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“Do you remember where you stopped?” James asked.
Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “Not the street name, no, but I have a good memory for landmarks. If Samuel could pull up pictures of the streets from the highway, I could probably find my way there.”
Lachlan had barely finished speaking before James said, “Samuel, start working on it.”
“On it, and the team is searching for evidence of any other trips he might’ve taken in the past... credit card bills for hotels, car rental, anything,”Samuel said quickly.
Lachlan yet again marveled at the operation they seemingly ran. Nothing seemed too difficult, nothing too hard. Yet Widow had continued to evade James Thomas. That put a chill in Lachlan’s bones.
“Lachlan, do you remember the date of this visit?”Samuel asked.
His chest tightened a little because it was a date Lachlan would never forget.
“It was three months before my wife was murdered,” he said.
JAMES
For a moment it was like looking into Deacon’s eyes and James was reminded of the horrible pain they both unfortunately understood—what it was like for the woman you loved to be brutally murdered.
James nodded understandingly.
“Lachlan, look at your phone. Is that the house you visited?”Samuel asked.
Lachlan drew his phone from his back pocket. His eyebrows lifted when he unlocked it and James knew it was the house before he’d said anything.
“It is,” Lachlan responded.
“Then this is about to get very interesting. That house is owned by Jenna’s parents. They were living in it at that time and Jenna was possibly living at home—I can’t find any data to suggest she’d moved out on her own. So, what was Fred visiting Widow’s accomplice for?”
James’s mind reeled. Fred was killed three months after this visit, only weeks after Lachlan’s wife was murdered.
If he thought Black Widow had a connection to the Starrings, why not tell Lachlan, considering he trusted him enough to take him along on the visit?
He shook his head. They were missing something. “Samuel, can you find a DNA match? I want to confirm if Jenna is the biological daughter of Linda and Terry Starring.”
All heads turned to James. “You think she was Fred’s daughter?” Lachlan asked.
James chewed on his cheek. “We were like family and not once did he mention a daughter or family in Elkhorn. I don’t think she’s his daughter, but there must be a connection we’re missing. It’s no coincidence he went to that house. He went to see something, talk to someone maybe... Regardless, he went for a reason. He made an out-of-the-way stop, but he wasn’t concerned enough about hiding it to go alone. It doesn’t make sense.”
Lachlan ran a hand through his hair, his eyes turning to the window. James knew he was racking his brain for something he’d missed that day, but James knew Fred—the best agent he’d ever worked alongside. Lachlan saw only what he was supposed to see, and nothing more.
James sighed. They were playing this all wrong. They were too focused on Widow when they should be focused on Jenna. Whatever her connection to Fred, or Widow, she was important. And she was younger and less experienced. Widow knew how to disappear—and reappear—when she wanted. But how well could Jenna Starring do it?
“We need to change the plan. If we find Jenna, we find Widow, or we’ll use Jenna to draw her out,” James said. “We don’t know exactly what Widow wants and that makes me uneasy—and it also makes me hesitant to kill her until I know. But, chasing her like this is dangerous. Jenna is less experienced and she’ll make a mistake. With enough encouragement, she might be willing to talk. Samuel, have the team go through the CCTV footage and see if we can follow her,” James said.
“Already on it and the team are still at the terminal looking for her,”Samuel responded.“One thing you should know: Widow wasn’t seen getting off the train, but our men can’t find her on the train either...”Samuel’s voice trailed off.
James sighed. Widow slipped through their net yet again, but now James knew she had a weakness, and he was going to use it to his advantage.
They pulled into Thomas Security and James showed Lachlan to the guest suite.
“It’s fully stocked. Anything else you need, just let Samuel know and he’ll organize it. We’ll regroup in an hour. Samuel’s office.”
Lachlan looked around at the guest suite that was nicer than the Ritz Carlton. James saw the look on his face and explained that it was done thanks to Zahra Foster’s interior design skills and the hefty budget she’d squeezed out of them... and his friend, and builder, Jayce Thomatsu, who seemed to think his pockets were bottomless.
Lachlan looked back to James. “I’ll see you there.”
James closed the door behind him and took the stairs up two levels to the penthouse. He unlocked the door to his home, surprised he could hear Deacon’s voice.
