Page 54 of Relentless
His phone buzzed with a text from Chad telling him that he’d arranged for an artist to meet with Evelyn and Kara right away. A few minutes later, the two were huddled around his laptop talking to a woman named Isolde who reminded him vaguely of Audrey Hepburn.
Ten minutes before showtime, Evelyn and Kara wrapped up with the artist, and she held the picture up for everyone to see. “Does this look right?” she asked, directing her question to the women.
They studied the image, then Kara nodded, followed by Evelyn. “It does,” Kara said. “Eerily so considering both Evelyn and I only saw him—or her—for a moment.” He understood her hesitation. And the debate the two had been having earlier. The fine charcoal drawing depicted a child who was neither obviously either gender. The eyes had a feminine tilt to them, but the jaw was square. The cheekbones could have been those of a girl or those of a boy with more delicate features. And the hair didn’t help, either. It was on the shorter side, which would normally lead Ethan to believe the child was a boy. But it was just long enough that it could have been a girl with a short cut.
“Great,” Isolde said. “I’ll get this cleaned up and add a few details. Once I’m done, I’ll email it to you so you can both give a final sign-off. After that, I’ll send it over to Chad and Sabina.”
They exchanged emails, and Kara thanked her for her time. When they ended the video call, Kara sat back in her chair, a frown on her lips.
“What’s the problem?” Ethan asked, taking a seat beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“No problem,” Kara replied, leaning into him. “It was just uncanny how good that image was,” she said.
Evelyn made a little “hmm” of agreement. “Isolde pulled details from us that I never would have remembered on my own. I suppose that’s her job, but I can’t help but be impressed. I’m not sure if it will do any good, though. Then again, at the very least, I can now add ‘worked with a sketch artist to help capture a murderer’ to my list of life experiences.”
“Hopefully one you never have to put a second tick beside,” Ethan said, pulling Kara up alongside him as he rose from his seat. “How about one more beer before we head over. I heard a rumor Cody has something special planned for tonight.”
CHAPTERTWENTY
Ethan kickedback in a chair in the space between their bus and Cody’s and listened to the cacophony of sounds coming from beyond the curtain. He considered peeking around the heavy cloth to see what was going on but didn’t feel like moving. Codyhaddelivered a great show last night. Including performing the same two-step swing with one of his backup singers as he had with Kara that first night. He’d also played one of her favorite country songs of all time, “You Belong to Me”by Patsy Cline. The song had Kara laughing and pulling him into a slow dance in their box. Warren and Evelyn had joined in as well. She acknowledged the song was a little creepy in its possessiveness. She loved it all the same, though. He’d been too busy holding her and swaying to the rhythm to notice the lyrics.
“Have a good night?” Cody asked, stepping out of his own bus with a cup of coffee in hand.
“We did, thanks,” Ethan responded, gesturing to the empty chair beside him. “What’s all that?” he asked, jerking his head in the direction of the noise.
“Crew is loading up. They’ll leave for San Francisco any minute now. We’ll follow later since we don’t have a show until tomorrow night. Let the band sleep in a little this morning.”
“But not you?”
Cody gave a half shrug, half nod. “I don’t always sleep great on tours. It’s why I only do shorter ones now.”
Ethan hadn’t known that. “What about when you aren’t on tour?”
Cody flashed him a grin that Ethan wasn’t buying. “Sleep like a baby?”
“Meaning you wake up every few hours crying and hungry.”
Cody chuckled. “Yeah, that, too. How are things going with the investigation?”
Ethan glanced around. Cass and Bill were posted on the other side of each curtain, but habits didn’t fade. After confirming they were alone, he filled his cousin in on Evelyn’s visit and the work with the sketch artist.
When he finished, Cody made the same observation they’d all contemplated the day before. If the pickpocket was anything other than a pickpocket, it likely meant Peter was the killer.
“Does HICC have eyes on him?” Cody asked.
“Chad was calling in a few favors from his time in the FBI. They should have someone on him today. Any updates onyourinvestigation?” he asked, referring to Alex.
Cody shook his head. “We’re working on it.”
“Maybe you should hire HICC?” Ethan suggested, only sort of half joking. As a general rule, he and Cody tried to stay away from giving each other advice. They’d each received enough from their older brothers and cousins that they’d made a childhood pact to never do it to each other. But in this case, he wanted to give his cousin something to think about.
Cody rolled his lips then answered. “I’ve been thinking about it. The lawyers are good, but no one is as good as HICC. Especially Sabina and her team.”
“But?”
“But I don’t want Chad to get all overprotective. With what’s going on with Kara…if I add my pickle to the barrel, it might be too much for him all at once. You know how he gets.”
Yeah, Ethan did. For right or for wrong, as the oldest of the Warwick cousins, Chad felt responsible for his brothers and cousins. “He’s better now that Sabina is in his life,” Ethan countered.
