“What about the employees who were providing the drugs and trafficking women? Aren't they talking?” Dean asks.
“That's the thing; those are two separate issues. The drugs were fairly well-known among most of the people who went to the resort. It was just one of those perks, and as completely bizarre as it might sound, a lot of them genuinely believe because they were in international waters, they could get away with using them,” I say.
"Can they?" Dean asks. "I mean… if the island truly is located in international waters, does American law apply?"
“And you just stumbled on another reason this is a particularly fun investigation. The thing is, nobody seems to know. Until the task forces are able to clearly identify the owner of the islands, it's difficult to establish nationality. Despite common perception, most private islands aren't actually sovereign. They're owned by individuals, but they are still pieces of countries. It's just like buying a plot of land in a neighborhood or a house on a section of a mountain. The person doesn't become a government by owning that land,” I explain.
“So, it's possible Windsor Island actually is owned by another country?" Dean asks.
"That's the general consensus. Which just leads into another mess of confusion. Apparently, there are a few nations in the running to claim ownership of the island. It has tribal links to a couple of different places, and even though there are no true direct descendants left of the tribe that originally lived there, a few places in the surrounding area have anecdotal evidence.”
“What does that mean?” he asks.
“Oral histories of the people living on surrounding islands and a couple of nearby nations include taking ownership of a piece of land in the general area where Windsor Island is now. But the island has always maintained a relationship with the nearby mainland. When the first murder happened, the resort needed to call in police since there weren't any on the island. So, it's possible the mainland has claim. The investigators have to figure out who has verifiable domain over the island. It won't change the ownership issue, but it will define which laws are technically in place.”
"And that will determine what charges can be brought up against the resort and the guests who used the… amenities. But it doesn't really help with unraveling the rest of the ring," Dean muses.
"Exactly. The one thing that Mr. Windsor, whoever he is, has going for him is that the managers who coordinated the trafficking ring have been very clear the ring is separate from him. He didn't orchestrate it or have anything to do with it. Now, they won't give any indication of who is in the upper level of the ring, but that's something."
"You sound like you're more involved with the investigation than I thought you wanted to be," he points out.
"I'm not actually involved. The Bureau created a task force to manage everything that went on. Eventually, it will break down to dealing with the drugs and the trafficking separately, but even though it's been a few months, it's still really in its infancy. Since I was there and solved the murders, I've been questioned several times. The investigators are keeping me up to date and have been trying to get me more involved, but I'm staying out of it."
"Are you really?" Dean asks as we pull into the parking lot of the grocery store.
I turn off the engine and sigh, dropping my hands onto the steering wheel. "Sort of?"
Dean laughs. "That's convincing."
I roll my eyes and release my seatbelt. "Nobody knows who this Mr. Windsor is. He's obviously fairly reclusive and doesn't want a lot of attention drawn to him."
"Right," Dean says.
We climb out of the car, and I look at him through the glare bouncing off the top of the car.
"So, why the sweepstakes?" I wonder.
I shut the door, and we start across the lot.
"What do you mean? What about the sweepstakes?”
"This guy doesn't even want people to know who he is. His resort is extremely popular among a highly exclusive clientele, willing to come and shell out massive amounts of money on luxury accommodations and perks that aren't going to show up in a brochure. But he all of a sudden decides he wants to do a sweepstakes to give away a vacation?"
“Well, you did mention something about a festival, and the giveaway was focused on that,” Dean says.
“Yeah, a festival that didn't happen because of the murders.”
“That's not exactly something that could have been predicted.”
“No, but you would think if there was going to be a massive festival going on, there would have been some other preparations underway. Somebody would have mentioned something. Not that it didn't exist, but it obviously wasn't as big a deal as it was made out to be, not big enough for a vacation to be planned around it and given away. The resort definitely didn't need the attention. In fact, after being there for far too long, I can tell you the people who frequented it would much rather not have a bunch of new people flooding the resort. They were very content with their little in-crowd.”
"Then how did you end up winning?" he asks. I glance over at him with a raised eyebrow, and he nods. "Ah. Another element of the unknown."
"You're catching on to the theme. The sweepstakes seemed to be a surprise to everybody at the resort, too. Constance at the front desk specifically mentioned when I checked in that they didn't know about the sweepstakes until they were informed of my win and my arrival date. But she ended up being all wrapped up in the trafficking ring, so it's not that she just wasn't in the know. It just all strikes me as very strange. What good would it do to bring me out there?
