by Matt Lincoln
Suddenly, everything began to fall into place, and I understood why Olivia had mentioned that there were two cases here. We were dealing not only with a lost child but a missing woman as well. One who had been kidnapped as a child and as an American citizen while she was on foreign soil. No wonder the FBI was squabbling with us over jurisdiction.
“Please.” She clasped her hands together as she stared at me. “You have to find her. My little Allie is here somewhere. I know she is.”
I took a deep breath as I looked back at her.
“I’m going to do everything I can,” I promised.
8
Ethan
“I miss when it was just drugs,” Holm muttered as we stepped into the kitchen to discuss everything we’d just heard. Mrs. Abernathy was in the living room consoling Mrs. Newark, who was currently crying. The FBI agents, as well as Holm and I, had taken the opportunity to excuse ourselves, give them a moment of privacy, as well as talk details.
“Yeah, I know how you feel, brother,” I sighed as Mrs. Newark’s anguished face flashed across my mind. I’d take fistfights with no good drug-lords over broken-hearted mothers any day.
“So, you can see now why we thought we might benefit from MBLIS’s cooperation on this one,” Director Evans remarked.
“Cooperation?” I asked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Agent Olivia huffed, “that we’ll be working together on this one, fellas.”
She turned her icy glare onto me once more. She looked like she was in her mid to late thirties, with sharp, regal features that gave her a commanding look. The freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks gave her a youthful appearance, though, and her warm brown eyes were alluring even when they were set into that steely gaze.
“As it stands, we have two separate victims,” Director Evans explained. “The mother, who would very obviously be your victim, and the child--”
“Who is under my supervision,” Olivia interjected. “He’s a traumatized, highly vulnerable, five-year-old boy. That makes him a special victim, which places him solidly within my jurisdiction.”
I wasn’t sure if I agreed with that entirely, and honestly, I might have been able to make a case against it. However, the determined look in her eyes was so fierce and, frankly, sexy that I honestly didn’t think I’d mind spending the next few days working with her.
“I’m not sure that’s--” Holm attempted to say before I shot my arm out blindly to elbow him in the side.
“Of course, we understand entirely.” I smiled at them. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Olivia raised a perplexed eyebrow at us before turning and walking back into the den.
“Well, for now, I think we should divide our efforts and focus on the two victims separately,” Director Evans continued. “I currently have my lab running a more conclusive test to determine whether Mrs. Newark is indeed the child’s maternal grandmother. In the meantime, I could give you the information we currently have regarding the circumstances under which the boy was found. It’s possible that there might be some sign as to the mother's whereabouts in that area.”
“Okay.” I agreed. “We can head there now and take a look.”
“I’ll have everything forwarded to you, then,” he confirmed before heading off after Olivia.
“What the heck was that?” Holm hissed as soon as he was gone.
“Sorry,” I chuckled. “I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I wasn’t looking.”
“Why did you elbow me at all?” he grumbled. “I would have thought that you of all people-- wait. Are you serious?”
“What?” I asked as innocently as I could manage.
“Honestly, Marston?” he deadpanned. “With that ice queen? She looked like she wanted to punch you the moment you sat down next to her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged.
“Are you even capable of ignoring a pretty woman?” He sighed dramatically. “She’s an FBI agent out for our blood because she thinks we’re trying to steal her case, and you’re still getting all gooey-eyed over her?”
“Come on. We should get down to the beach.” I pointedly ignored his accusation. “Need to go search for clues and whatnot.”
I snickered as he followed behind me, grumbling something about girlfriends and life being unfair.
It felt good to step out of the house and into the warm summer sun. Things had gotten so heavy in there. It was always just a bit more painful when a case involved kids.
As soon as we got into the car, I rolled the windows down. It was nice out, and a little fresh air would be good while we made the drive down to the beach where the kid had been found. The beach itself wasn’t too far away, but the real issue would be figuring out exactly where the kid had come from. The beach was massive, after all.
“Wow, it’s packed today,” Holm remarked as I pulled the car into one of the parking lots near the beach. He was right. Even from here, I could tell that the tourists were out in full force today.
It wasn’t surprising. It was the height of summer, after all. Miami was in prime tourism season, and the beaches were ripe for families, couples, and party-goers.
Of course, this meant that any evidence that might have been left behind was long gone, either washed away by the tide or stomped into oblivion by hundreds of bare feet as they traipsed across the sand.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Holm yelled over the road of the crowd as we made our way down along the shore.
“I don’t know, to be honest,” I replied. “According to the report that Evans gave me, the two teenagers who called the police found the kid here, right in front of that ice cream place.”
“Well, there’s gotta be some sign of… something.” He shrugged. “The kid didn’t just pop out of nowhere, and I doubt he walked too far, right? Let’s keep looking.”
We continued down the length of the beach, past the area that was crowded with tourists, long past where the boardwalk ended. We stopped when we reached the point where sand gave way to grass and rock. By this point, there were basically no tourists around. There weren’t even that many buildings around since the only thing out this way was a steep, rocky cliff. It was a popular spot for young couples to sneak away to, though it seemed to be unoccupied right now.
