Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16) - Matt Lincoln (reading tree .TXT) 📗

supposed if it made the guy feel comfortable enough to talk to us, it didn’t really matter.

“Seems like you’ve thought this through quite a bit,” I remarked suspiciously. “Or like you’ve had these kinds of clandestine meetings before.”

“That’s because I have,” he replied simply. “I conduct drug deals often here. It’s an ideal place to have quick, unnoticed transactions. My name’s Raymond, by the way. Raymond Johnson. ”

For a moment, I just stared at him, honestly a little stunned at how casually he’d admitted to being a drug dealer.

“You don’t care about that, right?” He looked at us intently. “You’re not here for me. You’re here for those low-lifes operating out of Grace Bay.”

That was the second time we’d heard that name. Frank had also pointed us toward Grace Bay. It seemed like he’d been telling the truth.

“What makes you think they’re behind what happened?” I asked him.

“People talk,” he scoffed. “If you don’t count all the tourists, there are less than five hundred people living in this part of the island. News travels fast, especially when it’s news about a bunch of federal agents rolling into town and stirring up trouble. I know you’re here asking about a prostitute. The guys over in Grace Bay are the ones who run all that.”

“I see,” I replied. “Do you know anything else about the girl who stole your brother’s boat?”

“Hell no, man,” he scoffed indignantly. “I may sell drugs, but even I’m not low enough to hang around with those types. I respect women! The kinds of things that go on in those places…”

He trailed off, shaking his head in clear disgust.

“What kinds of places do you mean?” Olivia prompted him to continue.

“Brothels.” Raymond shrugged. “Back alley rooms, dingy hotels. You name it. They don’t do it out in the open, where the tourists might see, but it happens everywhere. You just need to know what to look for.”

That was an unsettling thought.

“So, what do you know about these people?” I asked.

“Not much.” He shrugged again. “Like I said, I’m not the type of scum that abuses women or has to pay for sex. I do know that their leader’s name is Samuel.”

“How do you know that?” Olivia asked. “Seems like a pretty important detail for someone who supposedly doesn’t know much.”

“I just told you I move drugs, didn’t I?” He scoffed. “My work sometimes intersects with theirs. I couldn’t tell you where he is, but I’ve heard the bastard’s name enough times.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” Olivia asked, still skeptical if the tone of her voice was anything to do by. “Aren’t you worried about admitting your past crimes to a couple of federal agents?”

“I ain’t worried about anything,” he replied darkly. “To be honest, I don’t much care what happens to me right now. All I want is to get justice for Kenny.”

His voice wavered as he spoke his brother’s name.

“Kenny was a good man,” he muttered sadly. “He wasn’t like me. Wasn’t like the rest of the trash here on the island. He made an honest living fishing and taking tourists out for boat rides. It wasn’t right that he was the one to die. Of all the ugly people in Turks & Caicos, there was no good reason for it to have been Kenny.”

“I’m sorry about your brother.” I offered him my condolences. “You’re right. It wasn’t fair that he died, especially not the way he did. But they did that because he was trying to help us. Trying to help a poor woman who they’d been keeping captive for nearly twenty years.”

“He was a good man, my brother.” Raymond sighed before looking back up at us, his gaze steely. “If you want to find them, I’d start at a bar down in Grace Bay, near the edge of the town by the high school. There’s a bar by the shore there that a lot of them hang around at. You can see the girls there at night.”

He pulled a pen from somewhere in his clothes and plucked a paper napkin off the dispenser on the table before quickly scribbling out a quick note.

“This is my number. Call me if you need help with anything. You’d better get justice for my brother, agents, or I’ll be taking matters into my own hands.”

I didn’t even get a chance to respond before he suddenly got up and slipped his way through the crowd. He was out of sight in the blink of an eye.

“Well, that was an interesting chat,” Olivia murmured.

“Yeah,” I muttered as I stared into the spot where I’d last seen him standing before he’d disappeared like a shadow. “It really was.”

16

Ethan

It was the morning after the tumultuous evening that Olivia and I had experienced. We’d agreed to meet in the lobby so we could head out to the antique shop. Even though we’d gotten back late, I’d still woken up at the crack of dawn. My body was just too used to its internal clock for me to sleep in. Holm had done the same, and we’d spent the early morning having coffee in the lobby while we waited for Olivia.

In the meantime, I’d caught Holm up to everything that had transpired, including the information that had been revealed to us, and he was grumpy about the fact that he’d missed out on the events that had transpired as a result.

“That’s what I get for trying to be a good friend,” Holm grumbled before taking a sip of coffee. “Let my buddy have a night out with the pretty FBI agent, and I end up missing out on all the action. You two were out fighting bad guys and getting leads while I was here watching some weird variety show on TV.”

“You really didn’t miss much,” I assured him. “There wasn’t much of a fight, and the guy wasn’t exactly a wellspring of information. He disappeared just as suddenly as he showed up. Plus, if you had stuck around, you definitely would