Page 33 of Deadly Revenge

And he was an expert at making murder look like an accident.

17

Jenna could kick herself for letting Max catch her in the bedroom checking on the data drive. Now she had to explain what she was doing in the spare bedroom with a screwdriver.

She sighed. “We’ll talk about it on the way.”

The look he gave Jenna said they would indeed discuss it. “I’ll meet you outside,” she said.

She waited until the door closed behind him before she returned the tiny data drive she’d taken out of the wall socket, then she pressed tape across the plate so she’d know if anyone disturbed it.

Max was probably waiting on her at her SUV, and Jenna hurried to catch up with him. She entered the kitchen and gasped. Max was kneeling on one knee at her back door, examining her deadbolt. “You scared me. I thought you were outside.”

“I was checking your deadbolts.” He stood. “You ready?”

Jenna nodded and tried to decide just how much she was going to share as they walked to her SUV. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him—she needed to tell someone. If the intruder had killed her today, no one would even know to look for the drive that had the blurry photos showing Phillip and Sebastian together.

Her mind buzzed. If ever an honest man lived, it was Max. He said he’d always had her back, but he’d been out of her life for several years now. She couldn’t turn on trust like it was a light switch. At least not until she had some answers. Jenna just didn’t know what the questions were.

“Let’s use my truck—I’m more familiar with it.” Max opened the passenger door, and she climbed in. Once they were on the road, she took a deep breath and released it.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Whydidn’tyou call after you left Chattanooga? You kissed me and then walked out the door and ghosted me.”

Max had been tapping the steering wheel, and he stilled. Then like her, he drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I know, and like I told you yesterday, I’m really sorry about that.”

“Words are easy.” Especially for someone like Max, who could charm robbery suspects into confessing.

He took his gaze off the road for a second and turned his head toward her. “Truth?”

She nodded.

He returned his gaze to the road. “I was in a bad place when I left Chattanooga. Shannon had done a number on me ...” He tapped the steering wheel again. “Time to man up,” he said and sat up straighter. “I really have no excuse for the way I hurt you.”

Quiet settled between them. He broke it first. “Are you open to letting me make amends?”

Jenna took her time answering. He seemed truly sorry, but his silence had hurt. “We’ll see. It really hurt when I didn’t hear from you after I was shot. I thought maybe you believed the rumors.”

“I never heard them.” Neither of them spoke for a couple of miles, then Max said, “For the record, I don’t understand why you were relegated to a desk job after the psychologist released you. You were too good of a cop for that.”

Jenna looked up, surprised by the concern in his voice. Maybehe wasn’t part of the good-ol’-boy network. “Apparently you’re the only one who feels that way.”

“You’re wrong about that,” he said. “I’ll grant you there are a few who resent women on the police force, and some of them are in authority, but they are the same ones reaching retirement age. I promise, more than one detective respected you when I was on the force there.”

“Then why didn’t they speak up when Billingsley let it be known I’d never work an investigation again? I wasn’t the only cop who’d suffered PTSD after getting shot, and they returned to work once the psychologist released them.”

“I don’t know ...” Then he quietly added, “I would’ve spoken up if I’d been there.”

The anger Jenna had held against him dissolved. She rested her head against the seat as peace washed over her. She and Max had always been tight while they worked together, and she’d missed it.

“You want to know what I regret?” she said softly.

“What?”

“That I let them run me off. But they had me second-guessing myself, and when a cop loses their confidence, they’re no good to anyone.”

“Is it getting better since you’ve come to Russell County?”

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