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Dana ignored the jab at her fashion sense or lack thereof. “First stop, Capitol City Storage.”
41
The storage centerwas only a few miles from St. Ann’s and mercifully, traffic was moving now that rush hour was over. Dana pulled up to the gate and punched in the code: Claire’s birth date.
They drove through the quiet parking lot and pulled up to her unit.
This was the first time Claire was seeing it.
Dana and Jake packed up her belongings when she was in rehab. She stared at the small blue door. It was strangely depressing realizing her life could fit in a five-by-five space.
Dr. Dvita’s words came to her unbidden.Depression takes what you let it.
Claire pushed back against her crushing thoughts and got out of the car. When she saw Dana following, she stopped her. “You don’t need to come in with me.”
“I know. But I’d like to.”
Claire shook her head. “Dana, trust goes both ways. Let’s start here.”
42
Jake tried notto smirk as he watched Claire tear into her fourth dumpling with ravenous abandon. It felt like old times having Dana back in his office. Claire joining them was an added bonus. As was the gem of a Thai restaurant she’d found. The spicy basil chicken certainly elevated his mood and possibly his blood pressure.
“Where did you hear about this place?” Jake asked, grabbing another piece of spicy chicken with his chopsticks despite the perspiration gathering on his brow.
“My friend, Betty, from Passages told me about it,” Claire answered.
“How’d it go today?” Jake asked around a mouthful of food.
Claire and Dana exchanged a look before Claire answered. “It was fine, but something came up that I was wondering if you’d help me with.”
“Oh yeah? Lay it on me.” Jake welcomed the distraction considering the abysmal day he’d been having hitting dead ends trying to locate his father.
“Max didn’t show up at St. Ann’s today. No one has seen or heard from him since Hayes died.” Claire wrung her hands. “We got really close at Passages. I know he doesn’t have anyone in hislife, and Max isn’t the sort of person who does well on his own. I’m worried something happened to him and I was thinking since finding people is your superpower, maybe you’d help me look for him?”
The comment deflated Jake. He knew Claire meant it as a compliment, but it was a reminder of how much Wade and his mother were counting on him to find someone too.
He knew if he dug far enough, he’d find answers, because Claire was right; finding people was what he did. The trouble was, sometimes how he found them did more harm than good.
Jake knew that however this thing with his father turned out, he and Wade would deal with it. But if he looked into this kid Max and the outcome wasn’t the one Claire was hoping for, she might not be able to cope.
He didn’t want to let her down, but he didn’t want to cause her unnecessary pain either.
Jake proceeded cautiously. “I appreciate your confidence in me, but it might be misguided.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Exhaling, Jake set his meal down and threaded his hands behind his head. Jake looked back at the stack of folders on his desk. Corporate espionage, homegrown terrorism, human trafficking—he never thought he’d feel this way, but he’d take tracking down a Grim Reaper and a scared kid over any of them.
“I hope this Max guy isn’t wrapped up in the Hayes investigation, because we’re gonna have to sit this one out and let the DOJ do their thing.”
Claire looked crestfallen. “No one is looking for a rehab runaway. If they are it’s only to pin Hayes’s death on him.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You should’ve heard the way everyone was talking about Max today. They’ve all but convicted him. It’s like they don’t even care that he’s the reason we all got out before the fire gottoo bad.” Claire swiped at a tear. “He didn’t do anything wrong. They just want to blame him because he’s different, but I’m not going to let that happen.”
Jake glanced at Dana. This was starting to feel like the Sadie situation all over again. Claire hadn’t trusted him to help then. He didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.
