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Spencer tapped his pen on the table. “You’d be surprised how useful intuition can be. But the AAG is very visible in Mustang Valley and they seem to be doing a lot of good.”
?
??But...?” She knew he was unlikely to tell her anything that linked to an ongoing investigation, but Katrina could sense a wariness in his voice that made her even more concerned.
“Let’s just say, they are on my radar.” He flipped his pad closed. “I hope to find they are as charitable as they appear.”
She swallowed hard. “And you’ll let me know what you find out? About Eliza?”
“Of course.” There was that look again. Just the right side of sympathetic. “I know you’ll have been given the standard speech in the past about how some people don’t want to be found, but I can see how painful this is for you. I’m close to both my siblings, and I’d be worried out of my mind if either of them had gone missing in this way. We can’t say for sure that Eliza is missing until I’ve undertaken further investigations, but I’ll do everything I can to help.”
Tears prickled the back of her eyelids again, and she blinked rapidly. Getting emotional over an offer of support from a stranger was a new experience, but it had been a tough day. She needed to get some fresh air and recharge her batteries.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself a cute companion. At least until we find Eliza.” Spencer reached out a hand and ruffled Dobby’s ears.
Dobby was cute. But it took a genuine animal lover to see past his imperfections. It was another reason to like Spencer Colton. Although, at the moment, he was staring at his desk in confusion.
“Did one of you eat my sandwich?”
“Ah.” She felt the blush rise in her cheeks. “Dobby may be cute, but he is also a food thief.”
To her relief, Spencer grinned. “Are you sure it was Dobby?” He nodded to the dog, who was gazing into space, licking his lips. “He looks a picture of innocence.”
Katrina sighed as she got to her feet. “To be honest, I’d forgotten about the food stealing. I’ll have to theft-proof my kitchen. And my own dog might not be happy at the arrival of an unexpected house guest. Holly is a sweetheart. But she likes having me all to herself.”
“You work with dogs?” He indicated her uniform.
“I’m a dog trainer. My business premises are over on Bridge Street—”
“Look Who’s Walking? That’s your place?” When she nodded, he laughed. “I drive past on my way to work each day and Boris always tries to stick his head out of the window to get a sniff at what’s going on.”
She stooped to pat the scent dog on the head. “You should stop by sometime when Boris is off duty. Play dates can be fun.”
When she straightened, Spencer’s blue eyes appeared brighter than ever. Had that offer sounded like something other than a doggy get-together to him? Was there a chance he thought the play date was for the two of them? She could either dig herself in deeper or leave.
“I should...” Explain. “Um...” Go. She pointed to the door.
“Yeah. I’ll be in touch.” He held the door open and she scooted around him to get through it.
Hurrying along the corridor toward the lobby with her face burning, she tucked the dog under one arm as she scrabbled in her pocket for her keys. “Great,” she muttered under her breath. “Now he thinks I’m annoying and desperate. Such a good look, don’t you think, Dobby?”
“Katrina?”
Spencer’s voice just behind her startled her into uttering an undignified squeak. Swinging around abruptly, she found herself face-to-face with the person she’d just been talking about. From his expression, she was fairly sure he had overheard her comments to Dobby.
“You left your keys in my office.”
* * *
It had been a long day. Spencer had a dozen cases that took priority over Katrina Perry’s missing sister. But as he left the MVPD building and crossed the parking lot to his car, he couldn’t shake the image of the pain in her beautiful eyes as she talked about her visit to the AAG ranch and her certainty that something bad had happened to Eliza.
“Can’t hurt to pay a visit,” he commented to Boris as he secured the dog in his air-conditioned compartment at the rear of the vehicle. “It’s only ten miles in the wrong direction.”
He’d hinted to Katrina that he had his own concerns about the AAG, but he hadn’t shared any of the details with her. She hadn’t been the first person to describe a feeling of creepiness about the organization, although she was the only one to make an outright allegation against anyone connected with a group that appeared to be doing nothing but good. Spencer’s own suspicions centered on one specific AAG member named Harley Watts.
Following the attempt on Payne Colton’s life, one of the Colton Oil IT guys had tracked down Harley through the dark web, finding rambling references that were troubling enough for the police to get a search warrant. They found the email to the Colton Oil board members about Ace Colton’s birth on Harley’s laptop, and then arrested him. His story was that he’d been asked to send the email by a friend, and since then, he had refused to say anything more. Spencer had tried making a deal for leniency with the DA to get Harley to talk, but the guy was adamant. He was no snitch. He pointed out that he’d been charged under interference-with-commerce laws for his implied threats of exposure regarding the secrets affecting the structure of Colton Oil. The evidence on his computer was enough to put him behind bars, so he may as well stay loyal.
Like everything else connected to the Payne Colton shooting, it was frustrating because it led nowhere. Spencer had no reason to believe that the friend who had asked Harley to send the email was a member of the AAG, even though he had used the organization’s server. But where was the harm in exploring the theory that Harley’s “loyalty” was to someone within the group?
