Page 28 of Every Which Way

Kenna’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She only looked at it long enough to see who the notification was from, not intending to pull it out at dinner.

The text was from Bruce.

I’m hungry. Y’all are talking about food too much.

She replied.

She’s married.

His response came back almost immediately.

I have eyes, don’t I?

Kenna stowed her phone. When she looked up, she saw someone get up from a table across the room and head toward the bathroom. For a second, she got a look at the woman’s face. Her hair was dark brown, the same color as Kenna’s, but threaded with some silver strands. Her skin was not quite Caucasian, a little darker, and not just from spending too much time in the sun. As if she might have Greek in her ancestry.

She walked away, winding between tables, and disappeared down a back hallway. Probably the location of the restrooms.

Kenna drew her phone out and stood, making her call at the same time.

“Yo,” Bruce answered.

“Back door. Now.”

She glanced at the three women at her table. “I’ll be back.” To Maizie, she said, “Don’t move.”

Kenna walked as slow as she could without running. She tried to keep the fast walk from drawing attention to herself and finally pushed through the door to the back hall. She’d been right that the restrooms were back here.

And a door that led into the busy kitchen.

A guy glanced over and frowned at her.

She continued walking, and at the end of the hall, the exit door clicked shut. Kenna didn’t bother with the ladies’ room since it was far more likely she’d left out the back. A dine and ditch? The restaurant might have security footage to keep them from losing money over that.

Kenna unsnapped the latch on her gun that kept it in the holster, but she didn’t draw it from the small of her back. She pressed down the bar and looked outside.

Bruce ran from one end of the building at the back. She let the door shut behind her and scanned the parking lot behind the restaurant, a spot for customers of the neighboring building to use. A few dumpsters overflowing with trash. Stairns ran from the other end of the lane.

They met her in the middle, and she asked, “Did either of you see a woman?”

Both shook their heads.

Stairns said, “The same blonde from earlier, Roxanne, wasn’t it?”

“Not her.” Kenna gave them a description of the woman.

Bruce shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You think it was your mom?”

“I’m not sure.” Now that the moment was over, she didn’t know what to think. “I really only saw her for a second. Maybe she went in the bathroom.”

Stairns opened the back door for her. “We’ll look around anyway.”

“Thanks, guys.”

Bruce said, “Enjoy your dinner.”

She glanced at him, wondering what that tone was in his voice. He turned away before she could ask, so she went to the ladies’ room and found it empty of people. She needed to get back and tell Maizie everything was fine but caught a flash of something as she turned. A plain envelope had been left on top of the towel dispenser. It couldn’t have been there long, or someone would’ve noticed it.

Kenna eased the flap open and tugged out the folded paper.

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