Chapter Thirty

I t took a day or two for the dust to settle. The whole town of Cape Fremont was abuzz with the news that a handful of locals were taken down for human trafficking. It wasn’t the kind of closure that Olivia had wanted to bring to the parents of the twenty teens who were still missing, but it was her hope that they could somehow track them down through Alasdair. But that was later. One thing at a time, for now.

She and Brock strode through the doors of the hospital wing where Susanna was being kept. “Doesn’t this feel good?” She asked him. “We have Alasdair and Alana in custody, Mila’s being investigated and no more teens are going to come up missing at his hand.”

“And our favorite girl is safe.” He smiled as he gently rapped on Susanna’s door.

A nurse poked her head out, smiling at the sight of them. “Oh. Come in.” She swung the door open.

Susanna’s hospital room wasn’t anything special, but it had been spruced up with greeting cards and flowers from her fellow classmates, as was Ellie’s room, down the hall. Ellie had been on the heroin for longer than Susanna had and would probably have to enter into some kind of rehab for it. How sad it was that she had to take some time to overcome an addiction she had never intended to be a part of. Susanna seemed to be coming back as well as could be expected, considering the trauma she had endured.

She lay, propped up by her hospital bed. Her eyes didn’t dance like they usually did, but the smile that did light up her face was somehow deeper, gratitude shining through the clouds of her features. “Hey, Olivia, Brock!”

“Hey.” Olivia greeted her at the same time that Brock did. They stood by her bedside and smiled down at her with kindness. “How are you feeling?” A stupid question, considering the circumstances, but she had to ask.

“Better, now, because of you.” Her smile saddened. “Dad and Mom are both being investigated for neglect, among other things. I came clean about everything and social services or something was in here, earlier, talking to me.”

Susanna didn’t want to bother with being known as “that girl,” but Olivia reminded herself that the relief over knowing she wouldn’t be left with her abusive parents overshadowed that. Susanna had overcome obstacles far greater than most kids her age would have to.

“I thought I was done for.” Susanna’s expression turned haunted, her voice lagging behind. Maybe a result of the medicine, fighting the effects of the heroin but Olivia had no trouble understanding. “I couldn’t fight back. ”

“You’ve never tried drugs before, have you?” Brock said it as more of a statement.

Susanna shook her head. “No.” She sighed, leaning her head against the pillow. “So, you guys are FBI, huh?”

Olivia nodded. “We are.”

“All along.” A smile breathed a laugh through her nose. “I should have known. No couple on their honeymoon is as interested in local teenagers as you were.”

“Well, you’d be the exception to that rule even if we were on our honeymoon.” Brock smiled at her. “You’re incredible, Susanna.”

“Aw, I’m really not all that much.”

Olivia wasn’t going to stand for that kind of talk. “Yes. You are.”

Susanna lifted her head from the pillow, letting her gaze linger on her fingers. “So, you probably need a statement from me, huh?”

“We can wait if you want to…”

“No.” This time, she shook her head with firmness. “No. I want to get it over with.” She sighed. “That way I don’t have to talk about it again.”

“Take as much time as you need.”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “I left with Alasdair early in the morning. He and Mila had been talking to me for a time. Mila introduced us and Alasdair grew interested in my story pretty quickly. He said he was going to take me to Hawaii to the surfing competition.” Tears stung her eyes. “Come to find out, he made it all up. There was no surfing competition. He said to keep it quiet, though, because he didn’t want my family finding out. That should’ve been my first clue. He said he was going to try to get me into a better life. He seemed so genuine, like he had my best interests at heart.”

“That’s very common,” Brock’s voice quieted as if the topic was too sensitive for talking at full volume. “It wasn’t your fault, Susanna. We’re very grateful to have found you. ”

“You helped us take down a really bad guy!” Olivia added with a flair of victory. “You are the hero of the story, Susanna, not us.”

Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked up at both of them. “Thank you so much for coming after me!”

Olivia wanted to remind her that it was their job... but she and Brock both knew it was more than that. “We wouldn’t have done it any other way.”

