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“She did work with Hannah. Janet’s around the same age as me, though. She would have been a kid when Laurel was here.”
“Click on the first one. Let’s see what it says.”
“It’s her obituary.” Seyla bit her lip, not sure how to make sense of it. “It doesn’t say much.” She clicked on another link. “This one’s on the break-ins in the area that happened around that time.”
Jax circled the area of Hannah’s place. “It’s on the outskirts, but yeah, it’s well within range of the rest of them.”
“None of this gives us anything to go on.” Seyla ran a hand through her hair.
“We’ll figure it out.”
Jax’s hand squeezed her shoulder, sending its warmth straight to her heart. Seyla held her breath, unsure whether she feared he’d move it away or keep it there.
Don’t embarrass yourself. You’re nothing more than Matt’s weak little cousin to him.
The thought snapped her out of...whatever it was she was feeling.
“There are two things she searched for under ‘Articles by Victor Soros’. Both are connected to Laurel.”
Seyla clicked on the first one.
Jax lifted his hand off her shoulder. A cold spot branded her skin afterward.
Focus.
He leaned on the desk with both arms, wincing again. “It’s regarding her death. Weird how it says the police ruled it an accident, yet he hints at foul play. I wonder if Victor knows information we don’t. All of this has to be related. I can feel it.” A frustrated groan erupted from Jax’s throat. “What are we missing?” He stood and crossed his arms. “Why would Janet search for that?”
“Maybe the fact that Victor wrote it is what’s significant.”
“I guess. Or she is involved in this and is using the internet to get ideas.”
“As much as Janet hates me, there’s no way she’d hurt the sanctuary. She loves it too much.” Seyla leaned back, running the pad of her index finger over the placement ridge on the “J” key on the keyboard. She jerked forward and sat ramrod straight when another possibility came to mind. “What if Janet’s suspicious that Theo’s involved? What if she’s working to piece things together, hoping to stop him prior to anyone finding out?”
“It’s possible. Click on the second link.”
They read through the article that popped up.
Seyla tilted her head, squinting her eyes. Could the dangerous incidents related to her and the sanctuary be linked to matters that far back?
“Okay, to me, it doesn’t sound that far-fetched that Laurel got grazed by a stray bullet at a gun range. What’s a little weird is that they failed to find the bullet and couldn’t determine who was the actual shooter or which gun it came from,” she said, ticking off the points on her fingers. “On top of that, she canceled her membership. Plus, her accident sounded too similar to what happened on the trail. Screams ‘suspicious’ to me. Apparently, Victor thought so, too.”
“While I don’t doubt he’d be willing to twist the truth to get a story, I don’t think he did in this case. It does sound suspicious, especially since she later fell off of a cliff. In the woods. With no witnesses. I have to wonder if someone who learned of her penchant for risky photography took advantage of that fact. Even so, it doesn’t explain why they’d resurface now.”
“Who owns the gun range and where is it?” Seyla typed “local gun range” into the search engine, then paused when she heard a noise. “Did you hear that?”
“I figured it must be one of the animals.”
Seyla popped to her feet to go peek through the small galley window in the door leading to the hallway.
The click of keys told her Jax kept typing behind her. “Did you find anything?” She wheeled around when she got no response. “What is it?”
Jax hesitated for a second, his brows pinched down over his eyes.
What if he feared she was far too fragile to know the truth? And why did that sting so bad?
“Travis Yoder. That’s who owns the gun range. And he’s old enough to have been around when Laurel was alive.”
“Seriously?” Seyla’s jaw snapped open. She let the information sink in for a few seconds. “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m surprised. It makes sense. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
