“We’re not the only resort kids have gone missing at?” she asked.
“No.” He sighed.
“Just how many kids have gone missing?”
“In the last year?” he asked. When she nodded, he answered, “More than two dozen.”
She jerked back. “From the Bahamas?” he nodded again. “That many? Why didn’t I know about this? Why doesn’t the world know about this?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
He shrugged. “It’s been on several major media highlights. Most of the kids going missing are slightly older, teenagers. Occasionally, there are younger ones.” He thought about it. “Most people tune out stories like this unless it directly affects them.”
“What happened with your last job?” she asked, moving back to his side.
He took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you later.” He wrapped his arms around her. “For now, let’s try to get a few more hours of sleep.”
She tensed, but then followed him back to the bed.
“I don’t think I can sleep anymore,” she said after settling next to him.
“Good.” He smiled and rolled over. “Because I wasn’t really thinking of sleeping. At least not right away.” He kissed her.
He couldn’t remember ever having a more peaceful morning. Since he was on bar duty, his days didn’t usually begin until after ten. Even at the resort, the bars opened at eleven since the dining hall served morning beverages of all types for guests who wanted alcoholic drinks before noon.
Before they jumped in the shower, Jade was already answering text messages and a phone call. After a quick shower, she left. But not before he kissed her and took his fill, knowing it would possibly be days before he would have a taste of her again.
Once he was alone, he contacted his superior, Special Agent Becca Jamerson, and filled her in on his status. He hated to admit it, but things weren’t looking too good. Not that he was hoping something would happen. He didn’t want any children to be in danger. But he was hoping for some more clues. He filled her in about the names he could cross off his list. Then he spent some time checking the registry for any others on his list that might be scheduled to arrive.
There were six in total who would be arriving within the month. His eyes landed on Josie McDonald, Jade’s best friend. He knew that she was due to arrive that morning. Jade had mentioned that her friend would be there before he had to open up the bars and would most likely be eager to jump right in to working.
Since the rain had stopped sometime after sunrise, he made his way down to the main part of the resort. He figured that he’d make his rounds and look for anything suspicious. Each day, he walked around the entire resort, trying his best to look like a tourist while scanning for any hints of wrongdoing.
Today, there wasn’t anything that drew his eye. Just the usual families and couples having fun. He sat by the pool and watched a young couple argue briefly about heading down to the beach or staying at the pool. In the end, the woman won out and they headed to the beach with the man dragging a large bag of things behind him.
He thought about what it would take for him to be dragged somewhere he didn’t want to go. Then he thought about last night and understood how easily men could lose sight of the things they wanted.
He was smiling when he walked over to the bar area and started opening up after slipping on his work shirt.
The tiki bar was situated half into the large pool. Well, it appeared to be. While most of the bar was surrounded by the pool water with underwater barstools, the other half allowed guests to walk up and sit on dry barstools facing the sun deck.
“Morning,” Alex, one of the top bartenders under Wyatt, said cheerfully. The man knew his shit. Honestly, Wyatt was curious why the man hadn’t been put in charge of the pool bar already.
If Wyatt had his way, each of the four bars would have a top bartender who oversaw each of their own employees, with a manager overseeing those four. To have bartenders switching between each of the bars daily was a hassle. But he supposed it was due to the fact that no one wanted to be stuck out in the heat all the time.
“Morning.” Wyatt took in the man’s cheerful mood. “Someone is in a good mood.”
Alex chuckled. “I asked Rose out last night.”
Rose was one of the new waitresses that Alex had his eye on. He’d made it very clear that he’d been interested in her the moment he’d set eyes on her. “And obviously she said no,” he joked back.
Alex laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “We’re going out tomorrow night.”
“Where are you taking her?” he asked, curious as to where on the island people went on dates outside of the resorts.
“There’s a local place down by the docks,” Alex said as he started counting the money. “The Shoreline Club. It’s probably the most romantic spot outside of a big resort.”
Wyatt knew the place. He’d made sure to know every place in the area where it would be possible to get kids off the island undetected. The Shoreline Club sat a few feet off the main docks. Alex was right, it was easily one of the busiest restaurants outside of the resorts.
He thought about taking Jade there to get away for an evening to pay her back for her swimming win.