Page 39 of The Sound of Secrets

Rocco snorted. “Sure. Why not? We have the entire eastern seaboard to search. We can use as many hands and eyes as possible.”

The sarcasm was as thick as taffy, but Ky didn’t seem bothered by it. He cocked his head to one side and seemed to think through the situation from a different angle than Rocco or I considered.

“Channing thinks her father took Winnie to a boat. However, if he needs money, he probably doesn’t have a boat of his own. That guy is an asshole. I doubt he has any friends who would let him borrow a boat, especially if it’s a vessel they use for work.” Everything Ky muttered sounded reasonable.

I frowned and tossed his words around in my mind for a moment. I could not view a situation from theperspective of someone with no means or opportunity. If I needed a boat, I would have a fleet of yachts at my disposal. But someone grifting to survive didn’t have very many options. I was looking at the big picture, not the artist painting it.

“Think about what type of boats are available for public use. Paul Harvey is someone who prefers to be on the water. How does he get around? He has to move between the city and his hometown regularly. What’s the best way to do that if you don’t want to drive or take the train? We all know he can’t afford to fly, so a ferry or some sort of water taxi is probably the best bet.” Ky dropped the skateboard on the cement and gave me a pointed look. “That’s where you should start looking.”

Rocco swore. “It’s not like he could dump a teenager on public transit with no one noticing. Winnie stands out. She’s a public figure. Someone would’ve noticed her. They would’ve called looking for money to hand over her whereabouts if it was as simple as being on a ferry.”

I lifted my eyebrows at the bald man and asked, “Do you have a better idea? Instead of telling me how hard it is to find her, why don’t you lookeverywherebefore ruling anything out?”

It was rare when I treated Rocco like someone who worked for me rather than a friend who’d been with me from the minute my life was no longer my own to the second I stole it back. I knew he was under an immense amount of pressure at the moment and didn’t want to waste time chasing his tail. Winnie was more than another body he had to protect. Rocco watched her grow up and was there every time the world went against her.I had no doubt he wanted to get her back as much as I did. Which was exactly why he didn’t understand why I was willing to allocate time and effort to what might be a wild goose chase based on nothing more than Channing’s certainty.

“If she puts on normal clothes and wears something that covers her face, she looks like any other teenager. There are so many homeless kids in this city, Winnie would blend right in if she’s dressed right. She would be just another body going from port to port until the final stop.” The more Ky spoke, the more inclined I was to think he was on to something.

“I don’t think she would go willingly and not try to signal for help. I’ve reiterated with her over and over what to do if she finds herself in trouble.” I told Rocco to get me a list of ferries running from the city around the time Winnie disappeared. All we could do was send our people to wait at each port and see if the theory was true. Meanwhile, the search was on for her up and down the coast. The Coast Guard was even involved, looking for any suspicious vessel sailing in and out of the city and cove.

“If her grandfather slipped her something that knocked her out, the other passengers might mistake her for a junkie.” Finally, Rocco was thinking beyond his own panic. He looked at me with stark determination in his eyes. “I’m going to find her.”

While the attitude adjustment was appreciated, I needed action, not assurance. I tried to send Ky home. He was too young to be mixed up in all of this. I held deep regrets for treating him like he was a grown adversaryinstead of a growing one until this point. He gave a token argument, then rode away on his skateboard. I knew it wasn’t the last I’d see of him while Winnie’s whereabouts were still unknown, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to take care of another teenager’s wellbeing at the moment. Not when I failed to keep Winnie safe. It was the one promise I made to my brother, and I broke it. Regardless if he had a hand in making me do so. Dissatisfaction settled deep in my bones at the thought.

As if conjured out of thin air, Archie came out of the brownstone, looking like a ghost. I knew he regretted his part in his daughter’s abduction, but it was hard for me to find forgiveness for either of us at the moment. All of this was set in motion because he didn’t believe in me. Be it our mother or Channing’s father, Archie put more faith in what they told him about me and my motivations than he did in my actions and assertions.

