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

now, we can give the Newark family some closure, too. We were able to get justice for Allison.”

I smiled as I thought about how we’d managed to pull a twenty-year-old case to a close. It was unfortunate that Allison hadn’t survived, but Eddy and all the other women were now safe because of her.

“Okay,” I declared. “Let’s head back to Captain Morris’s office. We need to sort out all the extradition details.”

“Great,” Holm sighed as we made our way down the hall. “My favorite part of any case. Paperwork.”

31

Ethan

I triple-checked to make sure I had everything on my list before heading to the checkout. It had been a few weeks since we’d gotten back home from Turks & Caicos, and I’d invited Olivia over to celebrate both the conclusion of the case and the fact that she’d been released from her arm sling. We were both so busy that it had taken a few days for us to both find a day when we were free to meet up. We’d finally managed to sort it out, and I’d decided to run to the store to pick up some ingredients to make dinner. Olivia had sounded really enthusiastic about the idea of me cooking.

As I scanned my purchases, I thought back to everything that had happened since that final interview with Samuel. He’d been extradited, of course, and was currently awaiting trial. Captain Turner, too, had been taken into custody by local authorities in Turks & Caicos for the part he’d played in helping the traffickers get away with their crimes. Olivia had been giving me updates about the women we’d rescued as well. Apparently, the FBI was making sure that they were all receiving the help and support they needed and helping those kidnapped, like Allison, return to their homes.

I felt content as I loaded the groceries into my car. Ultimately, the case had turned out as well as we could have hoped.

I parked my car at the entrance to the dock where my boat was and retrieved the bags from the trunk. As I did, I noticed two men carting a massive crate on a dolly between them. I wondered vaguely what it could be and who might have bought it. I peered around the lid of my trunk to watch them, and my curiosity quickly turned to confusion as I realized they were heading straight for my boat.

I was about to call out to them to ask what they thought they were doing, but another voice beat me to it.

“Over here!” Olivia called from the deck of my boat as she waved to the two men.

I was surprised to see her there already, though honestly no less confused. I decided to forget about the groceries for the moment and closed the trunk before walking briskly toward where my boat was docked on the water.

“How am I supposed to get it in here, though?” I heard her say to herself.

“What even is it?!” I called out to her.

“Ethan!” She jumped in surprise at my voice. “I didn’t realize you were back already. Dang, you couldn’t have taken a little longer at the store?”

“What?” I chuckled as I watched the two men set the crate down in front of my boat. “What is this?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” She pouted as she climbed down off the boat before turning to address the two men. “It’s fine right there. We’ll figure it out from here.”

“We will?” I stared at her in disbelief. “You think you could clue me in a little?”

“I pulled some strings.” She shrugged demurely before smirking at me. “Remember Richard? The antique store owner? Well, the FBI needed to do an investigation on him as part of the case, and wouldn’t you know it, most of the stuff in his store was stolen, or otherwise illegal for him to own in some way.”

“Okay…” I replied nervously, afraid to even dream that this was going where I thought it was.

“So, naturally, we had to confiscate all of it,” Olivia continued with a sly smile. “You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that we found in there. Apparently, they found some rare piece of Polynesian pottery in there, hundreds of years old and worth thousands. How did he even come across something like that?”

“Is there an ancient Polynesian vase in that crate?” I asked her.

“Nope.” She grinned. “Something even better. See, I knew that with so much rare and priceless evidence to go through, it was unlikely that anyone was going to miss some grubby old anchor.”

“You’re kidding,” I breathed, unable to keep the smile off my face.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” She smirked as she leaned back against the crate. “I’d say you owe me one hell of a dinner for this one, Marston.”

I reached out to pull her to me and crashed my lips against hers, unable to contain myself anymore. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back.

“Maybe we should take this inside,” she murmured. “Unless you want to give all of your neighbors a free show.”

I took her hand and led her onto the boat, groceries entirely forgotten at that point. Frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever received a gift this amazing, and right now, I wanted to shower Olivia with as much gratitude as I could.

We spent the rest of the day together, and it wasn’t until much later, after we’d finally had that dinner, that I finally noticed the missed call on my phone. I’d been so preoccupied that it wasn’t until late at night when I was in bed that I even looked at my phone for the first time since Olivia had arrived.

I was surprised to see that Tessa had called me earlier that day, around the same time that Olivia had gotten there. She hadn’t left a voice message, but she had texted me. As soon as I opened the message, my eyes went wide, and I nearly dropped my phone.

Ethan, call me