her right foot hit something. She looked down and saw a stack of life jackets. She had kicked them, and now they had fallen and revealed something that was hidden beneath them, something Fowler hadn’t realized was there, almost within her reach.
Jean’s eyes grew wide as she looked again. She lifted her glance and glared at Fowler to make sure he hadn’t seen what she was up to. He was deep into his world, steering the boat along, and didn’t even notice her.
Jean wormed down toward it, slowly, her eyes steady on him, making sure he didn’t suddenly turn his head and look down at her. But he was busy and, in the distance, Jean could hear the sound of another engine. Another boat was there, closing in on them.
She’d have to signal them somehow, she thought, then wormed downward. Once close enough, she stuck her foot inside one of the life jackets, then lifted it slowly
into the air. She paused when she thought Fowler was about to look down at her and figure out what she was up to, but he only looked behind him, then yelled.
“Crap!”
Jean swallowed as he made a sharp turn, and she realized someone was following them, but Fowler was trying to lose them in the darkness. She lifted the life jacket and slid it up against the side, then let it dump into the water.
With a small gasp, she looked up to see if he noticed, but he was too busy looking behind him to even think about her.
So, she stuck her foot into the second life jacket, then slipped that one overboard as well.
Chapter 46
“I think we lost him,” Officer Bryant said. “I can’t see him anywhere.”
I stared into the darkness, which felt like an abyss. We had been so close. We had followed Al’s directions and caught up to a boat that had no lights on. But the boat had spotted us too early and made a sharp turn. Now, it seemed to be gone. I could hear the engine in the distance but couldn’t figure out which way it was going. Could he have gone into one of the canals? It would be impossible for us to find out which one if he did.
I put the binoculars close to my eyes and tried to look again, but was met with nothing but darkness until there was something else. Something was bobbing up and down on the surface of the water.
“I see something,” I said. “On our port side. If you can get a little closer.”
The marine officer did and then slowed down as we approached something in the water. It looked like a piece of clothing, but as I stuck the push pole in the water and pulled whatever it was out, I realized it was something different.
“It’s a life jacket,” I said and pulled it up on the deck. “What’s it doing in the water?”
“I think I see another one,” Officer Bryant yelled from behind the steering wheel. He turned the boat left. “Over there!”
We approached it, and I picked that one up as well. Then I glared into the water when I spotted something a little to our right side. “Over there. There’s another one. Looks like it’s a trail!”
“Like freakin’ Hansel and Gretel,” Bryant yelled, turned the boat, and went in the direction of the jacket, fast, this time passing it since we spotted another one ahead of us.
“It’s Jean,” I said to myself, smiling as he sped the boat up, and I felt the strong wind in my hair. “It has her written all over it.”
We followed a couple of jackets more, praying she wouldn’t run out of them, then finally spotted the boat ahead of us.
“There he is,” I yelled. “Don’t lose him this time!”
The officer pressed the boat to its maximum, and soon we were closing in on Fowler, fast. I pulled my gun out to be ready, hoping I wouldn’t have to use it on an old friend. But ready to, if it came to that.
Officer Bryant was in close contact with the chopper, and as he told it our coordinates, I could hear it approaching in the distance. I could see its lights coming up behind us as we came close to Fowler and his boat. Officer Bryant yelled into the microphone for him to stop, but, of course, Fowler didn’t. He took a sharp right turn, trying to escape us when another boat joined us from that side. It was another marine patrol that had communicated with Officer Bryant. A third one came from his port side.
Fowler was surrounded.
He made another sharp turn, and now I could suddenly see Jean in the beam of light we were shining on their boat. She had lifted herself up on her knees, and with her hands tied behind her back, she was now lifting something and turning around. I narrowed my eyes to see what it was, then realized it was a gun.
Not a gun-gun, but a flare gun.
With it clutched between her hands, she turned around, so she had her back turned to Fowler before she fired the gun straight at him.
The bright red light that followed blinded us all.
THREE WEEKS LATER
Chapter 47
“Do you need more wood up there?”
I looked down at my dad in my driveway. He was wearing overalls and held a hammer in his hand. The driveway was packed with wood we had bought at Lowe’s to fix up the porch and façade, leaving no room for our cars. So far, we were doing pretty well, and it wasn’t looking too shabby.
