“I still say it’s that you guys saw something, but you didn’t know what it was you were seeing,” said Luke.
“I don’t know,” said Rett, shaking his head. “Maybe I’ll get with Bree or Ashley and see if they can help me walk through it.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Eazee. “Two heads are better than one. Three are perfect.”
“Don’t get cocky,” smirked Luke. The duo walked away, and Luke sat down next to Kegger as the other men started to filter in, wanting to be sure the young woman was protected and safe. Parker, Clay, Eagle, Hawk, Otto, and Pork nodded at the men.
“You good, Kegger?” asked Otto.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Morgan. That’s her real name, not Rosalita. I just, well, Morgan, the woman we rescued, she’s asked to stay with me.” Otto smirked at his friend.
“She did, did she?”
“Shut up, asshole. She’s a kid.” Kegger frowned, rubbing his hands together, then up through his hair.
“She’s forty-one, Kegger,” said Luke. “That’s hardly a kid.”
Kegger frowned at him, shaking his head. He stood, at first pacing back and forth in front of his friends. Then, just as suddenly, he changed direction, heading toward the front door leading out of the property.
“Where are you going?” asked Otto.
“I need pie and coffee. I’ll be back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Casey listened as Rett talked about Morgan and her injuries. It made her want to weep for the poor woman. What she endured was horrific, and Casey couldn’t comprehend that a parent would sell their child in such a way.
“What can we do for her?” she asked.
“She’s in surgery now, baby. She will be for a while. I think maybe just be available to take any shifts to sit with her. I’m sure she’s feeling overwhelmed and lonely.”
“She’ll need special foods,” said Casey. “I’ll try to think of some things that she can eat while her jaw is recovering.”
“I didn’t even think about that,” frowned Rett. “She’s a little thing. Losing weight would be pretty noticeable on her.”
“I just can’t imagine,” Casey said, shaking her head and hugging Rett. “What do we do now?”
“Wedon’t do anything,” he smirked. “But my brothers and I may have to go down there. We’ll see. It wouldn’t be just us, Casey. We would take a whole team.”
Casey nodded, clinging to his warmth. She knew from speaking to the wives that the teams would never go down there without protection, but the idea of them being in the middle of cartel territory frightened her.
“Come on, let’s head to the cafeteria for dinner,” he said, pulling her toward the door. It was a full house tonight, with almost everyone home from their assignments. East and Eazee sat with Casey and Rett while his grandparents, parents, and several uncles sat around them. Casey smiled as Claudette and Tony came in, giving a wave and laughing to herself.
“What’s so funny?” asked Rett.
“Me. Waving to two ghosts. If anyone heard me say that, they’d think I was crazy.”
“No one here will make you think you’re crazy,” said Zeke. “If they do, come and see me. It would make everyone here a little off-kilter.”
“She’s really so lovely. I see traces of what she would look like as an adult with each of you. She has the same coloring, eyes, hair, all of it. I would assume if I look at photos of the Robicheaux girls, they would look like her as young women.”
“That’s it! That’s it, Casey,” said Ivy. “I can use photos of the Robicheaux sisters along with the painting of Claudette’s mother to create several images of what she would look like. She’ll have photos of her mother, or what we think her mother looked like, and we can give her an idea of what she would have looked like as an adult female.”
“I think she’d love that,” smiled Casey. “It would be like she has her own famous painting or picture of herself.”
Rett dropped his fork, staring at the table.
“Say that again?”