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“Dammit,” she muttered under her breath.
“We can have a team out there by this afternoon to help if we get an invite. Does your friend’s family think she’s missing?” Melissa added.
“No…I don’t know,” she sighed leaning back in her chair pinching her nose before admitting the truth to her boss. The woman knew her better than anyone else. Well, other than Luke who was her contact when she was deep undercover, but he wasn’t aware of her history here in town. “It’s Tyler’s sister.”
“Wait, Tyler as in your hometown high school love Tyler? The guy whose family has some weird feud with yours Tyler?” Melissa asked.
“Yeah…home felt like the safest place to chill out at after everything that went down in D.C. So I came out here, ran into Tyler again, and we’ve been seeing each other on the downlow again. I was at his place when Hailey stopped by telling him she hadn’t heard from Isabelle, and my brain instantly went to worst case scenarios. I didn’t want to freak Tyler out or waste time explaining about my job since I hadn’t told him what I’d been doing the last five years…”
“Have they filed a police report?” Melissa questioned.
“I honestly don’t know. We didn’t tell Hailey I was there, and he went over to his parents’ place with her while I headed here, calling Moe to check on Isabelle’s phone.”
“How do you want to proceed? Honestly, we need more than what Moe got off her phone. It looks like a lot of it was erased or deleted. When or by who we can’t tell just yet,” Melissa added making her stomach tighten in fear.
“If she did it just so her parents didn’t see it, it’s possible she didn’t erase things off her computer that we can use if you can get into it,” Moe said, and she knew that meant going to the Anderson house and that was not going to be an easy task.
“There’s no way they’re going to accept my help. You don’t have any clue how deep this stupid feud goes. They’ll never just give me their daughter’s computer,” she warned.
“Not even to potentially save their daughter’s life?” Melissa asked.
“Not if it comes from me, no. They won’t listen to me. My involvement will have to come from an outside push,” she said going into the file that Moe created on it. The photo of the UL sickening her. The message with it was far too similar to othersthey’d investigated to not be from someone, or some group, that lured Isabelle away from home for nefarious reasons.
Her phone buzzed in her hand, and she pulled it down, reading the new text from Tyler.
“Tyler just texted that the sheriff is putting in a missing persons report now since she’s a minor and technically the last time anyone saw her was Wednesday morning. I guess she was really supposed to stay at Samantha’s Wednesday night, but she didn’t show. Samantha didn’t say anything because she had a message from Isabelle saying she was heading up to Vincent early.”
“Good, with a report out there, we can pull it down and offer our assistance. Especially since one of our best is right there in town,” Melissa said making her chuckle sarcastically.
“Except I’m on medical leave and the last person the Andersons would want help from.”
“Leave the medical leave to me. I’ll make sure you’re cleared to help on this since you’re familiar with the UL and have more experience than anyone there might in these things. Moe, as soon as the report hits the web let me know and I’ll get on the phone with the sheriff to offer our help,” Melissa said. “Justine, if there’s any chance of us finding Isabelle, we need you there working things immediately.”
“I know…I thought it was enough of a longshot if she’s been gone all day but add in an extra…you better warn the sheriff that he’ll likely need some extra men on the scene when I get there,” she warned, hanging up to change into something a bit more presentable than her running clothes to go over to the Andersons.
The message that came through fifteen minutes later had her heart in her throat as she slipped down to her car, and when she pulled into the drive, it tightened further. She drug in a deepbreath as she opened her trunk, taking out the bag with her kit in it, slipping her jacket on as footsteps headed her way.
“Justine Crawford?” Sheriff Davies said, his eyes widening in surprise as she turned to face him. “You’re…”
“FBI? Yeah,” she admitted. “My boss said she’d warn you about the need for interference.”
“She did, well, somewhat I realize now. She didn’t say it was because you were the one coming, just that she had an agent nearby that could help us,” he stated, and she nodded certain it was so no one here could try and talk the sheriff out of allowing their help. Not when he was well aware of the stupid feud idiocy.
“I’ve worked to locate traffickers and abducted children the last five years. A missing teen is something I’ve dealt with many times,” Justine assured him. “To find Isabelle, I need to know more about this boy she was meeting which means talking to Hailey and getting into her computer.”
“Which Grant Crawford isn’t likely to allow easily,” Sheriff Davies said, and she nodded. “Alright, we’d better get this over with. The sooner he stops arguing the sooner we can find Isabelle.”
Justine drug in another deep breath as Sheriff Davies pushed open the front door, leading them into the living room of the Andersons house which she’d never been in, only seen in pictures or through a window when she and Tyler were sneaking around as teenagers. Inside, not only was Tyler there with his parents and Hailey, but also Caroline and their first cousins Jeremy and Grace in the room with them.
She stepped up next to the sheriff, watching the faces as they took note of her presence first, but that was quickly followed by the letters on her jacket. A chorus of gasps and grunts ran through the group, but it was Tyler’s reaction that drew her attention the most.
“Justine? What the…you’re FBI?” His eyes were wide with shock, and she hated that this was the way he was learning about what she did.
“Grant, Barb, you know Justine,” Sheriff Davies said before anyone else could speak. “She’s been home on vacation, but she’s been asked to help out until a full team can get here from Seattle. Lucky for us, she’s familiar with missing and abducted children cases.”
“No…I won’t have any damn Crawfords in my home!” Grant raged jumping onto his feet heading towards them quickly.
Justine gave a quick shake of her head to keep Tyler from stepping in. She wasn’t scared of the man. He was all bark compared to the monsters she’d dealt with the last five years, and he was coming at her head on, not lurking in the darkness, attempting to murder her in her sleep.
