Page 28 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

FOURTEEN

Kristine hadn’t thought going shopping with a guy could be so fun.

But they hit two stores in downtown Lake City and a café for a to-go coffee, then headed to his parents’ bookstore.

Pages & Prose was a quaint store that held the delicious and unique smell of books.

She stepped over the threshold and breathed deep. “This place is amazing,” she said.

He smiled. “And they’ll make a bundle when they sell it.”

“They’re going to sell?”

“When they’re ready to move on. My parents are nomads at heart. Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

It didn’t take long. By the time he finished, a man in his early sixties who had to be Andrew’s father came out of the back. He was tall with broad shoulders, had Andrew’s green eyes and the same small dimple in his left cheek. He looked strong, capable, and curious.

“Andrew,” the man said, “good to see you.” He turned his attention to Kristine. “I’m Christopher Ross. And who is this lovely lady?”

Kristine held out a hand. “I’m Kristine Duncan. So nice to meet you.”

“And you. So what brings you two by?”

“I need some stuff that I stored here,” Andrew said. “There was an incident at the Airbnb where I was staying and I need to replace a few things.”

Shock held the man still for a moment. “Wait a minute. I think I saw that on the news. That was your Airbnb?”

“It was.”

Mr. Ross’s eyes narrowed. “Good grief, Son, what are you entangled in to have someone come after you like that?”

“It’s not me. It’s a friend. And we’re all fine, so that’s what matters, right?”

The man grunted. “If you say so. Your mother’s out with some church ladies who’ve pulled her into their friend group, so just go on up and get what you need. I’ll entertain Ms. Duncan.”

“Kristine, please,” she said.

“And I’m Christopher. My wife’s name is Mel.”

Andrew touched her shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time.”

He hurried through the shop, and she heard his footfalls going up a set of stairs.

“So, how did you and Andrew meet?” Christopher asked.

“Through mutual friends, but he’s working a case that we both have a vested interest in.”

“I see. Andrew’s a good man. I raised him right.”

“I can tell.”

“Good.” He grinned. “I like you.”

After a few minutes of small talk, Andrew’s return footsteps sounded. He appeared with a small suitcase a little larger than a carry-on. “I’ll bring this back when I’m done with it.”

“That’s fine.”

Andrew patted his father on the back, stepped back, then turned to Kristine. “You ready?”

She smiled. “Whenever you are.”

She walked to the door, and Andrew’s father met her there to take her hand in a light squeeze. “It was wonderful to meet you, Kristine. I hope I get to see more of you in the future.”

“That would be lovely.”

Andrew joined her. “Sorry to pop in and run, Dad, but we’ve got to go.”

“We’ll still see you on Friday, yes?”

“I’ll be here.” He hugged the man and patted his shoulder. “Give Mom a hug for me.”

“Happy to do so.”

And then Andrew was ushering her out the door.

Back in the car, she turned to him. “Your dad is great.”

“He really is.” He tilted his head. “Dinner at Mike’s?”

“Mike’s? Sure, I’ll never turn down one of their burgers. They have awesome cheesecake too.”

“I figured the cheesecake would come into play. And how is it I seem to be the only person in town who didn’t know about that place?”

“You don’t live here, Andrew. It’s okay.”

“Still...”

She laughed and he pulled away from the curb.

The restaurant was just two blocks away, and soon they were seated at the table, lemonades in front of them. His gaze swept the room.

“You looking for something?” she asked.

“Some one .”

“Who?”

“Chey.”

“Oh, Jacob’s friend.”

“Yep.”

“Still no word about him, huh?”

“No. Unfortunately. His mother went home from the hospital yesterday morning. I’ve been wanting to go by and see her but have been a little busy trying to stay alive and keep Hank that way too.”

Kristine groaned. “I should have gone by to see her. She probably feels like we’ve abandoned her.”

He grimaced. “I know. I’ll see if someone can stop by her house and check on her.”

“No,” she said. “How about you and I do that. Let’s take some food from here and go see them.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure. James, Cole, Kenzie, and others from the SWAT team do it occasionally when they come across a family or someone in need. No reason we can’t do the same. They could use it.”

He nodded, a look in his eyes she couldn’t fully interpret but thought it looked a whole lot like respect. “All right. Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“I have another idea.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m thinking about the hijacking.” She shrugged. “I know you guys are still investigating.”

“Mostly waiting for reports to come back, but yeah. What are you thinking?”

“Have you looked at past hijackings to see if there’s anything similar to this one?

You know, like someone being forced to carry out a hijacking or someone who was forced to get a tattoo beforehand, or .

.. whatever. And I don’t mean just in Lake City, because I think my mother’s was the only one. Like ever.”

“That’s right. And yes, we’ve looked into them nationwide. Why?”

“Any hits?” she asked.

“Not really. We’re still looking at them, but do you have something else on your mind?”

