CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Federal agents cuffed the three executives from Pelican. Ace and AJ transferred to the stolen insurance funds into a dummy account in order to disperse the reimbursements to the homeowners. Their trail was covered and the feds would never know.
Luke, Cam, Hex, and Eric stood in the door to Mara Guillory’s room. She was still pale, still on oxygen and in pain, but she was awake.
“We’ll get a full statement from you later, Mara. Right now, we just need you to get well,” said Luke.
“W-will I have to testify?” she asked.
“Yes. Do you remember everything?” asked Cam. She frowned, rubbing her temples gently as if trying to conjure all the memories forward. Her face looked like milk-glass, fragile and pale.
“I-I think so.” Then her face blanched even further, she tried to sit up but Rowe held her there, not wanting her to move. “Kiera. Where is Kiera?”
“Is she one of the other agents?” asked Luke. “We only found six and none were name Kiera.”
“No. No, Kiera. She’s my niece. I’m her guardian,” she exclaimed. “She was with the daycare center when I was taken.”
Every man in the room swallowed, their guts telling them that they knew where this child might be.
“How old is she?” asked Hex.
“Five. She’s tiny for five. My sister, my sister was small. She died from ovarian cancer a year after Keira was born. I-I never dreamed I would be taken. What happened to the daycare?”
“We’re not sure,” said Eric. “Honey, we found a child’s body. We have no identification on her. Would you be able to see a photo of the child and identify her? It won’t be easy, whether she’s your niece or not.”
“God,” she murmured. “It can’t be. I can’t lose them both.” Rowe gripped her hand tighter, trying to quell the erratic shaking of her body. Luke turned to Eric.
“Get Doc or Cruz in here as a precaution. Hex. Bring up the photo.” He turned back to Mara. “I hate to do this, Mara but we want to know who this child belongs to and we haven’t found anything. What daycare was she in?”
“Little Bateau,” she said with a sad smile. “It was just two older women in a house. It was all I could afford but they took such good care of her. She loved going every day.”
The men looked at one another and knew the answer to their question.
Little Bateau had been ripped from its foundation.
There was nothing left of it. The two women who lived in the back of the small house did not survive.
If Mara had been taken, they might have kept the little girl until her aunt showed up.
Luke stepped closer, one small step at a time. He opened the tablet to the screen where the face of the deceased child appeared. A sweet angelic face with dark hair. He turned it slowly toward Mara and had his answer.
All color drained from her face. There was no sound coming from her, nothing. Yet it said everything. Doc pushed into the room, checking her vitals and the readings on the monitor.
“Mara? Mara, honey look at me. Breathe. I need you to take a breath,” he said. The monitors began to scream, wilding blaring in the small room.
“What happened?” yelled Jane running into the room.
“Get out,” said Doc. “Everyone out!”
They left the room and walked out to the FEMA desk where the federal agents were gathering all the information on Pelican.
“You can add one more murder to their charges,” whispered Hex. “A child. Mara’s niece. She couldn’t pick her up because they’d kidnapped her. That resulted in the child’s death.”
“Shit,” muttered Jackson. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
The chaos of stabilizing Mara and ensuring that everyone was treated continued for days. When the storm finally dispersed over Texas and Mexico, it left behind a path of destruction unlike anything anyone had seen before.
But Belle Fleur was spared and they all knew just how fortunate they were. They prepared kits for those displaced. They made repairs on homes that were repairable. And they prepared for the court proceedings for Pelican Insurance.
“Where’s Rowe?” Luke asked Iggy.
“He’s still by her side. Refuses to leave except to shower. That woman will never be the same,” he said shaking his head. Luke nodded.
“Maybe not. But it’s our job to make sure that if she’s not the same, she’s better. Stronger. Happy, in a new way. We will not abandon her nor will we let that child’s death be in vain. One way or another, Pelican will pay for it all.”