Page 79 of Target Acquired

“I hate to ask them since they’ve already given for the groceries. I don’t want them to feel obligated—or pressured in any way.”

“So, ask them privately and give them permission to say no.”

He pursed his lips. “Not a bad idea. You mind if I get this started?” He held up his phone.

“Go for it.”

Their food arrived and Kenzie enjoyed the savory flavors while they discussed the logistics of how to replace the court without a ton of expense. “I got it,” Cole said. “There’s a guy in my church who does reno stuff. I’ll check with him.”

The excitement in his voice made her smile, and her eyes lingered on his face while he was focused on his phone. Longing, swift and sharp, pierced her and she swallowed a gasp. Stop it. He’s not for you. But she couldn’t help the little question that snuck into her subconscious. Why not?

Just as she washed the food down with a swig of her tea, her phone pinged with a text from Tabitha. “Well, she’s no help.”

Cole looked up. “Couldn’t find anything on Cliff?”

“No. Said all of his old files are in the document room and look to be in order. Even the accident file is there.”

“So he made a copy of everything before filing the false report.”

“Which doesn’t help much, does it?”

“Nope.”

Butler chose that moment to slide out of the booth and wave to them. Woodruff looked over and saluted Cole. His eyes landed briefly on Kenzie, and he gave her a short nod with a faint frown. Then he aimed himself toward the door.

“Wow,” she said. “He didn’t look too happy.”

“Nope. And neither is Butler if the look on his face is any indication.” He eyed her. “What are you going to do the rest of the day?”

She tossed enough cash to cover her meal and a generous tip onto the table and stood. “We’re going to follow them.”

He added more cash and joined her. “My thoughts exactly.”

They hurried out of the restaurant and climbed into Cole’s 4Runner. “Where’d he go?” she asked.

“Not sure.” Cole checked his phone and frowned. “He cut off his location.”

“What? Well, that’s not sketchy at all.”

“What is he doing?” Cole mumbled the words under his breath, and Kenzie didn’t bother answering.

“You think he knows we tracked him to the restaurant?”

“A guilty person would wonder.”

“And a guilty person would turn off his location.”

Cole sighed, cranked the vehicle, and pulled out into the street. “We’ll try this way, heading back to headquarters. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. All of this ‘evidence’—or whatever you want to call it—is circumstantial. There could be a reasonable explanation behind it all.”

“Like he’s in an area without a signal?”

“Yeah. He said he told Woodruff to meet him at that location because it was close to HQ, but why did it matter if he was taking the rest of the day off?”

“Maybe taking the rest of the day off was a last-minute thing?”

“Hm. Maybe.”

A motorcycle whipped past them, the rider leaning into the wind.