The Girl and the Unlucky 13 (Emma Griffin™ FBI Mystery) by A.J. Rivers (i have read the book .txt) 📕

went missing. Xavier and my father are in the backyard with two long shelves my father constructed. They’ve lined up various objects, and the last time I looked out the window, Xavier was running by and knocking them off with one arm, then turning around and repeating on the other side. I haven’t seen a cooler or any bag ties coming into play, but this is Xavier. I’ve learned to never assume until all has been revealed.

“I think I found them,” Dean says as I’m making a cup of coffee.

“Yeah?” I go back into the living room and sit beside him.

“Allison has a different last name now, so I guess she got married. Garrett, this has to be them.”

He turns the screen toward me slightly and I see two smiling teenagers, their arms looped around each other’s waists as they pose on a beach. They aren’t pressed up against each other. Instead, they’ve left a gap between them. Ashley’s absence in it is almost tangible. I nod.

“That’s them. Reach out. See if they can talk in a couple days when I’m there,” I say.

Dean types a message into the social media platform and it takes only seconds for it to alert him to a response.

“Allison is willing to talk,” he says. “She wants to know if we want to do a video call rather than waiting until we’re down there.”

“Absolutely.”

He sends another message. This time the wait before a response is longer. I wonder if she might be checking with Vivian to see if she will participate. Finally, another message pops up.

“She says she’s at work until tonight, but will be available then,” Dean says.

“Fine with me. Set it up,” I say.

With that settled, I gather my files and notes from the other cases I’m working and spread them out so I can keep digging. Ashley’s case has caught my attention and I want to focus on it, but there are other tangles I still need to unravel. Until those are done, I can’t just put them aside.

“Did I tell you Millie’s attorney finally got back to me about her will?” I ask.

Dean shakes his head. “No.”

“Yeah. He was dragging his feet because he says it still hasn’t been resolved. She left everything to her brother,” I say. “So, it hasn’t been resolved for obvious reasons.”

“Her brother?” Dean asks. “Isn’t that a little strange?”

I shrug. “I never heard her talk about parents. She wasn’t married. I don’t know of any particularly close friends she had. I guess she went with the only option she had other than choosing a charity to leave it to. But here’s my question—which brother?”

“He didn’t tell you that?”

“No. He said it’s confidential until the matter has been resolved. But he did very specifically say ‘brother’ and not ‘brothers’.”

“That’s interesting,” Dean says.

“Maybe. What about Lilith Duprey’s house in Saltville? Has anything come of that?” I ask.

“There’s been so much red tape to get through because of Mason Goldman living in the house before he faked his death. The house belongs to Lilith, but the investigators still have it tied up,” Dean says. “They know what happened. They know Mason faked his death. But they still won’t release access. It’s considered an ongoing investigation.”

“It is, technically,” I admit. “We know what happened. But Mason disappeared with the rest of The Order members. We can’t prove he’s alive or that he committed murder to fake his own death. Until we’re able to track them down and he’s among them, they still have to investigate as if that body by the side of the road was him. Noah White has petitioned the courts to compel his ex to submit DNA from his child so that they can test it against the corpse. It was pretty horrifically damaged, but they should be able to make enough of a comparison to prove it’s not him. But she’s not cooperating.”

“But there could be so much in that house that could help us understand what happened,” Dean sighs.

“Maybe,” I say. “But, I don’t know. Members of The Order are extremely careful about protecting the secrecy of the organization and everything that implies, especially to the rogue Harlan chapter. I don’t think he would keep details of shady dealings sitting around the house.”

“I’m more interested in what Lilith might have left behind. If there’s an attic or a basement. Even a crawl space, I want to get in there. She’s made a couple of comments that there are answers at the house, but she won’t get into any more detail than that. She’s still afraid of what they’re capable of, even when they aren’t in town.”

“Like Xavier said, the walls have eyes,” Dean says.

“That’s true,” I say. “We know there were connections with the prison and the facility Xavier was kept in during his trial. The most challenging part is that Lilith isn’t just afraid for herself anymore. The last time I visited with her, she told me she is thankful I saved her. She’s grateful to be alive and that she has a chance to see the men who tortured her and killed so many people brought to justice. But she’s still terrified. She’s afraid of what they could do to her, but she’s more afraid of what they could do to me. She wants to help but is afraid. She doesn’t want anyone to possibly overhear her sharing details and be able to feed that information back to The Order.”

“I guess I can understand that. I just wish there was a way to circumvent the investigation. It seems as if Noah should be able to grant us access,” Dean says.

“It’s not his jurisdiction. He’s cooperating with the Saltville department since the entire bigger picture straddles both areas, but that particular issue is up to the detectives in that department. He can’t override them,” I say. “For now, we have to figure out what we can from a distance.”

“Xavier and I have to head back tonight after the video chat. I have to