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another chair.
    “This may be the best meal I’ve ever had.” Winona dabbed her lips with the napkin after taking a sip of the wine. He was right. The wine complemented the food and made the spices of the chicken burst in her mouth. She was sorry he couldn’t experience it.
    “Thanks. It’s one of my favorites.”
    “I’m still not convinced you’re not trying to seduce me,” she teased.
    He grinned and waggled his eyebrows for effect.
    An unexplained silence followed. Not awkward, but not comfortable or familiar or non-awkward. It didn’t feel like the right moment to ask about his family, considering all she knew was that his cousin had been murdered. But she had to broach the subject of why they were here together, eating.
    “Tell me about Amy,” she said.
    His eyes lit up a moment, a storm churning behind his electric blues, drawing her into an abyss. Fire shot through her and settled in her belly.
    “Amy is seven, going on twenty. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, and thinks she knows everything. I always feared her curiosity would get her in trouble.”
    “How do you think her father’s death and her disappearance are related?”
    “I think whoever killed Brandon took her.”
    “Is there anyone who would want Brandon dead? Anyone who would kill him for his little girl?”
    “I already told you that. Lillian, her mother.” He said it like her name was poison.
    “Do you want me to investigate Lillian, or Amy’s disappearance?”
    “Amy. But what happened to her has everything to do with Lillian. And Dillon Weaver.”
    “Dillon?”
    “Lillian’s boyfriend. I think he was involved. I’d like to believe he did it to get Brandon and Amy out of the way so he could have Lillian to himself, but honestly I don’t think that’s the case.”
    “What do you think?”
    “I think he’s Lillian’s puppet.”
    “Puppet for what?”
    “For anything she asks. If she wants her husband out of the way, Dillon would take care of it for her. That way she doesn’t have to get her hands dirty.”
    “Have you told this to the police?”
    Jake nodded. “He has an alibi. And if they suspect anything or anyone else, they’re not saying.”
    Winona stored that information for later. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this yet. How to feel about Jake’s blatant animosity. “Tell me about Lillian. What do I need to know about her? For what reason would she take her daughter after killing her ex—”
    “They weren’t divorced. At least, not yet. They were separated.”
    “So they had a rocky marriage.”
    “You could say that.”
    “But what’s her motive?”
    “Money. Money is always her motive.”
    “Did she have an insurance policy on him? And maybe her daughter, too?”
    “I don’t know. I was hoping you’d find that out for me. The cops weren’t too helpful. I’m family but only a cousin. They didn’t think that was good enough, apparently.”
    “And Lillian has custody of this child?”
    “Temporary. They were fighting for custody when Brandon was killed.”
    “And Lillian has full custody now that Brandon is dead. So why would she kidnap her own child?”
    “That’s a good question. If she does have an insurance policy out on Amy, then she probably means to harm her. If she doesn’t, she probably still means to harm her. Lillian isn’t a motherly mother.”
    “Or she wants to make it look like someone killed Brandon and kidnapped Amy. After all, it couldn’t be her, right? Why kidnap her own daughter?”
    “I thought of that, too.”
    “Where’s Lillian now?” Winona asked, curious to know more about this woman.
    Jake shrugged. “Her home, I suppose.”
    “Has she been questioned?”
    “The cops questioned everyone. Including me. I told them what I knew, what I suspected of Lillian. It’s obvious she captivated them. They probably think I’m the crazy one.”
    “Are you crazy?”
    Jake’s expression was stoic. She tempered her reaction and continued. “Why are you so