“He was killed by a drunk driver. He’d gone to San Antonio to visit his daughter. Head-on collision ended his life.”
Fuck.
Nothing about Magnus had given him the impression he’d had such a traumatic childhood. He was quick to smile, always laughing. It was one of the things Trey loved—
He swallowed, cut off that thought immediately.
It didn’t stop him from wanting to know more about Magnus. Truth was, he found he wanted to know everything, but they needed to focus on Ava. Finding her was critical, considering they didn’t know exactly how long she’d been missing.
“Does Ava have any friends she keeps in touch with? Anyone else she might turn to?”
“There’s only one girl I know she still keeps in touch with from high school. Her name’s Jane Ross.”
“You know how to get in touch with her?”
He shook his head. “I know she works at the Round Rock Outlets, but I don’t know what store.”
“I’ll get JJ to look into that, and we’ll head up there,” Trey suggested. “See if she’s workin’. Maybe she’ll know somethin’.”
Magnus nodded, some of those clouds clearing from his eyes.
Trey shot a quick text to Baz, giving him the friend’s name and asking for employment data, then he shot a text to Brantley, letting him know where they were headed.
When Magnus dumped his coffee into the sink, Trey headed for the back door.
He decided to focus on the task at hand, filing away the details he’d learned about Magnus for later. He didn’t want to like the guy, didn’t want to get close to him, but he’d surpassed that a long damn time ago. It was pure stubbornness that had kept him from pursuing something more. Then again, that was Trey’s nature, wasn’t it? He was always looking for someone to fix. It had been the case with his ex-husband, Paul.
Paul had been down from Dallas, visiting his mother in the hospital when they first met. Paul had gotten a room in the hotel Trey worked at as a third-shift security guard. Paul had been outside smoking a cigarette when Trey came by on his rounds. That night, he’d learned that Paul’s mother had fallen, broken her hip, and was recovering from the surgery.
Paul had been shaken, worried he would lose his mother, and felt guilty for living so far away. For the first few nights, Trey had been there, helping him through it, listening, consoling, ensuring Paul knew he wasn’t alone. The next thing he knew, they were having dinner, and Trey was staying with Paul in his hotel room; then Paul stayed with Trey on occasion after his mother was released, and he decided to move to Austin to be closer to her.
It had been a whirlwind; everything happened so fast. Marriage hadn’t been an option at the time, not for them, but as soon as it was, they’d jumped at the opportunity. Only for things to fall apart two short years later.
Trey knew better than to think he was a white knight. He’d never actually saved anyone despite his misguided desire to do so. In fact, he’d go so far as to say he probably made most situations worse.
Until now.
With his resources, he could find Ava March. That much he could help with.
As for saving Magnus … sounded like the only person he needed to be saved from was Trey.
Chapter Ten
ATBRANTLEY’S REQUEST,JJWAS DIGGING UPinformation on Harrison Rivers. When she’d first dived in, she’d thought it would be easy. And it had been. Maybe a littletooeasy, actually.
Everything she uncovered told her that Harrison David Rivers, married to Ava March Rivers, was a stand-up guy. Well, as stand up as a forty-two-year-old man married to a twenty-three-year-old woman could be, she figured.
Not that JJ put too much emphasis on age.
Okay, fine. That was a lie. She’d been hung up on age her entire life, which was the reason she’d pushed Baz away in the beginning. Not until recently did she learn he was, in fact, younger than she was, but she had suspected it. At least she wasn’t old enough to be his mom.
“Is that why you beat on her?” JJ mused to herself. “Because she’s young and vulnerable, and you’re a big bully?”
From all accounts, Harrison Rivers was an upstanding citizen. He’d been a resident of Texas for the past nine years, having moved from Colorado. There were a couple of speeding tickets on his record but nothing else. His credit score was just short of excellent, mostly affected because they carried a little more debt than they should. Then there was his family. He came from a long line of politicians, so it made sense that he’d followed the same career path. Both his father and grandfather had been senators, so he had an in with Washington.
Problem was, there was so much shewasn’tfinding about Harrison Rivers. She should’ve found a wealth of detail about his childhood—where he’d gone to school, where he’d grown up—but it appeared a good portion of that had disappeared from public record. Based on her search, he’d never been married, never so much as dated anyone. His social media footprint was glaringly sparse before five years ago.
“Was that by design?” she muttered, staring at her computer screen. “Were there other abused women before Ava?”’
