Page 11 of Blackmail
“Exactly. The team landed back in Florida a little while ago. Kid’s on his way to a hospital to get checked out, but his parents are planning to ship him off to rehab the second he’s cleared to leave.”
That can’t happen. If they ship him off, we’ve lost our chance at information.
“Just because he was on something when he was found doesn’t mean he needs rehab.”
Lehman shrugs. “It’s not up to us.”
“We need to get him to tell us what happened.”
“That’d be ideal,” Lehman agrees. “But it’s not looking good.”
Dammit. That was the plan. Or at least, that was the hope. When people who happened to be our clients had started going missing, I’d decided to foot the bill for a private investigation team.
Perhaps we made the decision too late.
When Cam initially disappeared, it seemed likely that a bored rich kid had decided to go off-grid for a while. Then, another young entrepreneur client vanished a few weeks later. More recently, a fashion influencer who had just signed on with us somehow disappeared in the hubbub of a friend’s beachside wedding.
“There's got to be something we can do.”
The Belle Argo police seem to be doing nothing but jerking each other off. They brushed off every disappearance, even after it started looking like a pattern. My gut tells me this is more than kids with too much money chasing after shiny objects. Some bully is taking advantage of these kids; kids whose only crime is being wealthy and partying too hard.
I hate bullies.
I also refuse to let this destroy the business I’ve been building since high school graduation. Since the first few clients fell off the grid, we’ve had a dozen others pull out. While there’s no proof that Pierce Consulting is involved, people are still getting spooked. At the very least, this makes it look like we can’t keep our membership roster secure.
“What’s the word on the drug dealer who had Cam?”
Lehman glances at the printed report in his hand. “Robert Ballantine, a.k.a. Bobby Balla. Arrested four times for drug trafficking, but there were no convictions. A little pimping and pandering to boot, but I hear the sex trade isn’t so much criminalized over there. The guy’s currently in the wind. Nobody else was on the island when the team found Cam.”
“Why the hell would he clear out and leave the kid behind?”
Lehman gives me an impatient glare. “Gosh, if only we’d thought to ask him before he disappeared.” He shakes his head. “Rumor has it Balla’s got some local officials in his pocket. Someone could have gotten wind of the operation and let him know.”
I press my fingers into the desk. “Okay. Anything that might help us get to the bottom of this shit?”
“When there was no ransom request and no body washed up on shore, the investigation team decided to follow up on the possibility of trafficking. Usually, traffickers take people who won’t be missed, but one guy on the team had seen a case where rich sorority girls would disappear from parties and get shipped across the border. They got a lead on Cam by putting feelers out to their black-market contacts but ran into a dead end when they tried to go up the chain. It seems to be a similar case of trying to ‘move higher-end products.’ Their words, not mine.”
“That sounds…” So many words. Twisted. Disgusting. Mercenary.
The simmer in my blood cranks up to a boil.
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably right. Ballantine was heard bragging in a club in Rio about his ‘pampered pet.’ Might mean he’s got one of those little dogs you can carry around in a purse, but the team figures he was talking about Cam.”
“So someone is taking affluent kids and, what, selling them to the highest bidder? Why?”
“Trophies. At least, that’s the working theory. We just don’t know who’s behind it all.”
Great. Cam is too traumatized to speak, so we’re no closer to clearing our names in all of this. I refuse to sit here and do nothing.
“We need to talk to Cam’s parents,” I say.
“Already tried. Lots of weeping and requests for privacy at this painful time. I pushed as hard as possible, but they closed ranks.”
“Screw that.” I scrub a hand over my face. “The guys we hired. Who’s the team lead?”
“Liam Masters. Former military guy, supposedly specialized in stuff he couldn’t discuss. Why?”
Because I’m not about to let some faceless villain hurt these kids, and hurt my business, without consequences. People who don’t think accountability applies to them need to be taught a lesson. And because dragging a person off against their will is just plain wrong.