“Maybe we walked the wrong way,” Holm huffed as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. A walk along the beach wasn’t exactly tiring for us, but the intense heat made even a light stroll feel strenuous. “I mean, I didn’t see any sign of a boat on the way here. And this far out, any boat that tried to come close would be completely wrecked on the rocks.”
“Maybe that’s why we didn’t see anything on the way here,” I muttered as I glanced down over the side of the cliff. “If the boat was destroyed, then there wouldn’t be one to find.”
“You don’t think…?” Holm turned to look at me.
“One way to find out,” I sighed as I began to step carefully down over the side of the cliff. The rocks there were loose and uneven, so it was a slow and risky process.
“I really hope we don’t die here,” Holm scoffed as we made our way slowly down the side of the cliff. “Can you imagine that? After everything we’ve survived, dead from tripping over a rock.”
“Don’t trip then,” I retorted just as my foot slipped against a piece of loose rock. I hissed as my ankle jerked in an unnatural direction as I attempted to keep my balance.
I heard Holm snicker behind me, and I had to resist the temptation to turn around. I might have actually fallen if I tried.
“Seriously,” Holm huffed tensely as we got closer to the base of the cliff. “I don’t think that— Dammit.”
I looked up to see what he was reacting to and noticed it immediately. Just a few yards away from the base of the cliff, half-hidden behind a large chunk of jagged rock, was a piece of something smooth and white. Even broken and in pieces, I instantly recognized the hull of what was once a boat.<
br />
My heart sank. Even from this distance, I could tell that the thing was wrecked, which wasn’t a good sign.
It took an agonizingly long time for us to finally make it back onto level ground at the base of the cliff. The moment I’d made it down, I raced over to where the boat was stuck. The water was up to about my ankles here, but I ignored it as I hurried to inspect the damage.
It looked like a small bowrider, though it was difficult to tell from this angle. The boat had crashed onto the rocks in such a way that its bow was facing straight up, making it impossible to see the deck or cockpit from where I was standing. A large portion of the side was also caved in, as though it had struck first on that side before finally getting stuck like this.
I wasn’t sure how stable the thing was, but I needed to have a closer look, so I circled around to the other side of the boat and began to climb up. As I hauled myself up, I nearly gasped at the sight I came face to face with.
Lying on the floor of the boat was the body of a woman, badly sunburned and unnaturally still. I cursed as I clambered beside her to check for a heartbeat, but I could tell by the stench even before I’d checked for a pulse that she was already gone, probably for some time now.
“She’s dead,” I informed Holm as he climbed up into the boat beside me.
“Damn…” he muttered as he stared down at the body.
Though it was matted and covered in dirt, I could tell that the woman’s hair was the same shade of bright blond as Eddy’s.
“Wait, so the kid climbed up the cliff and walked all the way down to the crowded part of the beach?!” he exclaimed as he looked up at the cliff we’d just cautiously scaled down. “That was like a mile of beach!”
“Kids are tougher than you think,” I replied. “Resilient, too. Little guy kept walking until he found someone to help him.”
“She did right by him,” he murmured as he looked back down at the woman’s body. “After everything she went through, she sailed from Turks and Caicos to Miami in this little rickety thing?”
“She saved her child,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to make sure she gets justice.”
9
Ethan
I grimaced as I watched Agent Olivia deliver the bad news to Mrs. Newark from Mrs. Abernathy’s kitchen. She was speaking quietly enough that I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying, but there was no way I could miss the intense grief that flashed across her expression as she let out an agonized wail and fell to the ground.
“This sucks,” Holm muttered beside me.
“Yeah.” I frowned. I couldn’t imagine how awful it must feel to finally get a glimmer of hope that your kid might be alive, only to have it crushed almost immediately.
After we’d discovered the body, we’d called to report what we’d found. Forensics had been dispatched to deal with the body and the scene, and Diane was currently attempting to trace where the boat had come from. We already suspected, based on Barbara Newark’s story, that they might have come from Turks and Caicos, but there was no telling what Allison Newark had gone through in the past two decades. Until we knew exactly where the boat had come from, we couldn’t proceed with the case.
Agent Hastings sighed as she walked into the kitchen a moment later, likely to give the woman a little space to process the news.
“Sorry you had to do that,” I said as she leaned against one of the countertops.
“Don’t be,” she replied, all the earlier venom in her voice now completely absent. “Unfortunately, conversations like this aren’t all that unusual for the Special Victims Department. I’m used to giving people bad news. Besides, I seriously doubt there was anything you could have done if that’s what you’re worried about. According to the police report, Eddy had mentioned something about his mom ‘sleeping’ on the boat to the kids that found him. She was probably already dead when they got to Miami.”
There was an undeniable edge of sadness in her voice, but how calm and collected she was overall impressed me. She spoke matter-of-factly and exuded confidence, and I was certain she’d be a pleasure to work alongside.
