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Chapter Eight

T he doctor and the mother.

Both of them missing.

Kenna pulled a chair out and sank into it across the table from the two detectives, both men. The older one, with dark hair and a little gray on the sides, was Detective Orlando. The other was Detective Pendleton, who had blond hair and light eyes.

Kenna’s self-proclaimed lawyer, who’d introduced herself as Heather Pickett, sat beside her.

She had brown hair, pulled back and pinned up, and blue eyes.

Apparently, it didn’t matter that they’d never met.

This woman was here to represent her. Or to ensure she didn’t reveal too much about what might very well be a resistance operation?

The lawyer’s motives weren’t clear.

So long as Kenna didn’t end up in jail for something, she was willing to compromise. Maybe.

The blond officer, Detective Pendleton, opened a notepad on the table in this sparse conference room with zero personality.

Probably by design. He cleared his throat and asked her a few basic questions.

Her name and date of birth and whether she had a valid private investigator license in Arizona, which she did now.

“What brings you to Phoenix, Ms. Banbury?”

“I live here now.”

That made the two of them perk up.

She glanced between them. “What’s this about?”

Pendleton said, “I have two different police reports from the last few days with your name on them. Are you…working a case in Phoenix? Maybe something that the police should be aware of?”

“Something that would get a doctor and a patient mysteriously kidnapped?” Kenna wasn’t going to mention her own mysterious kidnapping—assuming that’s what had happened to her yesterday—at least, not at first. She might need the information to corroborate something she said to them, but likely it would only invite more questions.

Both of their eyebrows rose.

“I’d love to act surprised to hear that Doctor Nicola Santorini and…the mother of those abused children—I don’t know what her name is—have both gone missing, but the fact is my office assistant called me just a moment ago while I was in the lobby and informed me.”

“Because it’s relevant to your case?” Pendleton asked.

So far, her lawyer hadn’t intervened in anything Kenna said. Heather sat beside her, making notes in shorthand on a legal pad. At some point, she might cut Kenna off or advise her not to answer a question. Hopefully, before she incriminated herself. It was all a guessing game, though.

“I don’t currently have a case I’m working involving the doctor or that woman.

” Kenna explained about Friday night and how she’d been paid by Terri Fleming to investigate her business partner, then discovered that Fleming had also been embezzling money from the business.

“I had an appointment at the doctor’s office yesterday. ”

“Regarding what?”

Kenna said, “That would be private medical information.”

Heather lifted her chin, ready to argue on Kenna’s behalf.

“Very well.” Detective Pendleton nodded. “Ms. Banbury, where were you yesterday between four fifty-two and midnight?”

“Most of that time, I was with my husband.” She figured the fact Jax was FBI would add credence to her alibi, even if they’d insisted he not be present for this conversation.

“And the rest of the time?”

“Jax didn’t get home until almost seven, and before that, I was sleeping.”

“Alone?”

She nodded.

Pendleton said, “So, no one else can confirm your whereabouts during that time?”

“I can tell you what time the security system was deactivated when I arrived at home. I believe it was around three thirty.”

Heather glanced at her, then made a note on her legal pad.

As far as all of them should be concerned, it was Kenna who’d come home then. She knew it wasn’t her, and Jax might not lie under oath.

Okay, fine. He definitely wouldn’t lie.

More likely, he’d say it appeared to be her that entered the kitchen. Only if the cross-examiner picked up on the tiny note of him hedging would they ask further questions and get to the bottom of the fact it wasn’t Kenna. She had no idea where she’d been nor when she was really brought home.

“I must have been completely exhausted because I hardly remember getting home, and when my husband showed up, I was only just waking up.”

Hopefully, that answer was going to satisfy these two.

Time to change the subject. “How did the mother manage to leave the hospital? Wasn’t she under police custody? Do you have footage that shows her being taken out or leaving of her own volition?”

The older detective shifted in his seat. “Are you attempting to imply that it’s the fault of the officer watching her?”

Heather touched the table in front of Kenna. “My client is certainly not commenting on the professionalism of the Phoenix Police Department. But if she’s being accused of kidnapping or some such crime, she has a right to ask questions. The answers to which will enable her to defend her case.”

“So she can explain how she caved a woman’s chest in, and only hours later, that woman has gone missing from the hospital?” Pendleton asked.

Kenna said, “What reason would I have to take her from police custody? I only met her that morning. The first thing she did when I attempted to defuse the fight between her and another man was rush me, forcing me to defend myself. Aside from those seconds of contact, I haven’t spoken to the woman or ever met her in any way.

I don’t even know her name, and I never saw her again after that incident at the medical center. ”

“Right,” the older detective said. “This ‘other man’ you mentioned. An associate of yours, I presume? The cops who responded said you told the children he was a spy.”

“They were scared kids. It seemed like a good way to distract them.” Truth.

“He disappeared before they could get his information or talk to him about what happened.”

Kenna said, “I have no idea where you’d find him now.” Which was also the truth.

Her lawyer said, “It’s not my client’s responsibility to do the police’s job for them. You expect her to hand over this person?”

“They know each other, don’t they?” the detective asked.

Kenna said, “I’m not sure I’d say I really know him.” Also not untruthful.

The lawyer touched the table again, so Kenna stopped there.

Heather said, “We asked you here as a courtesy to ensure from the outset of the investigation that the police department doesn’t waste their time looking for the wrong suspect—my client.

As we’ve done that, and she’s explained that she had no contact with either of the missing women after yesterday morning, I believe this conversation is at its end.

