Page 6 of Deadly Lies

Grant made intense eye contact, and I turned away.

“Don’t. You can’t do that. It will drive you insane. I found Julián. You will find Sienna. We will find Sienna.”

“I clenched my fist but then quickly released it. I would not lash out at Grant; he was just trying to help. Even so, he had to hear what I had to say.

I took a deep breath, purposely trying to lower the tone of my voice. “There is zero correlation. Zero correlation between what happened to Julián and what happened to Sienna. Zero. Joaquín kidnapped his nephew, thought Julián was his child. And you and Mia worked together to find him. April is in a coma. She has been hanging around the shadiest people ever. And now, there is this fucking “grandpa” who supposedly took her.”

I closed my eyes and remembered the picture that the sketch artist had tried to recreate from Sam’s description.

I felt Grant’s hand on my shoulder. ”Or, maybe, there is.”

I eyed him hard. “What the fuck are you talking about? The only correlation here is that there are two children of SEALs who were kidnapped.”

“And that’s a pretty big coincidence, don’t you think?”

I did think it was strange. But SEALs always had shitty luck. I wasn’t going to put any stock into his batshit notions. He had changed ever since he’d married Mia. She was probably putting crazy ideas into his head. But I was desperate for answers, so I would listen.

“What are you saying?”

“What if…?” He paused, his eyes searching around the room as if to find some answers. “What if, Mia is right.”

“What are you talking about, bro? Sienna just got kidnapped. What does Mia have to do with anything?”

“On most days, Mia has learned to accept what happened with her brother, but every now and then, I find her in the office, mainlining coffee, manically typing. She’s on some mission, scouring the dark web looking for answers.”

“Answers to what?”

“She’s convinced there is some type of Navy SEAL underground cartel that Joaquín was involved with.”

Well, I had to admit that there was a slim possibility that she was right. But more likely than not, she was just insane. Mia had always been a freak; her head was still in the clouds. Hell, I was shocked that she’d graduated from NCIS training, but at this point, I was so desperate to find Sienna that I, too, would look for outside explanations. If that meant I had to go to a fucking psychic in a seedy hole in the wall, reading tarot cards, analyzing my palm, hell communicating with spirits, I was willing to do that for my little girl.

“Well, did she find anything?”

Grant shook his head. “No, she didn’t. But that’s the thing, she won’t give up. And she is convinced that Joaquín didn’t act alone, that Joaquín didn’t rape her, that Joaquín was part of some underground cartel that was involved with higher-ups in the Navy SEALs. At first, I freaked and called her crazy, but she showed me her journals and notes. There is nothing concrete, but who knows?”

Well, Mia was clearly unhinged. I still didn’t think her delusions had anything to do with finding my little girl. “You are her husband. Do you believe her?”

“No. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. I think there is a simpler explanation. As for her theories, she is constantly begging me to find some answers I don’t have. Answer questions about things I never saw. I have nothing to support what’s in her head.”

I studied the lines around Grant’s eyes; though we were only in our mid-twenties, both of us showed signs of aging. Being a SEAL was a rough life. But I noticed something else—his hand was shaking. “Grant, what are you keeping from me? Do you know something?”

“No, I don’t know about any conspiracies, but even though I was one hundred percent certain two years ago that Joaquín had raped her, I don’t believe that anymore.”

A tightness filled my chest. What was he even talking about right now?

“Dude, are you high? We saw Joaquín with our own eyes with Mia in Carmel. He’s guilty as sin. Is Mia getting in your skull? He fucking raped her, and you know it. I know you don’t want to imagine that, but it’s true.”

“Look, bro, it kills me to say this, but Joaquín didn’t rape Mia. Just don’t ask me how I know. I can’t tell you.”

And now, I wanted to punch him. “My little girl is missing, you motherfucker. You need to tell me anything you know. Make that everything you know!”

“This has nothing to do with Sienna. I took care of it. You have my word. I haven’t even told Mia. Make that, I won’t tell Mia. Not yet, anyway. What I can tell you is this—I believe we will find Sienna. And I believe she is safe, just like Julián was. I know that doesn’t help, and I don’t have anything to back these feelings up. But that is what my gut is telling me.”

And with that, Grant lay down on the floor and went to sleep.

I glanced over at Sam, who was luckily fast asleep. Rage pulsated through my body. I didn’t want to be alone, but I didn’t want to be anywhere near Grant right now. Whatever his fucking reason, he owed it to me, to Sienna, to tell me anything he knew.

What was he keeping from me? And what did he take care of?