Free Ashes and Bone by Stacy Green Page B

bigger at play here?”
    Gina’s eyes narrowed, gaze flashing between the two women. Dani looked intently at her fingernails, but Jaymee didn’t break eye contact. Let the captain lay into me right now. Getting into a shouting match sounds like a blessing.
    “I think there is,” Gina finally said. “But I’m still not sure I buy the Dixies being involved. The guy in prison was arrested for meth. Now that’s something the Dixies would want a piece of. Maybe his antique thing was just a side job.”
    “But…” Cage had been quietly eating his brownie while simultaneously giving both women the grudging stink eye. “That might not matter.”
    “Explain,” Gina said.
    “If Nick finds out this guy’s behind the false antiques or knows someone who is, he won’t stop digging until he’s uncovered everything. I guarantee you that. What if his investigation led him to the Mafia? To specific members? What if that’s the something bigger at play?”
    Pain shot up Jaymee’s right arm. She’d been clenching the chair. Her knuckles popped as she flexed her fingers and tried not to sink into a full-blown panic attack.
    “That would explain the quality of the job,” Gina said. “Someone knew how to clean up the victim’s blood, even got a fair amount off the upholstery. In a wicked storm. That takes balls.”
    “Stop.” Jaymee couldn’t take any more. The fear she’d been struggling with all day was trying to devour her again. “Your victim has a name. It’s Nick. He’s been taken by some crazy, power tripping manic, and you’re sitting here mulling possibilities and talking about him like he’s a statistic.”
    “I’m sorry.” Gina’s eyes softened. “It’s just easier for us to compartmentalize.”
    “Jay, have you had any sleep?” Cage said. “You look like you’re about to keel over.”
    She shook her head. Her throat hurt too much to talk anymore. Helplessness overwhelmed her, and she dug her fingernails into the chair’s vinyl seat pad to remind herself she still had some sort of control.
    “She hasn’t eaten much either,” Dani said. “Why don’t we go back to your house? We’ve told Cage and Gina all we know.”
    “I need to look for Nick. You still have people out there, right?”
    “Yes,” Gina said. “Our assets are still limited, but they’re looking. I have to be honest with you. I don’t expect to find anything. Whoever’s taken him was skilled enough not to leave any obvious trace evidence at the scene. And it’s been nearly twenty-four hours. I want you to understand—”
    “No.” Jaymee steeled herself. “I won’t hear it. Nick is alive.”
    Cage didn’t meet her eyes. Gina nodded. “I hope so.”
    *     *     *
    Jaymee stared out of Dani’s depressingly tinted windows, watching the town pass by in a blur. Residents were still cleaning up; others watered their dry lawns. The storm hadn’t brought a drop of much-needed rain. Jaymee absentmindedly thought she needed to water the rosebushes.
    “So you want me to make us a late lunch?” Dani parked the truck in Magnolia’s drive.
    “Actually, no,” Jaymee said. “I promise I’ll eat later, but I don’t think I can right now. I just want to sleep. And I think I want to be alone.” She gave Dani a pleading look and hoped she hadn’t hurt her friend’s feelings.
    “Fair enough,” Dani said. “I’ve got a project for the historical foundation I need to work on. But I don’t like the idea of you staying here alone right now. How about I come back and make supper?”
    “That works.”
    Jaymee headed up the drive, heart and feet weighted down like cinder blocks. The various plants lining the house’s winding drive looked wilted, their baby blossoms dying in the dry spell. She’d have to water them later. Right now, she was going to lie down. At least she could stop her spinning thoughts from making her feel like vomiting.
    Mutt whined to go out, and Jaymee obliged him before collapsing on the