Page 97 of Deadly Revenge

That was another thing Sebastian didn’t like—taking money from someone like their buyer without having the goods. “If you hadn’t demanded the money up front, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Deal with it. How do you know they’ve discovered what we’re doing? Jenna isn’t that smart.”

Pain pierced his forehead right above his right eyebrow. “Because I planted listening devices in her house and heard them talking about it.” Ross didn’t need to know they only suspected something was going on at the place. The man was so obsessed with the Hart woman, he didn’t think straight. “You underestimate her. Find us another place. I would except I don’t know the area like you do, and the sheriff and police chief are circulating my photo to everyone in town.”

“You don’t look anything like your earlier photos.” Ross fell silent. “That was the perfect setup, and finding another place for the plants won’t be easy.”

“I told the men to leave the plants.” Sebastian had already marked the marijuana plants off as a loss.

“You gotta be kidding.”

“Nope. It’s not like we’re in the cannabis business.” He scannedthe small living room. If they pushed the furniture against the walls ... “You take care of finding us a new setup. We’ll use my living room to pack the capsules until we finish this order. The men should be about done packing up—I’ll tell them to bring the supplies here.”

“Do we really have to abandon the plants?”

“Hart and the TBI agent are going to the farm first thing in the morning—we don’t have time to move everything. I told you growing marijuana was a bad idea, anyway.”

“You’re wrong. Do you have any idea what good cannabis brings?”

Sebastian wanted to laugh.

“Do something to distract Jenna,” Ross said. “She’s the one driving this investigation.”

“Don’t worry about it. I will.”

49

The actual breakup had been a little worse than he’d described it. Max shook the bad memories off.

Jenna stood. “I don’t know about you, but I could use another cup of coffee.”

“So can I.” She was so different from Shannon. When this case was over, he hoped they had an opportunity to explore their feelings for one another.

She poured them both a cup. “You want to sit on my patio and look at the stars? Might help us to take a break.”

“Sounds good.”

They took their cups to Jenna’s round glass-topped table where they’d sat earlier. He set his cup on the table and waited for her to sit down, then took the chair next to her. In the distance an owl hooted and another answered. Closer to them were the high-pitched notes of tree frogs. “It’s nice out here.”

“I know.” She looked up. “The sky is like a velvet blanket covered in diamonds.”

“I didn’t know you had a poetic bone in your body.”

“There’s nothing poetic about that.” She tilted her head again. “‘If you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky, when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shootingstar streaks through the blackness, turning night into day ... make a wish and think of me. And make your life spectacular.’ That’s poetic.”

“Robin Williams,” Max said. “From the movieJack.”

“Get out of here!” She gave him a sideways look. “That movie was made when we were kids.”

“I know. I’ve watched every one of his movies.Dead Poets Societyis my favorite.”

“Mine too,” she said. “My English teacher in high school gave us bonus points if we watched it and wrote a report.” Jenna rocked back in her chair. “I like to sit out here before I go to bed at night, especially when I’m having a week like this one.”

“It’s been a bad one,” he said. “And it’s only Wednesday.” Getting put on security detail for a senate candidate who received a threatening letter. Three murders, being attacked ... Yeah, it’d been a bad week. “Maybe not the worst week of my life, but it ranks right up there.”

“Really?” She turned and looked at him. “You’ve had a week worse than this? What happened?”

It wasn’t a time he liked to dwell on. “Officer-related shooting, and I was the officer and the victim was a sixteen-year-old robbery suspect—it was before you joined us. He pulled a gun when I tried to arrest him ... it didn’t end well. How about you? I don’t figure this is your worst week ever, either.”

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