Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(14)

That thought alone gave her something to fight for. Jag was worth it, and she wanted to believe she was too.





Her positive thoughts lasted until she sat down in an interrogation room at the Honolulu Police Station downtown and was forced to wait for Detective Lee. The longer he made them wait, the more nervous Carly got. It didn’t help that Jag was pacing back and forth impatiently. He was obviously not happy about having to wait either.

After an entire hour, the detective finally came into the room. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”

Carly opened her mouth to say it was all right, but Jag spoke first.

“You should be. We’ve been here for an hour. Is this how you treat all your victims?”

She wasn’t sure that was the best way to start out the conversation, but it was too late now.

To her surprise, the detective said, “You’re right. And no, it isn’t. I was at a scene where an eighty-seven-year-old man was mugged, probably for drug money. They got ten bucks, and the old man is now in the hospital trying to get his head sewn back together.”

Carly grimaced.

Jag ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, man.”

The man sighed. “No, I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me. And someone should’ve told you that I wasn’t here. I’ll figure out where the communication breakdown occurred and will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Detective Lee said. “How about we start over?”

Jag nodded.

“I’m Detective Makanui Lee. Most people call me Mack. Or Detective.” He held his hand out to Jag.

“Jagger Bennett. I’m a friend of Carly’s. A close friend. And I’m a SEAL stationed at the Naval base. My friends and I have been trying to locate Luke, without any luck, so I’m very interested in what you’ve found out.”

Carly saw respect creep into the detective’s gaze. She hadn’t expected Jag to come right out and tell the man he was a SEAL, but she figured the admission had done what he’d wanted it to—elevated Mack’s opinion of him.

Mack turned to her. “You doing okay, Carly?”

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

It seemed she wasn’t a very good liar, because Mack immediately frowned, but he didn’t comment on her blatant attempt to cover how she was really doing. “Thank you for coming down here today. I know you’ve already told me what you remember about that night, and the days that led up to it, but do you think we could go over it again? You might remember something new this time.”

Carly sighed. She didn’t remember anything else that might help the detective find Luke. She hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary prior to that day, and if she’d had any inkling that Shawn was about to do what he did, she would’ve said something. But she folded her hands in her lap and dutifully went back over the night of the attack. No, she hadn’t seen Shawn at all that day, or in the days leading up to him coming to the restaurant. The last time had been months before, the night she’d met Jag for the first time, at Duke’s. Yes, she’d seen Luke on the beach the day Shawn died, but he hadn’t attempted to speak to her at all.

When she was done, she waited for the detective to ask her more questions, but he simply sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Right, so here’s the thing…we’ve talked to Luke Keyes, and there’s absolutely no evidence that he was involved in the kidnapping attempt of Ms. Madigan.”

“Wait—what?” Jag asked incredulously. “You’ve talked to him? In person?”

“Yes. He knew we were looking for him and he came in voluntarily.”

“Fuck,” Jag said, standing up and pacing again in agitation. “How come Carly didn’t know this? Carly, did you know they’d found him?”

She shook her head. She was in as much shock as Jag.

“We checked his alibi and it came back clear. He said he was with his girlfriend and she verified his story.”

“She could be lying,” Jag said.

The detective pressed his lips together for a moment, then said, “It’s possible, but I’ve interviewed a lot of persons of interest, and they both came across as believable.”

Carly could tell Jag was on the verge of losing it. When he paced by her the next time, she reached out and put her hand on his thigh. He stopped in his tracks immediately.

He took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself, then said, “A friend of mine has been looking for Luke since this happened and hasn’t had any luck. And my friend is good at what he does. Where is Luke now?”

“You know I can’t disclose that information,” the detective said. “But he apparently has a lot of friends who are doing their best to hide him.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Carly managed to ask.

“Not when he hasn’t been charged with anything,” Mack said. “He’s also lawyered up. He came in once to give us his statement, but said any more questions would have to go through his lawyer.”

“So, if you don’t think it’s Luke, what have you found out about who was working with her ex?” Jag asked, his irritation easy to hear in his tone.

Carly hated confrontation. It made her extremely uncomfortable. She would much rather people get along than argue. But she was still glad Jag was with her today. He was asking all the questions she wanted answers to, but knew she probably wouldn’t have had the courage to bring up.