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I’ve never forgotten that scared look in your eyes when we first met, and the look of relief when your feet touched Canadian soil.
I wasn’t so worried about hiding things from Jones tomorrow. How the hell was I going to get through tonight without my mother catching on that there was something troubling me? No way in hell could I go see them now.
Pulling out my phone I sent Rian a text message. NO DINNER TONIGHT. I WILL SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW. BEEN DELAYED.
Not a lie. I was just going to sail a bit slower and sleep on the boat tonight. I’d reach out to them after my meeting with Jones.
DID YOU TALK TO JONES? He asked.
MEETING WITH HIM IN THE MORNING. THANKS.
I was glad to have time to think about what to say tomorrow. I was asking him to find someone that might not even be missing. She might not want to be found. And she had no clue of who I was or why I would even care.
But I do. I always have. She’s the one I’ve never been able to forget.
My one regret was leaving them alone in Halifax and returning home. I had wanted to stay, take care of them, but I was only nineteen. What did I know about taking care of a woman and a child? The only experience I had was the time they had been on my boat and that had only been a couple of weeks. I told myself that I left because that’s what I had been instructed to do. Half true. I left because I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t ready to do more. That was not the case anymore. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
Sleep hadn’t come easily, not that I had expected it to. Rian’s warning about Tim Jones did concern me. He wasn’t just a PI. He’d been part of the police force. What would happen if I told him something that opened this up in a different light than I anticipated. Like I could end up in jail? Pleading ignorance would only go so far. I knew there was a lot more to the story than what I’d been told. At that young age, I took it at face value because I needed the money.
Being young and dumb wasn’t a legit defense and I knew that even then. But since Jones had called me into his office, I was about to find out how understanding the guy really is.
“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I’m sure you’re aware that I don’t reside on the east coast,” I said.
“It’s not your residence that I require. It’s the facts relating to what you need from me.”
His tone said the man was all business. I respected that. “There is a woman whom I cannot locate. She has not left a forwarding address, and no one seems to know where she has gone. I’m concerned that something may have happened to her.”
“Girlfriend? Lover? Friend?” he asked.
“None of the above,” I admitted. “It’s...complicated.”
“I’m on the clock. Let’s hear the story. All of it,” he said firmly.
Nodding, I began. “About twenty-six years ago I was hired to transport a woman and her child to Canada. The agreement was I could not ask any questions, just provide them with safe travel. I did so. Over the years I have traveled to check on them from a distance to ensure they were okay. My fear was that whatever or whoever they were running from, might eventually find them. I just left Halifax and learned they gave their restaurant to one of their employees, sold everything, and vanished. I need to know where they went. I must know they are okay.”
“Doesn’t sound as though they were abducted. Not if they sold their stuff. Maybe they just decided to relocate. Unless you have a reason that makes you believe otherwise, I don’t think I can be of any help,” he stated.
“She was sent there for her safety. Why would she leave?” I asked.
“If she felt her life was in jeopardy, do you think she’d have stayed to sell?” he questioned. I had no answer for that. “It sounds like a person who grew tired of where they were.”
“Possible, but the person she was hiding from was powerful and I can’t imagine she’d leave the one place she’d been safe all these years.”
He stared at me long and hard. I knew he was trying to gauge what I wasn’t telling him. He was going to need to ask, I wasn’t offering.
“Do you know who she was hiding from?”
And there lies the question I’d been hoping not to answer. “Phil Morse.”
“The hotel tycoon?” Jones asked. I nodded. “What would he want with this so-called missing woman?”
“What I was able to gather, his son had a baby with her. His son wanted to protect her from his father. Why? That I do not know. All I know is Michael Morse hired me to get her out of Tabiq and bring her to Canada with a new identity.”
His brow rose. “New identity? What exactly does that mean?”
“That the Morse family has a lot of money and Michael used his to keep his daughter safe. Now with them gone, and Michael deceased, who is going to ensure they are safe?” I questioned.
“My understanding is the father, Phil, is also deceased. How can he be a threat any longer?”
