Page 99 of Every Which Way

Kenna smiled. “Jax is here, but we have work to do.”

“Too bad. There’s a new rom-com at the movies. I think you’d like it. The woman character is a former spy, and the guy is a Marine veteran. They both?—”

“Hey, can you tell me this later?”

“Sure, I was just talking until Ramon left the RV. He’s gone outside with Stairns.”

Kenna watched Jax walk back over to them through the other side window. Watching him move. Appreciating her fiancé for more than just his intelligence or professional skills for a second. It was enough to make her want to lift a hand and fan her face.

“Now, I can tell you what I found,” Maizie said.

Kenna frowned. “What’s that?”

“I didn’t want to tell anyone else before I told you, but I have a connection between Jax’s dad and the senator. Or, at least, a foundation that the senator launched. Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe there’s something sinister about it.”

“Pretend we don’t know for sure until we know for sure.”

Jax climbed into the car, and she handed over the keys from her spot in the back seat. He spoke quietly to his father, sat in front, and turned on the engine.

Maizie said, “The foundation supports children looking for scholarships in the arts. So low income families can put their kids in competition dance or buy instruments. They even support youth sports leagues.”

She said something else, but the sound deadened in the phone.

Then, her voice was coming out of the speakers. “If Woodford is all in with the company, and Jax’s dad is funneling money into a foundation that looks good on the surface, but underneath, it’s money for them?—”

Kenna lowered the phone. “Maze?—”

“What are we supposed to think but that Jax’s dad is associated with them?”

Her stomach dropped. He was going to think she’d been investigating him.

She tapped the Bluetooth button on Jax’s phone and lifted it to her ear. “I’ll call you back.” She hung up before Maizie could respond.

Jax let off the gas. She reached forward and slipped his phone into the cubby in the center console. “Sorry.”

He sat stiffly in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel. “Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

Jax didn’t relax. He got to the end of the drive and pulled onto the street. “Mom and Laney weren’t inside. They weren’t on any list the police have of people in the building when they raided it, and someone I spoke to said she remembered Mom and Laney leaving shortly before that anyway. So where are they?”

“How am I supposed to provide an answer to that question?” His father lifted both hands. “Isn’t that what we’re here to find?”

Kenna eased back into her seat and clipped the seat belt. Was their disappearance connected to him and his relationship with the company, or was this was something else entirely? She needed her phone, but it was in Bruce’s car, back at the house. If he needed a way to leave the house later, he would be able to take the car.

She jogged her knee up and down, trying to process everything and decide what to do first. Stairns and Ramon, Maizie. Some shoes and a change of clothes. Jax’s dad needed to tell them everything he knew. Maizie needed to find the senator. Kenna needed to use the restroom, get a gun, and get ready to find her family.

Jax let out a grunt. “You need to tell us everything, Dad. I don’t believe you’re in bed with these people, but maybe you got in too far before you realized you’re not into what they are. That you don’t want anything to do with them. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but that means you need to be honest.”

“So you can tell me what a mess I’ve made of everything?”

“That’s not what this is,” Jax said. “No one is accusing you. We just want to find Mom and Laney.”

She heard a car rev behind them and twisted around. The car came up too fast, approaching the back end of this rental. “Incoming.” She patted his shoulder. “Jax.”

“Got it. Everyone buckled in?”

His dad said, “Yes.”

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