Chapter 3 #2
“Now that everyone’s here and has had the chance to meet, let’s go ahead and get started. As you all know, Janie came to the office last night in hopes that our team could help her with a situation that’s recently developed.”
“Which is?” Blake looked to Emmett for more information.
As planned, rather than explaining it all himself, the man in charge turned the room over to her.
“I’ll let Janie fill you in on the details.”
She held Emmett’s entrancing gaze a breath longer before clearing her throat and facing his team. “There’s a White House intern who’s gone missing, and I need your help to find her before it’s too late.”
The silence that fell over the room was so instant and thick it was almost deafening as she waited for their response. A few long, intense seconds passed before three of the teammates began talking over one another with blurted questions and comments.
“I’m sorry, did you say White House intern?” Gwen’s brows rose into a set of high arches.
At the same time, Draven released a groaning, “Ah, man. That can’t be good.”
Meanwhile, Lucas’ initial response was to ask, “How do you know she’s missing?”
Blake’s focus was on the tablet he’d brought with him. A few swipes and taps later, he looked Janie’s way. “What’s her name?”
“Amy Weaver.”
“Like last night,” Emmett reminded her softly. “Take your time and tell them everything you know…from the beginning.”
For the next several minutes, Gwen, Lucas, Draven, and Blake listened intently as she went through all that had happened.
The interview with David Ellis. Amy bumping into her on the sidewalk. The unmistakable fear in the girl’s eyes. The empty, pristine apartment, and the way the cops blew off her concerns.
She also told them about Devon and all she could do, though she kept her friend’s name confidential.
“This friend of yours sounds a lot like me.” Blake’s lips curved into a genuine smile.
“She’s brilliant,” Janie proclaimed with confidence.
Something else she chose to hold back from the team was the fact that Devon was the closest thing Janie had to family.
With the disturbing situation having been thoroughly explained, she sat back and waited for the questions to come. There weren’t as many as she’d expected, and Janie wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad. Either way, Emmett had promised to be upfront and honest regarding the team’s decision.
She just prayed they’d see this whole thing for what it truly was. A girl was in trouble, and from what Janie could tell, she was the only person bothering to look.
“What about her family?” Gwen spoke up next, her brown eyes lasered on Janie’s.
“From what my friend said, Amy didn’t have any. But I don’t know if that’s even really true, given that her name was wiped from the list of White House interns immediately following her disappearance.”
It was impossible to know what other sources of information had been altered when it came to facts about Amy Weaver’s life.
“Your friend was right,” Blake confirmed, spinning his tablet around so Janie could see. “That is, if this is the same woman you met who claimed to be Amy Weaver.”
The second Janie saw the woman’s face on the screen, she knew.
“That’s her.”
The team’s tech guy gave her a nod. “Good. Well not good for her, but at least we know we’re on the right track.”
According to this, Amy’s parents were killed when she was eight after a drunk driver plowed his two-ton truck into their family sedan. They were having a date night and were on their way home from the movies when the accident happened.”
“Damn,” Lucas exclaimed solemnly from under his breath.
“And Amy?” Janie asked.
“She was home with the babysitter,” Blake continued.
Devon chimed in next by asking, “What happened to her after her parents were killed?”
“She ended up in foster care until she graduated from high school.”
A heaviness filled Janie’s chest at the thought of Amy as that lost and lonely child. She knew the feeling all too well.
“And there was no other family willing to take her in?”
Blake shook his head. “Like Amy, both of her parents were only children, and both sets of grandparents passed before she was even two.”
“What about friends?”
“Her social media accounts have been wiped clean, but it won’t take long to access friend requests made or accepted, as well as anything she may have posted in the past.”
It was terrifying to know nothing on the internet could ever permanently be deleted. With enough brains, patience, and the proper equipment, a person’s digital footprint—no matter how-well it was hidden—could eventually be found.
“What else did you find?” Janie asked Blake next.
“Your friend was also right about the White House intern roster.” He tapped the tablet’s front, revealing a split-screen image.
“The list on the left is a zoomed-in portion of the original, which was uploaded into the White House database shortly after the first of the year. This one”—he pointed to the digital document on their right—“is that same section of the list as it shows now. Notice anything different?”
“Her name is gone,” Janie whispered more to herself than anyone else.
Like the woman herself, Amy’s name had vanished without a single explanation as to why.
“Are there any other questions for Miss Reynolds?” Emmett posed the question to his team.
“I have one.” Gwen looked over at Janie from where she sat on the other side of the table.
“If Amy Weaver hadn’t bumped into you on the sidewalk that day, you wouldn’t even know she existed.
So I guess I’m wondering why you’re willing to spend a chunk of your own money to hire us to help you find her? ”
“The truth?” Janie kept her spine straight and her shoulders back.
