Page 66 of Wired Justice

Chapter Forty

Jake’s mouthfell open in surprise at the sight of the Weathersby girl. He closed it with an effort and visually scanned the young woman wearing a hotel bathrobe. She looked healthy and freshly scrubbed, with no visible bruises or other signs of trauma.

“Oh, I am so happy to see you two! My parents have been telling me all about how hard Security Solutions has been working to find me, and I feel so bad about that,” Julie gushed, clutching the toweling at her neck modestly. “But it was Mallory at FindUsNow that got the word to me through social media that I was being considered endangered and missing.”

Sophie swayed. She looked ready to keel over in a faint. Jake put an arm around her waist and steadied her.

Sophie had gone to the dark place of her depression since he left last night—he had read the signs by her closed shades and locked doors. He and the dogs had gone to bed alone in his room. Going in to comfort her had been out of the question at that point. Whoever had been on that phone call had jacked her up and his help was not welcome. She’d made that abundantly clear.

“We are a little taken aback to see you,” Jake said, because someone had to say something. He extended his hand. “Jake Dunn. Security specialist. I am very glad to see you, young lady.” He injected his voice with heartiness as Julie shook his hand with a slender cool one.

Sophie extended her hand next. “We thought that you were dead,” she said flatly.

“Oh no! That’s terrible. I’m so sorry for the mix-up. Please, come in. We want to tell you all about it before we go to the police station. Dad wants us all to be on the same page.”

“Oh, hello there, Jake and Sophie!” Mrs. Weathersby’s soft face, filled with joy, still reminded Jake of his mom. After that talk with Patty, he was overdue to give her a call. “Please come in and have some coffee with us!”

Jake and Sophie walked into the suite. Mr. Weathersby rose from a chair out on the deck overlooking a stunning view of Hilo Bay and swaying palm trees. “What’s this about thinking my daughter was dead? We want to make sure we all have our stories straight before we go into the police station.”

Jake clenched his teeth, bracing for spin doctoring. Rich people always thought they could rewrite history, and half the time they got away with it. “We’re eager to hear what happened to your daughter, Mr. Weathersby,” Jake said. “And I hope you’ll be considerate of all the work that’s gone into finding her, both by our staff and by the Hilo Police Department.”

“Oh, we’ll tip you,” Mr. Weathersby said dismissively. “Now sit down and Julie will tell you what happened.”

Freitan and Wongdidn’t look like they had gotten much sleep in the hours since Jake had seen them last. The detectives were downright grouchy as they sat Julie Weathersby, extracted from her parents’ arms, on a chair in the interview room. The parents were calling a lawyer, but Julie hadn’t asked for one, and as far as Jake knew, Julie wasn’t in trouble—they just wanted any information she had about Rayme, Webb, and whoever had attacked her. The young woman began to cry immediately when Freitan told her they’d be recording the interview. Freitan rolled her eyes even as Wong pushed a box of tissues over to the weepy woman.

On the other side of the reflective glass coating, the observation booth was dim and smelled faintly of the ever-present Hilo mold. The voices coming through the ancient sound system were thin and tinny. Jake’s plastic chair was hard, and he resisted an urge to reach out to Sophie as she sat beside him, eyes on the drama occurring in the other room.Her hand was just lying there in her lap.

Maybe touching her was a good strategy.

But only if he could do it without it affecting him more than it did her . . .

Jake was determined to take Patty’s counsel. No neediness. No begging. No jealousy. Just being so damn good Sophie couldn’t forget him. Good advice, Patty. He had a plan now.

Jake reached out and took Sophie’s hand. As before when she was in her depression, it was cold and limp. He rubbed slow circles on her wrist with his thumb. He felt silky tissue, bones, and fragile veins. Her pulse picked up as the pad of his thumb moved gently over her skin.

Good.She was feeling this.

And he was still nicely detached. He needed to stay that way.

“Rather than having us ask you questions, why don’t you just tell us, in your own words, where you’ve been.” Freitan leaned back and crossed her arms on her chest in classic “bad cop” mode. “Your parents are calling a lawyer like you need to be protected from some wrongdoing. So, what you been up to, chica?”

“We appreciate that you are cooperating with us,” Wong’s body language was opposite: leaning toward the girl, arms open, smiling and friendly.

“It’s all a big misunderstanding. I mean, part of it is.” Julie gestured to her clothing, a pair of jeans and a tee that still had creases from packaging on it. “I guess you heard from the Security Solutions people that I was robbed and left on the side of the road?”

“Yes. We even have your friends Webb and Rayme in custody.”

“That’s great! Those two are total assholes! They pretended to be friends with me, and then took all my money and jewelry. They did leave me with my backpack, though.”

“Yes. Then the Security Solutions people found your backpack, boots and clothing, and feared the worst. And yet, here you are,” Freitan said.

“Well.” Julie chewed her bottom lip. The kid was adorable. Even hearing the story for the second time, Jake was impressed with how she oozed sincerity. “I was so upset after Holly and Jim threw me out of their car. I tramped into the jungle to get away, worried they were going to take the rest of my stuff. They had propositioned me for a threesome and when I said no, that’s when they decided to rob me, I think. Anyway, I was out there and just starting to turn around and head back to the road, when this guy came out of nowhere.” Julie’s gaze cut up and to the left as she recalled the events. “He was way scarier than Jimmy and Holly.”

“Tell us about him. What did he look like?”

“Close to six feet. He was a local—you know, dark skin, maybe Hawaiian and something Asian. Black hair. He was fast and strong.” Her eyes filled. She blinked and sniffled, and Wong handed her a tissue. “He had a knife and threatened me with it. Made me take off all my clothes and told me he was going to . . . enjoy what he was going to do to me before he killed me.” Julie’s voice shook and she covered her face with her hands, plastering the tissue to her eyes.

“More details please,” Freitan rapped out. “We are going to want you to work with a sketch artist. As much detail as you can recall is really important.”

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