The Cottage at Pelican Bay 6 (Nantucket Seashells #6)

Chapter 1

TESSA

Tessa sat in her mother’s home office at Seabird Cottage, Lori’s phone pressed to her ear as she answered.

“Hello?” Her twin brother’s voice came through, cautious and professional in that way that meant he was either working or somewhere he could not talk freely.

“Trent,” Tessa said quickly. “What took you so long to get back to me?”

There was a pause, and she could almost see him checking his surroundings, making sure he had privacy before continuing the conversation. “I’m not at home at the moment.” Another pause. “Why are you on Lori’s phone?”

“I lost my phone,” Tessa lied smoothly. The truth was more complicated. Her phone had been in her purse when she was kidnapped, and she had no idea where it was now. Either way, she was not about to explain all of that to Trent right now. “Listen, I need you to pull some records for me.”

Trent paused again. Longer this time. “What kind of records?”

Tessa took a breath, choosing her words carefully. She needed to give him enough information to find what she was looking for without revealing too much. Not yet. Not until she was absolutely certain. “I need everything you can find on a specific family.”

“What family?” Trent asked.

Tessa lowered her voice and told him.

“Tessa, that’s not a lot to go on,” Trent said, and she could hear the suspicion in his voice. “Why are you looking into that particular family?”

“I’ve tried to Google them, and I’ve found nothing. It’s like all the information about it has been scrubbed from the internet. I’ve searched every database I have access to, and I’m coming up empty. News articles, court documents, and even social media posts about them. It’s all gone.”

Trent was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice had shifted into what Tessa privately thought of as his agent mode. Sharp, focused, analyzing. “That’s not surprising. One of the family members was a grey hat hacker. More black hat, though, from what I understand.”

Tessa’s heart skipped. “Oh. Great!”

“What’s your interest in this, Tessa?” Trent insisted.

“I can’t explain right now,” Tessa said, glancing toward the closed office door. Lori was upstairs taking a shower, but she did not know how long it would take. “I promise I’ll tell you everything when I have more time, but right now I just need those records. Can you get them for me?”

“Tessa.” Trent’s voice had taken on that particular tone that meant he was not going to let this go easily. The protective twin brother tone. “What’s going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“I’m fine,” Tessa assured him, which was not entirely true but close enough for now.

She had a concussion and ten stitches in her forehead, and she had been kidnapped, but she was currently safe in a locked house, so that counted as fine in her book.

“I just need to confirm something. Please, Trent. Just get me the records.”

She heard him sigh, that particular long-suffering sound he made when she was being stubborn and he knew he was not going to win the argument. “Fine. But you owe me an explanation. A real one, not whatever abbreviated version you’re planning to give me.”

“Deal,” Tessa said. Then another thought occurred to her, and she frowned. “Trent, where are you right now?”

The pause that followed was telling. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you’re being even more careful about what you say than usual,” Tessa pointed out. “And because I can hear... I don’t know, something in the background. Are you working?”

“Tessa, you know better than to ask me that,” Trent warned

“I do know better,” Tessa agreed. “Which is why I’m asking anyway. Are you out of the country?”

Another pause, longer this time. “I can’t tell you that. You know I can’t.”

Which was as good as a yes, Tessa thought. Her twin brother was somewhere he was not supposed to talk about, doing something he was not supposed to talk about, and she had just dragged him into her mess by asking for classified court records.

Guilt twisted in her stomach, but she pushed it aside. She needed those records. She needed to confirm what that tune in her head was telling her, and to know if the person she thought was behind all of this was actually behind it.

“So you’re not with Mom, then?” Tessa asked, even though she already knew the answer.

“No,” Trent confirmed. “She’s still in Florida with Maggie. Why?”

“No reason,” Tessa said quickly. Too quickly, judging by the suspicious silence on the other end of the line. “I just wanted to make sure. Listen, Trent, I need you to promise me something.”

“What?” Trent asked cautiously.

“Don’t mention this to Mom. Don’t mention that I called asking for these records, that I’m looking into this case, or any of it. Promise me.”

“Tessa.” Trent’s voice had gone flat, the way it did when he was trying very hard to remain patient. “What are you into? What is going on?”

