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He needed to know who had a vested interest in her not returning home. He’d found her, so it was possible that someone else had, too. And that they’d used her real life connections to form an attack.
Brody’s mind began working through the names. Jenna had started talking about the people in her life before, not realizing that Brody had already compiled a list while searching to confirm that she was the one he’d been hired to find.
Brody frowned. One name stood out in his mind. Andy Samuels, the younger brother of her boss, Matt. She’d mentioned that he didn’t care for her. But he’d be someone who had access to more information about her than the people at her new church. He’d know where she worked, where she parked her car, where she lived.
Andy knew her work habits. He’d had proximity. Opportunity. And he’d been one of the coworkers who’d left prior to the end of the day. He could easily have let someone know she’d still been at work. Maybe even watched from a distance to say she’d left the office and would be moving to the parking lot.
Just in time for someone to lay in wait for her.
He hadn’t seen another car hanging around, but it didn’t mean he had not parked one outside of the lot and moved on foot.
He thought of Andy’s profile. He couldn’t visualize the slender man with the too well-groomed hair willing to do the physical work of killing. But an informant? Or a go-between? Definitely a possibility worth looking into.
Brody tightened his grip on the wheel. He wanted to drive straight to Claudia, leave Jenna there, and go after the people targeting her himself. But he couldn’t do that. Because as much as Claudia yearned to see her granddaughter, she’d missed her for twenty-five years. Another day or two wouldn’t matter. Not if it could be the difference between life and death. Literally.
If somebody close to Jenna was feeding information, then walking her into a predictable safe location could be the same as handing her over.
He punched the phone icon on the dashboard, keeping a wary eye on the road outside the protection of the SUV.
“Who are you calling?” Jenna asked, shifting her body so she faced him.
Idly, he wondered how much longer her hearing aid batteries would last. “I’m calling my buddy Cameron. I want him to look into someone. Someone I think may be our link.”
“Who?”
“Your coworker, Andy.” At this point, keeping her in the dark made no sense. Knowledge might protect her. Or at least give her an edge when she needed it.
She nodded slowly. “He was at the top of my list, too.”
For some reason, he wanted to smile. She was in danger, and yet she kept her wits about her and was an active participant in the investigation. He liked that. “I don’t know him that well, not like you do, but he feels off to me. I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I.” she sighed. “But I hate to think Matt’s brother could do this.”
“People do awful things. Not your fault.”
He called Cameron. They didn’t talk long. Brody didn’t like using the phone in the car, especially not in bad weather. Brody asked Cameron to quietly look into employment records, financial connections, recent activity.
“I can do that,” Cameron said. “Anything specific I’m looking for?”
“Just anything that would link him to either Jenna Stone or Andrea Brewer.”
Jenna stilled.
Brody ended the call. He immediately called the police station and asked for Sergeant Dawson. He brought the lawman up to speed on all that had happened, aware of Jenna listening beside him. He wanted to reach out and take her hand to silently convey that he was with her and would protect her.
Not a good plan. He tightened his hands on the wheel.
“Hold on, Brody,” Dawson said.
He heard computer keys clicking in the background. “Okay. I see your location. We’ve already responded to shots fired at the gas station.”
“Wait. You see my location? There’s a tracker on my car?”
Dawson snorted. “Of course. You don’t think we’d turn over a vehicle like that, knowing someone was after you, and not track it, did you?”
He hadn’t really considered it but probably should have. “We’re not taking a straightforward path. I need to keep ahead of them.”
He had changed the route already. He’d do it again if he had to. He checked the mirror again. The road behind them was empty.