Page 63 of Girl Lost
“What’ll you have?”
“Purple lid,” Corbin requested.
“What’s purple?”
“Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans.”
Luna grabbed two, deciding to join him. She microwaved theirdinner according to his instructions. This new side of Corbin had really thrown her off her game. So domestic. So ... settled.
They ate side by side on the couch. The food was delicious. Leagues better than the takeout and microwave meals Luna subsisted on. The silence stretched, punctuated by the clinking of forks against glass containers. The tension from the day began to ebb away, replaced by a comfortable familiarity that both soothed and unnerved her.
She’d decided to put talking about the bodies in the boat graveyard off until tomorrow, but sitting here beside him ... it couldn’t wait. She had to tell him her idea.
“While you were getting stitched up, I called Harlee. She told me something about Trinity.”
“What about her?” Corbin’s gaze snapped to hers as he forked a bite of meatloaf. All traces of drowsiness gone.
“The heart transplant last year was part of a clinical trial at Chiron BioInnovation Center.”
Corbin swallowed the lump of food. “A clinical trial?”
“Right.” Luna set her container on the coffee table. She couldn’t eat another bite. “And those attackers tonight, you said it yourself, they were professionals. So I started thinking—”
“Maybe they’re the ones putting those bodies in the—” He stopped. “Carlie. The girls in the graveyard. They were missing their organs. You don’t think...”
A healthy teen missing her organs. And a sick teenage girl who needed a transplant. “That Trinity could have one of those girls’ hearts.”
Corbin’s container clattered to the coffee table, joining hers. He reached for the bottle of antinausea pills. “Think I might need these after all.”
Their daughter. Trinity. The possibility. It was right there. She wanted to tell him. Needed to tell him. But not when this could all be nothing.
“Let’s not jump too far ahead. We’ll ask Dr. Santos in the morning.See if it’s even possible. Medically speaking. Besides, why would traffickers kidnap the commissioner’s daughter? They had to know that would bring heat.”
“Carlie was a troubled teenager with a history of running away and drug use. She also has a strained relationship with her father, feeling neglected. Vulnerability like that makes her an easy target.” Corbin swallowed the pill dry. “And it’s possible the kidnappers didn’t know Carlie was the commissioner’s daughter.”
Luna’s stomach tightened at his words. The description hit too close to home. Kids like that became easy prey because the world had already trained them to believe they weren’t loved. Too soon they became the throwaways. The forgotten ones. And society looked away while monsters circled.
“So they grab vulnerable girls no one will look for right away,” she said. “But Carlie threw them a curveball by being connected to someone important.”
“That could explain why Carlie went missing weeks ago. Kidnapped. Tested. A positive match. Held captive. Prepped for surgery.” He looked up, his gaze meeting hers. “And then...”
“Carlie’s heart beating in someone else’s chest.” And what if Trinity wasn’t the only recipient?
His hands went to his forehead, fingers massaging his temples. “How can I ever tell Commissioner Tinch?”
She touched his knee. “One step at a time”
He dropped his hands and nodded. “You’re right. And what if Stryker found out what they were doing? Could explain why he was kidnapped.”
Was that why Stryker insisted Luna come back to Millie Beach? He wanted her skills to investigate? There was just one problem. “Stryker has a gym full of LEOs. He has connections in every branch of the government—local and federal. There’s Tori, Harlee, Blade, Jett ... You.” She shook her head. “If he knew this was going on—even suspected it—he’d have told someone. Why didn’t he?”
Corbin bit his lower lip and fixed his gaze at a point in the distance. His brain had to be processing at warp speed. He looked at her. “He suspects corruption somewhere in the chain of command.”
It had crossed her mind a few times, hearing the commissioner so insistent to keep his missing daughter top secret. But if Tinch were involved, his daughter wouldn’t be a victim, would she? The next time she saw Commissioner Tinch, she’d study him closer and watch for signs of deception.
“We have a lot to think about, and you’ve got an early morning.” She collected their dishes and carried them to the sink. “Pick me up at Tori’s on your way?”
“You sure? It’ll be early. Around five thirty.”