“I have no idea. All I know is I can’t stop thinking about the way she looked at me that day when we were standing on that sidewalk.
She was scared.” Her throat worked a swallow.
“And she was ready to talk to me later that night. I don’t know if she got spooked and ran or if someone got to her before I arrived at her place.
All I know, is my gut has been screaming at me ever since, and I won’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I don’t at least try to find her and make sure that she’s okay. ”
An almost discernable smile graced Gwen’s mouth. “Fair enough.”
The two women shared a look she prayed meant the pretty blonde was on her side.
“Anyone else?” Emmett waited, and when the others shook their heads and sat back in their chairs, he turned his head in Janie’s direction. “Can you give us a minute?”
“Sure.” She stood and made her way to the door.
The urge to look back at Emmett was strong, but she fought it and kept her gaze forward. If she looked back, Janie was fearful she’d literally start begging his team for help.
With or without them, she wouldn’t stop looking for Amy. But she really hoped she wouldn’t have to go at it alone.
Luckily the team didn’t make her wait very long for their decision. It took all of five minutes—maybe less—for Emmett to re-emerge from the shadows of the hall.
“We’re taking the case,” he announced unceremoniously.
Her pulse spiked, and tears of relief stung her eyes, taking her completely by surprise.
“You are?” Janie rushed to where he was standing. “Thank you so much!”
Her first instinct was to go in for a hug, but she stopped herself short to keep from crossing a line. Hugging was second nature to a mid-western girl like her. But out here?
Step out of his personal bubble right this second before he changes his mind and kicks you to the curb.
Janie took a step back and stretched out her hand for a final, binding handshake. “Seriously, Emmett. Thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome.” He slid his palm against hers. “We’ll get a contract written up, and I’ll email it over by the end of the day.”
She smiled, wondering somewhere in the back of her mind whether she’d ever get used to his touch.
Planning on touching him often, are ya?
“How much do you charge?” The untimely—and loud—blurt sent a rush of heat into both of Janie’s cheeks.
Hoping to save face, she hurriedly amended the question with a much softer, “I mean, I know we didn’t talk numbers, but I can put down a retainer today, if need be.
Do you guys do any sort of installment plan, or do you need the full amount up-front? ”
There was still a decent amount of her inheritance left in the bank. Janie had planned to hang onto it as a sort of nest egg. But if it meant saving an innocent life—
“We’ll get all that sorted out later.” He pulled his hand free. “Until then, just make sure you keep your phone on in case we need to reach you.”
“Of course,” Janie promised. “And please, pass along my thanks to the rest of your team. You said last night that this isn’t your typical kind of case, so I appreciate your willingness to help in spite of that fact.”
“You do know there’s a chance Amy Weaver really did just up and run away, right?”
“I know.” She sighed. “There have been so many times over these past couple of days when I’ve almost convinced myself this is all nothing more than a giant waste of everyone’s time.
But I keep going back to that list, and how the White House is acting as if Amy was never there, and I just .
. .” Janie’s next sigh came out a bit more forceful.
“Something in my gut says this is a hell of a lot more than a wild goose chase. I hope I’m wrong, but if not . . .”
She didn’t finish because really, what more was there to say?
“We’ll do everything we can to find her.” Emmett’s vow was deep and unwavering. “In the meantime, you should try to go back to your hotel and get some rest.”
Any other time, Janie probably would have taken the suggestion as a thinly veiled insult. But she was too exhausted to even pretend she didn’t at least show it in her eyes.
“You’ll call the minute you find something?”
“You have my word.” His rugged chin lowered in a slight dip.
Under different circumstances, she would have found the courage to ask him out for a drink. But she wasn’t about to screw up Echo Team’s offer to help in her search for Amy.
Instead Janie looked up at Emmett with a smile and a polite, “We’ll talk soon, then.”
Relief from knowing she wasn’t alone in her quest came crashing down. Between that and suffering through three sleepless nights in a row, she couldn’t deny her body was begging for a few hours of peace.
Janie drove back to the hotel in the rental car she’d procured the day before. The entire ride home, her mind whirled with a slew of different thoughts and plausible theories.
By the time she was back in the comfort of her hotel suite, she could hardly keep her eyes open for longer than a few seconds at a time.
She didn’t bother to undress, aside from kicking off her jacket and shoes.
Her purse landed on the floor next to the nightstand with a dull thud before Janie crawled into bed, jeans and all.
The last thought she had before falling asleep minutes later was a silent prayer that the cops who’d blown her off were right. She genuinely hoped Emmett would call soon to tell her Amy Weaver had been found alive and unharmed.
I’ll take being an idiot tourist if it means that scared young woman is okay. After all, I’ve been called worse.