Chapter 3
Kendrick
“Kendrick. I managed to get a hit on the identity of the teacher.”
There was a significant shift in Jackie’s tone. Not quite hope, but the edge of excitement I’d hear in the voices of detectives and police officers when they’d made a discovery. “What did you find?”
“Her name is Reese Murphy. No criminal record. She’s from Jacksonville.”
Something dark bristled inside of me. Putting names to faces other than simple sketches made everything that much more real. “What’s her story? Any truth about her sister?”
“Entirely possible. Reese is a junior high school teacher. Her sister Briana is a runaway. A seventeen-year-old girl. Her parents reported her missing three months ago, but the police weren’t so inclined to care about a young girl who’d been a juvenile delinquent. You know how the story goes.”
Unfortunately, I did. Once labeled a delinquent, the cases were shoved to the bottom. Something else about the system that infuriated me. “So you’re suggesting Reese decided to locate her sister herself.”
“Apparently. She took a leave of absence from teaching ten days ago.”
Fuck. Ten days was a long time. There was no chance in hell a junior high schoolteacher had known what she was getting herself into. “Fuck the police. No offense.”
She half laughed. “I say that at least twice a day. There’s more. Reese’s name was flagged. I followed the trail. She contacted the Miami Dade police department with suspicions her sister had been lured into a modeling ring from a TikTok video. That’s what she told the officer who took the report.”
“And fucking did nothing with it,” I said out of disgust. “How did Reese pinpoint Miami?”
“That I’m not sure of, but Denise mentioned she was also lured into a modeling gig from a video. As you might imagine, that’s not an unusual tactic.”
“But highly susceptible to conmen. Let me guess. The officers refused to get up off their lazy asses and investigate her claim.” Anger swelled in me.
Jackie’s sigh was hollow. “You’re right. My guess is that all Reese presented were her suspicions and blind determination to find her sister, without realizing the danger she placed herself in.”
“She decided to become Nancy Drew.” Great. Now I was dating myself.
While I was furious the woman had been so reckless, I also had to admire Ms. Murphy’s tenacity.
There had been no way of her knowing what she was getting herself into.
Only she wasn’t a runaway whose disappearance could be ignored.
If anyone discovered she wasn’t just a young woman seeking fame and fortune, she’d be in even more danger.
“That’s what it looks like.” Jackie was clearly as perturbed as I’d become. “Her sister’s name is Briana. I did a cursory look but couldn’t find anything to prove helpful. After Reese arrived in Miami, she didn’t have time to put down any roots.”
“Did you check credit cards?”
“Yeah, a rental car and a cheap hotel, a couple meals, but nothing out of the ordinary.”
The modeling gig had been a fucking predatory lure. A snatch and grab opportunity.
“Can you email me Reese’s picture?”
“Yes. I also have one of Briana as well, although it’s older. What are you going to do, Kendrick? I know what you said about there being no real case. Trust me, my boss wants nothing to do with this. My partner laughed at me. Maybe you should just drop it. As you said, there’s nothing much there.”
Her sudden reluctance made me wonder if her boss, a man I’d butted heads with on more than one occasion, knew more about the Privileged than he was willing to disclose. And why he’d suddenly pressured her. Darren Ewing was no fan of mine.
“Is Darren aware we’ve had a conversation?”
“No. And I plan on keeping it that way.”
Another red flag.
“You walked into my office, Jackie. Remember? You wanted my help. Now, you suddenly don’t think there’s enough of a problem to continue investigating? What’s wrong? Is Darren putting a gun to your head? Or are you being paid to stay silent?”
“How dare you, Kendrick. I came to you in good faith. You know exactly what I’m up against.”
Sadly, I did. While corruption existed everywhere, up to this point, I’d doubted Darren was that conniving.
Maybe I was wrong. She’d all but championed him.
Up until now. She was keeping something from me, maybe since she knew my gruff personality.
“You came to me because I’m a tenacious bulldog.
It would seem that’s something else you choose to forget. ”
Sighing, she hesitated before continuing. “This is bigger than I realized. And very dangerous.”
“Do you know anyone who’s involved?”
“No.”
“If you’re lying to me, I will file a motion in the courts myself.”
