Exposed (MAC Security 2)

“I know,” I said, trying to stay calm. “But it couldn’t hurt for us to talk to them.” Looking back at Ty, unsure, I asked. “Right?”

“It’s not a bad idea,” he said, nodding and turning his hand over, entwining his fingers through mine. “I’ll talk to Charlie about it.”

“Okay.” I nodded and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “What do we do now?”

“Now?” He smirked. “Now we show Monty his new home.”

I smiled back, looking down at Monty.

This was the happiest I’d been in a long time; I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It wasn’t normal for things to go this smoothly. Not for me, anyway.

I thought I was frustrated before but now I was beyond that. Way beyond that.

We were getting nowhere. The only thing that may bring new leads, was going and talking to the parents of the last girl who went missing. It was a good idea, one that I should have already thought of but I could see now that I had blind spots when it came to this case, and I admit, that was all down to Serena.

Right now wasn’t the time to think about work though because we were on our way to my parents’ house for dinner. Kay had been back at the house all afternoon baking pies.

“Your ma told me to bring pie,” she’d said.

“Yeah, but from the store. She wouldn’t have expected you to make one from scratch.” She’d just shrugged her shoulders and carried on making the pastry.

Now she was sat next to me in the truck, three pies at her feet, Eli in the back, and Monty in the truck bed.

Yep, Monty had to come too. That dog hadn’t moved from Kay’s side since she brought him home a few days ago. The only time he did was when he was playing with Eli but, most of the time, that was in the same room.

The dog was loyal to a fault and, if I was honest, it put me at ease that he was watching out for her. It meant that when I couldn’t be there that he would.

“Stop,” I said to Kay, reaching over and putting my hand over hers. She’d been ringing her hands since she got in the car, now I understood why she’d made so many damn pies; to keep her hands busy.

“I can’t help it,” she whispered, looking back at Eli and Monty, giving them the ‘mom smile’. The one that all moms gave to reassure her children that everything was fine, even when it wasn’t.

“I know, sweetheart.” Giving her hand a final squeeze, I let go and turned on to my parents’ land. They had acres that surrounded their house, something which I loved as a kid.

Dad had a work shed out back. Well, shed was putting it lightly. It was basically a cabin; he’d built it from scratch with wood that he’d cut down himself.

Mom had a stable full of horses. She loved them, well, she loved any animals, but horses were her favorite. She had a habit of taking in horses that had been neglected or the ones that people didn’t want anymore. She currently had six; two ex-race horses, three mares and a foal.

“Can I go to Trevor’s house again, Ty?” Eli shouted from the backseat.

“Trevor’s house?” Kay turned to me with a frown marred on her beautiful face.

“You’ll see.” I smirked, and parked on the grass outside the house.

Looking away, a frown still on her face, I watched as she took the whole place in. I tried to see it from her eyes but it was hard to do having grown up here. This would always be home.

“Ready?” Pulling open the door, I waited for her to answer before I jumped down. Spotting Ma as she came out of the house, shielding her eyes from the glaring sun.

“Yeah,” she whispered, not exactly convincingly.

“Come on, mama,” Eli whined from the backseat, already standing up, ready to get out.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them and pulled her door open.

“Let’s do this.” She nodded and bent down to get the pies once she was out.

Pulling Eli’s door open, I helped him down and waited for Monty to jump out. I turned around to tell Eli to wait for me but he was already running towards dad’s work shed.

“Eli!” Kay shouted, each hand holding a pie with Monty at her legs again. “Where are you going!”