“So, what happened after Alasdair got you into the warehouse?”

Susanna frowned as if she were having some trouble remembering. “I remember pulling up in front of the warehouse and going, ‘What are we doing here?’ He had me get out and there was someone there. Someone who stuck a needle in my arm. Everything’s kind of a blur after that.” She focused hard. “I remember waking up in the warehouse. I remember there being a lot of chaos and Ellie was there with me. I remember a bigger guy coming and hauling us away, into the U-Haul or something. He injected us with more drugs, but I only remember bits and pieces of it.”

A bigger guy? “It wasn’t Alasdair who loaded you into the U-Haul?”

“I don’t remember,” Susanna’s voice strained a bit. “But I don’t think Alasdair was the one who injected me. There was a bigger guy, more muscular. And he had some type of accent or something.”

Olivia and Brock shared a look as Susanna rustled her sheets.

“There was something else. I do remember Alasdair being in the warehouse, talking in a different language very rapidly. He sounded agitated. But that’s the last I remember of him.”

“That’s all right,” Olivia said. Susanna was reliving the worst nightmare of her life, but it was over now. “What you said helps.”

Even though it only made the situation more complicated. And it only led Olivia back to the one question that had been tugging on her mind since the start of this. Who drove the red sports car away from the U-Haul facility ?

Susanna took a moment to regather herself, then pointed to the edge of her bed. “Before you guys go back to, well, wherever you guys are from, can you sign my surfboard?”

“Your surfboard?” Olivia cast a glance down to the foot of Susanna’s bed, seeing a brand new surfboard lining the wall. Where did that come from?

“Yeah. The students heard about what happened. They all pitched in and got it for me. I want you guys to sign it.” She looked up at them, beseechingly. “Even if it washes off someday, I’ll always know it was there. That’s my way of keeping you close.”

Olivia shared a glowing look between her and Brock. “We would be honored.” He answered for both of them.

Susanna’s face ignited a hint of a smile, still a fraction of the joy she once spread to whoever knew her, but Olivia hoped her smile would return in time. She moved beside Brock to the surfboard that lined the wall. Brock plucked the marker from the dry-erase board and scribbled his name near the nose of the board. He handed the marker off to Olivia, who signed her name with a flourish. “Remember this,” she capped the marker and aimed a smile at Susanna, “when you’re the next famous surfer.”

Susanna nodded. “I will. Because of you guys, I will be someday.”

There was more depth and meaning to her words that none of the three people in that room dared to touch. Brock’s ringing phone broke the silence and he fished it out of his pocket. “Excuse me just a moment.” He stepped away, placing the phone to his ear. “Agent Tanner.”

“Thank you for coming to see me, too.” Susanna smiled. “I was so surprised to see you on the ship. But I kinda knew you weren’t the newlywed couple after a while.”

“Oh, did you, now?” Olivia raised an eyebrow as she leaned against the bed. “What, we weren’t lovey-dovey enough?”

Susanna’s laughter was music to her ears. “No, you were plenty that. It was obvious you were together. You can’t fake chemistry, you know. But you were just always around. Asking questions, being smart about things. I got the feeling there was more to you and Brock, but I never said anything.”

“We appreciate that.” Olivia laughed.

Brock slipped his phone back into his pocket and walked back to Susanna’s bed with a resigned, breathless sigh and nod. “Alana Fleming is ready to talk.”

Olivia felt resentment over having to leave Susanna here as she looked back. “Is there anything else before we leave?”

“No, that’s it.” Susanna quieted her voice. “Again. Thank you.”

Brock and Olivia found themselves silent on the route over to the sheriff’s department. It was like the two of them were basking in the relief that both Susanna and Ellie Cline were safe and sound and that Susanna still had a shot at life.

It was only when Brock pulled into the sheriff’s department that he killed the engine and turned to face Olivia. “I don’t think I’ve had a case that gives me this much satisfaction in a minute.”

“Me, too.” Olivia pressed her back into the seat. “Susanna and Ellie are both fine. Sid Cline, Ellie’s dad, checked into a rehab center to help him with his alcohol addiction. Nearly losing Ellie gave him the wake-up call he needed. The state is working to get Susanna somewhere safe at least until she turns eighteen.”

