and it still hadn't completely sunk in. It felt like the past few hours were more of a blurry nightmare than reality, but in her gut, she knew she wasn't dreaming. This was real. She was caught up in something she didn't understand. Everyone had warned her that she was running into fire, and she'd still kept running.
Now, she had Jax running with her, and that wasn't fair. All he'd done was deliver an envelope at the request of Wallace Jagger, and he'd gotten caught up in the turmoil that was her life. He'd helped her. He'd supported her. He'd kissed her.
She slanted a quick look at his profile, thinking how long it had been since they'd kissed. Their day had started out with so much promise: a casual breakfast date, a chance to just get to know each other, and it had been fun. But then she'd returned to her mission and everything had gone to hell.
Jax had stuck with her. She didn't completely understand why, but she was grateful. He was keeping her sane in a world that was spinning wildly out of control.
Although, she did wonder again if they'd made the right decision in not telling the police Julia's last words. Would that decision come back to haunt them?
Jax had made a good case for staying silent. They'd be safer if the killer thought they believed Julia killed Natasha. But it worried her that by not telling the police, they wouldn't investigate her death in the right way.
She glanced over at Jax, feeling a wave of second thoughts. "Jax, if we'd told the police it wasn't suicide, wouldn't they be doing a more thorough investigation? Wouldn't they be looking for security cameras and that kind of stuff?"
"They're going to do that anyway," he said, giving her a quick look. "The detective assured me of that. He said they never take a note at face value."
"Oh, okay, so they're going to investigate as if it could be murder."
"Yes."
"But if they're investigating, then the killer will know he still could be caught," she pointed out.
"That's where you come in. You have to sell it at the club tonight. If you believe it, then they'll feel more confident that an investigation will reveal nothing."
"That makes sense."
"But if you're having doubts, Maya, we can drive to the police station. You can tell them you just remembered something. Pretend you were in shock and you weren't thinking clearly."
She thought about his suggestion. Part of her wanted to do that and part of her didn't. She could always pretend to remember Julia's last words tomorrow. But for tonight, she would put on an act. She would try to take the target off her back and off Jax's back. She really hoped no one at the club knew he was helping her, because the last thing she wanted was for anything to happen to him.
"Maya?" he asked, a question in his eyes.
"Sorry. I was thinking it through. I'll see what happens later. I can always go tomorrow."
Jax nodded, and a few minutes later, he pulled up in front of Blake's home and parked along the curb.
Then she got her second surprise of the day. There was a car in the circular drive and standing next to that car was her father. He was arguing with Blake, and both men were so caught up in what was going on, they didn't even see them.
"Oh, my God," she muttered. "That's my dad. What is he doing here?"
"Only one way to find out. Unless you want to leave? I don't think they've seen us."
"No. I want to know what's going on." She opened the door and got out. Jax came around the car and they walked down the drive.
"You shouldn't have said anything to her about that night," her father shouted.
Blake froze, his gaze moving toward them. And then her father turned. Shock ran across his face.
"What are you doing here, Maya?" he demanded.
"I was going to ask you the same thing," she returned. "I thought you barely remembered Blake."
"Is that what you told her?" Blake asked her dad.
"Shut up!" her father snapped.
"I've shut up for too long. I'm done keeping your secrets."
"What secrets, Dad?" she asked, her stomach starting to churn once more.
Her father looked at her with both anger and fear, and it was that second emotion that disturbed her the most. Her dad was never ever afraid. The secrets had to be bad, really bad.
"You should tell her," Blake said. "She's going to figure