” She stood. “My associate will see you out.”

The door opened, and another woman, a brunette, stepped in, holding the door open. “If you’d come this way.”

“Thank you, Tina.” Heather collected her things, slipping her notepad into a briefcase on the floor and effectively dismissing the two detectives. Such a power move.

Kenna managed not to smile because it would look too much like gloating.

The cops didn’t like being told the chat was over, but they didn’t argue either. When they were gone, Kenna and Heather went out into the hall.

Kenna asked, “Where did you guys stash Jax while we were talking?”

It probably would’ve looked too much like she felt she needed defending to have both an FBI agent and a lawyer in the room with her.

Heather said, “This way. I believe he’s speaking with Ms. Romeo.”

Kenna smelled coffee but didn’t know where it was coming from, and no one offered her a cup. Heather took her to a corner office one floor up with a slender woman at a desk out front, speaking on the phone.

Heather asked, “Is she in?”

The woman nodded, covering the phone with her hand. “You can go in,” she whispered. Then she said into the phone, “I’ve explained our position thoroughly.”

Heather opened the double doors into the office, and Kenna saw Jax was sitting at one end of a leather couch. Lisa Romeo sat on an armchair to the left, and both of them had mugs in hand.

He smiled when he spotted her. “How did it go?”

Kenna shrugged. “Not much I can say to help them, apart from convincing them to scratch me off their suspect list.” She slumped down on the couch right beside him, and he handed over his mug. She took a long drink from his coffee and handed it back.

“Keep it. It was for you.”

She smiled at him. “What are you guys talking about?”

Jax motioned to the lawyer. “Ms. Romeo was explaining about the disappearances of those two women being a federal matter.”

“Is it?” She glanced between them.

The lawyer, Lisa Romeo, seemed like she might be in charge of this whole operation if the size of her office was anything to go by. But who knew? Maybe all of their offices looked like this.

Ms. Romeo said, “Special Agent Jaxton’s access to the case, if it was under the jurisdiction of the FBI, would only be a benefit.”

“To whom?” Because these lawyers needed to explain whose side they were on before Jax would do them any favors.

“We’re all working toward the same end.”

Kenna had heard that speech before. “So we should work together? That’s usually not an arrangement that works out to my benefit.”

“You got Bruce out of it, didn’t you? And you met your mother.” She set her cup on an end table. “How is Zeyla doing?”

If these lawyers were actually part of the resistance, they probably knew more than she did about her cousin—sister—whatever she was.

“Zeyla was moved to a long-term care facility so she can continue her recovery. Physical therapy, things like that. I’m hoping we can get together in a few months when she’s on her feet. ”

“How wonderful.”

It was impossible to tell if this woman was being sincere or not. “Did you ask me here so you could ambush me into making a statement to the police?”

“Of course not. That was simply a box we could easily check off. All part of the service.”

“Do you take pro bono cases?”

“Terri Fleming?”

How did she know exactly what Kenna had been thinking? Unless Taylor Newport at the reception desk had overheard and passed on the throwaway comment Kenna had made.

“We’re already looking into Ms. Fleming’s case. She currently has a public defender assigned to her, but if one of the associates decides to take the case, then that’s what we’ll be doing.”

But not because it would make Kenna owe them a favor.

Kenna took another swig of coffee. “So what was the other reason you asked me here?”

“I assume you’ve filled your husband in about the doctor you identified? And read the file we gave you about Doctor Buzard?”

Kenna shrugged. “I didn’t really have time to read the file after he kidnapped me yesterday.” But Maizie was on it, hence the morning update.

The lawyer actually flinched. “Excuse me?”

“I lost some time yesterday. I was drugged and dumped back at my house later. Now I feel better than I have in weeks with no explanation except for a needle mark on the inside of my elbow.”

Ms. Romeo lifted a phone from beside her mug and tapped out a message, more forcefully than necessary.

“Guess your people didn’t inform you of that.”

“We don’t have you under surveillance, Kenna. We’d like to work with you to take down the doctor.”

“I have the information you gave me, some of which was a little confusing since I don’t know how it relates.” Aside from a basic rundown on the doctor, there had been a genetic research paper and news articles of astounding feats.

Nothing like crushing someone’s chest in with one shoulder check. Thankfully, Kenna hadn’t killed the woman because she hadn’t known what she was capable of. That would’ve been awful.

“Is the disappearance of the doctor and that woman yesterday connected to this Doctor Buzard guy?”

Ms. Romeo said, “We aren’t certain, but we’re looking into it.”

“Anything else you’d like to share?” Kenna asked.

“I’m still reeling from the idea of you being captured just yesterday by him.” She set a hand on her front. “And you say you’re feeling better?”

“For now, at least.”

Jax squeezed her shoulder.

Ms. Romeo said, “My people will work on the more recent missing persons. If you could follow up with the people in the file, we would appreciate it. The men referenced in those newspaper articles are men we believe the doctor experimented on during his time in covert government work. They may have been some of his original subjects, and if that’s the case, they might be able to help you understand what was done to you. ”

She’d probably just been hoodwinked into doing what they wanted her to do.

But what else was new?

“You’re going to look into Nicola Santorini and that other woman?”

Ms. Romeo nodded.

At least the kids had been taken somewhere safe by those two cops. Everything else wasn’t turning out to be quite so simple.

Kenna stood, and Jax did the same behind her. “Okay, I’ll admit I do want to know what happened to me. Enough to track down these guys.”

The lawyer nodded. “Then we’re in agreement.”