Had he hand selected them?
From reading the reports and the interview with Sebastian, I knew he’d paid different rates for each of the kids. What had dictated the amounts? Were runaways less because no one would be looking for them? Was top dollar paid for the two kids from Beverly Hills? I could see Sebastian gloating and bragging about having the son of a supermodel and the daughter of a record executive’s girlfriend.
“Do you still want me, now that you know I was seeing a therapist?” Salem asked, breaking our silence the next day.
“Salem, that doesn’t matter to me, baby girl,” I promised as I kissed her forehead while she was working on her genealogy project. “You’ve suffered a traumatic event, and talking helps you with it.”
“I meant before Sebastian.”
She had been referring to the time her mother had her talking to the masked man. My head was still spinning over this whole thing. How much manipulation of the mind was done by him prior to Salem falling into Sebastian’s clutches?
I sat on the couch and began combing through the reports and interviews again. I had been deeply immersed in re-reading the interview when Salem’s voice pulled me to the present.
“Garrett, your cell phone is ringing.”
I set the iPad on the couch cushion and jogged to the kitchen table where my ringing cell phone sat. When I saw it was James calling, I went for an informal greeting.
“Hello,” I said.
“Elijah Hamilton is his name.”
My pulse picked up as I spun around in the kitchen looking for something to write this down on.
“Okay, one second, let me write this down.” I briskly walked to my home office and pulled my notebook over and jotted down the fucking prick’s name. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“It came from Brandon’s mouth, so yes, I’m sure. I’ve known the name Eli from Brandon. The name would get muttered during nightmares. He obliged me with the last name not too long ago.”
“This is a huge help. Now we can start tracking this fucking worm down,” I explained. I was eager to begin this search because I was going to find this fucker.
“Brentwood Mental Health Services is where his last known active medical license was held,” James added. I quickly wrote down the info James began feeding me.
“Is all of this info from Brandon?”
“The name was from Brandon. I took it upon myself to begin my own search for him. Elijah Hamilton sold my pup to a vicious man. Brandon was trapped for years because of this man. You don’t think I want to find him as badly as you do?”
“I know you do.”
Brandon had lost years of his life at the hands of Sebastian because of this Elijah Hamilton dick. Salem had lost a number of weeks, and while those were traumatic, it wasn’t like the years Brandon had been tortured.
I went to the websites that James had pointed me to, and I was able to read up on this guy’s professional biography and schooling. When his smiling picture appeared on my screen, anger and disgust began spreading through my veins.Yeah, I recognize those eyes and that arrogant grin.
His license was still active, which was really concerning. But James mentioned that he wasn’t able to find anything more about where he was currently practicing. He also explained the medical license database wasn’t always updated in real time. So there was a chance that this guy could be actively practicing medicine somewhere and it hadn’t hit the system yet.
After I hung up with James, I stared at the man’s picture on my screen. Mainly, I focused on his eyes. I remembered clear as daylight the evening I stood by him while he watched Brandon struggle under the pool table as he woke from having passed out. I remembered Elijah’s words about defeat and giving up.
Elijah Hamilton. Your mask isn’t going to help you anymore, fucker. Keep running, doctor. I’m going to find you. For your sake, you better hope that it’s my agent side that finds you.
13
Salem
“Happy birthday, baby girl,”Garrett whispered in my ear, waking me up. The stubble on his face tickled my cheek and sent me into laughter. “Mmm, I love hearing you laugh.” He leaned in and kissed me. “Especially when you laugh in bed. It does wonders for my ego,” he teased, making me laugh again.
“Come on now, no fair. You were tickling me!”
“I’m allowed to tickle the birthday girl. It’s actually my job.”
Garrett tossed the sheet back and made a trail of kisses down my body. When he got to my belly button, he moved between my legs and parted them.