Archie’s eyes, with their paper-thin lids, blinked at me like a scared animal. I dismissed Rocco to get me the list I asked for and told one of his guys to get the car ready to take me to the port. I wanted to talk to the harbor patrol and see if we could find Winnie on any of their surveillance. When I turned my attention back to my brother, I could tell he would cry if he were able.

“I’m so sorry, Win. This is all my fault.” His voice was raspy and sounded like his lungs were still filled with smoke from that ill-fated fire. “From the start, I screwed up my family. I never should’ve forced Willow to move home. If I wasn’t afraid of Winnie growing up poor, none of this would’ve happened. It’s better to be broke and happy than rich and dead. What have I done?”

I sighed. My compassion for him couldn’t fight through my current anger and frustration. “You’re always trying to give Winnie more, Archie. At some point, you need to realize what she has is enough. You are enough. There was no reason for you to force a relationship she never asked for to make amends for someone who is no longer around.” He needed to come to terms with Willow’s death sooner rather than later, or incidents like this were going to keep happening. His need to atone was going to be a weakness anyone could exploit if he didn’t get a handle on his emotions.

The fragile eyelids fluttered, and he quietly asked, “Isn’t that what you’re doing with Channing? She never aspired to marry a Halliday. She hates us, hates you.”

I was speechless because he had a solid point. I grunted, “Guess that’s a fault that runs in the family. We can argue about which one of us is more fucked up once Winnie is home. She’s the priority right now.”

We were saved from further argument by Rocco running down the stairs. “They have her on video! Just like the kid said, Harvey took her to the harbor. She’s dressed like a teenage boy, but her face is on camera, clear as day.”

I moved toward the waiting vehicle without hesitation. “What ferry did he put her on?” For the first time in hours, I felt a flicker of hope.

I jumped in the back of the SUV and barked at the driver to take us to the port. Rocco and my brother barely made it inside when the tires squealed and we sped off.

“They were only on video for a brief moment. The crowd was too big to track them all the way to the boat. The harbor patrol has someone combing through the boarding footage, but it’s going to take a while to find the specific boat since it was a peak commute time. The bright side is while we’re waiting for verification, they’re radioing all the possible ferries and starting a search for Winnie. If she’s stashed on one of them, we should know within the next hour. I told them we would offer a hefty reward for any news that helps get her home.”

I nodded in approval and clicked on the link he sent to my phone. Paul Harvey was guiding an obviously unsteady Winnie through a thick crowd of commuters. She was wearing a hoodie that covered her distinct red hair, and baggy pants that made her look like a boy. If she hadn’t turned her head and looked directly at the camera, almost as if she was seeking help, it would’ve been impossible to identify her. I hated the smug look on her grandfather’s face. I didn’t know what it was like to want someone dead until this very moment. I could kill him.

Maybe I had more of my mother in me than I cared to admit.

By the time we reached the spot where Winnie was last seen, the place was crawling with police and harbor patrol. There was no sign of her on any of the boats out on the water, and the boats that were docked had been disembarked and searched from top to bottom. I was doing my best not to panic and keep my intrusive thoughts at bay.

“What if he tossed her overboard? What if she’s out in the ocean somewhere? Does she even know how toswim? How can I not know if my daughter can swim or not?” Archie started spiraling. I didn’t have time to reassure him, so I sent someone to take him back to the car.

While everyone was doing their best to convince me Winnie was fine and that she would be found, I caught sight of an unmistakable head of white hair slipping through the crowd and ducking through a gate markedemployees only.I frowned and pointed in the direction where Ky had just disappeared.

“What’s over there?”

The harbor master followed the line of my finger. “That’s the drydock. Those are the boats that need repairs before they can go back on the water and the ones that are out of commission. We have someone patrolling the area regularly.”

“But it’s not on camera?”

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