Page 39 of End Game

Ash sat back and released a frustrated breath. A voice inside his head nagged him to stop wasting his time on the acronym company. Someone in Kayla’s office had probably taken a shortcut while filling out the lobbying registration form. Simple as that.

Form.

Ash shot forward in his chair and clicked back over to the Secretary of State’s website. He drilled down, link after link, until he came across their lobbying division database.

He selected the current year’s term, searched for Kayla Krowne, then HCVS. A number of PDF icons appeared.

He double-clicked on the first one, and voilà!

In the second section of the Lobbyist Registration Statement, the first line requests the complete name of the principal.

HCVS.

Ash cursed, feeling as if he’d won the lottery, only to learn the jackpot was four bucks. He read further and smiled. The form listed an address and the contact details of the principal’s representative, Larissa Maywood.

Finally, something he could work with.

He snapped a screenshot of her information before scrolling farther down. A grid of codes and subjects filled the page, requiring the lobbyist to select their lobbying areas.

Typed into the columned rows were codes ten through sixteen, which translated to elections, equal rights, government financing, and governments at all levels—county, federal, municipal, and state.

HCVS was starting to feel a lot like a political action committee, also known as a PAC. Organizations who shelled out big money to sway votes and legislators’ minds.

Ash wondered how far back the Secretary of State kept lobbyist expense records. He backed out of the form and pulled up something called a compilation report. The spreadsheet had over four thousand rows of expenses, sorted by principals.

He located HCVS and frowned. Next to the principal’s name was a column for the lobbyists each organization worked with. Many of the organizations listed five or six.

But not HCVS. All of their initiatives went to one lobbyist.

Kayla Krowne.

Ash followed the row totaling the expenses paid out for the previous year. His eyes widened. He scrolled up, then down several pages. None of the other organizations came close to the two million dollars HCVS had paid to Krowne and Associates.

“What the hell are you working on, Kayla,” he whispered.

After several minutes of staring and coming up with no answers, he scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Sweet Jesus.” In a matter of seventy-two hours, Kayla Krowne had become embroiled in two significant cases, both of which he was investigating.

He wished he could pawn both onto a colleague, but he knew if given the option, he’d keep them. Despite how he felt about Kayla, she was especially important to Liv and Phin.

Which meant she was important to him.

18

Lifting the steaming mug to her nose, Kayla inhaled the rich French Vanilla scent of her coffee as she shuffled across her kitchen, toward the double glass doors. This morning’s mug had a cartoon Tasmanian Devil, with its massive teeth on full display, blood dripping from its canines.

SMILE

While you still have all your teeth.

Crispy the calico trotted at her heels. Her tail was in the air like a periscope, at the prospect of entering their favorite spot in the whole house—the screened-in porch.

She loved sitting out here. Loved listening to the absolute silence of predawn giving way to the first chirp of an eastern phoebe, Carolina wren, red-eyed vireo, or the ubiquitous American crow.

The avians’ good morning chatter never failed to nudge out the groggy effects of a restless night. Their rhythmic staccato songs always gave her renewed hope. Encouraged her to forget about the travails of yesterday and tackle today with fresh vigor.

Until now.

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