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“Then she’s probably up to no good and we were right about her all along. Plus, we know where to find her. She’ll turn up at the AAG Center sooner or later.” His cheerful mood was unrelenting, even though trailing Leigh was proving to be boring and unproductive. “But I’m not wrong.”
Katrina followed the direction of his gaze. Leigh was standing on a shady corner near Bubba’s, studying her cell phone. Every now and then, she glanced up and down the street in both directions.
“She has the look of a woman who is waiting for someone,” Spencer said.
“Maybe she has a hot date?”
“Or a meeting with the boss lady?” He lightly gripped her shoulders and turned her to face the other way. “That’s Micheline Anderson.”
The woman approaching Leigh looked to be in her midsixties. She was blonde, attractive and well groomed. Nodding and smiling to people who called out as she passed, the AAG leader clearly knew plenty of people and was very sure of herself.
“She’s not what I expected,” Katrina said. “I thought she’d be tougher, more hard-edged. She looks like someone you’d want to confide all your problems to. Although I guess that’s a prerequisite in her job.”
“You know what they say about appearances.”
When Micheline reached Leigh, the two women embraced and exchanged a few words. Leigh excitedly showed her boss something on her cell phone and Micheline patted the younger woman’s shoulder.
“Pictures of the posters she’s been putting up?” Katrina said, hazarding a guess.
“You could be right.”
When Leigh tucked her cell into her purse, the two AAG members walked arm in arm toward the silver Toyota that was still parked near Java Jane’s.
“I guess we’re on the move,” Spencer said.
They were heading toward their own vehicle when a man coming out of Java Jane’s almost bumped into Micheline and Leigh. He halted immediately, holding his hands up in apology. As Spencer and Katrina got closer, they could hear the conversation.
“Sorry, ladies. I hope I didn’t startle you.”
Leigh giggled. “Just watch where you’re going next time, Kenyon.”
He gave a mock bow before walking away.
“Kenyon?” Spencer kept his voice low. “Sounds enough like ‘Kenny’ to be worth checking out.” When he saw her expression, he frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“I’ve seen that guy before. It was the first time I went to the AAG Center.” A cold sensation started in the pit of her stomach and spread outward. “I noticed him because he looked just like the sort of guy Eliza would be attracted to. I remember thinking she’d have stuck around just to get close to him.”
Spencer narrowed his eyes, watching Kenyon as he strutted along the sidewalk, then paused to study his reflection in a store window. “I think we may have found our cool dude.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Katrina said as they got into the car. “Eliza had poor judgment when it came to men. She always had a thing about bad boys. Even in kindergarten, she’d be drawn to the kid who pulled her pigtails.”
“What about you?” he asked, glancing her way as he pulled out into the traffic. “Were your choices any better, or did you bond with a rebel over the sandbox?”
The teasing note was almost irresistible. Almost. Just in time, the hurt he’d caused her kicked back in and she turned away. “I didn’t bond with anyone.”
An uncomfortable silence followed, lasting for a few minutes. When Spencer spoke again, any trace of humor was gone. “You think Eliza could have gotten mixed up with this Kenyon guy?”
“I think he’s the sort of man she’d have been drawn to. And if he was involved in getting Hannant to intimidate me...” She turned her head to look out of the window. Did she want to put her darkest fears into words? It felt like saying them out loud would somehow make them more real. “That doesn’t look good for Eliza.”
He reached out a hand and briefly touched her knee. The fleeting contact warmed and comforted her more than she cared to admit.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to jump to conclusions. Although you haven’t heard from your sister, you shouldn’t assume the worst. Although that guy may be her type, that’s a big step from her hooking up with him and him harming her.”
“You’re right.” She relaxed a little into her seat. “I know it. I just wish she’d get in touch.”
“If my siblings ever did what I wanted, I think I’d pass out from shock,” he said. “Twins, triplets—people assume that bonding thing means you do everything in perfect harmony.”
“I read somewhere that fraternal girl twins are supposed to have the second strongest bond after identical girls. Eliza and I must have missed that class in twin school. We were always fiercely individual. We didn’t hate each other.” She managed a smile. “We just never had that real closeness that other people told us we should.”