“We’ve tied up a lot of loose ends that weren’t even ours to tie.” Brock’s side grin twitched. But Olivia didn’t share his enthusiasm. She wished she did, but there was one loose end that nagged at her that for some reason, she couldn’t let go of. Who had driven Alasdair’s car away from the U-Haul rental place? Was it Alana? If so, how did she get there? If she had been in school, then how did she wind up at the U-Haul center during school hours? Maybe she left early? It had to be Alana. Mila was too broken over the news that her one true love was actually a scoundrel and wouldn’t have helped him in the end. She had stayed in law enforcement custody after Olivia and Brock had left her anyway.

Olivia was eager to get to the bottom of it. For now, she walked the familiar passageway of the Cape Fremont jail to where Alana sat in the same interrogation room where Josh had confessed everything. Their last visit had been a moment of victory, one that had resulted in them knowing where to start looking for Susanna. What would come of this visit?

Alana sat patiently at the table with no lawyer present. She’d waived her right to an attorney for the moment and seemed to be relying on her overconfident attitude to carry her through this interrogation. Olivia was almost glad that no attorney was present. Alana would have been counseled to keep her confession silent, whereas now it looked like she was ready to come clean.

“So, what have you got for us?” Olivia pinned her with a stare. She was still salty about the little chase that Alana had led her and Brock through, nice scenery or not.

Alana breathed a sigh that seemed to come from the depths of her soul. She leaned forward, also folding her hands on the table and kept her gaze on her fingers. “It’s about Alasdair.”

Was she throwing Alasdair under the bus to save her own skin? Or perhaps now she was realizing just what her involvement with him had cost her. “Okay. What can you tell us about Alasdair?”

When Alana looked up, a new infatuation sparked in her eyes. That, mixed with the cruelty, was nothing like Mila’s innocence. She knew what she had been doing. And she was working with Alasdair to accomplish just that. “We met at a party several years back. I was a senior in high school.”

“What’s several years back?” Brock inquired.

Alana looked perturbed that she had to break her story to answer his question. “Ten, eleven, whatever.”

So she was around twenty-eight at the moment, Olivia noted. “Okay. ”

“Alasdair was older, more exciting than anyone I’d ever met before.” Alana went on to tell more of a sick love story than a confession. Olivia hated that she had to sit there and stomach all the fine details about how Alasdair was all this, all that. Alana made him sound like the alpha male, the type in the Romantasy novels that make girls’ hearts soar with unmentionable thoughts. Too good to be true, as was the case with everything about Alasdair. “It was passion. It was love .” She pronounced each word with a deep thirst, as if even thinking about him made her swell with desire. “Alasdair was the most thrilling person I’d ever known. He has connections overseas. He took me to the Netherlands for my twenty-first birthday and showed me his estate and we spent a good amount of time there. By then, I had been through school to get my teaching degree. When this happened, my fascination with him became everything and I learned the language.”

Which explained the Dutch-speaking adventure that night. Olivia nodded, wondering when they would get off of the stomach-churning love story and onto the nitty-gritty unless this was all important somehow. “Okay.”

Brock fidgeted, a sure sign that he was also growing tired of the long, drawn-out confession.

“In case you were wondering,” Alana’s voice chilled. “I knew about his business. And not just the shipping company. We often talked about ways to make an obnoxious amount of money. I loved him, and the thought of being rich thrilled me. I told him I wanted in. At this point, he found some property near Cape Fremont and settled. He’s been coming around for a while.”

So it sounded like.

“He and I decided that we wanted to work together. To help with his... operation. ”

“Human trafficking,” Brock translated with no filter.

Alana nodded. “He has never said, one way or another. All I know is that I am to pass along any information that I get to him about teens who are struggling at home. Kids with absentee or abusive parents. He preferred them between thirteen and eighteen.”

Olivia wondered if he had considered her as one of his victims at first when they’d met. Maybe he had developed a fascination with her as she had for him. He’d probably seen her as a great source of information.

