I took a gulp of hot coffee, burned my tongue, and uttered a curse word, a habit I needed to break. The highway stretched out before me with an occasional vehicle in my sights. Lots of think time, as if I hadn’t fired all my brain cells on this case. Questions formed, and my speed matched my insistence to get answers.

My arrival found Clay and the two agents finishing up breakfast. I leaned against the kitchen counter with my crutches and noted the lines in Clay’s face had deepened since our last meeting. His plate of eggs hadn’t been touched.

“Did those making threats against Shelby kidnap Aria?” Clay’s features tightened. “Did they see my granddaughter in Valleysburg?”

“What I know is Eli Chandler kidnapped Aria per Marissa’s orders and is transporting your granddaughter to Miami, not Phoenix. Mike and I go wheels up in the morning.”

Clay shoved back his breakfast. “I’m confused about all of this. I don’t understand why Marissa wants her daughter now when she had no problem leaving her in the past.”

“I wish I had solid intel for you, but we’re working on it.” I addressed the two agents. “Do you mind if Clay and I talk privately?”

The two grabbed their coffee and walked outside. Clay watched them leave. “What’s the bad news?”

“Nothing to report along those lines. You’re worried, and I am too. Here’s what I can tell you, some of which you already are aware. Shelby volunteered to find evidence that would hold up in court and prove Marissa is part of a money-laundering organization. Meantime, indications of other illegal activities leading to Marissa have come to our attention.”

His eyes reddened. “My wife told me before she died about Shelby taking the blame for Travis’s murder. I assumed the pain medications were talking, and I refused to listen. Then Aria claimed horrible things about Marissa, inconceivable things. I’ve thought of little else since. Memories repeat of my daughters as girls and of Marissa during the time Shelby spent in prison. But is it true? Did Shelby take the blame to protect her sister?”

“Yes.”

He clenched his fist. “Is Marissa behind the threats on Shelby’s life?”

“We believe so.”

“I want the chance to love on Shelby like she deserves and get Aria back. I love Marissa, but how could she do these horrible things?”

Clay needed to hear what he was up against. “Marissa has legal rights to Aria. Instructing Chandler to pick her up and transport her to Florida isn’t against the law.”

“Unless he hurt her. Aria’s disappearance is my fault. One of the agents left his phone on the table. I used it to call Marissa, to find out the truth behind her abandoning Aria.”

“She had it traced. What do you remember about the conversation?”

“I didn’t accuse her of anything, but I begged her to reconsider what she was doing to her daughter. She cried, her typical response. Claimed she missed Aria but believed her daughter was better off with me. Shelby had threatened her until she had to run, and some guy offered to help her get settled in Phoenix. No admittance of wrongdoing.” Clay shook his head. “Now I learn she’s in Miami. Why there when she insisted a need for a dry climate?”