Preston hissed out a breath.
“I hit the cabin in the middle of the night before he could,” she said. “I wasn’t about to let him anywhere near another little girl after what he did to the others.”
“There were more?” Jax asked.
There was something in his expression she wanted to ask about. A lingering question—and she might not like the answer.
“Yes.” She shifted in the chair and faced him a little more. “You should eat. But also tell me what you’re thinking.”
He gave her a small smile and picked up his knife and fork. “The scar.”
“It delayed me for a while. I’ll admit that it didn’t help to have contradicting descriptions of the guy.”
He finished chewing, then asked, “Did you consider an accomplice or partner?”
“More likely just someone else he paid to buy the car. Other than that one occasion, he was never seen by anyone I spoke to.” She frowned. “You think there were two of them?”
“It’s not about what I think.”
“Fine, then you don’t want to dig up the case file and take another look through everything.”
Jax started. “I didn’t say that.”
She smirked. “I’m not going to be offended if you figure out that I missed someone. I got a very bad guy off the streets.”
“Sure?” Jax didn’t seem convinced.
“I’ll be annoyed and complain loudly if you want me to.”
Jax leaned over and gave her a quick kiss that tasted like egg and ketchup. “Maybe I just need a puzzle to solve.”
A puzzle that meant she’d missed something. “I got that little girl’s killer.”
“I know.” He nodded. “I’m just going to confirm there isn’t another bad guy out there, connected to him, who might also be worth finding.”
She didn’t like the idea of a loose end. “I’ll help.”
“It would be good for you to walk me through your steps.”
“You already read it all in that blog transcript of the podcast.” She let a little of how she felt bleed through in her tone.
Jax smiled around his fork.
“Why isn’t Zeyla awake yet?” she asked aloud, not to anyone in particular. “And we have Shawn’s sister to consider. Should I update her? Maybe she’s worrying about if we made any progress.”
Jax glanced over. “Did you read your Bible yet today?”
Kenna let out a long sigh. “I should go for a walk or something.”
The view through the windows stretched left to right in a panorama and out to the mountains. The world as far as she could see was nothing but landscape, wildlife, and peace. She could listen to the Bible on her phone and center her heart and mind in Christ. Hopefully, then, the residue of fear from her nightmare would dissipate.
She needed to cling to the Lord, or she wouldn’t survive—if only mentally. Her peace of mind felt brittle and ready to shatter.
“I’ll get you a radio.” Preston started to shift his chair back from the table. “Do you want to take one of the dogs with you?”
He had three dogs on the property, two of which were trained protection dogs. The other followed suit and thought he was one of the team. Watching the Airedale bound after the two short-haired German shepherds was amusing, but she tried not to laugh at his eagerness coupled with their intensity.
“I’ll go with you.” Jax shoved another bite of food in his mouth, picking up the pace of his eating.
