Page 129 of Lethal Danger

He grabbed it off the desk beside his keyboard, eager for some excuse to stop trying to eke out words for his Jazz Lamont book. No flying fingers on the keyboard this morning. Probably thanks to his conversation with Nevaeh last night about the woman who’d inspired his heroine.

Rebekah’s name flashed on the screen, and he slid his finger across the glass to answer. “Rebekah, hi.”

“How could they arrest Sam’s dad?” Her tight voice cut across the line.

Oh, boy. She must’ve seen it on the news. Should he have told her first? It’d been too late last night to call or text.

“That won’t help anything. It won’t help us find Sam’s killer.” Desperation pitched her tone higher than normal.

He tried to think of something calming to say. “It’s not as bad as you think. They won’t be able to hold him unless they have some evidence he did the sabotage. They were acting on the discovery of his fake identity, probably hoping it would lead to a confession or more evidence. But they’ll have to release him if neither of those happen.”

“He’s not going to confess.” Indignation strengthened her voice. “He didn’t do anything. He would never have killed that woman, the manager. And he wouldn’t have put other people in danger.”

“I appreciate you want to think well of him, Rebekah. But how do you know that for sure?” Hawthorne had to keep an open, objective mind. Even though his gut was telling him Rebekah was right.

“I just know. He’s Sam’s dad. They’re good people.”

Hawthorne didn’t respond to that emotionally based judgment. But the panic was starting to infuse her tone again. He had to try to tamp that down if he could. “I talked to Gary last night, and he swore he was only there to investigate Sam’s death and find the killer.”

“See? That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Hawthorne tapped a key on the keyboard with too little pressure to depress it. “He also told me his theory that someone killed Sam and hid the body until after closing, then moved the body to the Logboat Adventure ride.” Which exactly echoed the theory Hawthorne had been favoring, as well.

“Yeah. That must’ve been the way it went down. Can’t you prove it somehow?”

“I’m going to try.” Examining the smoking area where Sam had last been seen would hopefully reveal something new. Or something helpful, at least.

“But, Rebekah, we do have to consider Gary could be lying about his innocence. He has a strong motive because he blames the fair and Patch for Sam’s death. Sabotaging the fair and blaming it on Patch would be the perfect revenge.”

“No. I don’t believe that.”

Hawthorne could almost hear her head shaking in denial on the other end of the line.

“I hate that he’s in jail. If we can find the person who murdered Sam, we could get Gary out of there right away.” A slam, perhaps from a car door closing, sounded in the background. “Maybe I can help. Maybe if I go to the fair, I’ll see something that only somebody close to Sam would notice.”

“There’s no need for you to do that.” And much safer if she didn’t, given how dangerous the fair was. Especially when someone was targeting Hawthorne and Jazz because they were investigating Sam’s death. The last thing he needed was for a killer to go after Rebekah, too. “I have it covered. What I learned from Zeke changes everything. Now I know where Sam was last seen, and I’m confident that will lead me to what really happened. And who was involved.” He might be overrepresenting his confidence level a tad. But he had to try to keep Rebekah from accidentally putting herself in danger.

“If you say so.” She sounded somewhat appeased, but not convinced.

The temptation to tell her about the risks and more strongly caution her not to go to the fair pressed against his closed lips. But he had no right to limit her freedom.

She’d left her family behind to secure that freedom, as he had. To rob her of that would be to strip her of the most valuable possession she had.

No, he wouldn’t try to control or limit her choices. He’d simply have to find Sam’s killer before his sister tried to take matters into her own hands.

Thirty-Six

“Hey, Cora.” Jazz’s greeting came out softer and weaker than she’d intended. Probably thanks to the tightness of her throat and dryness of her mouth.

She’d turned over her decision in her mind a hundred times on the drive to PK-9 headquarters. But she knew it was the right one. She had to be ready to leave with Hawthorne. He was her future. She’d never belonged at Phoenix K-9 anyway. No matter how hard she’d tried.

The self-reminders rapid-fired through her brain as she forced her legs to carry her to Cora’s desk just inside the front entrance.

Jana came out from behind the desk to greet Jazz, her swishing tail and friendliness only making what Jazz had to do harder.

Cora smiled up at Jazz, no hint of suspicion in her innocent blue eyes. But there was a trace of a question. Had she asked Jazz something?

“Sorry.” The heat of a blush surged into Jazz’s cheeks as she straightened from petting Jana. “Did you ask me something? I was…distracted.”

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