Page 98 of Forever Found

“And now?” I pushed.

“She’s in London. She decided to complete her studies abroad and she was accepted on a student visa into England, at the Kings College, which I checked out. It’s a top university, and very tough to get in to. She’s studying medicine, so she must be smart.”

“And she’s happy?”

“See for yourself,” Kane handed his laptop to me and it was on a social media page with Libby’s name and image at the top. There were some photos and when I scrolled through them I saw image after image of her smiling and happy, her arm around people who had to be friends and so much happiness on her face.

“She’s happy,” I sighed emotionally. “Thank you, Kane.” I handed him back his laptop and placed my hand on his thigh as I gathered myself. “That’s all I wanted. I was s-so scared what happened would ruin her life,” I said, to everyone, since they were all watching me, except Jenny who had gone back to her room to get dressed.

“She must be made of tough stuff, just like you, Addy,” Adam told me as he pressed a hand to my shoulder, then settled on the seat beside me.

“Do you want to reach out to her? Let her know you’re doing okay too?” Jordan asked from where he was perched on the arm of the armchair that Eli sat in.

“No, she’s moved on. I don’t want to bring it all back for her. I think it’s best she gets to just put the whole terrible day behind her. But I’ll always be grateful to her for saving my life.”

“We all will. I’ll find out of there’s an anonymous way I can contribute to her college costs. She won’t know it was us, but it will help her get a better start if she hasn’t got debt hanging over her when she graduates,” Asher suggested, and I smiled.

“Do you think we could do that? It’s a great idea,” I asked.

“Leave it with me, sweetheart. I’ll find a way,” Asher promised.

I sat back and laid my head against Kane’s arm. He moved me, so he could wrap his arm around me, and my head was instead on his chest. Just another thing had clicked into place for me that morning. Libby was living her life to the full. She obviously struggled right afterwards, but she found the strength to put it all behind her and keep going. She had amazed and delighted me. I felt so much lighter knowing she was happy. It had been weighing me down since the memory of that day returned to me, and I had been so scared Kane was going to tell me something terrible had happened to Libby. But he didn’t. Libby had found a happily ever after, for now at least, and that lightened my soul. I just hoped I could find my own peace too eventually.

CHAPTER 30

ADDY

“Thanks for speaking with me. I won’t keep you long,” The tall, slim FBI agent said as Asher allowed him into the hotel suite later that afternoon. I was sat on the sofa with Jordan at my side, and Adam, Kane and Eli were at the table behind us, watching and listening closely to whatever this guy had to say.

“No problem,” Asher said as they came closer. “This is my sister, Addy, and her boyfriend, Jordan,” he introduced as Jordan helped me get to my feet. I was panicking. I was still maintaining my calm, but I was nervous about what the agent had to tell us. I had been since the phone call Asher received around an hour before, requesting this meeting. I just hoped they actually had something that could help us bring an end to all of it, once and for all.

“Thanks for meeting with me. I’m agent Harbison,” the agent said as he shook Jordan’s hand, then reached for mine. I tentatively reached out too, but I wasn’t keen on him touching me when I’d never met him before. I pulled my hand back as fast as I could and pressed tighter to Jordan.

“Please take a seat,” Asher offered as he nodded to the free armchair opposite Jordan and I. I was grateful when Asher took the seat beside me, so I was surrounded and felt safer. “I believe you have some updates on the case?” Ash pushed.

Harbison looked to me and I didn’t like it. There was something in his eyes that unsettled me. He was a pretty plain looking guy – not unattractive, but not attractive either. He had short dark hair and he looked around Ash’s age, maybe a little older. It was his eyes though, there was just something dark about them, and I hated the way he looked at me. This was what I had tried to explain to my guys before – I was sat staring at this man, wondering why he made me feel uneasy. I was staring at him and fighting to remember if I had ever seen him in any of my memories, which was crazy because the man was an FBI agent, but what if he was? What if he’d touched me? Hurt me?

“Addy?” Jordan’s voice burst through my panic, and I was sure from the worry in the word, it wasn’t the first time he’d tried for my attention. “You okay, beautiful?” he asked when my eyes met his.

“I…yeah,” I nodded. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I was just explaining that we spoke with the men we arrested last night. They were all interviewed during the night,” Harbison said, and I fought not to look up into his eyes, keeping my gaze on the side of his head instead.

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Do we know who they are?” Asher asked as Jordan pulled me closer so I was almost sitting in his lap, then held me tightly against him.

“The shooter is ex-military. He was dishonorably discharged after an incident overseas, and we have evidence of him working private jobs since. In questioning he gave us nothing. The other two are more familiar to local PD. They both have long records for theft, drugs, assault. The list goes on. They didn’t give anything away to begin with, but the younger of the two had awarrant out on him for felony rape. When we told him he was facing fifteen years, he became more cooperative.”

“R-rape? Did he…is he one of them….the traffickers?” I asked shakily.

“We don’t think so. He told us he was hired by a man who goes by the name ‘Horrocks.’ He told us he’s worked for the guys before. Apparently Horrocks puts together teams to do private jobs, like the attack on your home. He recruited the shooter and the others too.”

“For whom? Who wants my sister dead, Harbison?” Asher barked, clearly annoyed.

“The suspect couldn’t answer that, but local PD are aware of this Horrocks. His real name is Neil Horrocks. He tried out for the police when he left school, but was removed from the training program almost immediately for his violent tendencies and fast temper. We were able to trace his financials and we found payments into accounts from Jeff Kline. Maxwell Kline’s son.”

“His son? I looked into him,” Kane spoke up. He’s an elementary school teacher. No record. As far as I could see he hasn’t even spoken with his father for almost a decade.”