Sophia was on her way back to the conference room to get a snack. She had interviewed all the women in the kitchen who were on her list with no luck. No one had seen the men in the pictures or had any plans to meet up with any male that worked here. Hopefully the rest of her search would be helpful.
Sophia noticed that Ava was on the phone so she made her way to the fridge to get a piece of mango cheesecake. Then she went over to fill a to-go cup with coffee and added sugar and hazelnut cream. Just as she settled in at the table Ava hung up.
“Hi Sophia, how’d it go with the kitchen staff?” Ava asked.
“No luck,” Sophia answered. “I came in to get a snack before I go up to the guest rooms to track down some housekeeping personnel. I’ve got about 12 more names on the list. How are your calls going?”
“Pretty good, I think,” Ava stated. “I found out that there was no missing person reports in the US for Christine or Lea, but that didn’t seem surprising since Lea’s parents are deceased and Christine left home under duress. I’m still working on the missing persons from France and Sweden. I was also able to speak to the human resource manager at the Graycliff resort and ask her about Christine’s referral. She looked in her employment file and it said that it was a direct request by a member of The Paradise Resort, but it didn’t list a name. A substantial increase in wages was guaranteed.”
“Wow, that’s interesting,” said Sophia. I wish we knew who.”
“Me too,” Ava told her. “I’ll keep digging.”
Sophia was just finishing her snack when David walked in. Ava looked up and saw him and smiled. She noticed he had a woman with him.
“Ava, Sophia, this is Detective Laura Hart with the mainland Police,” David announced. “She has requested to look over the evidence we have collected so far. I have convinced her that there is more going on here that we thought and she also has some shocking revelations that might help.”
Detective Hart greeted the others and asked them to call her Laura. She explained what she told David concerning the indication of human trafficking on the island. Ava and Sophia were shocked. Laura also let them know she had turned in the wrappers to be fingerprinted.
“I need to get back on my assignment, so I’ll let you guys handle things in here. I’m sure we’ll meet again,” Sophia said to Laura with a smile as she got up, threw away her plate and headed out the door.
“OK, bye Sophia,” Ava called out as she got back to her internet searches and phone calls.
David walked Laura through all the evidence on the board and showed her the timeline they had been working on. She then wanted to review some of the video footage, so Ava set her up at a separate computer and logged into the digital links from the security system. “You don’t think anyone would have a problem with me saving some of the footage to a flash drive do you? I want to have my IT guy take a look at it.”
“I think that would be ok,” responded David. “I mean we are all here to solve this, so any help we can get would be good, right? What do you think Ava?”
“I think Luke would be ok with that,” she answered.
“Good, thanks,” Laura said satisfied and got to work.
“You need any help Ava?” David asked her.
“Sure, here is a list of calls you can make,” she said as she handed him the list and smiled.
~.~.~
Luke was back inside the main resort building and was on a mission to find Max. What in the world was going on over there?
He marched right up to the front desk, but Max wasn’t there. The woman at the desk told Luke that Max should be in his office so he headed across the lobby to the hallway with all of the offices in it. Luke reached the door to Max’s office and knocked softly and heard Max say come in.
‘Luke!” How are you my boy?” Max asked delighted to see him.
“I’m good Uncle Max, a little confused, but physically well,” Luke replied.
‘Tell me how I can help you, Luke,” Max said sympathetically.
“First of all, what can you tell me about this grand security building? Luke asked baffled. “I’m confused why they need such an impressive structure for handling security surveillance and guard patrol.”
“Sure, son, I can help you with that,” Max assured him. “About two years ago the board decided to start construction on a new office building for the security department. They wanted to make it separate from the main resort so the guests didn’t see all the behind the scenes work being done. The patrol cars could be stored inside garages, so they weren’t out all over the street and the computer people could work in their own space.”
“And the resort paid for all that?” Luke asked still perplexed.
“Well, actually,” Max began. “There was a private investor that covered most of the costs, so the resort only covered a few expenses like street and curb repairs and street lamps.”
“Why is it so luxurious on the inside?” Max asked.
“I admit it became a little excessive over the first few months, but since the costs were covered we couldn’t really say anything about the designs.”
“OK Uncle Max,” Luke said acceptingly. “The other thing I wanted to talk about was the two men in the video. According to Buddy in the maintenance shop they work in the security building, but he doesn’t know them. They have come in his shop to use the vending machine, though. Is there any way for you to look at the employee ID’s to see who they are?
“I’m afraid not,” Max answered. They run off an upgraded solitary system over there. They created it that way. In case there is ever a power outages or computer virus the security will not be affected. They have their own generator and everything for the servers.”
“Well that’s just all so fascinating,” Luke said sarcastically. “I’m sorry Uncle Max. It’s just that I thought I had finally found those men on the video. I guess I’ll have to go talk to Sophia to see if she found anyone that knows them…”