Page 39 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)
T he media room was packed again, everyone pressing in to see the screen. Rowan could toss the image up on the wall, but he suspected it might be too much for Simone. She sat to his left—Annabeth to his right—their hands intertwined across his lap.
“This picture of Bryan Carroll was taken at a casino in San Juan,” Agent Anderson began.
He had provided the Bureau’s file on Carroll, including the photos.
It wasn’t exactly protocol, but Rowan hadn’t questioned it, and Anderson hadn’t offered an explanation.
“The men around him are his guards. And the young woman behind him—”
“CeCe,” Annabeth breathed. “That’s CeCe.”
The footage was grainy and dated, and the FBI had tried to clear it up, but they didn’t have his tools.
Slowly, the image came more into focus and showed Bryan Carroll in a tailored suit and, with a smug grin, leading a procession through the casino’s glittering maze of slot machines.
The crowd parted in their path, the photographs following the party as they exited the building.
CeCe walked a few paces behind, no older than sixteen, her dress flashy, her smile bright.
“Since when do they allow kids into casinos?” Ben snapped.
“Carroll does what he wants,” Will said flatly. “That photo was taken during the peak of his operations. No one would have dared stop him.”
“Can you zoom in on the woman next to CeCe?” Bernie leaned forward, her hand resting on Simone’s shoulder for balance. “She has to be Brandy Carroll. ”
A big, burly guard blocked the second young woman, and nothing but a slender arm could be seen in the front view. The next photo showed the group from behind as they were leaving, which was much of the same. All they could see was a sliver of the girl’s dress and the sweep of her long hair.
“Can we get this in color?” Liam asked. He already had the print pinned to the board in the corner, where he and Jamison stood studying it. “The time stamp’s missing. Is this before or after Charlie died? If CeCe’s with Bryan here, where is Toby? College?”
“Makes sense,” Will said, joining his son at the board. “Toby heads for college and leaves CeCe in the care of his girlfriend’s family. Who also happens to be cartel royalty.”
“Yeah, that tracks,” Jamison sighed. “CeCe never caught a break, trading one psychopath for another. Poor thing went from Charlie to Toby to this guy.”
“My brother wasn’t a psychopath.”
Silence fell, and everyone turned to Ben. He never defended Charlie Fairweather. Ever. As far as Rowan knew, the brothers weren’t close growing up or as adults, learning to hate one another more and more until their lives exploded into devastation.
“Charlie was a narcissist. He used people,” Ben continued. “But Toby got his twisted mind from our father, not Charlie.”
“Charlie loved his children,” Simone said, her eyes still on the photo.
“He loved Rebecca. He loved Vivian in his own way.” She let go of Annabeth’s hand to reach for Ben’s.
“We might have been kidding ourselves, but both Benjamin and I believe that when they first went to that island, Charlie probably tried to give the kids a good life.”
“You would be correct, Simone.” Will nodded over his shoulder at Anderson. “Tell them.”
Anderson pulled a file from his bag. “We went digging into Brandy Carroll’s school records, and while no one currently at the school was there during the years she and the Fairweather children attended, they were able to put us in touch with a teacher who taught all three of them in a science class.
” Anderson handed the file to Liam. “The teacher wasn’t much help, but did say how involved Charlie was with Toby and CeCe.
He was at every school event and every award ceremony, never missing any of it until Toby reached the high school years. ”
Simone’s eyes dropped from the screen to her lap, tears welling. “Thank you, Agent Anderson. I needed that.”
“Was the teacher able to identify this Brandy person?” Taylor stood off to the side with her arms crossed and head tilted as she studied the photo of CeCe with everyone else. “Could she give you any idea of what she looks like?”
Rowan hadn’t volunteered information to Taylor about their investigation, leaving that completely at Ben’s discretion. But if asked, he wouldn’t lie and say he cared for her having access to certain details, like the connection between Brandy Carroll to Toby.
And judging by the way Anderson was studying her, the agent shared Rowan’s reservations.
“No, ma’am,” Anderson said coolly. “Not as an adult. But we did get a school photo.”
Rowan popped the photo onto the movie screen, and a little girl with reddish brown hair and a toothless smile stared back at them. She looked to be around six, with freckles dusting her chubby cheeks and nose.
Taylor sneered at the photo as her cell went off. “She’s not very cute,” she said as she checked her messages. “Ben, we’ve got the Fire Marshal meeting in five. They’re buzzing to confirm you’ll be there.”
