Page 127 of All We Carry Home

I motioned the men to the two plush chairs across from my desk, and I picked up the files that had fallen. “What’d you find out?”

“Everything.” Reid pulled a thick stack of papers from his bag and handed them to me.

I flipped through the stack of photos, time logs, and descriptions of movements. Each page told a more convincing story until the last few pages, which revealed the truth I had been reluctant to speculate about.

“You’ll need more than photos,” Kenneth said, his hand over his chin. He looked ill at the revelations on the page.

“Can you get me hard evidence?” I asked Reid. “I need it in a week.”

“You’ll have it. I just need to wait until Merrick drives to California. Then I’ll retrieve what I can from the property and skedaddle down to meet you.”

Nationals couldn’t happen soon enough. Eva didn’t know the truth—she’d never believe it. I needed enough proof to convince her, let alone the authorities.

Reid left and Kenneth leaned back in the chair. “Well, at least you’ve solved the mystery.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“You better put it away and get your mission straight for tonight. You know the Pulitzer family will be at the fundraiser tonight, right? The Carnegies too.”

I hummed a noncommittal response, staring at the pages in front of me.

Kenneth gave a long sigh, cursing under his breath. “You’re not even here, are you?”

I blinked and looked up, about to give him the automatic response that of course I was here, but he was right. All I could think about was getting back to Eva and how much I dreaded having to come back to this office, a bustling hub of campaign aides and advisers, wrapped in mahogany and cigar smoke.

“I’m sorry, Kenneth.”

I didn’t want to let him down. I didn’t want to go back on my word. The man I was back in May when I agreed to this path—that Warren Hayes had changed into someone entirely different.

I wanted to help my fellow soldiers as much as ever. I’d seen through Eva’s eyes and the impact her methods could have, one life at a time. I had people who still depended on me back in Baker. I couldn’t abandon them now.

“I had a suspicion this would happen.” My former commanding officer stood, putting his hands casually in his pockets, and paced the room. “I shouldn’t have pushed you into this.”

Disappointment swirled in my gut. As a kid, I had found humor in the many rules I broke and the endless tirades from my mother or father. Letting Kenneth down—that was an entirely different story.

Kenneth rubbed his face and sighed. “I’ve been thinking about this and might have an alternative. Maybe.” He held up a finger.

My spine straightened. An alternative? I shouldn’t have been surprised. In the field, Kenneth always had a plan B and plan C.

“I’ve heard some rumors that one of the senators from Oregon plans to retire once his daughter graduates from high school in two years.” Kenneth raised an eyebrow. “It’s not ideal for me and the support I need right now.”

My heart hammered. Two years. Oregon as the home base.

“If I commit to speaking tours and building support from outside the Senate seat?” I asked. I’d do anything to make it up to him.

“That’d be the least you can do,” Kenneth said, a knowing smile on his face. “And maybe this will get Adia off my back. She’s been calling me ever since you ran into her in Scottsdale.”

His words faded as a series of new plans and new possibilities fell into place.

But none of it would matter if Eva didn’t hear me out, if she wouldn’t lower her barricades.

Thirty-Four

Eva

AUGUST 23

“Have you seen him yet?” Violet asked Eddie as they stood down the row of stalls in the grand Pomona stables. The arena and showgrounds beyond all buzzed with activity.