Chapter 55
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FIVE
Andi snapped the laptop shut and jumped to her feet. She crossed the short distance to the door, barely remembering to grab the computer.
She pounded on Duke’s door.
Once. Twice. Harder the third time.
The door flew open.
Duke stood there in a T-shirt and jeans, concern already etched into his face. “Andi? What’s wrong?”
“I think I found her. I think I finally figured it out.”
That was all it took.
He stepped aside. “Come in.”
She rushed past him, setting the laptop on the small desk as her hands shook just enough to irritate her. Duke closed the door behind her, the click sounding louder than it should have.
“Okay,” he said, calm but focused. “Slow down. What did you find?”
Andi flipped the laptop open, fingers flying now as adrenaline sharpened her thoughts instead of scattering them. “Six months ago in Northern California. A woman went missing. No media attention. No real investigation—at least not publicly.”
She pulled up the article.
“She was found a month later. Alive. And that’s it. No follow-up. No interviews. One local paper gave it two inches of coverage, buried on page six.”
Duke leaned in, eyes narrowing as he read.
Then she scrolled down.
To the image.
Duke stilled.
“Tell me you see it,” Andi said.
He did. Andi could tell by the way Duke’s jaw tightened, by the way his focus sharpened to a point.
“She looks like Pam,” he murmured.
“Fake Pam. Or at least who she’s pretending to be.”
Her heart hammered as the implications cascaded through her mind—anger, fear, resolve tangling together. “What if this woman didn’t disappear? What if she was taken—and no one cared enough to notice?”
Duke straightened slowly, his expression darkening.
“And what if,” Andi continued, her voice steady now, “she wants to teach other people a lesson? Let them know how it feels to be ignored? Maybe that’s why we were warned not to make these disappearances public?”
The room went quiet.
Heavy.
Duke met her gaze, something grim and resolute settling into his eyes. “I think you’re onto something.”
Duke stared at the image on Andi’s screen longer than he needed to.
Not because he didn’t understand it, but because he did.
Six months. One story buried so deeply it might as well not have existed. A woman taken, then returned to the world quietly, as if her disappearance had been an inconvenience rather than a crime.
And Andi had found her.
“Good work.” His words felt inadequate, but Andi seemed to understand what he meant anyway.
They didn’t waste time.
Within minutes, Duke had sent the message to the group. A simple directive.
Conference room. Now.
No explanations. No qualifiers.
The team gathered quickly.
Duke stood near the window, back to the glass, eyes moving automatically as he spoke. “Andi found something.”
He nodded to her, and Andi took over, laying out the timeline. The missing woman. The lack of coverage. The eventual recovery. The photo.
When she finished, the room felt tighter.
Mariella looked sick. “She looks just like Fake Pam.”
“She is Fake Pam,” Duke said. “Or close enough that it’s intentional.”
Matthew was already typing, his expression sharp. “I’m pulling records now. Real name is Crystal Smith. Addresses. Employment history. Any sealed reports tied to the recovery.”
“She didn’t do this alone,” Ranger said. “Not with this level of coordination.”
“No,” Duke agreed. “She learned how the system failed her, but someone else is helping her exploit it.”
“What about that tour stop we talked about adding?” Andi asked.
“Rupert is working on it,” Mariella said.
“It’s our only play right now,” Andi said.
“She’s right,” Duke nodded. “We need to disrupt this guy and force him to adapt.”
“Mistakes happen when people adapt under pressure,” Andi added.
Mariella drew in a slow breath. “You think he’ll take the bait?”
Duke’s jaw tightened. “I think he won’t be able to help himself.”
The team exchanged looks—fear, determination, resolve weaving together.
They finally had a face.
A motive.
And now, a plan.
Duke scanned them all, then let his gaze settle briefly on Andi.
For the first time in a long while, the balance had shifted.
And whoever had been watching them so carefully?
Was about to realize they weren’t as invisible as they thought.