“Maybe. I want to look at something first. Something I’ve never looked at before.”

“What’s that?”

“The hijacking that killed my mother.”

ANDREW BLINKED. “You’ve never looked at it before?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because my dad discouraged it, mostly. He was adamant that looking at it would just cause pain and heartache. He even refused to let us turn the television on because he didn’t want the constant reminder blaring in our home.

And while I don’t agree with him about much, that one I kind of did.

I just didn’t want to relive it. It was horrible enough when it happened.

That was as a teen. Later, as an adult, when I could look at it, I was afraid to. ”

“Afraid?”

“Afraid I’d become even more obsessed. I mean, I became an air marshal because of her.

In honor of her. To possibly help other families not lose loved ones to hijackings.

” She shook her head. “Her hijacker went down with the plane. No one’s really sure what happened.

The black box was never found, so no answers there, and I was just secretly concerned that if I started looking for answers that might not be ‘findable,’ for lack of a better word, I’d never be able to be at peace. ”

“But?”

She gave a short laugh. “But Jesslyn. Seeing how finding answers about her family’s deaths, finding the person responsible for them, helped her so much, I wonder if I shouldn’t try to do the same. It could backfire, of course, but then again, it could end well too.”

“Makes sense.”

She studied him. “Does it?”

“Yeah. It does. I can get the report for you if you want.”

“I have access to it.”

“I know. Just thought it might be easier if I did it.”

A slight smile curved her lips. “It might be at that.” Her eyes flickered with something else. Something she wasn’t sharing. Then it faded and she said, “Sure. You can get it for me. Thanks.”

A young man walked out of the kitchen area and into the dining room, sweeper in hand. “That’s Trevor,” Andrew said.

“Who?”

“The guy who waited on Nathan and me last time. Hey, Trevor.”

The guy stopped and looked at Andrew with a frown. “Yeah?”

“I don’t know if you remember—”

“Oh yeah, burgers and lemonade guys. I remember you.” He eyed Kristine with an appreciative look. “But your partner’s looks sure have improved.”

Kristine gave a barely audible snort, then coughed to cover it up. Andrew smirked, then asked, “Where’s your friend Chey?”

Trevor leaned on the handle of the sweeper and shrugged. “Dunno. Guess she’s got other things to entertain her.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

He hesitated. “You know that kid you were asking about? Jacob Brown?”

Kristine straightened and Andrew nodded. “Yes.”

“I think I saw her with him out behind the restaurant. She was giving him food. I mean I think it was him but can’t be a hundred percent sure. I tried to look on the footage, but he had his head covered and kept his face turned away.”

“He knows the cameras are there,” Kristine said.

“I almost called you guys but wanted to be sure it was him. Then he was gone and I haven’t seen him since. I’ve been watching for him, though. He’s probably like a stray cat. Feed it and it’ll come back.”

Andrew wasn’t sure he liked the analogy but kept his mouth shut, because while it was kind of offensive, it was possibly accurate. “So you’re saying Chey most likely knows where he is.”

“Maybe. I asked her about the kid this morning and she shrugged me off. Told me to mind my own business, that I obviously needed meds because I was hallucinating.” He shrugged.

“I wasn’t hallucinating, but I can’t promise it was Jacob either.

Could have been another friend, but she was so secretive, it made me wonder. ”

Made Andrew wonder too. “When did you see them together?”

“This morning, right before I asked her about him.”

“Well, at least we know it’s likely he’s alive,” Kristine murmured.

“You still have my card?” Andrew asked Trevor.

“Yeah. Got a picture of it on my phone.”

“Okay. Good. Call or text me when Chey comes in again, will you? Or if you catch her giving food away. Don’t stop her or call her out on it, just call me, please?”

“Yeah, okay. I can do that.”

“You’re a good kid, Trevor.”

He flushed. “I try. Most of the time anyway.”

Kristine laughed and Andrew smiled. “Now,” Andrew said, “can you pack us up a dozen burger plates and the chicken finger catering tray? We’ll take that to go.”

“Sure thing. Let me go put the order in.”

Once they had the order packaged and in the back seat of the Bucar, Andrew aimed the vehicle toward the Brown house.

“I just had a thought,” Kristine said.

“What if they’re not home?”

She blinked. “Yeah.”

He chuckled. “It occurred to me too. Well, we’ll have enough food to feed everyone at James and Lainie’s.”

“True.” She paused. “You don’t think we should have found Cheyenne and asked her about Jacob?”

He pursed his lips. “Normally I would say yes, but just from meeting her, she’s a good liar. Or a skilled actress. She’s not going to tell us anything if we ask. We’re going to have to catch them together. What do you think about an early morning stakeout?”

“You read my mind once again.”

He pulled to the Browns’ curb and parked. One vehicle was in the garage. “Think she might be home.”

“All right,” Kristine said, “let’s do this.”