Page 40 of The Sound of Secrets

“It is, but it’s motion-sensored and not part of the main feed.”

I grabbed Rocco, pointed to the businesses around the port, and ordered, “Find out if any of these buildings have cameras that point at the drydock. This is a major tourist hub. They should have full coverage for insurance reasons. If they do, ask for footage around the time Winnie was caught on the harbor camera.”

Before he could argue, I moved to follow Ky. The harbor master was hot on my heels, warning me to be careful and stuttering that the city wasn’t liable if I hurt myself poking around the broken boats. Every place I touched was covering in damp grime and goo. My hands were filthy, and there was mud splattered all over the hem of my pants.

The last time I was this dirty, I found out there was a whole secret passageway in my childhood home that led to secrets I couldn’t fathom. I was nearly blown to hell by the end of that encounter. I could only hope this one wasn’t as dire and dangerous.

It was dark even with the lights from the city casting a hazy glow. Everything smelled like the sea and felt oppressively damp. It was oddly silent, even though my heart was pounding like a drum and breath wheezed heavily in and out of my lungs.

I was listening for any sign of life and sidestepping rotten wood and misplaced tools. I called myself all kinds of crazy for following this kid, but something told me he understood more about desperation and fear than I ever could.

I was just stepping around the first boat and flinching as an unidentified liquid leaked onto the back of my neck when I heard Ky shout, “I’ve got her!”

I had no clue if he knew I was following him or if he was calling for help from anyone, but I ran faster than I ever moved in my life toward the sound of his voice.

From one of the most dilapidated boats, the teenage boy emerged holding my unconscious niece. Her head lolled loosely backward, and her arms flopped around like she was a broken doll. I heard the harbor master on the radio shouting that she’d been found. I rushed to Ky and hurriedly took Winnie out of his arms. Her face was dirty, but I could see her chest moving in shallow breaths. The flood of relief I felt nearly took me to my knees.

“How did you find her so fast?” I didn’t mean to sound accusatory, but there was no hiding the disbelief in my tone.

Ky stared at Winnie; his mouth pulled into a flat line. “I know a lot of kids who break in here and party. No one ever goes inside the boats. It’s close to the water. I started to think about where I would hide on a boat that’s not so obvious. This is the perfect spot.”

“Why didn’t you mention the drydock earlier?” I turned and hurried with Winnie in my arms to the waiting paramedics. Ky followed behind but kept a bit of distance.

“I didn’t think of it until I started to head to the port. It was a lucky guess.”

I didn’t have to decide if I believed him or not, but I told him, “If you want to know about your biological parents, I can help you. If you want to know where your adoptive father ran off too, I can tell you that as well. I don’t know how to repay you, Ky. But I can tell you that knowledge is power, and the more you know, the more dangerous you get to be.”

All my focus was on Winnie as a swarm of first responders rushed to her aid. The teenager didn’t respond. Ky slipped away when all the attention was placed on Winnie. By the time I was back to the port, the press had arrived, and a curious crowd gathered. It was a growing spectacle, and whether Ky had colluded with Channing’s father and successfully led me around by the nose for the last few hours was the least of my concerns. Even if the kid was out to get me for some imagined slight, in the end, he did right by my niece, which said more about his character than all of his shady actions leading to her rescue.

I looked around, but Ky was nowhere to be found. I figured solving the problems he presented or making major amends could wait for another day.

The paramedic told me Winnie’s vitals were fine, but she was obviously under the influence of a powerful narcotic. One of Rocco’s guys brought over a bundled-up Archie, and the camera flashes that followed were blinding. Everyone had been waiting with bated breath for the first sighting of the resurrected Halliday.

My younger brother asked without saying a word if he could be the one who rode with Winnie to the hospital.

Since all of this started with his unstable belief that I wanted to take his place in Winnie’s life, I let him go without a fight.

I stared at the hordes of reporters and the sea of cell phones recording my lowest moment for their entertainment. Everything was stained blue and red from the flashing police lights. It all felt surreal and so unnecessary, like it was a scene in a movie and the eager audience couldn’t wait to see what came next. I’d never felt more human and stripped bare of every privilege. I was beyond tired of sharing my every triumph and tragedy with an unforgiving world. I was ready to live like everyone else and share my secrets with only the people I loved the most. I was sick and tired of having the things that hurt me be on public display.

I put on my game face and prepared myself to pretend I was godlike one final time while I handled what was, hopefully, the last time my family was on the brink of destruction.

Channing

“We cleared the building aside from your mother, her doctor, and her lawyer. Still no sign of your father anywhere near the building.”

The agent in charge was an Asian woman who looked several years younger than me. She said little as we drove out of the city, and I felt a slight air of condemnation coming off of her. As if I played some part in Winnie’s disappearance and this was all an elaborate ruse cooked up by my family to fleece Win of a few million dollars. I didn’t bother explaining to her that the amount of money my father demanded was basically pocket change to Win, and the payout in the terms of our marriage contract was triple the amount my father demanded.

It was wild to me that anyone could look at Win and only see his wealth. That face of his was enough to make anyone to fall in love, no questions asked. And when you added in that fragile heart he kept so well hidden that no one knew it existed, he had something far more valuable than his money to offer.

“What lawyer?” I frowned and tried to puzzle through the agent’s cold words. “We don’t have a legal representative.” I’d never been able to afford something like that.

“He says he represents your mother. It sounds like your father may have hired him before he set up this meeting. We can’t ask him to leave if he’s her legal representative. And if he has any information about your niece, he won’t say.”

I frowned harder. If my dad sent a lawyer, it was because he planned to use my mother to facilitate his plan to get his hands on Win’s money. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. My mom was always my weakest point. My father knew just where to strike to bring me to my knees. I asked the driver to stop the car. As soon as he pulled over on the shoulder of the road, I threw open the door and dry heaved until my ribs felt like they might snap in half. I was a shaky, sweating mess. I was more nervous to face my mother than I’d been when Colette Halliday pointed a gun at me.

The building was dark and looked abandoned when we arrived. I couldn’t see the hidden federal agents or the local law enforcement officers in charge of trying to ambush my father. Once again, I felt like I was a character in a video game, facing the most difficult level. This time I knew I didn’t have any extra lives to spare if something went wrong. The female agent walked into the facility with me. She was speaking to her team on a device that wasn’t obvious to the naked eye. Her vigilance made me nervous.

My mom’s doctor looked tired and frustrated when he led us to the room my mother had called home formany years. He quietly mentioned they’d monitored her closely, and she’d had no visitors or contact with the outside world since her most recent breakdown and attack on me. The facility management was as confused by the sudden appearance of the lawyer as I was. If Win wasn’t paying the bills for the entire business, it was obvious they would no longer welcome my mother and all the difficulties caring for her had brought them recently. There were other patients who required a calm and serene environment for their mental wellbeing, and my parents fully disrupted that. All I could do was apologize and assure them this was the last time my father would cause this sort of unwelcome chaos.

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