Page 52 of Unraveled

“Lawyer, right?” The faint twist of Knox’s lips hinted at a smile, and Carter took the friendly jab good-naturedly.

“Dad’s footsteps.” He shrugged. “What can you do?”

Knox tipped his head like he understood perfectly. “Keller said he was a client of yours.”

“That’s actually how I found out about you. How long have you been in business?”

“Last tour ended about a year ago, so it was kind of a process getting everything all together, finding a place for a home base, all that good stuff.”

Carter’s curiosity was piqued. “What do you do? Besides the obvious,” he added.

“Long-term, I’d like to land a government contract. To be honest, though, right now we’ll take anything pretty much just to get our name out there. We’ll be offering some self-defense classes soon, as well as firearms instruction, and we’ve assisted the locals on a couple cases.”

Carter knew Knox was referring to both Hannah and Adalyn. “Well, those are both commendable endeavors, so I’m sure you have clients lining up.”

Knox lifted one shoulder humbly. “We’re doing okay so far.”

Carter took the hint and didn’t pry, but something Knox said sparked a memory. “Actually, Audrey said at one point that she’d like to take some self-defense classes.”

Knox nodded knowingly. “Any training is better than nothing, especially these days. What happened recently?”

“Someone shot at her a couple days ago outside a coffee shop.”

Knox’s brows lifted toward his hairline. “You’re sure it was meant for her?”

“I was only a few feet from her, but it looked pretty deliberate to me. The PD seems to think it may have been gang-related. There was no license plate, and even though they have the model, there’s a good chance that car’s sitting in a chop shop somewhere right now. It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.” Knox raised a brow, and Carter shrugged. “The coffee shop released the camera footage, but without evidence...”

“Says the lawyer,” Knox shot back.

“You know how it is,” Carter grumbled. “They don’t have the time or resources to look too deeply into it.” It was a fact of life, and one he hated. Audrey could’ve been killed, yet he seriously doubted they’d ever find the person responsible.

“So we’ll just have to find some evidence,” Knox supplied, as if it were just that easy. “Anyone suspicious, anyone who might want to hurt Audrey? I remember there being an ex-husband.”

“They just divorced,” Carter confirmed, “but they ruled him out since he was out in public with his new wife.”

Knox’s eyes widened. “He’s already remarried?”

Carter couldn’t help the scowl that took up residence on his face. “He’s an idiot. But that’s neither here nor there. He’s out of her life, and that’s all that matters.”

“Okay,” Knox said slowly. “Anyone else who stands out?”

This was the tricky part. “This is kind of convoluted,” Carter warned, then told him about the conversation Audrey had overheard at the VA between Dr. Kellerman and Edward Raines. He wasn’t sure what to think, but coupled with Edward’s strange behavior recently, he couldn’t discount anything.

“Raines. Any idea who this guy is?”

Carter blew out a breath. “Yeah. My boss.”

Knox absorbed that for a long moment, then— “Damn.”

“Yeah.” It always sucked when lawyers were implicated, because most of them, himself excluded, were slimy. They would have to be careful to cross every t and dot every i if Edward were responsible in any way.

“Motive?”

Carter lifted a shoulder. “No clue.”

Elbows braced on the arms of the chair, Knox steepled his fingers and peered at Carter. “What about the other guy—Kellerman?”

“I don’t know anything about him. But he works with her every day,” Carter pointed out. “If he thought Audrey had overheard something, it makes sense that he’d want to silence her. But if that was the case, wouldn’t he have tried something before now?”