Choppy Seas (A Rowan Gray Mystery Book 5)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Because the kid is a kleptomaniac?”

  “I wouldn’t exactly use that term, but I’m willing to bet Kasey stole the sweater simply because she figured it was a way to beat Gabby and I guarantee those girls aren’t as confident about a win as Leighann makes out.”

  “I can see her not wanting to admit that,” Quinn conceded. “Given that she’s currently on the hook for a potential kidnapping and that’s so much worse, though, why not just own up to it?”

  “Because she’s the sort of girl who has gotten away with everything her whole life and she thinks that will continue.”

  Quinn tapped his bottom lip, intrigued. “Well … I could use that as a tactic and try to question her again. A few hours in a cell might be enough to loosen her lips. She was legitimately crushed when she realized she couldn’t go to the competition tomorrow.”

  “She was,” Rowan agreed, her mind busy as it ran through the interrogation. “She was also exceedingly nervous and she kept looking at the mirror, as if she thought someone else was on the other side watching her. Maybe even judging her.”

  Quinn made a comical face. “Judging her?”

  “She’s been judged her whole life,” Rowan pointed out. “She’s a cheerleader heading to a competition where she’s going to be judged. She’s used to it.”

  “Okay, but who did she think was judging her?” Quinn challenged. “It was just us.”

  “Not just us. There was one other person who never left your office. Kasey didn’t know that, though. She couldn’t see.”

  “Leighann,” Quinn said after a beat. “We’re back to her. You think she’s involved, don’t you?”

  “I think Leighann is the sort of person who has the means to think up an operation like this. She has the ability to pull it off with help. I mean … some of the people who checked in but supposedly aren’t heading to the competition could be working for her, right?”

  “They could but … why take Gabby?”

  “Two birds, one stone. You said that human trafficking didn’t care about skin color or social status. If Leighann got rid of Gabby she could’ve gotten paid and tilted factors in her favor for a competition win.”

  Quinn wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think that makes a lot of sense. Why would Leighann risk everything on a human trafficking conviction if she already has more money than God?”

  Rowan hated to admit it, but he had a point. “Huh. I didn’t think about that.”

  “Yeah. I can’t see the human trafficking angle working for Leighann. However, I can see her taking Gabby and stuffing her somewhere until after the competition. Maybe she didn’t do it alone. Maybe she had help … and that help has been moving Gabby from room to room to evade detection.”

  “She would still show up on video feeds for the respective hallways in question. Leighann’s girls are spread down two of them.”

  “We haven’t been checking the video feeds for the corridors by Leighann’s girls,” Quinn said. “We’ve been checking the feeds for the rooms by Claire’s girls.”

  Rowan brightened considerably. “Oh. Does that mean you have another place to look?”

  “It does.” Quinn grabbed a roll from the basket at the center of the table and stood. “Stay here and eat.”

  Rowan immediately started shaking her head. “I want to go with you.”

  “And trust me, I would prefer having you with me,” Quinn said, his lips momentarily curving. “I have a method to my madness, though. I want to talk to Kasey and I want my men to get on that footage. While that’s happening, I need someone to watch Leighann.”

  “Which is me,” Rowan said, defeated. “I get the boring job of watching Leighann.”

  Quinn leaned closer so only Rowan could hear him. “No, you get the job of watching the photographs to see if the mark on Leighann’s photo changes. And I want you to make sure Leighann doesn’t go near my office, too, but the photos are more important.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “What if that glyph showed up on Leighann’s photograph because she was the danger, not because she was in danger?”

  Rowan was dumbfounded. “Wow. I never even thought about that. That’s going to make our jobs going forward much easier if it’s true.”

  Quinn grinned at the shift in her demeanor and instinctively smacked a loud kiss against her lips before straightening. “Keep your eyes peeled. Watch Leighann and tell me where she goes. I’m going to hit Kasey hard with what we suspect and hopefully get some answers.”

  “And hopefully get some confirmation on the video that Gabby is still alive,” Rowan added.

  “Exactly.” Quinn’s expression softened. “If everything goes as planned, we should be able to finish this tonight.”

  “Then let’s hope it goes as planned.”

  QUINN CALLED FOR TWO of his men to go through the video outside Leighann’s bank of rooms, making sure they watched the entire hallway where the girls and their mothers were located for signs of Gabby.

  Then he returned to the interrogation room and waited for Kasey to be marched inside. He wanted a position of power when she first saw him. He realized right away that she was ready to cede whatever power she thought she had when he took in her tear-stained face and shaking hands. Apparently two hours in lockup was enough to break her.

  He was glad for it.

  “Sit down, Kasey,” he ordered in an authoritative voice.

  Kasey let loose a profound sniffle as she used the back of her hand to wipe beneath her nose. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen for a few days. It’s time you faced consequences for your actions.”

  “I didn’t do anything. That’s my sweater.”

  Quinn smacked his hand on the table hard enough that Kasey jolted and glared. “Stop messing around. This is a serious situation and I’m done playing with you. I want answers.”

  “I can’t answer without a lawyer. My dad will be mad if I do.”