“Damn.” Ben pushed to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Ben and Taylor left in a hurry. The Fire Marshal meeting wasn’t going to bring good news.
They had been willing to cover for them once, but the charade couldn’t last forever.
Ben was already planning to return to the office, even if it put him at risk, but he refused to bring back the staff.
With so many Fairweather employees working remotely and Thanksgiving looming, they could use the holidays as an excuse to push a full staff recall until the New Year.
But there was no guarantee Sinclair would be captured by then.
Samuel would likely never return, not with Zanmi still being active. Rowan would even go so far as to say his friend would leave his job altogether if necessary. Taking things to the extreme was the Fairweather way, and Samuel wasn’t playing any games with his family.
“Carter will be here in the next day or so?” Liam asked Agent Anderson, who nodded in confirmation. “If the plan to return to the Fairweather offices is solid, I’d like him placed with Samuel so I can bring Holden here. ”
“Yeah, no one’s better at logistics than Holden,” Izzy agreed, sitting across the table in front of her own laptop. “But can Carter handle Samuel and his… um ... personality?”
“You mean his shitty attitude?” Abe’s lips twisted so he wouldn’t smile. “It’s okay. You can say it.”
“Carter can handle him,” Liam replied. “That’s why I had you swing me by their place this morning. I walked Samuel through the changeover.”
“Then I’m glad I stayed behind,” Jamison said, settling into a chair beside Annabeth. “That must’ve been fun.”
Combing through the remaining information from his scan on Brandy Carroll and the fresh details Anderson and his team provided, Rowan tried not to wince.
He’d already received a text from Samuel wanting a breakdown of Carter Anderson’s credentials.
Samuel trusted Liam completely, but he was the type of man who needed to see everything for himself.
“It was not,” Liam assured her. “Got anything else for us on Carroll?”
“Not yet,” Anderson said. “We’re raiding every known residence, every family member’s known residence, and we’re already getting answers.”
Rowan shifted Brandy Carroll’s picture off-screen and brought up Parker Monroe’s driver’s license photo.
With dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and a chiseled jaw, Parker looked like one of those frat boys Rowan hated in college.
Women could always spot them a mile away and were careful never to leave their drinks unattended when those assholes were nearby.
“Mother is Abigail. Father is John. Mom is a housewife, while Dad owns a construction company down in Dania Beach.”
“Dania Beach?” Annabeth squinted at the map presented. “Oh, I see. Fort Lauderdale.”
“Parker started at NSU, then transferred to the University of Miami,” Anderson added. “Same time CeCe was there.”
“Oh, CeCe,” Simone whispered. “What did you do, baby?”
Ben had left the door open when he departed, and his snappish orders carried in from across the hall. He didn’t like what the Fire Marshal was telling him, and the conversation lulled as they listened to the head of Fairweather Holdings express his displeasure. Loudly .
Simone rose from her seat with a weary sigh. “I’m going to lie down. Y’all can fill me in later.”
“Have you eaten today?” Abe grabbed his mother’s arm when she passed him. “And coffee doesn’t count.”
“Not yet.”
“Let me cook you something.” Abe rolled behind her. “I make a killer omelet.”
Simone didn’t reply, and the two of them left the room with Annabeth shaking her head. “He’s taking this cooking thing to the next level,” she whispered. “I think I should go supervise.”
Rowan nodded absently as she hurried out, trying to listen while Liam and Will continued to run down the specs on Parker. He’d already reviewed the information, but the two of them interpreting the details would be where they discovered what the rest of them couldn’t see.
“Rowan, can you print the file on Parker with your notes?” Bernie asked him quietly so as not to interrupt. “I want to see everything in hard copy.”
“Sure thing.” He sent the information she wanted to the printer and handed it to her, trying to keep his attention on the conversation happening at the board.
“We’ve got location proximity, but it doesn’t prove Parker’s linked to Zanmi,” Will said. “There is such a thing as a coincidence.”
“Not likely.” Liam tapped his tablet, swapping the screen to bring up Parker’s school transcripts and juvenile records.
The guy had quite a long history of being an abuser.
“From even his elementary years, the school counselor's notes are telling, with several mentions of unrepentant aggressive behavior. Combine that with the constant arrests for destruction of property and assault during his teens, and we have a nice, pliable Zanmi member.”
Anderson frowned. “I didn’t give you those juvie records.”