Page 30 of Wyatt
“I mean, yeah,” she said, wiping her nose on the tissue Wyatt handed her.
“Jesus,” said Barber. “You have no idea what you’ve done. What you’ve done to my career.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“No. No, you’re not. You’re sorry you got caught. That’s what you’re sorry for, and I’m sorry I didn’t confront you sooner. I need to make a call to Washington.” He looked at Morris. “Can I borrow your office?”
“Sure. Come this way.”
“What about me?” asked Bethany.
“You sit your ass right there and do absolutely nothing. If they ask you a question, you answer, and so help me, Bethany, if you withhold information, I will unleash a new hell on you.”
They all stared at her as Barber left the room, following Morris.
“Don’t worry. He doesn’t hit me. He’ll just make my life miserable.”
“Where’s your mother?” asked Ulani.
“Hell if I know. They divorced, and she left me with Dad. She’s got a new family now and a new daughter. I guess I don’t matter any longer.”
“I’m sure that’s not true, but you have to see that you’ve really screwed up, Bethany. Any details you can give me on these guys that paid you will help and will look good for you in court. If it’s true.”
She was quiet for a long time, just thinking, when Abe spoke up.
“Did they wear any jewelry? Tattoos?”
“No. No jewelry, no tattoos. I did think,” she started.
“Think what?” asked Ulani.
“I thought it was kind of weird that they were on the beach. Not just because of the hoodies and hats, but they were both really white.”
“You mean white guys?” asked Wyatt.
“Yes. But more than that. They were like, seriously pale. They didn’t wear shoes on the beach, and they had their pants rolled up to their calves. That’s how I knew how skinny they were. But they were seriously white.”
“That might be very helpful,” said Ulani. “One more thing. The girls who want to do this again, do they show up at the pier on a certain day or time?”
“Monday or Wednesday only, and it has to be before two. You have to be ready to go to the bar or wherever right away, and you have to have your own car.”
The door opened, and Barber walked back in with Morris.
“Dunvegan, the senior director will be reaching out to you. You’ll be taking over on this case.” Ulani gave a slight nod, staring at the pain in his face. “May I take my daughter home? I’ll take responsibility for her to show up when she needs to.”
“Yes,” said Ulani. “I think we can allow for that.” As they started to leave, Barber turned to look at the group.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my behavior. I really didn’t know she was involved in any of this.”
Ulani just nodded at him. When he was gone, Morris closed the door.
“Senior director had some extremely colorful words for him, and that’s saying a lot considering I’m a sailor. I did feel sorry for the bastard. He looked like he was about to cry.”
“We have to try and find these guys at the pier,” said Wyatt.
“The problem is, it’s Wednesday evening. They won’t look for girls again until Monday. The good thing is that gives us time to find girls in that age group that we could send out there.”
“What about you?” asked Christian. Wyatt stared at him with daggers. “Sorry, dude. But she’s a girl and doesn’t look her age.”