  “If you didn’t have anything to do with Gabby’s disappearance, you have nothing to worry about other than a petty theft charge, which will probably disappear because no one cares.” Quinn rested his palms on the tabletop and stared directly into Kasey’s morose face. “I’m going to tell you what I think happened. I want you to tell me if I’m right.”

  “I want to go home.” Kasey was pitiable, but Quinn couldn’t muster any sympathy for her. “I just … I want to go home. This isn’t fun. They said it would be fun.”

  Quinn slanted his eyes. “Who told you it would be fun? Are you talking about Leighann?”

  Kasey didn’t answer, instead shrinking down in her chair as she darted a look toward the two-way mirror.

  “Leighann isn’t here.” Quinn adjusted his tone so it was softer, gentle even. “She’s not here. She’s not watching. I need you to tell me what you know.”

  “What makes you think I know anything?”

  “Because I’m not an idiot,” Quinn replied calmly. “That’s Gabby’s sweater. You have it. I think I know how you got it.”

  “I … .”

  Quinn held up his hand to silence her. “Gabby was on the deck with you guys. We know that. We saw her. She kind of disappeared from the camera at some point – and we’re still trying to ascertain how and why it happened the way it did – but she was there.

  “It’s colder inside,” he continued. “Gabby probably wore the sweater for breakfast and then stripped out of it on the deck because it was too hot. You saw the sweater and took it, perhaps as a dig to her or maybe simply because you enjoy stealing things.

  “I’ve gotten reports from some of the promenade stores since you guys arrived and a lot of things have gone missing,” he said. “I don’t really care about that right now, though, although I’m not opposed to adding those charges to the mix if they can be proven. I care about Gabby. I also think you know what happened to her.”

  Kasey worked her mouth for a long time before a sound
came out. When she finally found her voice, the story came out in a rush and Quinn had to listen hard to catch everything.

  “I didn’t take her. I didn’t have anything to do with taking her. I don’t know why I took the sweater. It’s ugly and I’ll never wear it. Sometimes I can’t stop myself, though. It’s a sickness.”

  Quinn remained immobile as Kasey collected herself to continue.

  “Gabby was out there the day she disappeared,” Kasey volunteered. “She was out there without her friends, which we thought was weird, but she was looking for Ms. Austin. She asked us about her and seemed upset about something.”

  Quinn nodded in encouragement. “Okay. Then what happened?”

  “We made fun of her.” Kasey didn’t look guilty in the least about the admission. “We taunted her and gave her crap, asking if she wanted Ms. Austin to be her new mother because she had money and class.”

  “And how did Gabby respond?”

  “She was angrier than I expected,” Kasey admitted. “She said we didn’t know what we were talking about and Ms. Austin could never be anyone’s mother because she was evil.”

  Quinn was taken aback. “Gabby said that about Ms. Austin even though she got a free trip out of the woman?”

  “I thought it was weird, too.” Kasey warmed to her subject. Now that she’d broken through the verbal barrier she just wanted to get everything out. “Gabby said that Ms. Austin wasn’t who she appeared to be and that I should mind my own business. That made me angry, which is one of the reasons I took her sweater when I found it.”

  “Was Gabby gone by then?”

  Kasey nodded. “She took off in a huff toward the other side of the deck. She was still outside, though.”

  “And what did you do?”

  “I took the sweater. I was taking it back to my room – even though I had no idea what I wanted to do with it – when I thought better of it. I didn’t want to be accused of stealing Gabby’s sweater because it was so ugly. I was heading back to the deck so I could dump the sweater on one of the loungers when I heard it.”

  “Heard what?”

  “They were fighting.”

  “Who is they?”

  “The people who had Gabby. She was there and they were trying to keep her quiet. She was fighting, though. She fought hard.”

  Quinn sucked in a calming breath. He was finally getting somewhere. He didn’t want to scare off Kasey with a burst of anger when he was so close to solving the riddle. “You saw people with Gabby? How many?”

  “Three, although I think four people are involved.”

  “Who did you see?”

  Kasey fidgeted on her chair, chewing her bottom lip as she tried to get comfortable. Her unease was palpable. “I’m not sure if I should be telling you this.”

  Quinn was done playing around. “You either tell me right now or I’m going to make sure you see the inside of a real jail cell when we get back to the mainland. You’ll do time for lying, Kasey. You’ll be doing enough time that your friends will be graduating from college before you get out.”

  Kasey’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, I’m deathly serious. You tell me who has Gabby right now!”

  “Fine.” Kasey blew out a dramatic sigh. “You’re not going to like it, though. You might not even believe me. I was stunned when I saw it. I’m not sure I would’ve believed it myself if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”

  “Try me.”

  ROWAN HURRIEDLY ATE and then grabbed her camera so she could snap photos of the leisurely guests. Her job was a good cover and it allowed her to take a fresh photograph of Leighann – who still had the new symbol hovering over her – while also watching the rest of the girls.

  For her part, Leighann seemed lost in thought. It was obvious she was upset – furious even – but she didn’t talk to anyone. Instead she spent an hour straight staring at the wall. She didn’t even bother to push her food around the plate and pretend she was eating it.

