Chapter 32: Drake

While Lydia was out shopping with Madilyn, Drake was suppose to be out with Sampson and a few of Sam’s friends, but instead he feigned being ill and took the ferry from Providenciales to West Caicos where he planned to meet with his investigator, Martin, whom had taken the red eye to inform Drake of his latest discovery.

Drake felt bad about lying to Sampson but he couldn’t bring himself to drag Sam into this mess. He didn’t want to share his thoughts on his parents being murder suspects with anyone. If Lydia hadn’t been there when he started unraveling evidence pointing that way, Drake would have made sure to protect her from the secrets that were buried deep in the Whittenberg estate.

What Drake hadn’t expected when he left Lydia in his penthouse suite to wait for Madilyn, was a tail. Drake had been so careful leaving the resort, checking his surroundings and making sure the paparazzi and the other photographers were busy, that he was almost one hundred percent sure that he had made a clean getaway. Unfortunately for him, he should have made sure he was one hundred percent positive. Dianne had noticed her son sneaking off to take phone calls and being extra secretive these last few days, so she’d hired an investigator here on Providenciales to follow Drake and report his comings and goings to Dianne.

On the ferry ride over to West Caicos Drake couldn’t shake the fact that he was being watched. He kept casually looking at his surroundings, trying to spot anyone who may seem out of place, but everyone on board the ferry seemed like they were just going about their day, be they tourists who were going for a dive to explore shipwrecks or islanders who worked security on the inhabited island of West Caicos. Drake exhaled deeply, blaming the nature of this meeting for causing his nerves to be fried. As soon as the Ferry docked, Drake picked up the burner phone he had bought off a vendor in Providenciales and punched in the number Martin had given him. The phone rang thrice, and then there was silence. Drake punched in the seven digit code Martin had given him 8-2-6-1-6-8-2, before placing the phone back to his ear.

Follow the tourist guide for *Silly Creek Water Sports*, you’ll sign in under the registered name, Reginald Longbottom, Duke of Ambrosia. With your royal title they will not want to ask for identification, and will try to do their best to accommodate you, however you please. You’ll ask the tour guide to take your group to the abandoned Ritz-Carlton hotel, where you’ll ditch the group. Once alone in the Ritz-Carlton you’ll need to make your way downstairs to the basement level on the hotel. Once there you’ll come across a door with a pin pad on it. Enter the six digit code 1-1-7-4-2-1. The door will lead you to a garage that extends out to the sea. There will be a blue and green jet ski waiting for you. The key will already be in the ignition. Once you turn on the Jet Ski you’ll see that the navigation system has already been programmed with a destination in mind. Click go and follow the route precisely. The route will take you to our rendezvous point. I will wait for you there until 1300 hours. If you have not arrived to the destination by then, we will reschedule our meeting.***

Then the line went dead. Luckily for Drake, the numbers Martin had incorporated into the mission were familiar to Drake, the first number being his middle school student ID, and the second being his pin code for lunch in high school. Drake wasn’t sure how he felt about impersonating a Duke, but he was willing to do whatever was necessary to get to the bottom of Amelia’s disappearance. Martin’s plan with out without a hitch, although Drake still felt like he was being followed he chalked that up to nerves, there was absolutely no way possible that someone had been able to follow Drake out on the jet ski. Martin’s plan was flawless.

“Were you followed?” Martin asked, his voice gruff.

“I don’t see how I could have been.” Drake responded, “Unless someone else was given the codes, or a preprogrammed jet ski it isn’t likely.”

“You never know.” Martin said, his eyes clouding over as he thought back to previous memories. Not only had Martin served in Afghanistan but he had done so as a Navy seal and had been part of *Operation Red Wings* where nineteen individuals lost their lives, including three other navy seals. A quick reaction helicopter was sent in to aid them, but the helicopter was then shot down by an RPG, killing all sixteen members, eight seals and eight USASO aviators on board. Martin was the lone survivor. He survived three weeks in enemy territory before he was eventually rescued. Martin left the Navy later that year, retiring as a Navy Cross and Purple Heart Recipient. Martin doesn’t talk about his time as a Seal often, but Drake knows that the memories still haunt him to this day.

Martin led Drake, up a hill away from the secluded beach. At the top of the hill there was a rundown shack, which Martin led Drake into. Once inside the shack, Martin moved aside a grass woven rug, beneath the rug was a metal door, that required a fingerprint and retina scan to gain access. Martin quickly scanned his fingerprint and retina, then whispered a command that Drake couldn’t hear into the hidden microphone. The metal door unlatched, allowing Martin to gain access to the underground bunker.

“How long have you had this bunker?” Drake asked curiously as the walked down the narrow stairway.

“This has been here for years. My friend from Afghanistan, who I brought in on the case, has secret bunkers around the world. He is a bit deeper in the PI business than I am; he doesn’t want to leave the covert operations side of things. I want the past to be buried.” Martin responded.

They continued to walk in silence until they reached a door that required yet another pin. This pin was more complex than the others that Drake had seen today, it required both letters and numbers. Drake was suddenly glad that his line of work was in real estate. Once inside the room Martin gestured for Drake, to take a seat. As soon as Drake sat down, Martin passed a folder to him. This folder had Lydia’s name on with Confidential in red letters written from the bottom left to the upper right hand side of the folder.

“What is this?” Drake asked, looking at the folder, hesitant to open it.

“This is any and all information of Miss Lydia Hunt.” Martin responded, not offering up anymore information.

“Is there something I should be concerned about in this folder?” Drake asked, he wanted to open up the folder and delve into Lydia’s life, but he didn’t want to dig into her past without her permission.

“Nothing concerning, no. This just includes everything there is to know about Lydia. There is someone looking into her and this is what they will find out about her. I figured with your recent engagement hitting the tabloids that you would be interested to know more about your fiancé.”

Drake’s fingers itched to open the folder. He wanted to engulf himself in the knowledge of any and everything Lydia, but he couldn’t find it in himself to rifle through her history without her permission first. “Alright then,” Drake said, pushing the file back to Martin. “What other information do you have for me?”

Martin raised his eyebrow at Drake, but didn’t question him as he took Lydia’s folder and placed it back in the file. He returned with another folder labeled Amelia. “Just a word of warning, the contents in this folder, they are detailed and rather vulgar. I can summarize the details if you want.”

“No, I need to know exactly what happened to her.” Drake replied taking the folder from Martin.

Drake felt his stomach churn at the first image in the folder, it was a picture of a shallow grave.

***First and foremost, thank you for your patience with updates, sometimes writing chapters can take longer than I am expecting, whether I need to research information for said chapter or I need to decide what information I want to divulge in the chapter, with that being said, I will be posting another update at some point today, so make sure to check back either later tonight or tomorrow. Secondly: As of right now I have signed an exclusive contract for The Escort. The chapters will so far continue to be free, but once I enter into the payment part of the contract I'll let you know. Thank you for your continued support, let me know your thoughts on this newest chapter. Xoxo-Marriah