Caught off guard, Jax hugged her back. It had been a long time since anyone had offered sympathy or support. He hadn’t realized how much he needed a human touch. And then her round curves and honeysuckle scent aroused more primal urges, and he began enjoying the closeness a little too much. He kissed the top of her head. She hugged him tighter, and she definitely registered as female.
Wisely, she pushed away and returned to setting the table. “How’s Ariel?”
The hug had oddly eased his escalating tension, despite raising expectations that shouldn’t be raised. “She sends her thanks. That’s all I know. The guys are hooking her security to my phone as well as the security company’s and their own equipment. If she runs screaming into the night, we’ll know about it.”
He took the silverware and began distributing it around the table. “You heard about the bones?”
“I did. That’s why the crows are gathering.” She nodded toward the kitchen. “If there are bodies, the state will want to call it accidental.”
“Of course. I’ll remind them that someone went to a great deal of trouble to prove the Posts died elsewhere. They won’t like that.”
“Have to prove it’s them first. That could take weeks. Loretta will go berserk. We need to give her answers. I hate sounding like a therapist, but she needs closure.”
Jax knew she was right. “I’m trying, but we don’t have much to go on other than the Lakeland development. Fraudulent deeds are one thing, murder quite another. In my experience, most major development companies have the ability to acquire land without killing anyone.”
His nerves were a ragged edge. He didn’t know what to worry about first—Loretta and Evie’s safety? The cause of his father’s death? Scratch his job. He needed to verify his world was safe.
“Where did you put your father’s file box? I know that’s ancient information probably unrelated to what we’re doing, but the stuff in there makes me feel... itchy.” Evie dug out napkins and condiments from the sideboard.
“The whole damned situation makes me itchy.” Jax didn’t have time to say more.
Loretta bounced down the stairs, followed by Mavis and Felicia with dinner. The cat and dog trailed in after the smells, and a brief knock at the door indicated more guests arriving. Evie set additional plates and silverware on the sideboard.
In moments, Jax was surrounded by so much angry estrogen that he couldn’t breathe. Deciding the women could tell Loretta whatever version of truth they thought best, he grabbed a plate, filled it with what looked like collards, rice, beans, and sausage, and took it out on the covered back porch.
Sheriff Troy joined him there not much later, carrying bottles of beer and his plate, with a generous helping of cornbread.
“Thought you might need this.” Troy dropped a frosty bottle next to Jax. “They’re good people, but not man-friendly.”
“I’m guessing there’s a reason for that.” Now that Jax thought about it, there didn’t seem to beanymen in the family.
Troy shrugged and slugged his beer before answering. “Not too many have the guts to handle them. And the ones with guts tend to have dangerous occupations and get themselves killed.”
“So Loretta’s great-grandmother leaving town after marrying was probably a self-defense tactic, kept her family out of her marriage. Makes sense.” Jax dug into beans and rice tastier than the frou-frou stacks of unknown components he’d consumed in five-star restaurants.
“Letitia would have come back here if it hadn’t worked. The women always come back to family. Mavis was in Charleston when she married. Came back with just Grace and Evie in tow.” Troy dug into his food.
Jax sipped his beer. “And you’re telling me this why?”
“Thought you might like to know that Evie’s father hired your father’s firm to handle the divorce, and that he’s in the construction business, and once worked for the mayor. It isn’t just small towns that are small worlds.”
Shit. The mayor would be just the sort of client Stephen would cultivate because of these sorts of connections. And the mayor obviously knew the firm. Maybe S&S wasn’t as upright as he’d always believed.
Jax sipped his beer while he processed this new information. “Whatever’s going down, I’m on the side of the law, first. Loretta’s welfare is next. That’s how it has to be.”
“Women won’t look it at that way. Tigers defend their cubs, tooth and nail.” Troy cleaned up his plate with a slice of cornbread, then stood up. “You got your head on straight. Keep it that way.”
Jax figured he could do that, if he kept his head on his shoulders. Evie’s hug had knocked him sideways.
* * *
After everyone leftand Loretta had been tucked into bed upstairs with her books for company, Evie poured herself some ice tea and debated sitting on the porch until her room cooled off.
Seeing a light under Jax’s door, she tapped lightly. When he grunted with what she took as permission to enter, she opened it. “Would you like some tea?”
He held up a half-empty glass to show he’d helped himself.
“Did the sheriff provide any more illumination?” She leaned against the doorjamb. Jax was back in casual clothes, and she wasn’t averse to admiring the scenery. Hugging him earlier had probably been a mistake, but his aura had been so dismal, she’d thought he needed it. Revving her hormones had not been her intention, but they were on full throttle from just watching him.