  After her gossipy girls left – they were animated and obviously talking about Kasey for the duration of the meal – Leighann leaned to the side and whispered something to one of the mothers before getting to her feet.

  To Rowan’s utter surprise, Leighann headed toward the back door rather than the front. Rowan racked her brain for a reason – that hallway basically led to nowhere but the salons – and then she realized the answer was right in front of her. Leighann was going to the salon she reserved, and it just happened to be a salon Rowan was positive no one had visited in days. It also happened to be a salon that Leighann was adamant no one enter. Rowan didn’t believe that was a coincidence.

  Excitedly, Rowan slipped her camera strap around her neck and dug for her phone as she followed Leighann through the dining room, making sure to give the woman enough space that she didn’t sense Rowan’s presence as the photographer typed out a hasty message to Quinn about her location before turning the phone to “silent” and shoving it in her pocket.

  Rowan wasn’t psychic – at least she didn’t think she was psychic – but she couldn’t shake the air of excitement wafting over her. She was convinced they were finally getting somewhere.

  Rowan made sure to allow Leighann time to get ahead of her once they hit the hallway. Leighann appeared to be lost in her own little world, even muttering under her breath as she strode through the empty corridor, but Rowan knew better than allowing Leighann the luxury of knowing she was being followed.

  Rowan wasn’t surprised when Leighann paused in front of the salon door and started fishing in her pocket. She instinctively hid in an alcove so Leighann wouldn’t see her should she glance down the corridor and waited until she heard the doors snick shut.

  When she poked her head out of the alcove, Rowan found the hallway empty. She pulled out her phone to see if Quinn had responded – which he hadn’t – and then punched in another message to inform him she was following Leighann into the salon and instructing him to send backup. Rowan liked to think she wasn’t an idiot, but if Gabby was inside, there was no way Rowan would leave her to suffer for another second … even if it meant putting herself at risk.

  After sliding her phone in her back pocket, Rowan unhooked her camera and carefully placed it on the floor so it was out of sight. It would only get in the way if a fight was about to occur – and if Leighann had Gabby stuffed somewhere in that room, there was definitely going to be a fight.

  Rowan checked both directions when she reached the door, and upon finding the corridor empty, she slid her master key into the lock and opened it.

  The salon was quiet and hidden in shadows thanks to muted lighting when she stepped inside. Rowan cocked her head to listen for telltale sounds of activity, perhaps a closet door opening or closing. She was so intent on listening she didn’t notice the shadow moving in at her left until it was too late to beat a hasty retreat.

  “I’m so glad you decided to join us,” Leighann seethed, mayhem apparent in her furious tone as her eyes flashed with hateful intent. “I think we’re about to have one heck of a good time.”

  Rowan swallowed hard. She doubted very much that was true.

  19

  Nineteen

  Rowan forced herself to remain calm. She had no idea if Leighann was armed – although she had her doubts – but the woman clearly led her into the salon as part of a trap. She simply had to figure out why.

  “You knew I was following you, huh?” Rowan adopted a light and airy tone. “I guess I’ll have to work on my stealth techniques.”

  “I knew you were following because I expected you to follow.” Leighann scuffed her shoes against the floor as she moved to a position where Rowan could see her. The look on the woman’s face was downright hateful. “You’ve been unable to mind your own business from the start. I honestly should’ve seen this coming.”

  Rowan internally debated how to play things before sauntering to the nearest chair, thus increasing the distance between her and Leighann, and
sliding into it. The smile on her face when she lifted her chin to meet Leighann’s intense gaze was bemused rather than worried. Inside, though, Rowan was legitimately terrified … and not just about herself.

  “You were never going to get away with it anyway.”

  “Oh, really?” Leighann practically dripped condescension as she sat in the chair across from Rowan. Now that she had a clear view, the edgy ship photographer was relieved to find Leighann didn’t have a weapon in either hand. That didn’t mean she was free and clear, but Rowan felt markedly better about the revelation.

  “Really.” Rowan bobbed her head. “There was no way we were going to simply ignore Gabby’s disappearance. How could you even think otherwise?”

  “Because nobody will miss her at home. I mean … does she even have a home? My understanding is that she sleeps on various relatives’ couches. No one will miss her because she’s barely a fluff of cotton on the wind as it is.”

  Rowan felt sick to her stomach. “How can you say something like that?”

  “Because it’s the truth. You might not want to hear it because … well, you’re you … but it’s the truth. In the grand scheme of things, that girl means nothing to no one. She doesn’t even have contact with her mother because her mother is in jail for prostitution.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I do proper research when it comes to my subjects.”

  The unsettled feeling in the pit of Rowan’s stomach only grew with the admission. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

  “Done what?” Leighann feigned staring at her fingernails. “What is it exactly that you think I’ve done?”

  “You took Gabby. You locked her away.”

  “To what end?”

  “You wanted to win the competition and you thought getting rid of Gabby was your best shot.”

  Leighann snorted, genuinely amused. “Do you really think that? I mean … seriously? Do you honestly believe all of this is over a cheerleading competition?”