Page 100 of Lost Truth
“But none of them made sense.” She shook her head. “Just let it go for now. I’d rather enjoy the next few hours in the sun. We have the rest of the day to argue before our conference ends.”
Ivers grumbled something under his breath and stepped over to a guy on the far side of the group. “Women. They have no place in government positions of authority.”
“I can hear you,” Pam snapped. “Your take on women is most disturbing.”
He rolled his eyes and pointed at the dune buggy. “Go take a ride and lose your misguided hostility.”
She shot him a withering look. “If only your female constituents could hear you now.”
Cady pulled her hand free and fisted it. “The reporter in me is dying to do an exposé on his blatant prejudice, but after he’s arrested, and the truth comes out, his career will be over soon enough and won’t need my interference.”
“He really is a piece of work. Time to make him pay.” Hayden held her gaze. “Let go of that anger so it doesn’t interfere with keeping an eye out for problems. It might seem like he’s alone, but someone involved in such an illegal enterprise probably carries a gun for protection.”
She shivered.
“I don’t mean to scare you, but I do want to make sure you’re safe.” He touched her cheek gently. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“Same,” she said, but then turned away to start in Ivers’s direction, her face contorted in fierce determination.
They walked up to him and the man he was talking with, and not surprisingly, they were still dissing women and talking about their place as housekeepers and mothers.
Cady flinched. She had to be thinking about the fact that she was finally coming face-to-face with the horrible person who’d arranged to have her father killed. Sure, it wasn’t like he’d injected her dad himself, but he’d directed Palmer to do it, who’d acted on Ivers’s behalf.
Hayden gritted his teeth as he approached. “Odin Ivers?”
The man whipped around and flicked a glance at Hayden before shifting his gaze to Cady and giving her a thorough once-over. His face twisted into something dirty, and Hayden’s skin crawled. He itched to grab the man by the neck. Instead, he drew in the ocean air to control himself. Despite his desire to let his fists tell the guy what he thought of him, he had to stay calm. He didn’t want anything to get in the way of a successful prosecution after this creep was taken into custody.
Ivers dragged his gaze away and put all of his attention on Hayden. “Who wants to know?”
“Hayden Kraus. Investigator at Lost Lake Locators.”
“Yeah, right. Everybody’s talking about you guys. I haven’t lost anything or anyone.” He gave a relaxed chuckle. “So, not sure how I can help you.”
Hayden shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from trying to wipe the smug smile from Ivers’s face. “It’s not what you’ve lost, it’s who you can help us find.”
“Is that so?” He tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing with curiosity. “Who might that be?”
“Kai Nakoa.”
Ivers’s body tensed, and he took a slight step back before visibly relaxing his shoulders. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”
Cady bared her teeth at him. “You not only know who he is, you abducted him. If you don’t give us his location right now, we’ll make sure everyone in your group knows you’re engaged in human trafficking and you abducted Kai Nakoa because he could prove your involvement after he took your flash drive.”
The jaw dropped on the man who’d been standing next to Ivers. “I don’t know who these people are, Odin, but tell them they’re way off base here.”
“He can tell us all he wants,” Hayden said. “But he’s the owner of the Emerald Scorpion Group, a known criminal organization involved in human trafficking.”
Ivers flexed his fingers. “I’ve dealt with the Emerald Scorpion Group in my capacity as commissioner, but I had no idea they were involved in anything illegal.”
“Right, deny your ownership now, but organizational paperwork on the drive proves otherwise.” Hayden gave Ivers a smug smile. “You probably thought an encrypted flash drive wasn’t crackable, right? Well, it was, and we possess all the data revealing the money you made from trafficking these poor women.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ivers said, but his face paled.
“Not enough for you?” Hayden sneered at the man. “You also ordered the death of Percy Vaughn, and I’m sure the DA will be only too happy to charge you with conspiracy to commit murder. That along with the trafficking and kidnapping charges, and you’ll never see the light of day again.”
Ivers took a full step back, his eyes darting about, panic making him jittery.
Was he assessing the damage that would occur if these people heard about his extracurricular activities, or was he thinking of running?
