Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(73)

Before the other night, Jag might’ve said no. Might’ve avoided anything having to do with his past, just wanting to keep it buried. But he couldn’t pretend he didn’t love how protective Carly was of him. And after talking with the psychologist, and Carly, he merely said, “Yes.”

“Consider it done.”

Jag wondered if he should feel guilty over what was about to be unleashed on Bridget…but he couldn’t.

“I might need some more info. Bridget Smith is pretty damn vague. I’m good, but not that good.”

“What kind of info?” Jag asked.

“Age, where she grew up, that kind of thing.”

“She’d be around forty-two or so today. Grew up in my hometown in Oklahoma.”

“Went to the same high school as you?” Baker asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay. I might call in some help on this one, I know a guy in Colorado who’s really good at finding people. But I didn’t call just to talk about that.”

Jag braced as his friend continued.

“I dug up some more info on Jeremiah Barrowman.”

“Keyes’s friend who works at the country club,” Jag said.

“Yup. Seems he has a pattern,” Baker went on. “Fucks up, apologizes, gets back into a woman’s good graces, then does the same damn thing he did before.”

“Like hit them?”

“No. Like mind-fuck them,” Baker said. “He makes them think they’re slowly going crazy. I talked to two ex-girlfriends and they both said he definitely had two sides. One was nice and gentlemanly and extremely remorseful, and the other was almost psychopathic. His favorite thing was sneaking around outside their homes at night, making them think an intruder was trying to get inside. The women would freak out, call him, and he’d come over to save the day. Then he’d come back the next night and do the same thing.

“One of the women put up a camera without telling him and caught him red-handed. He apologized, saying he was just worried about her living alone and wanted to make sure she was taking every precaution. He was convincing enough that the woman took him back. Only for other weird shit to start happening. Things were moved around in the house, but nothing was taken. He denied it was him. Then she started getting threatening emails. She eventually discovered it was Jeremiah and broke up with him.”

“So you think his apology to Carly when he showed up at Duke’s was bullshit?” Jag asked.

“Probably. All of Keyes’s buddies knew he was obsessed with Carly. He openly talked about getting revenge on her for dumping him, even mentioned how he planned to teach her a lesson. But of course, no one admits to believing he was truly serious. But Jeremiah is now at the top of my list of people who would probably drop everything to help scare the shit out of her.”

“And the boat?” Jag asked.

“Still working on that. There are a lot of fuckin’ private docks and boats on this island,” Baker said. “And there are a lot of people who go to the Waialae Country Club who Jeremiah could’ve borrowed from that night. It’s slow going interviewing the members with boats, but I’m working on it.”

Jag owed Baker. Huge. It was obvious he was frustrated that he hadn’t already nailed down Keyes’s accomplice, but he was doing everything in his power to make sure whoever it was didn’t get away with finishing the plan. “Carly’s supposed to work later this morning. In your opinion, is she in danger?”

“She’s been in danger since she broke up with that asshole,” Baker said bluntly. “But if you’re asking if she’s in more danger than she’s been the last few months, the answer is, I don’t think so. But I still don’t have a good feeling about the situation.”

“What does that mean?” Jag asked, semi-alarmed.

“Just that this has gone on too long. If Keyes had an accomplice, the asshole has been very patient. But I’m betting he’s getting anxious to finish what Keyes started. Everything within me says this isn’t over. That someone’s biding their time. Just tell Carly to keep her eyes open for anything unusual.”

“More unusual than seeing Keyes’s friends everywhere?” Jag asked in frustration. “I swear she’s run into them more now than when she was dating the fucker. Just the other day, Gideon Sparks dropped off two envelopes at Duke’s. One for Carly and one for Kenna. They had year-long passes to the Honolulu Zoo inside and some bullshit note about how sorry he was about everything that had happened. How he wanted to try to make up for some of the trauma they’d gone through.”

“No shit?” Baker asked.

“No shit,” Jag confirmed. “And Beau Langford sent her a gift certificate for a free sunset cruise that embarks out of his marina. As if she’d ever get in a boat within ten miles of that asshole.”

“Yeah, not a good idea. I’ll look into both men, maybe pay them another visit to see what their motivation was.”

“Carly already called Detective Lee and told him about both. He said he’d talk to them.”

“Yeah, but I’m thinking I can get more info out of them than he can. I’ll do my best to make sure they forget Carly exists.”

“Thanks.”

“All right, I’m gonna jet, just wanted to make sure everything was all right with you and Carly and make sure her request was legit.”