Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 63

63

Max looked across the table to Jenna. “That went over like a mud ball.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Carter was lying about not knowing about TerraQuest.”

“You caught that twitch too,” he said. “So, what did we learn other than he wasn’t being truthful with us?”

“That he was willing to throw Paul Nelson under the bus if it diverted our attention from him. I know Alex is looking into that aspect of his life.”

“So we could be looking at two different cases. Are you ready to check out the rest of those rental places?”

“Definitely. I know where they are—one’s not too far from the house.”

“I’ll meet you at your SUV—let me tell the receptionist we’re done with the room.”

Jenna pulled to the side door and was waiting when Max came out of the building. He climbed in and fastened his seat belt. “I keep thinking about that house we stopped at,” he said as they pulled away from the church. “How the grass was messed up— definitely more than one vehicle there, and like someone hit the gas really hard and sped out of there.”

“Like they knew we were coming?”

They looked at each other. “Pull over so we can check for a tracker.”

They climbed out of the vehicle and knelt beside Jenna’s SUV, using their phones to shine a light under it.

“I don’t see anything,” Jenna said.

“I have a bug detector in the toolbox in my truck at your house if we don’t find it.” He moved down to the rear and felt along the inside of the bumper. His fingers closed over a small box, and he pulled it off.

The tracker was the size of a matchbox with a magnet on one side. He handed it to Jenna.

“I cannot believe I didn’t think of this before.”

She examined the box. “Do you think Sebastian put it there?”

“Or whoever was in charge at the Armstrong place.”

“Or maybe the person who broke in put the tracker on my car when we left it sitting in the drive?”

He nodded. “And possibly a whole lot more, like listening devices.”

“What do we do about the tracker?”

“Put it back.” He knelt and returned the device where he found it. “That way whoever put it there won’t know we’ve discovered it. We can remove it once we get to your house ... or even better, change vehicles.”

“My gut says we need to go back and check out that cabin on the other side of Mr. Darby.”

“I agree, but first we need to check for bugs at your house and leave the tracker there.” He opened a family and friends locator app on his phone and added Jenna’s number to his group.

“Accept the invitation I just sent you—that way if we get separated we can locate each other.”

A text chimed on Jenna’s phone, and she clicked a couple of keys. “Done.”

When they arrived, Max said, “Once we’re in the house, act naturally, and be careful what you say.”

“Do you know how hard it is to talk naturally when someone might be listening to every word you say?”