Page 73 of Deadly Revenge

“I don’t have any tea cakes baked, but it serves him right.”

“See you in about fifteen minutes.” Jenna disconnected and grinned again when he questioned her with his eyes. “Granna’s feelings are hurt you haven’t been to see her. I hope it’s okay that I told her we’d come by there.”

“Maybe she can fill us in on Harrison Carter and the dam project.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” she said. “And there’s no need to drive both vehicles. We’ll go right by the sheriff’s office and can leave one of them in the parking lot.”

They agreed to leave hers, and he picked her up a few minutes later.

“Where does she live?”

“About a mile past my house.” As they approached her house, she said, “Do you mind stopping by my place so I can make sure no one’s been there so far this morning?”

“That’s a good idea.”

They made a quick stop, and Jenna stared at the front window just as the sun ducked behind a cloud. There wasn’t even a shadow reflected today.

Her palms sweated as she approached the front door with Max beside her. It was still deadbolted, and she relaxed a little. Inside everything looked normal, and the tape on the plate hadn’t been disturbed.

“Thanks for humoring me.”

“No problem.”

A few minutes later, she glanced toward the window again as Max backed out of the drive. The sun popped out, and rays reflected off the window, creating a lifelike shadow. While it didn’t resemble the man she saw late yesterday, once again she wondered if it was possible her mind had been playing tricks on her.

37

Max didn’t miss the doubt in Jenna’s face as she stared at her house.

While it was still possible that she’d fainted when she returned for her phone, he was rethinking that after what happened to him near the river yesterday. Maybe someonehadbeen there yesterday morning and returned in the late afternoon and then slipped out of the house before they reached it. But how?

While he hadn’t tried to pick her locks, Max knew it was possible. On the other hand, if there’d been no one in the window, would Max be feeding her paranoia by providing a plausible scenario?

What if he’d misinterpreted her expression, and she was thinking about something else altogether?

“Which side of the road is your grandmother on?” he asked instead.

“The left.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing her again.”

“Hold on to that thought,” Jenna said wryly.

A few minutes later he pulled in front of a Craftsman-style brick house with purple rhododendron in full bloom across the front. “This looks like the kind of place Eva would have,” he said.

“I’ll tell her you said so.”

Jenna’s grandmother met them at the door. She leaned on a cane decorated with more bling than a teenager would use.

“It’s about time you came to see me,” she said, her voice sounding like someone much younger than the eighty he knew her to be. She hugged him, reminding Max of his grandmother who gave really strong hugs.

“You look good,” he said. The house smelled of nutmeg and vanilla. “You could pass for Jamie Lee Curtis’s twin.”

She chuckled. “Maybe in those Halloween movies.”

“No, I saw her in an interview on TV—her hair is cut short like yours.”

Eva hugged Jenna. “He’s a keeper, even if he does lie.”

---