“Promise me first,” Tessa insisted. “I’m invoking the twin trust code.”

The twin trust code was something they had come up with when they were kids.

A sacred pact between them that meant absolute secrecy, absolute loyalty, no matter what.

They had used it for everything from covering for each other when they snuck out as teenagers to keeping each other’s secrets as adults.

It was unbreakable, inviolable, and Tessa had only invoked it a handful of times in her life.

But Trent did not immediately agree, which was unusual. “Tessa, I can’t just promise to keep secrets from Mom if you’re in danger. If you are in trouble, she needs to know.”

“I’m not in danger right now,” Tessa said, which was technically true. She was sitting in a locked house with all the doors and windows secured. “And I’ll tell Mom everything eventually. I just need some time first. Please, Trent. Say it.”

“No,” Trent said flatly. “Not until you tell me what is happening.”

Tessa felt a flash of frustration. Her brother could be so stubborn when he wanted to be. She needed him to agree to this, needed to know he would not go running to their mother the second they hung up the phone.

Which meant she needed leverage.

“Fine,” Tessa said, her voice taking on the cool, controlled tone she used in court when she was about to make a move she knew would win the case. “Then I’ll tell our parents what you really do.”

Dead silence on the other end of the line.

“Excuse me?” Trent’s voice had gone very quiet, very dangerous.

“You heard me,” Tessa said. “Mom and Dad both think you’re just an FBI agent.

A regular, by-the-book, domestic cases kind of FBI agent.

But we both know that is not true, do we not?

We both know exactly what task force you are really on, and exactly what kind of work you are really doing.

The kind of work that would make Mom lose sleep every single night if she knew about it.

The kind of work that would make Dad pull every string he has to try to get you transferred back to something safer. ”

“That’s treason,” Trent said, his voice tight with anger. “You were read in under oath, Tessa. You swore to keep that information classified. Revealing it, even to family, could compromise active operations and endanger lives.”

“Is it treason, though?” Tessa asked, and she could not keep a slight smile off her face even though she knew he couldn’t see it.

This was the part she was good at. Finding the loopholes, the technicalities, the legal grey areas that could make all the difference.

“Because I’m not threatening to reveal classified information about your operations, Trent.

I’m not going to tell anyone where you are or what you are doing or any details about your assignments.

I’m simply going to tell our parents the truth about what division you work for.

The existence of the task force itself is not classified.

It’s the operations that are classified.

And I can tell Mom and Dad that their son works for a joint FBI and CIA counter-terrorism task force that operates internationally without revealing a single classified detail about what you actually do.

Technically, that’s not treason. It’s just honesty about your job title. ”

Another long silence. Tessa waited, her heart pounding.

She hated using this kind of leverage against her twin brother, hated threatening him with something she knew would hurt him.

But she needed him to keep this secret, needed to know he would not interfere until she had a chance to figure out what was happening.

Finally, Trent spoke, and his voice was pure ice. “You’re splitting legal hairs.”

“I’m an attorney,” Tessa reminded him. “Splitting legal hairs is literally what I do for a living. Now, do you take the twin trust code oath or not?”

She heard him exhale, a long, frustrated sound. “Fine,” he hissed. “I take the twin trust code oath. I will not tell Mom what you are looking into. But Tessa, if you get yourself hurt, if something happens to you because I kept my mouth shut, I’ll never forgive you. Or myself.”

Relief flooded through her, so intense it made her dizzy for a moment. “Thank you. I promise I’ll explain everything soon. I just need a little time to confirm some things first.”

“How soon is soon?” Trent demanded. “Because I’m not comfortable with this, Tessa. I do not like being kept in the dark when you’re clearly involved in something dangerous.”

“A day or two,” Tessa said. “Maybe less. I’ll call you as soon as I can, I promise. In the meantime, can you get me those court records?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Trent said. “But Tessa, if those records have been scrubbed as thoroughly as you say, it might take me some time to track them down. This is not going to be as simple as pulling them from a database.”

“I understand,” Tessa said. “Just do your best. And Trent?”

“What?”

“Wherever you are right now, whatever you are doing, please be safe. I love you.”