Page 108 of Long Road Home

“Clear.” Jax holstered his weapon on his hip, then flipped the open side of his jacket over it so it was out of sight.

She set her hand on her hip. “Did you bring a change of clothes with you?”

“We left all that on the plane, which blew up.”

“There’s a store in town we can go to if you need a clean outfit in the meantime.”

His brows edged toward each other, just a flicker. “Let’s find Doctor Rayland first and tell her about her son. That’s the priority, right?”

She wanted the priority to be sleep, but as always, there was far too much going on. At least Forrest would be released as soon as Lucas could get the paperwork pushed through. The law firm chopper would take Jim to his appointment in Chicago.

Things would settle down again.

Kenna wasn’t looking forward to the conversation with Dr. Rayland about her son—who would enjoy that part of the job? This was taking far too long. The mother was going to find out about her child from someone on the street, or a phone call from a concerned friend who’d heard it from another friend who worked at the hospital. “It’s a weekday, and it’s office hours. Where is she?”

“And did she leave in a hurry last night? Maybe we should check the local hospital. Make sure she didn’t have an accident.”

Kenna tipped her head to the side. “If she did, you’d think Deputy Rayland would’ve known about it.”

“I just don’t get why he’s dead.” Jax shook the mouse for the computer on the desk, the kind with the monitor and hard drive in one unit. “This thing needs a password.”

“If we need in it, I can call Maizie.” She needed to do that anyway. And figure out where this woman was, sooner rather than later.

Jax straightened, rolling his shoulders. “Let’s hit her house first. She might just be off today, or she doesn’t have clients until later.” He, too, was pushing through until this was done and they could rest.

“That could be true, except that Doctor Rayland has an appointment with me.” A woman stood in the door, jeans below her overcoat, and white sneakers. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and she held a paper cup of coffee in one hand. The woman looked at the clock on the wall. “In five minutes.”

“So she’s on her way in?” Kenna checked her gun was out of sight. Thankfully, she’d returned that deputy sheriff badge.No, thank you.It had given her credence with the marshals, but now they knew they could trust her there was no reason to have kept it.

“Normally, she’s here by now,” the woman said, worry etched on her face. “And if she was ever going to be late, she would text me.”

Jax wandered around the desk to stand by Kenna. He flashed his badge. “Special Agent Jaxton. This is my associate, Kenna Banbury.” He gave her a second to absorb that.

“Lacey Andrews. I’m a nurse at the hospital. I work nights.”

“Can we ask you a few questions about Dr. Rayland?” Jax kept his tone professional, not that it muted the effect of him.Kenna had seen enough women succumb to it, even though that wasn’t his intention and never would be. Mostly she found it amusing. Though, she figured one day she wouldn’t.

“Sure.” Ms. Andrews shrugged and took a sip of her coffee like it was no big deal. But Kenna spotted a flash of interest in her expression. The kind of person who’d love to be part of a true crime story—so long as they also weren’t affected by it.

Jax pulled out a little notebook. “Has she seemed different lately?”

“Huh.” The woman lowered her coffee cup. “She’s been kind of touchy. Like being short with people, you know? Getting frustrated easily.”

Kenna said, “When did that start?” A change in behavior might indicate stress, which could have an underlying cause that related to the deaths—murders—in town. She didn’t even know what this case was, let alone how far it stretched. There hadn’t been time to collect all the information. If Forrest had, it was in the boxes the state police had confiscated from her house. All that work she’d done. Which they were going to have to give back to her if the charges were dropped.

Ms. Andrews looked to the side, thinking for a moment. “Maybe a couple of weeks ago. I came in for my appointment. She was on the phone, and it sounded like she was yelling. When I asked her if there was something wrong, she just said it was a package she ordered that got lost in the mail. But that didn’t really seem like what she’d been yelling about.” She shook her head. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“Anything else you can think of?”

The woman shrugged, going back to her coffee.

Kenna nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Andrews.” They needed to get to Dr. Rayland’s house, so they could clear up what was happening here exactly.

The woman shrugged, already turning away. “Sure,whatever.” She glanced over her shoulder at Jax, interest in her eyes.

Kenna glanced at him as well. More like stared.

He turned to Kenna. “What?”

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