Josie was in the back with Camille, talking. My dad and I were giving them their space, moving along with the fix-up. I was planning on moving back into the house a week from now, and since I was on leave from work while the investigation of Fowler and the trafficking ring was being brought to an end, I thought there would be no better time than this to get my house back to its own beautiful self. I had realized I loved this house, and now that Fowler and the rest of his goons were gone, I believed I could feel safe in there again. It was, after all, Josie’s childhood home, and I’d had many wonderful memories there. I believed there were more to be made. Many more.
“Yes, hand me that big one over there,” I yelled.
My dad grabbed a plank and slid it up toward me. I placed it on the porch. My dad walked up to me, wiping his forehead with his hand. He handed me a soda from our cooler box.
“Thanks,” I said. “I needed that.”
It was getting really hot outside. It was April, and the temperatures most days were in the mid-eighties. Not a perfect time to do house renovations, but hey, this was Florida. Any day would be too hot, right?
I drank from the bottle and ended up gulping down almost half of it.
“Looks pretty nice,” my dad said, studying our work so far.
“Still a lot more on the inside once we’re done out here,” I said.
My dad nodded and drank.
They had come for all of them. They had arrested them at their homes, some even at the station while their colleagues watched. The FBI had taken them all down, one after another. Fowler had talked like a schoolgirl after her first kiss as soon as he was able to after being hospitalized with third-degree burns. He had spilled everything, probably making one heck of a deal with the FBI if I knew him well. They wouldn’t let me in on the details. But the fact was, the ring was taken down—each and every one who had been involved, including Andrew Taylor. And the media was naturally all over it. I had even been able to re-gather everything in Kate Taylor’s murder case, and Al had found the original recordings of their confession, even though Fowler believed he had deleted them. Nothing ever disappears in the digital world, as Al said. And that had proved to be to our advantage once again. Kristin Grant had been arrested too and would be charged with aiding and abetting a murder. Joan Kendrick was being charged with murder. Andrew Taylor faced charges in both cases. So far, twenty-two more people had been arrested in the trafficking ring. Meanwhile, Nick Taylor would be tried as an adult and was facing attempted murder charges along with charges for being in possession of—and producing—child pornography.
“We’ll get to the inside soon enough. Maybe do a complete make-over of the living room?” my dad said, looking in through the window that he had replaced a couple of days ago. My dad was an excellent handyman and had even built the church he had been the pastor at back in the day. It had lost its roof after the last hurricane, but other than that, it was still standing after all these years. I was lucky to have him in my life.
A car with black tinted windows drove up the street, and my heart dropped. It stopped, and Agent Jackson stepped out. He smiled and approached us. I walked down the stairs, wiped my dirty hands on my jeans, then shook his.
“Looking good,” he said and nodded toward the house.
“It’s getting there,” I said. “Can I offer you anything? A soda?”
He gave me a look, then shook his head. “No. I’m afraid we have to get going. Is she ready?”
“She’s in the back with Josie. Let me get her,” I said.
I walked around the house and found them sitting in the chairs on the back porch, deep in conversation. Josie saw me, then shook her head violently.
“No, Dad, no.”
“It’s time.”
I exhaled. I wanted this to happen as little as she did. “I’m afraid so.”
“Please, Dad, can’t she stay a little longer?”
I shook my head. “It’s time, Josie.”
Her face darkened. Camille put her hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Josie.”
A tear escaped our daughter’s eyes. “No, it’s not. Why does she have to leave and not come back?”
“Because I did some stuff, bad stuff, and now since I have told what I did and what a lot of other people did, those people want me dead.”
“I know what a witness protection program is,” Josie said. “I meant, why can’t you come back here. To visit?”
I exhaled. This was the tough part. Camille had accepted to enter the witness protection program to start over, but it meant she wouldn’t see Josie anymore. I didn’t understand how she could ever make such a decision, but that was just me. For Camille, it was important to be able to create a new life.
Agent Jackson had given us these few hours to say our goodbyes.
“You ready?” he said as we walked out on the other side of the house. Camille glanced back at Josie, leaned over and kissed her forehead one last time, then nodded.
“I’m ready.”
Josie whimpered, then leaned her head against my shoulder. I put my arm around her.
“We just got her back, and now she’s going again,” Josie said with a sniffle. “It isn’t fair, you know?”
“I know, sweetie.”
Camille walked up to me, lifted herself on her tippy toes, and kissed my cheek.
“Goodbye, my handsome husband. I would tell you to take good care of our daughter, but I already know you will. You’ll both forget me soon enough and move on with your lives, as you should.”
