Anna nodded at both of us before she drew in a deep breath and slipped into the room.
It wasn’t lost on me how she left the door more than a little cracked for us.
“Hey there,” she said, her voice changing to something soft and airy. “Is it okay if I come in, Char?”
Her hiccupped voice responded. “My-my-my—Pawpaw—called me that.”
“Is it okay if I call you that?” she asked as I watched her crouch down beside her brother.
“Uh-uh-uh—huh,” Charise managed to stammer out as she nodded her head.
“All right, Char,” Anna said softly as she held up the phone. “We have the DOJ looking into all this, has my brother told you that?”
“Anna,” King warned.
“Sh,” Anna said, her eyes not moving from Charise. “Has he told you that?”
Charise sniffled and shook her head.
Anna smiled. “Well, let me be the first to tell you then that we’ve gathered evidence on this trafficking ring that has done this to you, and the DOJ has enough evidence that they’re sending a team down to wrap it up.”
Her voice was so small. “Really?”
Anna nodded. “Yes, really. I’d like to get your testimony on camera, if that’s okay. It proves that what this ring is doing isusing a ruse while they travel around towns, taking unsuspecting women who are just trying to help someone else they think is in danger.”
Charise started bawling again. “I just wanted to heeeeelp.”
I saw Anna tap on the screen before she nodded. “I know you were. I know. Just… tell us what happened. Anything you can remember about your kidnapping.”
While Charise blubbered her story out, my eyes volleyed between Anna and her brother. With every word that came from Char’s mouth, King looked like he was ready to burn the fucking world. The anger that swan behind his gaze had nothing on the way he embraced her protectively, pulling her against him until I was honestly shocked she could fucking breathe. And Anna was so kind to her the entire time, keeping her voice low. Even. Soft, despite the hysteria growing in Char’s voice.
My Anna-mine was such a sunshine to the dark caverns of this world. She was smart, compared to the bluntness of her own mind.
It was hard for me to take my attention off her, even though sometimes I needed to. Even though sometimes crew business trumped what I wanted to be doing, which was staring into her eyes as the sun rose just so I could see her smile at me first thing in the morning.
I just couldn’t.
She was the sun, and I wanted to blind myself to her.
“All right, that’s enough,” King said as he swept Charise off the floor and into his arms.
“That’s okay, we’ve got what we need anyway,” Anna said as she stood. “Range?”
“Here,” he said as he slipped past me and into the room. “I’ll get this sent off to our DOJ contact. They’ll love this.”
Anna lowered her voice as her and Ranger made their way back to me. “Can we make sure to keep her out of interrogation? Maybe with this video, they won’t need to go as hard at her.”
Ranger shrugged as they both slipped past me. “I make no promises, but I’ll urge that in the email I send with this attached.”
“Thanks.”
Ranger nodded as he typd away on the phone. “No thanks needed.”
“Shut the door,” King demanded.
Charise’s crying was the last thing we heard as Anna closed the door behind them. Marla just stared at the closed door, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
Ranger doubled back for her, taking her hand in his. “Come on, beautiful, let’s give them some space.”
