Page 95 of Smooth Sailing

He was no nonsense. Alert. Attentive. Concerned about the state of play in Suzette’s room. And being there on a Sunday morning, obviously dedicated to the job.

Hugger stopped moving abruptly and stared down the hall. So Pete got to his feet, noticing not for the first time the dry heat of Phoenix was good for his old joints. Denver was arid too, but the cold could creep in. His body felt a full five years younger down there in the desert.

Diana showed from the mouth of the hall and went right to Hugger.

And Pete went still when Hug claimed Diana immediately by wrapping a hand around the side of her neck and dipping down to get nose to nose with her.

“You,” he grunted.

She understood that word and whispered, “I’m okay.”

Scott got close, so Pete did too.

Hug got out of her face and she looked to Scott.

“Her name is Madison O’Keefe. She says she’s nineteen years old. She’s from Lubbock, Texas. She was in school to do manis and pedis. She’d met a guy online her parents had a bad feeling about. Turns out they were right. They argued about him more than once, but the last one was really bad. She packed a bag and went to him. He took off with her, and when she expressed concern about where they were going, which was crossing over the state line to New Mexico, things went downhill.”

“Damn it,” Scott muttered. “She didn’t mention any of this when we interviewed her at the hospital.”

Pete watched as Hugger slid his hand down her back until his arm was wrapped around her waist. He then fit her right to his side, and by damn, she looked purpose-built to be right there.

This move could have knocked Pete over with a feather.

Until yesterday, Pete didn’t know if he’d seen Hugger touch another human being, outside horsing around with the kids. When he was with Rider, Cutter, Nash, Playboy, Wren, Princess, Travis, Clementine, Wyatt, Raven…any of them, he was a different man.

With them, he was the man he was with Diana.

He was a man who had a life that he thought was worth living.

“He essentially sold her to Babic’s boys,” Diana continued, yanking Pete right out of his thoughts. “And one of the reasons she knew who Babic was is because the men who bought her said, ‘Hands off. Babic always gets first crack.’”

Pete ground his teeth, he heard Hugger growl, and he saw Scott’s eyes turn to slits.

“She struggled to get away at one point, and they laughed at her,” Diana kept at it. “Told her half the police were on Mr. Babic’s payroll, so if she went to them, they’d bring her right back.”

“I’m hopin’ that was bullshit to make her think she’s fucked no matter what,” Pete remarked to Scott.

“It’s bullshit,” Scott gritted.

Pete studied him carefully, and damn, he hoped the man spoke truth.

“That’s what I told her,” Diana said. “I think I got her ready to open up to you more. But she’s had enough for today.” She looked up to Hugger. “I’m going to call off work tomorrow. Give her a break for the rest of today, then I hope maybe I can talk her into going in to do a formal interview that’s a lot more thorough.”

While she said this, Scott was on his phone.

When she was done saying this, Scott turned his phone their way and said, “Her parents reported her missing a month ago.”

And there it was, a picture of Madison next to a headline: Local Lubbock Woman Reported Missing.

“They’re probably scared out of their brains,” Pete remarked.

“Can I read that?” Diana asked. Scott offered, and she took the cell, scanned the article and her eyes got bright with tears. “They’re scared out of their brains,” she whispered. She returned the phone to Scott, went to her own, and had head bent to it as she walked back down the hall saying, “I’ll be back.”

When she disappeared behind Madison’s door, Pete asked, “What we got here?”

“Babic gets up to a lot of shitty stuff,” Scott said. “But we’ve never heard of him being into trafficking.”

“That something you’d know?” Big Petey asked.

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