Jax clutched his mug in frustration. “If you have paying jobs, then you should be doing them instead of messing with my problem.”
Roark snorted. “We threw out our hooks. We’ll reel the customers in when ready. We don’t make solvin’ problems too easy or we don’t get paid da big bucks. That’s petty stuff. What you have is major. We want the juicy cases.”
“You’re not likely to get paid for uncovering thirty-year-old crimes!” Jax paced the dirt yard. Evie needed a gardener. And a landscaper. And now he was thinking like her and so out of focus, he didn’t know what his problem was.
Reuben sighed, put down his mug, and cuffed Jax upside the head. “Been wantin’ to do that for some time. It’s not aboutmoney, dummy!”
Jax punched the top-knotted nerd’s arm in retaliation, but Reuben’s lanky frame held muscles, and he didn’t flinch. At the same time, Jax understood what his friends were saying. The pair had been living in a utility van, doing his scut work since they’d been shafted out of the service. They’d never been interested in more than improving their equipment so they could do their jobs better.
“Twisted bubbles,” he muttered, using Loretta’s description of them.
“Yeah, we got dat.” Roark took a seat on the sagging back step. “Twisted brains, too. You can thank the Man for that. But we know what’s good for us and this gig is good for now. You wanna give it up, go ahead, move out, make your fortune, let dat walnut soul of yours stay shriveled. But you wanna do what’s right, we here to help.”
The Manbeing the military that had turned them into killers, then spit them out when they crashed and burned and weren’t needed anymore. That had been a high price to pay for school loans, wanderlust, and a juvenile quest for justice and world peace.
“There isn’t anything you can do in this case. That was Conan Oswin on the phone. Roark, you met him. He claims to be some distant relation of mine and hinted that he has some connections with the intelligence community.”
“Yeah, I looked him up.” Roark grinned, unrepentant. “He’s got cred.”
Jax figured he had. “He says the coroner called Pendleton’s death murder. He was most likely unconscious from a blow to the back of his skull before someone held a gun to his temple and shot him. The sheriff is looking for me and Evie.”
Both men whistled.
“Whatcha gonna do?” Reuben asked.
“Call the sheriff. I’d rather not drag Evie into this if it can be avoided. Now do you see why I didn’t say anything?”
“He’ll want to talk to Evie. You can’t hide da facts. She needs to be right here when you call so she knows what you’ve said. She’s right, you know. You’re a jackass.” Roark gathered up the mugs and stalked back inside.
“Jackrabbit,” Jax muttered. “What kind of sound does a rabbit make?”
“Kissy noises.” Reuben followed his friend back to the kitchen.
“So much for having my back, dolts,” Jax shouted after them.
Damn, but they were right, in their own warped way. He was protectingEvie. She wasn’t Ariel. She was a grown woman who’d never needed his protection in the past. The world probably needed protection from her.
Psyching himself into believing all that shit, Jax called the number Conan had given him. He gave the person answering his name and number and looked up without surprise as Evie trotted down the steps with a fresh mug of soup in hand.
“Loretta and I have decided on the next mayor. I’m off to twist arms. Have a nice day.” She handed him the mug and swung on her heel to march away.
Pedal to the metal, full speed ahead. “Evie!” Jax shouted after her. “Pendleton was murdered.”
* * *
Times like this,Evie really, really hated being right.
“Do you think he believed us?” she asked worriedly when they were off the phone with the sheriff’s department.
Poor Mr. Pendleton. If he’d died because of her, she’d hate herself forever.
“Sheriff has no reason to, one way or the other. He knows we couldn’t have killed him while we were in his office, because Pendleton was still alive when the bank manager called him. We were surrounded by witnesses. He’s just gathering evidence. I’m sure he’d like to point a finger at us if he can. Calling someone local a killer can cost him an election.” Jax paced the backyard.
Evie had sent Loretta off to help her cousin at the vet clinic so the kid didn’t have to overhear this and worry. “How will we find out who did this, so the killer doesn’t come after us too?”
She was grateful that Jax had been very careful to not give away their contact information other than his cell number and his former law firm’s address. That still didn’t mean she couldn’t worry.
“Weare not finding out anything! We have no way of knowing that Pendleton’s death has anything to do with us. Let the sheriff do his job. Go find a mayor.” Jax quit pacing and aimed for the carriage house.