Page 61 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

“Eureka,” Will whispered. “Son of a bitch.”

“Lost Bridge Airstrip,” Rowan said to Annabeth before addressing Will. “Liam thinks she’s in Eureka Springs.”

“She could still be in the van.” Will puffed out an exhale.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. Rowan, you stay on Liam’s theory.

Guide him as best you can until we get back.

Ben and I will handle the van. Anderson has a damn army chasing it, but I’m going to have Klausen begin coordinating with the teams in the Arkansas area. ”

With a plan in place, Will and Ben rushed out, leaving Simone and Bernie holding each other in their wake.

“Come with me to meet my new grandson, Bernie?” Simone was trembling so hard she could barely get the question out.

“I can say my tears are because I’m happy, but I’ll slip. I know I’ll slip up and say something.”

“Of course, I’ll come.” Bernie rubbed Simone’s shoulder, leading her through the maze of agents and police. “We’ll do this together.”

“Eigsti Field,” Rowan read off. “It’s not technically an airstrip, but a small plane could land there.”

Annabeth scribbled down the name. “How will Liam find them? Is he just going to drive around aimlessly?”

“The bird was a loon.” Holden took the seat Will vacated. “Can you play Sinclair’s phone call back, Rowan?”

Recalling the recording, Sinclair’s voice came through Rowan’s laptop speakers. “ I don’t, babe. We just cloned his number. ”

“Fast forward to the part where he’s talking about Emily.” Holden’s brow furrowed as he listened, making Rowan reverse twice more so he could hear the bird calling out. “Yeah, that’s a waterfowl. Sinclair is on a lake or river.”

Holden pulled out his phone and made a call, placing it on speaker when a woman answered. “Where can I find a loon in northwest Arkansas?”

There was a pause, and then a woman with a heavy Southern accent spoke sarcastically. “And a good evening to you too, son. ”

“Mama, I love you, but right now, I’m in the middle of something, and I need you to get into Dad’s avian database so I can figure out where to find a common loon in northwestern Arkansas during this exact time of year.

” Holden held the phone between him and Rowan.

“My friend is listening, so don’t say anything untoward. ”

Rowan paused in his airstrip search, slowly rolling his head in Holden’s direction as if truly seeing the man for the first time.

Annabeth did the same, obviously just as surprised when Holden slipped into an accent much like the woman on the phone.

And it wasn’t something mild, like Rowan’s own Texan drawl, but deep and total backcountry.

“Are you from Alabama?” A stupidly pointless question at the moment, but Rowan had to ask.

“God, no.” Holden's face twisted in horror. “Go Dawgs.”

Georgia. Yeah, Rowan could hear it now. Holden’s rolling twang positively oozed with the sounds of rural Georgia.

“Who’s that?” the woman on the phone asked. “Holden, where are you?”

Not answering the question, Holden kept on pushing for the information. “I need the info, Mama. It’s super important that I know about these loons.”

“Specifically, near Eureka Springs,” Rowan added, leaning closer to make sure he was heard. “Please. Ma’am .”

“Are y’all playing trivia or something?”

“No, ma’am,” Rowan began. “We’re in the middle of a manhun—”

Holden immediately swooped the phone away from Rowan. “Yes, Mama. We’re playing trivia, and the clock is ticking. Can you fire up Dad’s old computer and look for me?”

“That man better not have been about to say what I think he was going to say,” the woman on the line huffed. “You promised you would take it easy.”

Holden glared at Rowan, sending a clear signal that he needed to watch what he said. “I’m taking it easy, Mama. I promise, I’m sitting here calmly while my friend and I toss questions around.”

“What’s happening?” Annabeth whispered.

Rowan didn’t look away from Holden. “I have no idea. ”

“Elijah Ezra Holden, you better not be lying to me, or I will find you and take a switch to your butt, grown man or not.” The woman sighed. “You need a break after what happened. Mentally and physically.”

“And I’m getting one,” Holden assured her, lying his ass off as an agent came running into the waiting room to speak to Klausen. “Crisscross over my heart.”

“I’m going to crisscross over your ass if you’re lying to me,” his mother shot back.

“Okay, the laptop is turning on. Ugh, this thing needs a good overhaul. I would hate to lose all your dad’s data if it dies.

Marsha Fitzsimmon’s teenage son does computer repair.

