Free ESCAPE FROM AMBERGRIS CAYE by Joan Mauch

room and took shelter
under the nearest bed.

Chapter 26
     
    Zac listened intently as Jackson
recounted the dressing-down he’d received earlier that day. “So your boss isn’t
the least bit concerned about your reporter? That what you’re saying?” The
incredulous expression on the older brother’s face said it all. How could it be
that one’s employer would be so dismissive of what might be the disappearance
of a member of his staff?
    Jackson shrugged. “I don’t know,
but that’s the way it looks. He said they’d done everything to contact her and
then just assumed she’d quit. I guess it never occurred to them she might’ve
met with foul play.”
    They were sitting in the living
room waiting for supper to finish cooking.
    “Is that what you think—that
something bad happened to her?” Zac leaned in, his body language took on a more
serious posture together with his uncharacteristically somber expression.
    Jackson hesitated a few seconds as
if reluctant to state what to him was obvious. He realized his reputation for
jumping to conclusions was as well-known at work as it was among his family and
friends. It made him all the more hesitant to raise concerns like this. But Zac
seemed open to the possibility that something had indeed happened to Izzie.
Besides, at this point, he could turn to no one else.
    “Okay, yes, I think she’s in
serious trouble—maybe even dead.” The word “dead” came out in a near whisper as
emotion surged inside him.
    Zac took a pull on his beer bottle,
swallowed and then said, “What makes you think that?”
    “Two things: from the research I
did on human trafficking, I found out it’s going on here in Tampa—right under
the noses of law enforcement and little or nothing’s being done about it.
During a shoot we witnessed a young girl being yanked off a balcony by a man
she was obviously afraid of and Izzie, in her misguided desire to become an
investigative reporter, first staked out the place and then, of all things,
started going out with the guy.”
    “And you know that how?” Zac’s
forehead was a mass of wrinkles.
    “She told me he’d asked her out for
a drink. Then I saw her with him at the beach. She said she’d been to his house
and the girl, who he claimed was his niece, was gone. She got furious when I
suggested she might be playing with fire; said she was a grown woman and for me
to mind my own business.”
    “Well, there it is. The little shit
told you to back off. Whatever happens or happened to her serves her right.”
Zac leaned back in the chair and put his feet on the cluttered cocktail table.
When Jackson remained silent, he added, “You agree?”
    “I know you and Stone are right,
still I can’t help feeling something’s really wrong here. Zac, if it was me
would you shrug your shoulders and walk away? Well, would you?”
    “No, but you’re my brother and my
job’s not on the line. Didn’t your boss pretty much say if you didn’t let it go
you’d be fired?”
    Jackson nodded.
    “So, what choice do you have? We
reported it to the police, so I say let them do their job. Hey, if it’d make
you feel any better I’ll stop by the police station tomorrow and see if they
found out anything. That is,” he threw a sly grin in Jackson’s direction, “if
you loan me that old beater you like to call your car.”

Chapter 27
 
    “That girl’s not missing,” the cop
at the desk insisted.
    Giving the man a skeptical look, Zac
said, “But do you know for a fact nothing happened? I mean, doesn’t it seem odd
she’d leave without saying a word to her boss, her partner or her apartment
manager? Just leave her fancy car to the elements? Not bother to forward her
mail? Doesn’t any of that sound the least bit suspicious?”
    “Happens all the time. Man, if we
chased down every person who decided to fly the coup, that’s all we’d be
doing.” The policeman scratched the bald spot on his head. When it became
obvious Zac wasn’t satisfied,