Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

"He's a douchebag," Jenna said when the cops were gone. "I wouldn't trust him to get my cat out of a tree."

"He didn't seem all that engaged," Knox agreed. They were locking up the townhouse and heading back to Tom and Michelle's home. "But he did say that he'd check with the neighbors to see if they have any security camera footage."

"I'll be shocked if he actually follows through."

"I think he'll do it. He said he would."

"So cops can't be assholes?"

Knox chuckled and opened her car door. "I would imagine the percentage of assholes in cops is about the same as the percentage in the overall population. There are always going to be a few. But Bauer specifically said he was going to check for security footage so I think he actually will. I just kind of get the feeling that he doesn't love his job."

"Did you love your job?" Jenna asked after Knox settled into the driver's seat. "Do you love it now?"

"The quick answer is yes and yes. I didn't love every single day of being a cop but I loved the job overall. Do you love your job? Are you anxious to get back to it?"

Tapping her chin, she considered his question. "I love parts of my job. But I have to admit that I'm not as fond of the traveling as much as I used to be. I used to think it was kind of exciting to see different states but now I would rather curl up in my own bed at night. I guess I'm just getting older."

"So you won't sign on to another campaign?"

"I probably will," she admitted. "Eventually. It's what I do and I think I do it well. I have thought about going back to school to get my doctorate. Right now I'm simply concentrating on Lori. Later I can think about my own situation."

A question had been in the back of his mind since meeting her family.

"If you stopped traveling would you live with Tom and Michelle?"

Laughing, she shook her head. "I can tell that you think that living with a sibling is weird. But the answer is no, I wouldn't live with them. I like having my own space and I'm mostly an introvert."

"I can't imagine living with any of my siblings. Not even the ones I get along with. I couldn't wait to get my own place. I don't like sharing things."

"Like the bathroom?"

"The bathroom, the kitchen, the couch, the television. You name it, I don't want to share it. I love living alone. I can do whatever the hell I want without anyone there to tell me I'm not doing it right."

Her brows shot up. "Wow, your family really did a number on you, didn't they? Did they often tell you that you were doing things wrong? Because they brag a lot about you being a super cop."

She didn't even realize how loaded her question was.

"Every damn day. Now we need to talk about next steps. Obviously, we need to talk to that Brett guy and find out where he was this afternoon. He's my top suspect for the break-in. We'll need to talk to Steve again too. I'm guessing he called his friend but I'd like for him to admit it."

Jenna's finger tapped on the door armrest. "What about your brother Cal? You haven't talked to him yet. When are you planning to do that?"

Soon. Knox had wanted to get as much information as possible before he did it.

"I need to call him and schedule something but he doesn't yet know that I'm investigating Lori's disappearance."

Jenna didn't reply but Knox wasn't an idiot. The tension between them had gone from zero to a billion in about thirty seconds. She hadn't liked his answer. He could almost physically feel the resentment radiating from her.

"You're pissed. Care to tell me what I did this time?"

Glancing quickly at him, she turned to stare out of the car window. "You always sound so sure of yourself. Do you ever have doubts? At all? For example, you said that Cal doesn't know that you're doing this investigation. But how can you be so certain? Didn't you talk to your brother this morning? He could have told Cal."

Knox opened his mouth to say the Randy wouldn't do that but then snapped it shut. Because he didn't know that for sure. His brother had talked a hell of a lot about loyalty in that conversation. Fuck.

"You're right. I'm going to have to call Randy and find out if he told Cal. If he did, then yes, I agree that Cal would also be a suspect in the break-in."

"So you'll talk to him?"

"I was always going to talk to him," Knox assured her. "I just wanted to have my ducks in a row before I did."

"That's good. Ducks and rows are good."

"I think we need to talk about you and Lori."

Her head jerked around, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"My firm is going to be sending me Lori's financial records, credit cards and all of that sort of stuff. This is the part of the investigation where we might find out things that you wouldn't want to know normally. Things that our family and friends don't show us. It's the hard part of looking into cases like this. People have secrets, Jenna. Even nice, normal people have secrets that they don't let the world know. Maybe they sleep with a dozen stuffed animals, maybe they watch kinky porn. Maybe somewhere in between.