Page 22 of Max's Mission

Margot stared at the postcard, running a list of her ex’s closest friends through her mind. After a moment, she shook her head. “Not anyone that I can think of. I’m sure he has colleagues and other people he associated with at work whose names start with that letter, but I can’t think of anyone who would send him a postcard.”

“Can I see that?” Max held out a hand.

She gave it to him. “What are you thinking?”

“I want to look at the postmark.” He let out a soft grunt. “It’s from September. And it was sent from Costa Rica.”

“That mean something?” Gallagher asked.

“No. Just puzzling things out. Tad wasn’t ever in Costa Rica.” Max glanced at Margot. “Right?”

“If he was, he didn’t visit,” she confirmed.

“So, why does it say it’s a shame he left?”

Margot blinked, processing that. “I don’t know.”

“And who was he with? The wording implies he was with someone.”

“There’s another possibility.” Gallagher’s quiet voice interrupted their back and forth. They both turned to look at him.

The agent hesitated. A sinking feeling settled into her stomach when she took in the pinch to his expression.

Finally, he spoke. “The note could be in reference to you and your daughters, Dr. Gaultier. You could be the people, and it could be a shame he left you.”

Nine

Max held back a curse at the agent’s theory.

It felt spot-on. But the implications of it were not something Max wanted to think about. It meant Margot and the girls were in danger.

“Have you noticed anyone lurking around you lately?” Agent Gallagher asked Margot.

She blinked at him several times, then looked at Max. The wide set to her eyes rang with fear.

A stab of it went through his chest. If this theory held any weight, she and the twins were moving in with him as soon as they returned home.

After a moment, she took a shaky breath and answered the agent. “No. But it’s not like I’ve been looking.”

“What about strangers?” Gallagher’s gaze bounced between them. “Have there been any of those popping up? Maybe the same person more than once?”

“We live in a tourist destination,” Margot answered, raising a hand to whisk a strand of hair behind her ear in a gesture Max recognized as a nervous tell. He edged closer and lightly touched the back of her sleeve, letting her know he was there.

“And I’m in the middle of opening a medical clinic,” she continued. “I’m surrounded by strangers every day. But none of them give me the creeps, Agent Gallagher.”

The agent turned to Max. “Have you noticed anyone?”

“No.” And after all the trouble they’d had lately with everyone else, he’d have picked up on something unusual. They’d all been on alert. But he’d be making a phone call home as soon as they left here. Just to double check that everything was fine, and to make sure everyone stayed on their toes.

“Okay. Well, I wouldn’t be too worried about it. But stay vigilant. It’s been several months since that was mailed, so it’s probably nothing.”

Max chewed on the corner of his mouth, a deep vee between his eyebrows. Gallagher made a good point, but it didn’t completely allay his fears. He could tell from the tightness on Margot’s face she felt the same.

But there was little they could do now without more information. “Let’s keep looking, yeah?” He glanced at Margot and nodded to the boxes.

She blew out a long breath. “Okay.”

It took another fifteen minutes before she made it through the rest of Tad’s things, including the suitcase. She identified a few more items that belonged to him, but there were no more strange notes.

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