Page 59 of Every Which Way

Stairns said, “I’m going to call this in. If you don’t want to be here when the local police, state police, and FBI show up, then you should leave.”

“Maizie?” Ramon turned back to the building and swept his arm out.

Bruce cleared his throat. “Um?—”

“You’re good,” Kenna said. “Go.”

“I can’t believe I dropped the shotgun.” Maizie winced. “Now someone will find it in the rubble.”

Kenna put her arm around Maizie and squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. One gun will be an interesting find, but we won’t get in trouble over it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.” She wandered off around the side of where the building had been, which was now a great crater in the ground.

Giving it a wide berth, Ramon led them to the front.

“I hope the cars didn’t fall in.” They’d parked pretty close.

Stairns said, “Thanks, ’preciate it.” And then, he hung up. “What was that?”

She shook her head. “How long?”

“Twenty minutes, give or take. They’re sending a chopper.”

Kenna walked from the trees back toward the gaping hole in the ground. “At least everything has quit falling in.”

Stairns tugged on her arm and pulled her back a step. “Just make sure you don’t. I doubt Jax will be impressed if his fiancée were to plummet into a hole.”

Kenna turned away from the hole. “Wanna talk about it?”

“It’s nothing.”

She eyed him. “Thought we weren’t going to lie to each other.”

“Bradley would’ve liked Jax,” he said softly. “He’d be glad you were moving on and doing it with a bureau guy.”

Kenna smiled. “He was loyal, I’ll give him that. Mostly just because the alternative was his mother pushing him into politics.”

And look how that whole thing turned out.

Stairns tipped his head to the side. “I’d never have thought we would be here. Maizie. Ramon. Now Bruce. It’s good, Kenna. You’ve done good work. Probably better than I’d ever have been able to do.”

She glanced over. “You and Elizabeth have been amazing with Maizie.”

“She’s an amazing girl. She deserves anything we can do to help her.”

Kenna nodded. “I agree. But is that really letting her help me solve crime?” It might not aid the teen’s continued recovery. “She needs to be a normal kid. Work in a fast-food place and go to college.”

“Did it stop you from being who you are?”

Kenna frowned.

Stairns just shrugged, looking at the landscape around them. A ruined building on one side and a wooded area full of shallow graves behind it.

A chopper flew overhead, circling around.

“She’s gonna be who she’ll be. It’s up to us to let her know that we’ll be along for the ride. That she’s always welcome, the truth is always expected, and it’s okay to make mistakes.”

Kenna felt the burn of tears in her eyes. The chopper lowered close enough to whip up dirt particles. She could pretend those were the reason she looked as if she was about to cry.

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