Page 70 of Max's Mission

“I know.” She pulled his hand down and threaded their fingers together.

He sighed. “Um, I’ll take you home. The guys?—”

“No. You stay. I want one of us to stay informed. One of the others can take us.”

“I’ll take them.” Audra stepped forward, having overheard their conversation. “Sam can update me later.”

“I’ll go too,” Annabeth said. “This”—she waved a hand at her husband and the others—“is not really my thing.”

“Are you sure?” Max asked.

“Yes.” Audra turned to Emily and Lily. “Girls, let’s get your things.” She held out a hand, ushering the twins toward the hallway and the bedroom they’d been using.

Margot looked at Max again.

He framed her face in his palms. “You be careful. Eyes in the back of your head, all right? If anything seems weird?—”

She covered his hands and stood on her toes to kiss him and stop the flow of words. “We’ll be okay,” she whispered.

Tiny voices grew louder as Audra and the twins returned. Margot stepped back. Giving Max a tremulous smile, she turned her attention to her daughters. “You guys ready to go?”

“Yep! I wanna swim!” Em raised her fists.

“Then let’s go swim.”

The girls traipsed toward the door. At the threshold, Lily turned back and frowned when she saw Max wasn’t following her mother and Audra.

“Let’s go, Max.”

“I’ll be there a little later, sweetie. But you have fun swimming, okay?”

Her little frown remained for another moment before she nodded. Her eyes traveled over the adults, lingering on Marchand.

Margot had a feeling the little girl understood far more than she should.

Her little perceptive child.

Thirty

Max ran a hand through his hair and gripped the back of his neck, watching Margot and the girls disappear through the door. Reality had crashed down hard this morning, popping the bubble they’d created last night. He wanted to go back to it. Nothing would please him more than to go about his day playing in the pool with those two sweet girls, then later, loving on their mama again in hopes of giving them a sibling.

“You all right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.” Max dropped his hand. He looked at the marshal. “Marchand, tell me you know where Berry is.”

The marshal’s mouth twisted. “I wish I could. And now that your contact discovered Conroy’s connection to things, I don’t have any leads to go on to find him.”

A dark frown transformed Max’s face. He glared at Marchand. “We need Tad. He’s the only one left who can give us any insight into Berry.”

Marchand’s mouth flattened, and he glanced away. Max could see the hesitation on his face.

“I’m not really asking, Marshal. If you don’t call him and loop him in, wewillfind him and do it ourselves.”

The marshal’s expression sharpened. “I’ll have you arrested.”

Sam snorted. “You can try. But you’ll never be able to prove it was us.”

A mirthless smile appeared on Dean’s face. “It’s true. All you’ll discover is that it was ananonymous tip.”

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