Page 123 of Deadly Revenge

She examined the box. “Do you think Sebastian put it there?”

“Or whoever was in charge at the Armstrong place.”

“Or maybe the person who broke in put the tracker on my car when we left it sitting in the drive?”

He nodded. “And possibly a whole lot more, like listening devices.”

“What do we do about the tracker?”

“Put it back.” He knelt and returned the device where he found it. “That way whoever put it there won’t know we’ve discovered it. We can remove it once we get to your house ... or even better, change vehicles.”

“My gut says we need to go back and check out that cabin on the other side of Mr. Darby.”

“I agree, but first we need to check for bugs at your house and leave the tracker there.” He opened a family and friends locator app on his phone and added Jenna’s number to his group.

“Accept the invitation I just sent you—that way if we get separated we can locate each other.”

A text chimed on Jenna’s phone, and she clicked a couple of keys. “Done.”

When they arrived, Max said, “Once we’re in the house, act naturally, and be careful what you say.”

“Do you know how hard it is to talk naturally when someone might be listening to every word you say?”

64

Max turned to her. “If there are listening devices in your house, whoever put them there will be expecting you to talk about your dad ...”

“You’re right.”

She waited on the porch while Max retrieved the bug detector and swept it around his truck, kneeling once to pull out a small box like the one that had been under her bumper.

He put it back where he found it and jogged to the porch. “That was the only one on the truck. When we leave here, we’ll go by the sheriff’s office and swap your vehicle.”

Jenna grinned. “I like it—that way whoever is tracking us will be following the wrong person.”

He adjusted a knob. “I’m turning the sound off so they won’t know we’re scanning for listening devices. The lights will flash to let us know if the device picks up on one. And while I’m in another part of the house, shut off your computers—they’ll cause the device to alert.”

“Do you really think someone may have put listening devices in my house?”

“It would explain why the Armstrong place emptied so fast they didn’t have time to move the marijuana plants.”

Jenna hoped it was a coincidence. Just the thought of someone hearing everything they’d said ... she couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

Once they were inside, Jenna said, “Let me check my email, then I’ll make us a cup of coffee before we leave to see Alex.”

“Sounds great.” Max started with the living room and moved to the bedrooms. By the time he reached her office, she’d shut her computers down. He ran the detector over her framed commendation from the Chattanooga mayor. Nothing. He placed the detector next to a USB charger. Again nothing.

“I’ll be glad when the picnic is over,” he said and moved to the modem. The device lit up like a Christmas tree. Max gave her a thumbs-up.

Even though Jenna expected Max to find bugs, the reality of being violated swept over her anew. It was all she could do to not throw up. How was she going to carry on a normal conversation when all she wanted to do was find this person—who probably had her father as well—and ... Arresting him wasn’t enough. She wanted to pound him into the ground.

Max tipped her chin toward him. “We’ll find him,” he mouthed.

She drew in a deep breath and forced lightness into her voice. “I’ll go make coffee.”

“Make it in to-go cups, and we’ll drink it on the way to see Alex. She’s waiting for us to finalize the security measures for tomorrow’s picnic and political rally,” he replied and squeezed her hand.

Come on. Get it together.Jenna pushed her shoulders back and strode to the kitchen. If only there was some way to let her dad know she was looking for him.

---