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

"He can't make it," Eli replied. "Jenna already asked him when he stopped by to see Jenna."

Knox frowned. "Tom was here? I didn't realize. I thought he was at his office all day. That's what he told me when I asked if he wanted to be there when they executed the warrant."

Eli shrugged. "Maybe his plans changed. He stopped by while you were still at the station. He and Jenna talked for a few minutes and she told him that she was going to see Anita. She asked him if he wanted to come for dinner but he said that he already had a commitment to his history club. Apparently, they have a meeting tonight. She teased him about being a World War II nerd. They hugged and cried a little - I tried to make myself scarce at that moment - and then he left."

Knox's brain was buzzing, the back of his neck tingling, but he wasn't sure why. Tom had told him he had meetings all day long. So maybe they were cancelled. Meetings get cancelled all the time. Right?

World War II nerd?

Wait.

"He said he was in a history club? Are you sure?"

"That's what I heard." Eli frowned, rubbing his chin. "What are you thinking? Because you've got a strange look on your face."

"I don't know what I'm thinking," Knox confessed. "It's just...Jason told me that Brett Hedgcock was in a history club. That he's also a World War II history buff. Don't you think that's...weird? I mean, what are the chances?"

"Considering I've never in my life known anyone in a history club? Maybe that makes me uncultured, but now you've met two in the space of a week? That's some six degrees of separation shit."

"I don't like it," Knox said slowly, trying to make sense of what he'd learned. "But I'm not sure what it means. If anything. Anyone can like World War II history. It's not a crime."

Knox didn't like knots. He was going to tug on this string because he didn't like coincidences. It might be nothing. Or it might not.

He grabbed his phone and punched in a number. "Jared? Remember you were telling me about Brett Hedgcock being involved in an online history club? I don't suppose you have or can get a list of members?"

"I can get one pretty easily. Are you looking for someone in particular?"

"Yes, Tom Waters."

Because coincidences suck.

He needed to talk to Jenna. Right away.

Jenna pulled up in front of Anita's home. She'd managed to convince Knox that she didn't need a bodyguard to go see her mother, but it hadn't been easy. He'd wanted to go with her or send Eli but she'd dug in her heels and stood her ground. She needed to speak to her adopted mother privately. Jenna was going to tell Anita about Hedgcock and what the police had found in his home. Knox had argued that she couldn't go by herself but she'd pointed out that the threatening texts from Lori's phone had been sent from Hedgcock's house. He was the one that had been threatening them and now he was locked up for seventy-two hours.

Knox had finally given in but he hadn't been happy about it. He’d had to concede that Brett Hedgcock looked like the person that had probably set the fire. She'd teased him that he simply wanted to be with her wherever she went. He'd laughed and admitted that was true but he understood that this was something that she needed to do herself.

She rang Anita's doorbell and inwardly hoped that her mother would be having one of her good, lucid days. She had spoken with Michelle yesterday and they'd agreed that Anita needed to be told the truth as soon as possible.

Anita answered the door, giving Jenna a huge smile and a hug. "Come in, come in. It's so wonderful to have both of you here to visit me."

Both of us?

To Jenna's shock, Michelle stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen. "I'm here too. I thought I'd surprise you."

"You managed that. I thought you were in Miami."

This was why every time she'd tried to call her sister it had gone to voicemail. Michelle must have been on an airplane.

"I couldn't stay there forever. Give me a minute. I'm making some tea for us all and then I want a big hug from you. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too."

When Jenna thought about how Knox struggled with his family, she was even more grateful for what she'd found here with Anita, Michelle, and Tom. And Lori. Although she wasn't around anymore, Jenna could almost feel her presence in the room. Warm and cozy, full of love. That's how she'd remember her sister. Lori was someone who gave of herself selflessly, showing love and kindness to everyone.

Especially to me. Thank you, Lori. I'll miss you every single day and I'll never forget you.

Jenna sat next to Anita on the couch and they hugged again. Apparently, Michelle had listened to her voicemails because she'd already told Anita that Jenna was leaving today and heading back to the Seattle area. Jenna promised that she - and Knox - would visit soon. She just needed to get settled and figure out what she was going to do with her life going forward. She didn't have a job at the moment or a direction, and she didn't want Knox to think her plan was to mooch off of him. She could take care of herself financially, but she couldn't imagine herself sitting around bored all of