The instant she mentioned cops,Jackass tried to turn around and go back to the law office. Evie grabbed the steering wheel. “Maybe Pendleton found something in those files implicating your father in murder. He might have called the cops on us. Keep going.”
Muttering obscenities, he obeyed. “Text R&R. See what they can find out.”
As long as he kept driving toward LA, Evie texted his hacker team. She didn’t know how to find police or sheriff reports on a phone. She just had this really bad feeling...
Maybe the bad feeling was fromnotgoing back to the office to see what was going on. She didn’t like running away any more than Jax did. But not being followed seemed more pertinent to their well-being. She kept checking over her shoulder to be certain they hadn’t been picked up again.
Surprisingly, Jax didn’t argue too hard about flying home. There may have been something in those papers he wasn’t telling her about. That would be just like him.
They ran the car through a car wash in LA, threw away the sign and 4x4, and sold it for more than enough to cover airfare on the economy airline she’d taken. Apparently, the demand for 4-wheel drive in LA was higher than back home.
By dinner time, Evie was sinking into the hard airport seat with relief. “Teach me to drink wine. I want to be blotto for the next hours.” She had time to fret over nice Mr. Pendleton now, but she was helpless to do anything. Blotto would prevent jumping out of her skin.
“We have no good reason beyond paranoia to believe we’re being followed or that Pendleton called the cops on us.” Jax was already sporting a sexy unshaven appearance that would look even better if he’d been wearing one of his tight T-shirts instead of the stupid blazer. “Let’s have a nice dinner and relax, then you can sleep all the way home.”
Evie was trying to focus on the here and now and not the emotion roiling beneath the surface. Jax’s normally narrow red aura had awakened with a vengeance. The killer streak was still there, not completely hiding the lust. But the muddy gray of guardedness and a strong protective streak had sprung up. Straightforward, honest Jax was never muddy. This trip was messing with his head.
“Unless you have access to an executive lounge, I’m gonna guessnice dinneris a euphemism for not fast-food. If they have chocolate, I’m on. Can I charge it to Loretta as part of my travel expense?” Evie dragged herself up, hauling her duffle. She traveled light. It didn’t take much room for T-shirts and shorts, which were about all she owned.
“Asian or Irish?” he asked, checking the terminal map. “Chocolate probably requires Irish.”
“Beer. I can do beer. Or Irish coffee with whipped cream and chocolate! Lead on and give me the hard stuff.”
Having checked all his gear at the desk, Jax took her duffle and swung it over his back. “It’s midnight back East. Think anyone has read those documents yet?”
“They’d text you if they found anything, but yeah, I’m gonna bet your buds are dissecting every paragraph. Unless we have clients who want more than raccoons chased from their attic, which probably ain’t happening.” Evie took the booth the waitress led them to and decided the seat was far more comfortable than the one at the gate.
At least, this way they wouldn’t be spending days together in that little car. And nights sharing a motel room. She seriously needed to move past this attraction to a control freak who saw nothing but his immediate goal—which wasn’t her. She’d learned from family experience that men just didn’t hang around weird women very long, and she wasn’t the type for part-time flings.
Jax was way too attractive for a part-time fling. He was heartbreak territory. With Loretta in the mix—she needed to keep her distance.
“Your Sensible Solutions agency needs better social media presence. Reuben and Roark are the opposite of social. And you don’t want Loretta involved in that internet swamp. So it has to be you. Are you posting about this trip?” He ordered two beers and perused the menu.
“What, exactly, should I post? I met a Navajo ghost and sent him on? We uncovered a key at an abandoned mine following nothing that I had anything to do with? I never learned to sell myself. I’ve always accepted that I can do things others can’t and thought people would respect that.” Tired and disgruntled, she studied the menu.
“What you do is subtle, so yeah, you’ll be lousy at running for mayor. I need a job. Pity I don’t live there or I’d run.” He slumped against the vinyl seat and sipped his beer. “Wonder if Ariel will let me move in since I’m paying the rent.”
“Face it, your sister is a hermit. I have a huge house. R&R are in the cellar. Loretta wants to claim the attic. You can have the first floor, and I’ll take the second. Find an office by the courthouse and hang out a shingle or set one up in the empty carriage house until I can afford a car. You might only get drunks looking for bail as clients, but it’s a job that doesn’t require much thinking. I assume your father’s case will take most of your time, unless your adoptive father hires you to defend his crimes.” Evie thought she might need a good head shrink for offering her home, but Jax was Loretta’s guardian just as she was. He ought to shoulder some responsibility.
She carefully didn’t mention that.
“I’m not a defense lawyer, and after paying back his victims, Stephen has less money than I do, so it’s just me and you. Huh, we both need media gurus. Or I could paint park benches with my photo and a logo,Call Jax for the max bail.Needs work.” He looked as tired as she felt.
“Jax for the Max. Except you’re not really Jax, are you?Ives for Your Hivesdoesn’t ring any bells.” Evie fought the urge to slide in next to him and give him a hug. He’d lost his identity, his job, given up his house and car... A hug was hardly enough.
“Ives for your Lives, except that double pronunciation reeks. Have to do TV ads so people could hear it. And why in hell are we talking advertising?” He pulled out his phone.
“Because something bad may have happened in the office of a nice, helpful man we just talked to. We may have lost our opportunity to see your father’s files. We may or may not have been tailed by unknown suspects, and we’re clueless.” Morosely, Evie dug into the shepherd’s pie she’d ordered. After only eating a salad at lunch, she was starving, but the day’s tension had churned her stomach into a gnawing monster. She hoped potatoes were soporific.
Jax held up his phone screen.
It was only a small note on a local newspaper website about the passing of Caleb Pendleton in his law office. Only survivor was a daughter in Oregon.
“Damn. Well, they didn’t say suspected murder. At least we know they’re not after us.” Evie poked at her pie. “Only a daughter. Kinda sad if all you have at the end of the day is a bed to sleep in and a job to go to.” She might be closer than most to the spirit world, but that didn’t mean she took death lightly. Still, her paranoia returned realizing they might have been the last clients Pendleton saw.
“Better than a tent on the street. For all we know, he belonged to all the charitable organizations in town and had an active social life. We should send flowers.” Setting aside his phone, Jax dug into the steak he’d ordered.
Because she knew his sister stayed awake most of the night, Evie snapped a photo of Jax looking tired and delicious and chugging beer and sent it to Ariel.