Page 43 of Gator
“Thanks, Kat. I don’t know for sure if it’ll be enough to get a warrant or not. Sloan has a lot of powerful friends, but it’s enough for me to keep digging.”
“That’s him. That’s the guy who took the boy from the club,” Julius said from behind us. “The one I saw at the wedding.”
I turned to see him standing there staring at the monitor with the two photos still up on on it.
“Which one?” Chance asked.
“The one right there on the right.” He pointed at the one that wasn’t Merrick Sloan. “I’ve never seen the guy in the photo on the left before.”
I reached for him and pulled him to my side. I wished I could protect him from all this, but unfortunately, by trying to do the right thing that night, he’d landed right in the middle of it.
Kat nodded. “That’s Wade Roarke. We identified him using the photos we got from the wedding guests. He works for Pinnacle Logistics, which… wait for it… is owned by Marawood Holdings.”
“Which is really Merrick Sloan,” Chance said.
“Right.”
I pointed to the picture on the screen of Merrick Sloan. “So, Sloan pays Marawood. Marawood owns Pinnacle. Pinnacle pays the guys who kidnap people from clubs.”
“Exactly,” Kat agreed. “But Sloan’s name is nowhere near it unless you know where to look.”
“So this whole thing wasn’t a random kidnapping; it really is part of a bigger thing,” Julius said.
“I’m afraid so. When we broke up that ring earlier in the year, I’d hoped we would be able to follow it all the way up, but unfortunately, the guys we caught were too low on the chain to point a finger at Sloan.”
“So what now?” I asked.
“I’ll send a team to Wade Roark’s address to see if we can pick him up. If we can get him, he could lead us to Merrick Sloan.”
“And to the boy he kidnapped,” Julius pointed out.
“Of course,” Chance said, but Julius gave him a look like he wasn’t sure he believed him.
“We’re going to do everything we can to find him.” I reached for Julius’s hand. Seeing the man get snatched right in front of him and not being able to stop it had been hard on Julius, and he felt responsible for the young man. Chance, on the other hand, was looking at the bigger picture and was mostly worried about catching the big fish because he felt that would save more people overall.
“I know you will. I just can’t believe this is happening here in Vesper.”
That made me think of what Diego said the other day about small towns being the worst, but before I could say anything, Chance spoke up. “Sadly, people like this often prey on small towns and cities because the people who live there feel more secure, so their guards are down. Not only that, but they have smaller police forces and less resources.”
“But knowing this ties into your larger case changes things, right?” Kat asked.
“Oh yeah. I’ll be meeting with local law enforcement, and we’ll be working together on it officially now.”
“Good deal.” I clasped Chance on the shoulder. “Carmine is a good guy, but this is over his head.” I turned to Julius. “You ready to get to work?”
He took a deep breath but nodded his head. “I am.”
“Good work, Kat. We’ll be at Julius’s salon this morning, but keep me updated if you get any news.”
I did feel better knowing that Chance was going to be involved in the investigation, and I got where he was coming from, but Julius was my only concern, and knowing that this was part of a larger trafficking case only heightened my concern for him. Men like Merrick Sloan had a lot to lose, and they didn’t care who they hurt or how badly.
Chapter thirteen
Julius
I finished up my cut just before noon. I spent a few minutes with Devon explaining to him the process of receiving my shipment. Migs was familiar with it and promised to help him out if he had any questions.
Once we were in the Three Bears SUV, I let out a long sigh. “I’ll be so glad when this is over. I hate not being here to run my business.”