“Ahem,” Holm cleared his throat exaggeratedly.
He was shooting me a smug grin, and I flushed as I realized I’d started staring at her while lost in thought. I had to resist the urge to elbow him again.
Agent Hastings furrowed her eyebrows at us and threw us an unimpressed look before speaking again.
“I think we should try to talk to Eddy again,” she said as she crossed her arms across her chest. “You haven’t spoken to him yet, right? You need to get caught up to speed anyway, and he seems to be opening up more now that Barbara and Christina are here.”
“That’s a good idea,” I murmured as I peered out of the kitchen and toward the living room.
Mrs. Newark was fussing with her grandson’s hair, her hands trembling as she gently pushed the curls out of his face.
The three of us filed back out into the living room. I noticed for the first time that Director Evans was no longer there.
“Barbara,” Agent Hastings addressed her quietly. “The MBLIS agents would like to talk with Eddy for a little while.”
“Oh,” she muttered weakly, her eyes still shiny with tears. “Alright, b-but, I can stay here with him, right?”
There was a note of desperation in her voice, and my heart broke for the poor woman. After receiving news of her daughter’s death, I could understand why she wouldn’t want her grandson out of her sight for an instant.
“Of course you can,” Agent Hastings replied kindly. “We can talk right here in the living room if you want.”
“Well, why don’t Agent Hastings and Agent Marston stay then?” Mrs. Abernathy suddenly suggested. “The rest of us can go have a chat in the other room. I wouldn’t want to overstimulate Eddy, especially since it’s already been such an eventful day.”
She was tactful with her wording, but it was obvious that she was telling everyone aside from Agent Hastings and me to get lost for the sake of not spooking the kid.
“She’s right.” Christina nodded as she stood up off of the couch. “You stay here with him, mom.”
“I’ll leave it to you then.” Holm turned to me and shot me another pointed look before glancing surreptitiously at Olivia.
I made a mental note to get back at him later as he followed Christina out of the room.
Mrs. Abernathy ushered them into the kitchen, though I could see her hanging back and monitoring the conversation from afar. Of course, as Eddy’s social worker, she’d be making sure she was nearby to intervene if necessary.
Eddy had slipped away from his grandmother and onto the floor in the meantime. He was holding a dinosaur toy in each hand and crashing them together in a fierce battle, sound effects, and everything.
“Hey Eddy,” I said softly as I slid off the couch and onto the ground next to him. “My name is Ethan. What have you got there?”
“Dinosaw,” he replied immediately.
“That’s pretty cool.” I smiled at him. “Are they having a fight?”
“Fighting, fighting!” he parroted before emitting a dramatic growl and having one dinosaur bite at the other’s neck.
“Ouch, that’s rough,” I remarked as I watched him play. “I wonder which one is going to win?”
“Stegasawas,” he replied seriously before holding one of the toys out to me.
It surprised me to see that it really was a stegosaurus, but even more surprised that the kid even knew that word, considering how developmentally delayed he seemed in other areas. I glanced up at Mrs. Abernathy, who had drifted a little closer from the kitchen and was now staring intently at him as well.
“Wow,” I replied over-enthusiastically. “You know the name of this dinosaur? You’re pretty smart, Eddy.”
“Tank you,” he replied. “Danny teach me.”
I could feel the tension shift in the air as soon as those words left his mouth. There was a look of confusion on Mrs. Newark’s fa
ce behind him, and I lifted a hand to stop her before she could say anything.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “Is Danny a friend of yours?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled as he turned the dinosaur toy over in his hands. “She lives with me and Mommy.”
Mrs. Newark let out a strained, high-pitched choking noise behind him. There was a look of horror on her face.
Agent Hastings eased herself onto the ground next to us but didn’t say anything.
“She lived with you?” I repeated. “Where was that? Where did you all live together?”
Of course, I didn’t have high hopes that the kid would be able to confirm that he’d come here from Turks and Caicos, but maybe he could give us details that would enable us to narrow it down.
“In da big house,” he replied before abandoning the dinosaurs and moving on to a coloring book.
“Did anyone else live in the big house with you?” I prompted gently.
“Yeah,” he replied as he dragged a crayon haphazardly across the page.
“Who else lived with you?” I asked when he didn’t offer anything more.
“Da ladies,” he answered before picking up a different colored crayon. “Nina. Daisy. Jojo. Webecca…”
It took me a moment to realize that he was drawing a different blob on the paper with every name he listed.
“Is that them?” I asked as I watched him continue to add multicolored blobs to the drawing.
“Yeah,” he replied before pointing to a smaller blob in the center. “Dat me.”
Mrs. Newark was silently crying now, tears streaming down her face as she watched our interaction.
“Wow, you and your mommy sure had a lot of friends,” I remarked as I looked at the drawing. I counted at least ten blobs around the little one. “Were the ladies nice to you?”
“Yeah.” Eddy nodded. “Dey play with me when Mommy gone, and we play hide and seek from the bad guys.”
