Page 110 of Finding Amanda

"I'm on my way right now."

"Until . . . ?"

"Sometime tomorrow."

She sighed, and Mark rolled his eyes. It was no wonder Amanda wanted out of the marriage. Who would choose this woman for a relative?

"I suppose."

"Great. We'll be there in less than two hours. Thanks." He hung up before she could respond.

It was time to call Amanda. Mark played over the conversation he'd had in his kitchen that morning. First, he'd learned Sheppard was very likely a murderer. Whether or not he'd killed the girl himself or had someone else do it, he was willing to let an innocent child die to protect himself. And then he thought about the conversation he'd had with Roxie.

"Baxter is not the connection to Amanda," she'd said.

"How can you be so sure?"

Sitting across from him, Chris’s eyebrows lifted.

"I had a client meeting this morning," Roxie said, "and I asked him to join me. The client was late, so I thought I'd hint around, see how he reacted. I said I couldn't believe Gabriel Sheppard had made Amanda change her plans."

"What did he say?" Mark asked.

"His jaw hit the table, Mark. He lost it. He was furious and went on a ten-minute diatribe about how much he hates Gabriel Sheppard, how he isn't surprised he'd do something like that. It was?—"

"Obviously convincing," Mark said, unconvinced.

"It was. I told him we thought he was giving Sheppard information?—"

"You told him after I asked you not to?"

"He freaked out, insisted we call you."

"Of course he did. He wants to keep his job, and obviously he doesn't want us to think . . ." He took a deep breath. It was done. There was no point in getting upset about it. "Does he know Amanda is up north?"

"I told him everything. But it's okay, because he's not the connection to Sheppard."

"Or he just has you convinced. And what if you're wrong? This is my wife we're talking about."

"Fine. You think I'm wrong, then you talk to him."

A moment later a young man's voice came on the line. "This is Baxter McIlroy."

"I'm not going to be as easy to convince as Roxie," Mark said.

"I understand that, sir. But I hate Gabriel Sheppard, and I would never, ever feed him information about your wife or anybody else."

"And why should I believe that?"

"Because if you don't, then you'll be putting her in danger.Look, I don't care if you believe me. I don't care if I lose my job because that's not the point. The point is, if you think somebody's working with Sheppard, and you think that somebody is me, then you'll quit looking for the real connection."

Chris asked, "What's going on?"

Mark covered the mouthpiece and gave Chris a rundown on what he'd learned so far.

"Ask him why he hates the guy," Chris suggested.

Mark did, putting his phone on speaker so Chris could hear, low enough that the girls couldn't.

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