Chapter Seventeen

M ila’s smile and pep in her step were enough to calm Olivia down to the point of not feeling like she wanted to tear into their next suspect, whoever that individual might be. She and Brock managed a bright smile, acting like nothing was wrong and they were still one happy couple halfway through their honeymoon. At this rate, they were going to have to come up with an excuse to stay longer. Not that they’d ever put a time limit on when they were going home. For all anyone knew, it was a month-long honeymoon in a small beach town. Made sense, right?

“Good morning! How is my favorite couple today?”

“Oh, it’s just fantastic.” Olivia covered her true feelings.

Mila set the menus before them. “It’s good to see y’all again. You’re getting to be regulars.”

“I can’t tell you how convenient it is to have great food and service within walking distance from our hotel.” Olivia laughed a bit. “We tried some other place last night and it just wasn’t the same.”

“Yeah, it severely lacked the small-town feel and excellent service,” Brock added with a twist of humor to his voice.

“Aw, well, we love to hear that.” Mila paused for a moment, having no one to demand her attention. “I’m glad I got to see you. I don’t usually work the morning shift, but one of the waitresses called in sick this morning. I get to work a double, yay.” Nervous laughter bubbled from her. “I’m going to miss seeing you around when you go back home.”

“We’ll miss coming here,” Olivia answered, honestly. Case or not, Breakers was something that she wouldn’t mind having back home in Belle Grove. The staff was friendly, the food wasn’t bad and it was convenient. Although, it would take a lot more than that to tear Brock away from his favorite diner.

As always, though, her head was still reeling with the details of the case. As if making casual conversation, she tilted her head, taking advantage of the slow moment and asked, “So how long have you been working here?”

“Three years.” Mila didn’t seem all that affected. “I didn’t really go to college after high school. Couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with my life, you know? Not that being a waitress is anything glamorous or anything, but I love it. I get to meet wonderful people like you and that’s how I met my boyfriend.”

Ah, her boyfriend. Something that made her happy enough that even mentioning him made her beam like a princess. “So how long have you known each other?” Olivia was always down for a good story on how a perfect couple met. Anything would be better than the HR story she and Brock had concocted for their undercover excursion .

A long sigh preceded Mila’s answer. She looked around again before lowering her voice. “I don’t really know if he counts as my boyfriend.” She leaned on the counter a bit, keeping her eyes open for any customers who might require her immediate attention. “He’s just... he’s amazing, you know?” Her voice took on a swoon from a romance that many had thought to be just in the storybooks. “He is a millionaire, and he helps out so many people! I’ve never known a true philanthropist like him. He really is the most wonderful man.”

“He sounds like it. What’s his name?” Olivia smiled up at Mila.

Mila drew in a long breath through her nose. “Alasdair Crosby.” She pronounced his name as if it were sacred, or some sweet savor on her lips. “He is such a kind man. He does…” Her voice trailed off. “So much for the community. He’s rich, but you’d never know it. He owns a shipping company or something.”

The more she talked about him, the more Olivia began to wonder if Mila was in love or infatuated. She was so young, so innocent. Something seemed off.

“Wanna see something?” Excitement overcrowded the dreamy look in her eyes.

Olivia shrugged. Why not? “Sure!”

Mila lifted her elbow, taking her sleeve and drawing it up to her shoulder. She craned her torso around to show the initials AC encircled within a flower. “I just got this yesterday. I want to keep him close to me, always.”

Olivia didn’t want to mention how tattoos were permanent. Should a breakup occur, it would be a pain to remove or cover something like that. But of course, she wasn’t one to shatter someone’s romantic dreams. “I’m sure he’d love that.”

She and Brock quickly finished their breakfast when it came. Not the best pancakes Olivia had ever had, but then again, she never enjoyed it when the cook overcooked the bottom. Still, they left a good tip and retreated back into the haven of their hotel to hash some details out. Olivia plopped down in the same easy chair she had upon first arriving and Brock sat down across from her with more caution. “Well. What now?”

“I’m going to look something up. Something that’s been bugging me.” Olivia hadn’t been seated for a full thirty seconds before launching herself out of her chair to get her laptop. Spreading it open on her lap, she typed a few keywords in. “Jace Gallegos said they’d only been here for six months. I need to cross-reference that to confirm.”

“You’re thinking that the teens going missing have been happening longer than their presence here in town?” Brock crossed an ankle over his knee again.

“Exactly.” Olivia scrolled through a few pages, finding Jace Gallegos’s attorney website within seconds. A big announcement on the cover page read “We’ve moved!” confirming his story. “Yes. It says that Jace moved to South Carolina from Michigan exactly when he said. This announcement was from six months ago.”

Brock brought a hand to his chin, rubbing over an imaginary beard in thought. “Okay, so Josh can’t be the guy who has caused all of these teens to go missing over the last couple years. So unless Ellie Cline is a different case than the others and Josh did do something to her that night, what are we looking at?”

“Your theory might be correct and Josh was lying when he said he never talked to any teachers. Maybe a teacher really is the one behind this and Josh was his way of helping teens into the cult. That would line up with the theory the Sheriff had.”

“You know what I am beginning to think?” Brock knew her answer would be yes, so he pressed on without waiting for her to reply. “If it is connected to a teacher at the school, my money’s on that teacher and her clandestine boyfriend being involved. The one we saw last night. ”

He had poked a hole in her theory when she mentioned it last night. What had changed his mind? Olivia tilted her head. “But like you said. Hearing her speak Dutch only proves that she speaks Dutch. That’s not a crime.”

“I know. Something’s just off about it.” Brock shook his head in thought.

She huffed a sigh and sat back, closing her laptop as she did. Her gaze wandered over the ocean waves tumbling one on top of another onto the shore. They had clues. But none of them linked together. Josh had found drugs. That was his story, and he stuck to it. But where did he find them? They could send it in for testing, but until those results came back, what else did they have to work with? Olivia ran through Josh’s statement in her head. He didn’t remember where he found the drugs. “Some building” was his only unhelpful reply. But he did remember where he took them.

Might as well check that out.

“Let’s take a walk,” she announced. “See if we can clear our heads. Maybe we can head to that spot where Josh said he took the heroin and see if there’s any evidence of foul play that would’ve been left.”

Brock was on his feet in an instant, just as eager to get to the bottom of this as she was. “I was just thinking that same thing.”

Olivia put her laptop away, grabbed her shoes and they were out the door within seconds.