KILEY HAD NEVER BEEN TO THE MOBILE-HOMEPARK,not once since her mother moved to Arizona three years ago. She stopped on the sidewalk to take in the double-wide trailer with lattice covering the open space underneath. It looked like every other trailer in the retirement community, with its token cactus bed ringed by white rock and an older-model car parked in a matching white-rock driveway.
She tried to get her feet moving but couldn’t bring herself to walk up to the small porch.
“You can do this, honey.” Evan squeezed her hand. “You faced down terrorists who were going to blow up a dam. You can face your mother.”
“She’s scarier.” Kiley laughed, but she honestly meant it. Confronting her past and letting it all go was super scary.
Evan turned her toward him. “You want to do this, right? If not, say the word and we’re out of here.”
She looked into the shining eyes of the man she loved more than she could ever imagine possible. She’d fought her mother’s dominance to become independent and vowed never to need anyone. But in the past week she’d discovered she liked needing Evan. Liked having him in her life. And if she had to hash out the past with her mother to free herself from the fear of commitment, then she would confront her mother.
She circled a hand around the back of his neck and drew himclose. “I will do almost anything to be with you. And you’re right. With you by my side, and God with me, I can do this.”
He kissed her, and his strong arms went around her to softly cradle her against his firm chest. A flash of love went straight to her heart, and she basked in his touch. She circled her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, urging him to tighten his hold. She lost herself in the feel of his lips. Reveled in her newfound love. And she didn’t care if anyone was watching them. She loved this man and would shout it from the rooftops if she could.
Her phone rang in the tone she’d assigned to Mack. She opened her eyes. Blinked a few times. Reluctantly pulled away to answer it. He and the team had stopped off in Alabama to check out the leads for the Montgomery Three investigation that Evan suggested, and he could be calling with good news.
“Hi, Mack,” she said on a ragged breath while trying to catch another one.
“You with Evan?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Put him on speaker.”
“It’s Mack,” she said to Evan, who was breathing hard, his eyes locked on her, love burning from his gaze.
She nearly wilted under the intensity of it and looked down at her phone, because if she kept focusing on Evan she would be lost. She tapped the speaker button. “Okay, Mack. You’re on speaker.”
“Hey, man, thanks,” Mack said enthusiastically. “Your idea panned out.”
Kiley shot a look at Evan.
He arched a brow. “Panned out how?”
“We found the van in a cave north of Birmingham.”
“Seriously?” Kiley cried out. “You found it?”
“We did.”
“That’s wonderful,” Evan said, looking proud of himself.
“Before you get too excited,” Mack went on, “you should know they torched the van, and it doesn’t have any plates.”
“You can still get a VIN number, right?” Kiley asked, her hope starting to deflate.
“We did. Led us back to a flower shop in Birmingham, but the van was reported stolen nearly six months before the girls went missing.”
Kiley tried not to get discouraged, but... “So, another dead end.”
“Maybe not,” Mack said, though he didn’t sound convinced. “We have a few more days off. We’ll get started interviewing people in the area and follow up with local detectives who took the stolen vehicle report. Hopefully it’ll lead somewhere. And Cam is looking into the female connection.”
Kiley let the news settle in and thought about their next step. “Is it time to tell Eisenhower what we’re doing?”
“Sean wants to do the interviews first, then decide.”
She wanted Eisenhower to reopen the investigation, yet she wasn’t lead on this investigation. Sean was, and after heading up her first investigation, she wanted to be sensitive to that. “I’ll call you when I’m done here, and you can tell me if I should join you or head home.”
