Chapter Eight
Bella
“ I understand your frustration, and I assure you we are doing all we can.”
I laugh out loud. I don ’ t mean to, and I don ’ t even realize that I am until the officer on the other end of the line asks me what ’ s funny.
“ You ’ re telling me that you ’ re doing all you can and to relax,” I tell him. “ But I came to you the day before yesterday to tell you that my friend is missing, and you told me that I had to wait until the twenty-four-hour mark. It came and went without her showing up, followed by you only taking a report, which is insulting. Then, you tell me that you understand my frustration? No… I don ’ t think you do.”
“ Ma ’ am, we don ’ t have anything to go on,” he tells me. “ I understand that you came to us as soon as you felt it necessary, and that was the right thing to do. But we also have procedures in place for a reason. You have no idea how often this happens with tourists, especially in your age bracket. If we launched full-scale investigations every time we got a report of a possible missing person, it would tie up valuable resources for genuine emergencies.”
“ How is this not a genuine emergency?” I yell into the phone. “ My cousin has been kidnapped!”
“ Allegedly,” he says, and I grit my teeth and bite my tongue to keep from unleashing on him.
I want to scream and throw my phone against the wall. Normally, I ’ m a very calm, rational person, but I want to start swearing at him and not stop until he hears the phone line go dead as my phone shatters. I understand he ’ s saying that we don ’ t have proof that she was kidnapped, but to me, it ’ s so blatantly obvious.
The last I heard from her was that she was going out on a superyacht with two virtual strangers. The fact that she never returned makes it seem obvious that she’d been kidnapped.
If I didn ’ t know better, I ’ d think the local law enforcement was either in on this or just that incompetent. I don ’ t believe for one second that she ’ s just having fun with those guys and not wanting her overprotective cousin to blow the party for her. And that ’ s the distinct impression I ’ m getting from this jerk.
“ We ’ ll need you to email a recent photograph of your cousin, but besides that, we ’ ve gotten all the information from you that we need at this point,” he tells me. “ We will send a detective to your hotel to talk with various staff, including the marina employees since you said she went out on the open water with her friends. We'll let you know as soon as we know more. Right now, that ’ s the best I can do.”
“ So, what do you suggest I do?” I challenge the worthless officer. “ Just pretend everything is great on my vacation when God only knows what happened to my cousin? She might be dead right now, for all I know!”
“ Well, I would not suggest you allow your mind to go to the worst-case scenario,” he warns. “ But I would suggest that you show her photo around the resort and find out if anyone has seen her.”
I scoff, but softly enough that he ’ s unable to hear it through the phone. I ’ m not sure if he ’ s intending to be as insulting as he ’ s coming off, but intentional or not, I can ’ t believe what I ’ m hearing.
“ With any luck, she ’ ll come walking through the front door of your bungalow before the day is over,” he tells me, and I can ’ t help but roll my eyes for the umpteenth time during this brief phone call.
I wish I could embrace the level of delusion he ’ s rudely suggesting, but I simply can ’ t.
The lack of empathy this man displays makes me seethe, and I hang up feeling even more frustrated than before the phone call. I’ll show Harley’s photo to whoever will humor me by looking at it because it’s the only thing I can think to do that’ll make me feel like I ’ m doing something productive.
That is until Cole arrives.
I still can ’ t fully wrap my mind around the fact that I’ll be seeing my ex-fiancé face to face in a matter of hours. I’ve occasionally stalked him online over the years via his mother ’ s Facebook page since he and I aren ’ t Facebook friends. Also, I imagine that social media activity is discouraged due to the sensitive nature of his line of work.
There were only a few times that I saw a photo of him with another girl on his mom ’ s page, and it ripped me to shreds, even though I was the one who ended our relationship. It was just easier for me not to look anymore.
I wished him well, but I couldn ’ t keep torturing myself with the knowledge that he moved on with his life. I ’ m happy for him, but it doesn ’ t change the fact that it hurts to see it.
Now, however, he ’ s going to be here. In the flesh. Right in front of me.
He ’ s supposed to arrive by five, and while I ’ m eager to see him, I ’ m also super nervous.
I almost dropped my phone when he called me back last night. His voice is just as sexy as I remember, and merely hearing it brought back so many memories I thought were long gone. I almost burst into tears right then. I ’ m glad I didn ’ t, and I would have passed it off as crying out of worry for Harley.
Deep down, however, I know the truth.
Just hearing his voice brought back so many things that I didn ’ t realize I still felt. I was so certain I had gotten over him years ago that I wasn ’ t expecting the rush of feelings to come over me when I heard his voice.
I ’ d barely gotten the story out to him without breaking down, and when he told me he was on his way, I actually did cry with relief.
“ You ’ re coming here?” I asked.
“ Of course I am,” he said. “ And the sooner I can get there, the better. This is serious, Bella. Every minute counts right now.”
“ Thank you,” I told him. “ I can ’ t tell you how much that means to me.”
“ Bella, ” he said. “ I know we have a past, and things didn ’ t work out for us, but that doesn ’ t matter now. There ’ s only one thing that does matter, and that ’ s supporting you through this crisis.”
“ Finding Harley,” I said tearfully. “ That ’ s what matters.”
“ Yes, that matters,” he told me. “ But just as important is the fact that… you need me.”