Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redemption for Avery (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Book 2) by Jordan Dane Page A

linens and pillows. The room smelled of pine and had streaks on the carpet where a vacuum cleaner had been used.
    The room appeared too pristine for a seventeen-year-old.
    A cushioned window seat looked out onto the grounds and the pool, framed by frilly draperies in a plaid pattern of pastels. Lily had antique white book shelves with a matching desk. Handwritten notes and pictures of friends hung on a corkboard over the desk, faces frozen in time. A guitar had been placed in a corner, but a light covering of dust meant she hadn’t played it in awhile.
    “Do you know if Lily kept a diary?” I asked.
    “If she did, I didn’t know about it.”
    “I don’t see a computer in her room. Did she have a laptop or tablet?”
    “Mark wouldn’t allow her to have anything like that. If she needed to work online for school, she had to do it in the living room. Mark thought we could watch her online activity better if she didn’t have any privacy.”
    If kids wanted to be online, to do the things that required privacy and anonymity, they would find a way. Sinead could help me search for any trace of Lily online.
    “Lily’s room is very…sterile. Nothing looks out of place,” I said. “Most kids her age, their room smells like feet and their clothes look as if there’s been an explosion. Their bathrooms are cluttered with nail polish, cosmetics, and hair products, but not Lily. Is she normally this fastidious?”
    “Mark likes a clean and orderly house.”
    I pulled open drawers and looked into her closet and bathroom, trying to understand Lily and get a sense of who she’d become. If her father had rules, perhaps she didn’t bother rebelling against him by keeping a messy room or hiding anything personal if she didn’t have privacy. Even though I hadn’t found much in her bedroom to further Lily’s case, I had a better picture of the family dynamics and it concerned me.
    “Mr. Hubbard admitted to throwing Lily out of the house last Friday. Do you have any idea where she went? Did she stay with a friend?”
    Sandra Hubbard shrugged and shook her head.
    “I have no idea. I never heard from her…again.” She sobbed. “I should’ve done something, but I thought she’d call me, that we’d figure something out. I thought we’d have…time.”
    I shut my eyes and flashed on images of my father and mother when they were alive. I would’ve given anything for more time with them. Fifteen-year-old Sam Reed and his sweet little sister Avery thought they would always have tomorrow. They found out they were wrong in the cruelest of ways. Mrs. Hubbard would learn the many facets of that harsh lesson with the death of her only child.
    Violence ricocheted off victims like an infinite echo. Its path of destruction careened through countless lives—even touching the people whose job it was to investigate. No one was immune.
    “I’d like to get a list of phone numbers or addresses for her friends, anyone she might’ve contacted. It’ll help to piece together a timeline of her whereabouts after she left here.”
    “You’ll have it before you leave.”
    After Friday and the family argument, Lily had crossed the path of the UNSUB. Had she known her killer? Had she trusted him? She must’ve felt lost after getting thrown out of her home, angry and confused and hurting.
    “Do you think it’s possible Lily went to find Grayson Barbour?” I asked. “Could he have taken her in?”
    “She was scared of him. I can’t imagine he would’ve been her first choice, but he could sweet talk her into anything.”
    I pictured a girl with low self-esteem after years of abuse from a father who didn’t think she’d ever be good enough. A boy claiming to love her would’ve been the drug she needed, even if the boy wasn’t good for her.
    “I have one more question for you. Please don’t take offense.”
    I knew my next question would be difficult for her to hear, but I had to ask it.
    “Would your husband have any reason to harm