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

your daughter?”
    Sandra Hubbard didn’t look up. She stared at the worn tissue in her hand and remained silent far too long. I had expected resistance, but when I saw her pondering my question, I knew Mark Hubbard couldn’t be eliminated as a suspect.
    “He’s struck her before. It’s his temper. The night she left, he slapped her when she talked back to him.” Tears glistened on her cheeks as she sat on the edge of her daughter’s bed. “He’s never been a father, not really. He adopted Lily, but they were never close. He had too many rules for a teenage girl.”
    I wondered why Mrs. Hubbard hadn’t left her husband, if for no other reason than for the sake of her daughter, but it wasn’t my place. The woman would carry far too much guilt after today.
    “I’ve seen enough here, Mrs. Hubbard.” I reached into my wallet and pulled out my card. “Call me if you think of anything. Nothing is too small.”
    She held out her trembling hand and took my card.
    “Yes, I will.” She wouldn’t look me in the eye.
    “I know words don’t mean much, not when you’re hurting over the loss of your child, but we will find the person who did this to her.”
    She nodded.
    “I know you care and you’ll do your best, Agent Townsend,” she said. “But nothing will bring her back. She’s gone and I didn’t get to tell her how much I loved her.”
    “It’s my fervent belief that your daughter knows, Mrs. Hubbard. She was born into your love and it took root in her.”
    Lily’s mother folded into my arms. I suspected she knew we both needed a hug.
     
    ***
     
    Minutes later
    Ryker Townsend
    “I need another shower after being in the same room as that demented Barney Fife and Daddy Dearest.” Lucinda faked a shiver as she drove along the shoreline of Big Bear Lake and I smiled.
    I had made a choice not to demonize the serial offenders I hunted. It’d been my way of remaining objective, but Crowley had no such predilection. She spoke her mind about people and wore her heart on her sleeve when we were alone and had our privacy. Her penchant for name calling had become endearing.
    As I gazed down the list of names and contact information Mrs. Hubbard had given me for Lily’s friends, I noticed one name and address that couldn’t wait.
    “Let’s find Grayson Barbour. Maybe he’ll be home this time of morning.” I gave Lucinda his address to plug into our GPS. “He’s first up. We have to establish a timeline of what Lily did after her father kicked her out. Surely one of her friends would know. A teenage girl without a roof over her head, she would’ve reached out to someone.”
    “I’ll make some calls to the kids on your list and talk to their parents,” Lucinda said. “If anyone deserves face time, I’ll set something up.”
    “Good.”
    I placed a call to Sinead in DC. When she answered, I summed up my visit to Lily’s room and told her want I needed.
    “See if Lily Hubbard kept an online diary. If her father smothered her with rules and she lived a stifled life in her home, she may have found a way to express her feelings online.”
    “I’m on it. I’ll hit you back when I have something,” Sinead said before she ended the call.
    “I can’t imagine living under the thumb of Mark Hubbard.” Lucinda made a turn off the highway into a residential area, following GPS commands. “Sandra Hubbard looked like a prisoner of war, only with nicer clothes.”
    “Lily could’ve had a low self-esteem or been submissive to a strong man,” I said. “Hubbard would have set the stage for anyone wanting to dominate her. A jealous, obsessive boyfriend would’ve been more of the same.”
    “It’s hard enough for kids to handle zits, boobs, and prom dresses. What Lily had to deal with, it makes me ache for her.”
    On the surface, Lily had a life of privilege. Her family had money and she probably didn’t want for much—except for things other less-fortunate kids took for granted, like privacy, a mother