“That’s all he ever told me. To pass along the information, to put them in touch with one another. And to help that teen leave with him, should they decide they wanted to.”

“So they knew him, trusted him and left with him.” Olivia had to confirm. That explained why there was never a trace found.

“Yes, but it was all very secret,” Alana confirmed. “I don’t know much else, other than that. I just know that his ring probably operates out of the Netherlands, since he has connections and property over there. As far as whatever happened to them when he came and picked them up, I’ve only known about the warehouse for about a year. Up until an emergency last year, he kept me in the dark.”

“Define emergency.” Olivia’s cool tone betrayed her disgust. What constituted an emergency in this line of business?

“One of the kids tried to break free. He was a smart one, he disappeared.” A simple shrug. “Guess he was already a drug user so the heroin didn’t have the effect on him like Alasdair thought, and he faked it, only to somehow escape. We caught him, though. I lured him, playing the part of a teacher and we managed to subdue him.”

She spoke of this as if it was something good. Olivia felt Brock tense up beside her, probably as angry as she was over this whole affair.

Alana shrugged, her palms raised upward. “I just thought, ‘How exciting is this?’ I get to be a part of something exciting, like a spy’s life or something.”

Olivia hated this. Hated this. “You were trading human lives for money.” Olivia’s voice was grave, low with the gravity of the situation. “Selling them into sex slavery. Preying on young teens who didn’t know any better. How is that exciting?”

Only then did her expression waver. “The first one was hard, I remember. Melissa. Red-haired, innocent, sweet girl, but she was beautiful. I started having regrets as soon as I turned her over. That’s why Alasdair gave me her necklace. You know, the tip-off that you guys pinned on me.”

The necklace. All Olivia could see in her mind’s eye was sweet Melissa’s face and suddenly, even the two teens they had saved couldn’t compare to the twenty they hadn’t. Where was that sweet Melissa, now?

“After that, it got easier. After all, I was just giving him intel. Once the package was delivered, he paid me good money for it.”

“And, you have no remorse over luring these kids into living hell?” Brock spared no words as he gestured with a flat palm toward her.

Alana squared her shoulders in a defensive posture. Her gaze flickered, slowly, with authority up to meet them, like a queen of old who enjoyed putting her people through suffering. “It’s nothing personal.” She reminded him. “After all. It was for Alasdair.”

“You did it for him?” Olivia asked. “Or for the money?”

“Both.” Another nonchalant shrug and Olivia wished she could break the teacher’s shoulder. “But mostly for Alasdair. What I shared with him was like nothing that anyone talks about in the real world. It was magical. A fantasy land.”

“Well, all fantasies must come to an end.” Brock reminded her. “And this one has.” He informed her of the charges laid against her in an authoritative tone that betrayed his disgust. Yet even with the hefty charges Alana was facing, she didn’t seem the least bit rattled by them.

“That’s fine. We were never supposed to get caught. But at least I’ll rest easy, knowing we did it together.”

Her complete infatuation with this man was nauseating. It was like she believed this was a Romeo and Juliet type story, or maybe something of a Bonnie and Clyde. Olivia cleared her throat, hoping to clear up her nagging question. “So there is one other thing. We know that Alasdair rented a U-Haul for the purpose of transporting Susanna Webster and Ellie Cline to Charleston. Where is his sports car?”

“I don’t know.” Her vague answer prodded Olivia to glare at her.

“You don’t know?”

“Alasdair never let me drive that thing.” She flicked her hair behind her ear, perfectly manicured nails reflecting the luminescent lights overhead. “It was his baby.”

“You didn’t drive it from the U-Haul center?” Olivia confirmed.

Alana shook her head. “No. I drove my car to the warehouse after you guys showed up and helped him get the kids onto the U-Haul. I didn’t pick it up.”

Olivia believed her about as much as she believed pigs could fly. Except for one thing. Alasdair never let me drive it. Olivia knew that Alasdair was some sort of sociopath or narcissist, and that directly aligned with something one of those would do. But it didn’t answer the question she refused to let go.