Adam March stood at his kitchen counter, his eyes dry and stinging from how long he had been staring. He has awoken that morning to a doorbell ringing, both of his parents at work. When he opened the door he was met with a box, the man picking it up and putting it on the counter. What did the box contain? A pink frosted Funfetti cake. A birthday cake. With the words Happy 17th Birthday June! written on the top with purple icing.
He had been staring at it for about an hour now, pondering what kind of sick universal joke this had to be. Sending a birthday cake for his sister who was missing, kidnapped by his ex best friend that push his current best friend off of a tower and crippled him. Such a fun and friendly reminder of just how fucked up this whole situation was.
If Adam March was good at anything it was blaming himself. He blamed himself for his sister getting kidnapped. In reality he wasn't even in the top 5 reasons why Rafe Cameron kidnapped June. But in his mind he had caused it. The first wrong decision was ever trusting Rafe enough to be around his sister. He shouldered that guilt every day. The second wrong decision was cornering Rafe, it made him spiral, he stole June to get back at Adam. It was clear as day. At least in his head it was.
Adam took a few deep breaths as he thought of Rafe. The separation between the Rafe now and the Rafe he knew was hard, because at one point they were best friends. At one point they were brothers. But you have to trust someone in order to be betrayed by them. And betrayed he was.
Adam liked to think he could take the high road and put Rafe in jail but he was failing to believe in his self everyday. Thinking of Rafes life in his hands, finishing the job that he had started but never got to finish, it gave him a rush. His blood was boiling now, thinking of how cruel it was to get a birthday cake for someone he didn't even know was alive. To know that if those Pogues and Rafe had never started shit a few months ago, she would've had that stupid party that she called him to help her plan.
He slid the cake off of the counter and into the trash can, feeling better now that it was out of his sight. Although when the lid closed he felt a devastation deep down in his chest. A fear that he may never get his little sister back. Adam felt tears pool in his eyes, his chest burning with regret and pain as he thought about her. Just as a tear was about to spill his phone vibrated, the man quickly grabbing it out of his pocket. The name on the Caller ID made his heart jump and he pressed the answer button, putting the phone up to his ear and wiping the tears out of his eyes.
Leon Hardy.
"Find anything?" Adam started, the man sniffling and forgetting about the cake. He leaned against the kitchen counter, waiting for a reply.
"I think I found your guy. Come by my office." The phone clicked and Adams heart leapt, his legs moving for the keys already. He hurried out of the house and to his car, dialing Zachs number and calling him.
:::
"I found the ship manifest. Signed names and everything. Snooped around and talked to some people, apparently a bunch of people jumped off the boat. One of them was your sister." Leon did not beat around the bush, the man sliding copies of the manifest over the desk. Adam was quick to pick it up, seeing the signed names and finding the briage of Cameron's. On the very bottom there was a name typed in instead of signed, Adam gulping as he read it.
June March.
"So my sister is lost at sea? Great. That's perfect." Adam said, running a hand over his face as he dropped the papers into his lap. Leon shrugged, his fingers knitting together on the desk as he leaned forwards.
"I guess so. But that's not what you hired me for. You hired me to find Rafe Cameron. Which leads me to these." He pushed an envelope across the desk and Adam look down at it with fearful eyes, this was everything he wanted. He opened the envelope, pulling the pictures out of it. His eyes narrowed as he looked through them, pictures of Rafe talking in the phone, pictures of Rafe standing by a hospital bed. A picture of Rafe standing with something under a cover. Rafe Cameron.
"Where did you get these?"
"I have people everywhere. Connections. Listen...your sister is not with that guy. But Rafe Cameron is in Guadeloupe. So is the rest of his family...minus his sister who also jumped overboard with yours. Listen Adam, I'm gonna be real honest with you okay?"
Adam was in a little bit of shock, the boy nodding so he would continue talking.
"I read up on these Cameron's man...they seem like bad news. I mean aside from everything you told me they have a bad rap already. Be careful." Adam nodded, handing the envelope back. He watched as Hardy put the envelope back into his filing desk, the man turning around and narrowing his eyes at Adam. "I've got more but I don't know if I should tell you."
"Of course you should tell me." Adam said, shaking his head at the man. "That's what I'm paying you for."
"Right." Leon said, leaning forward on the desk again. "My sources in Barbados told me that some bigwig deal is going down between your man Rafe and another hot shot in Barbados. So if you're into travel, maybe you can nail him there."
"What kind of deal? What's he dealing?" Adam asked in confusion, not sure what Rafe would have to be dealing with.
"I didn't get a lot of details. I just know he's flying from Guadeloupe to Barbados to meet someone. Something about across. I don't know that they meant by across. Like across the street, across the road—"
"No it's....a cross, my sister said something about this." Leon's eyes narrows once again and he nodded, not sure what he was talking about.
"You want me to keep looking?"
"If you can find out a way to track where he's going that'd be helpful. But anything works. Thanks man. Let me know if you get anything else." Adam stood from the chair, his mind racing as he hurried out of the office. Leon watched him until he was out of sight, the man letting out a sigh and opening his filing cabinet again. He pulled the envelope out, pulling the pictures out and laying them out on the desk. He pulled his phone out, going through his contacts until he got to the person he was meant to be calling. Leon's eyes traced over the pictures as the phone rang, the person on the other side silent as he spoke.
"Mr. Singh I confirmed with the brother that those kids that jumped off that boat are the same ones who had that cross. Wherever they are." The person on the other side sighed, Leon's finger pressing against one of the pictures as he saw something he hadn't chosen to point out to Adam March.
"Good, we'll start the extraction." The line clicked and Leon put the phone down, his eyes glued to the photo. An unmistakable anomaly was present in the photo, and Leon sighed, assuming there was a much larger conspiracy at hand. His finger pointed at the face of Ward Cameron. A dead man.