You remember her, don’t you? She lives down the street.

Anyway, maybe I can get that boy to come over—”

Holden placed his phone against his chest, silencing his mother as she continued to talk.

“My dad was an amateur ornithologist. Birds were his passion, but he loved waterfowl the most and created an extremely detailed map of their migratory patterns. I’m talking like, this is shit you can’t find on Google.

People all over the world would contact him about it. ”

Neither Rowan nor Annabeth said anything, unsure of how to take this new information.

“With it being November, migration will be in full swing,” Holden told them. “And if we can narrow down where the loons rest during migration, we can narrow our search.”

Annabeth’s mouth opened and closed a few times while Rowan’s brain processed what Holden was saying. Birds. Holden thought they could find Sinclair by using birds. It was insanity. True insanity.

But that didn’t matter anymore. Sanity was for the weak, and while he didn’t even know what the hell a loon was, if this bird could give them a clue on where to direct Liam, then cock-a-fucking-doodle do. They would chase a damn bird and its migration patterns halfway across the country.

Rowan snatched the phone from Holden. “Ma’am? Hi, it’s me again. My name’s Rowan, and I’m pretty good with computers. If you can help us, I’ll gladly transfer all your husband’s data to a new computer and set up a cloud that you can access from any device. But can you please hurry? ”

“Hello, Rowan. I’m Chasity, and it’s lovely to meet you. Wait, is that what we’re doing? Meeting over the phone?” Chasity asked with a chuckle. “Do you work for the Geek Squad? Holden, turn on the camera so I can see this man.”

Before Holden could grab the phone, Rowan clicked on the forward-facing camera and switched the call to video. On the screen, a blonde woman adjusted her glasses to get a better look, her eyes going wide once she did.

“Oh, lord,” Holden’s mother exhaled. She sat in a plush, black leather chair, surrounded by dark, plaid walls, holding various photos of birds in flight. “Uh, hello. You said your name was Rowan?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Smile in place, Rowan turned on the charm. “Is the program working?”

Chasity’s lips parted. “You have a very deep voice.”

“Yes, ma’am. I do.”

“It’s very soothing.” Chasity squinted at him. “Matches the face. You could do a lot with that face. The girls like it, I bet.”

“A fair share. Can you give me your IP address or even your home address so I can look at the information myself?”

“My home address?” Chasity set the phone down, propping it against something as she typed on a laptop’s keyboard. “Are you guys close? Are y’all coming over for supper?”

“No, ma’am.”

When he didn’t elaborate, Chastity took the hint and got to work. “Holden, there are four types of loons in northern Arkansas. Which one do you want?”

Holden struggled. “I want the one that sounds like a bird howling.”

Diverting her gaze from the laptop screen, Chasity tossed an eye roll at her son. “They all sound like that.”

The next thing Rowan knew, the wailing calls of various loons were shooting through the phone. Several federal agents turned to stare, and Klausen paused his conversation on the phone, giving them a confused frown.

“Which one is it?” Chasity asked, running the bird’s calls on a loop. “If it’s northwestern, my guess would be the Common or the Red-Throated.”

“Play them one at a time.” Holden closed his eyes to concentrate. “And slow it down as you do.”

Chasity did as he asked, and Holden’s eyes popped open on the third bird. “It’s that one.”

“I was right. The Common Loon.” Chasity reclined in the chair that nearly swallowed her small body whole. “According to your father’s map and the tracks he has laid out for their migratory pattern, which can vary, the answer should be Beaver Lake.”

“Thanks, Mama. Love you.” Holden ended the call so fast that his mother didn’t have time to respond. “Okay, get me up there. Taking a Fairweather jet might slow Liam down, but not me. If we start the process in the next few minutes, I can meet him and coordinate with locals while he searches.”

Klausen swore and everyone went silent as he chucked his phone clear across the room in frustration. “They got her.”

“Jamison?” Annabeth surged out of her seat. “She’s okay?”

“Kristina Scherer,” Klausen spat out the name of Michael Sinclair’s sister. “She’s escaped from the holding center.”

Rowan set his laptop aside to hold Annabeth as she processed her disappointment. “How the fuck did that happen?”

“I don’t have the full details yet.” Klausen stared helplessly at his phone on the floor. “But she was our main bargaining chip in getting Jamison Fairweather back.”