Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(91)

Theo nodded and did as Baker ordered. He shuffled over to the couch. His clothes were dirty and his hair needed a good washing, but now wasn’t the time to gently chide the man for sleeping on the streets again. Baker frequently told him it wasn’t safe, but Theo did what he wanted. He was a grown-ass man, even if he didn’t have the same mental capabilities as others his age.

“First, are you all right?” Baker asked.

Theo nodded.

“Good. Now tell me what has you so upset.”

“I went downtown,” Theo said. “I heard Lexie talking about the festival. I like festivals. There’s lots of booths and food.”

Baker nodded.

“I took the bus. I didn’t walk,” he said a little defensively.

Baker knew Lexie had gotten on him about walking all the way downtown. It took almost the entire day, and she hated to think of him going so far on foot. She’d gotten him a bus pass so he could go back and forth between downtown and Barbers Point safely.

“Okay, buddy. No problem.”

“I ate some food, talked to some friends. Then got tired,” Theo said. “I wanted to take a nap, but all my usual places were too crowded.”

His agitation increased again, and Baker reached out and grasped Theo’s hand. “What did you do? Did you find a good place to sleep?”

Theo shook his head. “No. The garages were all too busy. Too many people. It was loud and I couldn’t find a good place. I had to come back here on the bus and it was crowded. A man started yelling at me. I didn’t like him. So I got off at the next stop and I got lost. I couldn’t find the right bus to bring me back. I had to walk. I’m tired and I don’t like it. And the girls are upset and Carly’s missing!”

Theo was almost crying by the time he finished speaking. Baker hated that he was so upset, but he honestly didn’t have a lot of time to calm Theo.

“I’m sorry, buddy. It sounds like you haven’t had a good day.”

Theo shook his head vigorously. “No. Not good day. Too many people and cars. Everywhere. On sidewalks, on the bus, in the parking garage.”

With another mention of garages…Baker was anxious to try Alani again. Jag had called Duke’s immediately after discovering Carly was missing, because she’d said she was doing a favor for her boss. But the manager had already left the restaurant and no one could get a hold of her. He needed to talk to the woman. She was the only one who could give them a starting point to find Carly.

He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Theo. “Why don’t you head down the street to that noodle place and get yourself an extra-large order?” he suggested.

And just like that, Theo’s bad mood seemed to evaporate. “Yeah! I like noodles!”

Without another word, he headed for the door.

Baker pulled his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Alani’s personal cell phone.

For the first time since Carly’s disappearance, she picked up.

She was surprised to hear from him—and even more shocked to learn that Carly was missing. “Missing? Holy crap! I’m so sorry! I was at the gym and had my phone turned off so I wouldn’t be interrupted in the middle of my workout. I just turned it back on and was about to call Jag after seeing his missed calls. Carly was nice enough to do me a huge favor so the health inspector wouldn’t find Duke’s in violation. Too much food was ordered, and she picked it up at Duke’s and was going to take it to Food For All,” she told him.

“Which one? The downtown one or out here in Barbers Point?” he bit out.

“Downtown.”

Baker’s mind was racing. “Okay, thanks. If you hear from her, will you let Jag know?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.” Baker clicked off the connection and immediately dialed Food For All’s downtown location. He hung up a few minutes later…after learning that, while they’d been expecting Carly, she’d never arrived with the food.

Baker surmised that she must’ve been grabbed somewhere between Waikiki and downtown. It was possible someone had run her car off the road, but he didn’t think so. There would be witnesses if that happened. And after hearing Theo say how crowded downtown was with the festival going on, how many people and cars there were, whoever grabbed her could have easily used the chaos to go unnoticed.

Setting up his laptop and frantically clicking the keyboard, Baker hacked into the security cameras downtown, estimating the time Carly might have been there based on when Alani said she’d stopped at Duke’s. He knew he should call Jag, but he wanted to have something to tell the man when he did, not give him any false hopes.

It took a while—way too long for Baker’s peace of mind—but eventually he found what he was looking for. In one of the parking garages, he saw Carly’s vehicle arrive. She had to drive around for quite a while to find an empty space.

But it was the vehicle behind hers that had his full attention.

She’d had to go all the way to the top floor. The footage was a bit grainy, but Baker clearly saw what happened. A man got out of the car that had been following Carly’s. They had a short conversation. When Carly turned toward the trunk of her car, the man hit her. Baker didn’t know if she was knocked out or just disoriented, but the man carried her to his car and shoved her in the trunk.