“Do I have suspicions? Sure, but I can’t accuse anyone of something this heinous without finding myself lucky to get a job as a meter maid in some godforsaken city.
I’m telling you the truth, Kendrick. But I’m also warning you that whatever you have planned, you need to be careful.
Even investigating them is dangerous. Promise me you’ll consider your options carefully. ”
However Jackie had been cautioned, it had frightened her. Were there rumors flying around about another secret organization, one that was on the side of the good guys, bringing justice to those ignored by the system? Yes, there were. Were those men and women equally as dangerous?
You bet they were.
Did they often cross the line of legalities when necessary?
I’d take the fifth.
But I knew the group well. She was just hopeful I was involved. Maybe I’d need to toss out additional respect for the woman.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Jackie. I can take care of myself. Trust me on that. I’m not good with making promises, but I assure you that I will look into the situation. If I find any truth to what Denise indicated, I will make certain the men involved pay a hefty price.”
“As I said before. You are a good man. Just heed my warning.”
“Yeah, I will.”
“There’s one more thing. Reese’s name was also flagged because of her father.”
“Who is he?”
“Thomas Murphy. You might not know his name, but he’s the CEO of Global Universal.”
“The security company.”
Jackie exhaled. “Exactly. They provide security for everyone from various government agencies across the world to NASA.”
“You’re suggesting if either Reese’s or Briana’s identity is discovered, they’ll bring a hefty price on the black market.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Shit. Just another layer, another reason the girls needed to be found.
After ending the call, I took a minute outside Maverick’s house to collect my thoughts.
I’d come across powerful men in my days as a prosecutor.
They truly believed they were bigger than the law.
What I’d also learned was that when they felt the need to threaten anyone questioning them or eliminate anyone who could expose them, there were cracks in their perfectly coiffed system.
That’s what I intended on exploiting.
What I was having difficulty rationalizing was why anyone of any intelligence would drop into a highly dangerous situation by themselves.
Assisting a family member was one thing, but we were talking about a sex slavery operation where the women weren’t invited to become participants, but forced. Maybe I was just a bonehead. Although…
Thoughts of my sister popped into my mind. Maybe I did understand. I would have done anything for Emily. Hell, I’d done some brotherly and what she’d called stupid things including roughing up a boyfriend. She hadn’t forgiven me for weeks.
Laughing, I walked inside, rubbing my jaw as I did. How many brutal punches to the jaw had she given me over the years?
“There you are,” Maverick’s deep voice grumbled, pounding in my eardrums.
As I walked into the game room my mind was still elsewhere. I glanced at the host of the bi-monthly poker game before heading to the bar in the corner, immediately jerking open the refrigerator door. Remaining silent, I popped open a Corona, swigging a third of the bottle before I came up for air.
When I did, I noticed all four men were staring at me, one form of amusement or another on their faces.
“What?” I barked out, still feeling the tight confines of the day and my shitty mood.
“Nothing,” Maverick managed as he swirled his drink, no doubt a whiskey.
The man’s blood had likely been transfused with the shit.
“Except you’re late. You look like you just rolled out of bed.
Your attitude sucks and for God’s sake, stop using gasoline as your choice of aftershaves or you’re never getting laid again. ”
Maverick Callahan, the owner of the oversized, overpriced beach house, and a former FBI agent turned number one best-selling author on every goddamn chart there was, offered his infamous smug look.
Chase Barrett burst out laughing, even pounding on the table as Maverick wasn’t known for his comical approach to everything.
He, on the other hand, was a career DEA agent, a man who used comedy as a weapon and everyone was fair game.
I wasn’t in the mood.
Gabriel Rawlins, a judge aptly titled the Executioner simply continued cutting the cards while my buddy Hudson Armstrong, also a judge although not nearly as much a pain in the ass as Gabriel, shook out the bag of nickels we used when we gambled.
“I don’t look like shit,” I growled as I peered down at what I was wearing. Jeans. A tee shirt. Cowboy boots. “This is what I always wear.” When not forced to wear a confining uniform for court.
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Hudson threw out. “And what the hell is that smell?”
I grabbed another beer before heading to the table, jerking out a chair and plopping down. “My soon to be ex mechanic forgot to put the gas cap back on. So it splashed. So what?” I was only teasing about firing him. Harry was the only man who I trusted to work on my Vette.