Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

a little too unfeeling and antisocial, but ultimately it was better than being angry all the time, right?

I looked up and realized that my feet had automatically brought me to one of my favorite restaurants on the strip, a little hole in the wall place that served the biggest roast beef sandwiches I’d ever seen. It was kind of an overpriced tourist trap, but it was one of the first places I’d eaten at after arriving in Las Vegas, and the nostalgia element coupled with the fact that the sandwiches were actually really good kept me coming back whenever I had the time.

I pushed the door open and was immediately greeted by the warm and enticing scent of meat.

“Charlie!” the woman at the counter called cheerfully as she waved me inside. “It’s been a while. Where’ve you been?”

“Hey Claudia,” I replied as I stepped up to the counter. “I’ve been busy with work.”

“Ah, I know how that is,” the woman nodded sagely. I couldn’t help but smile at her. I came here so regularly that Claudia knew my name and order by memory, and she always tried chatting me up whenever I came in. At first, I’d been annoyed, thinking she was just trying to butter me up to get me to spend more money, but I’d quickly realized that she was just a really friendly woman. “So it’ll be the regular then? Double roast beef, extra cheese, no onion?”

“You got it,” I nodded.

“Haha, I knew it,” she smirked as she took my card. “So when are you gonna take my daughter Becca out on a date, huh, Charlie? You know you two would make the cutest couple.”

“Mom!” Becca yelled from the kitchen. “Stop being weird!”

I laughed openly. This was a pretty standard routine for us. Becca was Claudia’s only daughter who worked here part-time while she saved up for college.

“I’m only teasing you, honey,” Claudia called back. “But I’m not getting any younger, you know! I’d like to meet some grandchildren before I die!”

“For goodness’ sake,” Becca sighed as she stepped out of the kitchen and plopped a paper to-go bag on the counter in front of me. “Take it and run, Charlie. Before she starts calling wedding venues.”

I snickered as I took the bag and left the small restaurant. I could hear Becca and Claudia playfully barbing each other as the door closed behind me. Their playful back-and-forth had brightened my mood considerably, and I felt less tense as I walked back to the office.

I ate alone at my desk, enjoying the unusually quiet atmosphere in the bullpen. I had just finished my sandwich when I jumped at an unexpected yell from Fiona’s office.

“It’s working!” she screamed, and I bolted out of my chair toward her office.

“What’s working?” I asked.

“The tracking device,” she grinned triumphantly. “I managed to force one back online, and I’m tracing the signal now. In just a few seconds, we’ll have the location of the supplier.”

I held my breath as I watched the program run. I couldn’t tell exactly what was happening, but I could see from the completion bar at the bottom of the screen that it was close to finishing whatever it was doing.

“Wait,” Fiona muttered as the scan was completed and a new window popped up. “This is strange. It says the signal is coming from--”

“Jamaica, I’m guessing,” a voice interjected, and I turned around to find Patel standing in the doorway of Fiona’s office.

“When’d you get here?” I asked as she stepped into Fiona’s office.

“Just now,” huffed. “I hurried back as soon as I was finished speaking with the children. I got a lot of new information that I wanted to share with you all as quickly as possible. Including the fact that most of the children appear to have come here from a small, rural region in southern Jamaica.”

“Yes,” Fiona nodded slowly. “But I was sure that the phone belonged to someone living in the United States. If the supplier wasn’t the one tracking the kids, then…”

“You were right about the supplier,” Patel sighed. “I spoke with the children, and from what they told me, I can conclusively say that we aren’t dealing with a single perpetrator here. The person who was tracking the children isn’t the same supplier that the Weavers were dealing with.”

I felt my blood run cold as I listened to what Patel was saying. It seemed that we now had more than one foe to contend with.

13

Naomi

The officer led me to a large conference room at the back of the police station. I could hear the voices of children even before I opened the door.

“Oh, hello,” a tall woman with dark skin and long thick braids greeted me as I entered the room. “My name is Irie Lawrence. You must be Agent Patel.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I smiled as I shook her hand. As I looked around the room, I noticed that the long conference table had been pushed against the wall and that there were toys and coloring books scattered around the floor as the children ran around and played together. “I’m happy to see that the children don’t seem upset about what’s been going on.”

“Children are stronger than most people think,” Irie replied. “Stronger even than adults are at times. I am here to assist with the case on behalf of social services. I was called in from California since I speak Patois. Once the children saw that I was able to communicate with them, they became much more at ease.”

“That’s good,” I nodded. “After what they’ve been through, they need some comfort and familiarity.”

“I have never seen anything like it,” she frowned. “One of the little girls, Kamya, she said that she had lost her sister. Have you found her?”

“Not yet,” I frowned. “But we will. I won’t rest until we do.”

“Good,” Irie nodded. “Now, you are here about the earrings that were discovered on the children, correct?”

“That’s right,” I answered as Irie gestured for me to sit down.