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“I felt like a spy. Who would have thought that you’d fall for a guy who lives so dangerously?” Josie joked.
Jade smiled. “You have no idea,” she said under her breath.
“What?” Josie asked between bites.
“Nothing. Do you think the cameras will work?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
Josie shrugged. “Wyatt made a point to remind me that no one can know about them. Not even the staff members.”
“Where did you put them up?”
“All over the place. The pathway to the beach, behind the tiki bar, some of the pathways leading to the bungalows. Even a few in front of the resort. Did you know the cameras he put up are as small as this strawberry?” She waved a berry on the end of her fork, then shoved it in her mouth. “Real spy shit.” She tilted her head. “So… are you going to tell me, or do I have to pry it out of you?”
“What?” Jade avoided her friend’s eyes.
Josie set her fork down and narrowed her eyes at her. For a moment, Jade held her ground. But, as always with Josie, her friend won out.
“Fine, how did you guess?” Jade exclaimed.
“What?” Josie’s eyes narrowed even more.
“That Wyatt is FBI.” She waved her hands in frustration.
“He is? Holy shit,” Josie said, raising her voice.
“Isn’t that what you were getting at?” Jade asked confused.
“No.” Josie laughed. “I was waiting for you to tell me that you two were in love.”
“What?” It was Jade’s time to raise her voice. “No, we’re…. complicated,” she said, remembering what she’d told Amber yesterday.
“Right.” Jade rolled her eyes. “But let’s get back to the whole FBI thing.” She shifted. “He’s here because…” She motioned for Jade to finish the statement.
“Missing kids. Megan makes five in the past year and a half just from the Emerald alone. Wyatt says more than two dozen have gone missing from the Bahamas.”
“What? Seriously?” Josie shook her head. “That’s terrible. I watched a special on sex trafficking a while back. I had no idea they were taking them from here. Why here?” Josie asked.
“That’s a great question. I mean, they’d have to ship them back to the mainland. It’s super tricky.” Jade had done some thinking on the subject. “They’d have to have a private boat or plane,” she said, thinking out loud.
“Not to mention smuggling them across the border,” Josie added.
“Yeah,” Jade said, and the pair fell silent.
“So, when Wyatt is done catching the bad guys, I guess he’ll leave?” Josie asked.
Jade shrugged and reached for her coffee. “I guess so.” She felt her stomach drop.
Josie looked at her, and Jade tried to hide the sadness that buried itself deep in her chest at that thought.
“You have it bad. Just so you know, so does he.” Josie shoved an entire piece of bacon into her mouth.
Jade thought about that conversation the rest of the day. There were at least twice as many phone calls as the day before, and the local press had set up camp outside the resort’s front doors.
Megan’s parents were driving the media frenzy in search of any clue to their daughter’s whereabouts. Jade couldn’t blame them. She knew how desperate they were. The couple extended their stay, indefinitely, while the rest of the birthday party shuffled off to the airport.
It was during her lunch break, when she was once again eating with Wyatt and Josie out under the shade of the palm trees, that she remembered the odd conversation with Carol and Tom.
She glanced around, then lowered her voice and said, “What do you think of Carol and Tom?” she asked Wyatt.
