Page 48

“I don’t know who those people were!”
Kenna nodded. “I know you don’t. But pretend for a second they’re some kind of theater troupe or the whole thing was a practical joke.” She paused. “Is there anyone in Nicola’s life who might have done something like that?”
The older men she and Jax had met at that retirement home were the ones who haddisposedof the mother of those abused children. Had they taken her from the hospital without anyone knowing by using the same people?
She needed to find out if they’d done this to Nicola.
Or if it was someone else entirely.
Kenna continued, “Someone like an ex-boyfriend or a current relationship? Maybe someone in her family?”
“You think it was a joke?”
“I have to ask every question, even the ones that are less likely. I need a place to start looking.”
Dana was the one who had seen it happen, and they’d left her alone. So, they didn’t consider her a threat. Or she was irrelevant.
Did this Doctor Buzard guy have a terrifying staff who kidnapped people?
And what did he want with Nicola?
“Is there anyone in her life who might have done this, whether with evil intentions or as a joke?”
Dana sucked in a choppy breath. “I don’t think so. Not even her family.”
“Is there anything else you can think of that might help me find her?”
She shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Kenna said. “You’ve helped. Probably more than you know. Okay?”
She seemed reassured by that.
Kenna chatted for another minute, then wished her all the best and left her to her peace. She found Jax in the hallway speaking with a doctor. The guy had a kind face, but she didn’t trust places like this. There was too much in Kenna’s past that had put her mental health on a knife-edge. She could easily have ended up confined to a facility, unable to regulate her fears or come to terms with the loss she’d suffered.
There but for the grace of God.
It was absolutely true. She wasn’t ever going to take her peace, or her freedom, for granted. Not when things could so easily have gone the other way.
The grace of God had her where she was.
At the same time, the grace of God might be the reason Dana was here. Because this was the best place she could be. And hopefully, the grace of God would allow Kenna to find Nicola despite the odds, allow her to take downDominatusand do so with minimal collateral damage. She had to rely on the Lord because there was no way she could do this on her own. Even with a team behind her.
Kenna’s dislike of feeling trapped was her deal. She wouldn’t project that fear onto someone else. The kind of person who might need a situation exactly like this in order to feel as if they were in control.
“Thanks.” Jax turned from the doctor and walked toward her, making a face. Apparently, there wasn’t much that the doctor had said, even if Jax had thanked him. Seemed like it was more ofThanks for nothing.
He stopped in front of her.
“It might be a serious long shot, but we need to see if anyone caught Nicola’s kidnapping on camera.” With the perpetratorswearing masks, they might not learn anything useful if they did manage to find evidence, but they had to at least try. “I think this doctor guy took her.”
Whatever he wanted her for, it wasn’t going to be good.
Kenna needed to find her.
And fast.
Chapter Fourteen