Reed (The Love Family Series Book 4) by Kate Allenton Page A

house. They needed answers, and he was hoping the clinic could provide them just that. Reed logged into his computer and used his phone’s hotspot to access the Internet. He sent a quick text to his brother-in-law, Luke.
    Found Landon. Not sure if I can get him home, but tell the others he’s okay. I’ll have your jet back tomorrow.
    He’d just shut the screen when Avery, Landon, and Emily joined him in the car. Landon was behind the wheel with Emily riding shotgun.
     
    ****
     
    Landon glanced up at the tiny brick building that looked like a throwback from eras past. The red brick was crumbling, and the banner above the door was faded. “Do they even have Internet?”
    Emily turned in her seat. “Yeah, don’t let the appearance fool you.” She grinned. “The inside had a complete overhaul to get it up to code before they could open.”
    Reed slid his computer into his backpack and got out of the SUV, meeting Avery around the front. He slipped his fingers through hers. “Are you ready?”
    “Of course.” She smiled until they walked inside the clinic.
    They stood just inside the doorway as men and women walked around, carrying things in boxes.
    “Uh.” A woman wearing a nametag with Janice scrolled on it greeted them. Her hair was frayed and falling from her clip. Her face pale white, and the boxes popping up around her face were telling. A picture popped out like a target on a dart board. Stuart Franklin and she were in a bed taking a selfie. “We’re closed.”
    Reed glanced at the reception desk. No computer in sight. “Closed for good or are you just moving?”
    Janice clasped her hands together. “Closed for good,” she said apologetically. “There’s another clinic about five miles from here if you need medical help.”
    A big, beefy man crossed the hallway with a computer in his hands, and Reed desperately wanted to follow.
    “Thanks for your help,” Avery offered and turned to leave. As they stepped out, Avery pressed the comm in her ear. “Send in Em, and make it fast. They’re tearing the place apart. Sam, get me eyes on the vehicles loading the files and equipment.”
    Emily smiled as she passed, heading into the office like a woman on a mission. They should have come sooner. The thought churned and settled into Reed’s stomach like rust on the coils of a car battery. Whatever clues they could have found would soon be gone.
    Reed opened Avery’s door and waited for her to slip inside before taking his seat next to her.
    “Well, that was unexpected,” she mumbled to herself.
    “You can say that again,” Reed mumbled.
    Landon turned in his seat. “Do you think they’re trying to hide something?”
    “She’s having an affair with Stuart Franklin.”
    “What?” Avery’s mouth parted as she stared at him. “Emily didn’t tell us that.”
    “She probably doesn’t know, but I’d say they intimately knew each other.” His mind raced, trying to put the pieces together. “Stuart Franklin is in this up to his neck. The question is whether Janice was a willing accomplice.”
    “She can’t be convicted of having an affair. What else did you see?” Landon asked.
    “That was all I had time to dig into.”
    Reed propped his elbow on the window and rubbed at his jaw as he stared at nothing particular, trying to make sense out of what had happened.
    “Let’s hope Emily has better luck than we did.”
    “Alice is missing, yes, that’s horrible, but why would they just shut down? Why not bring in another doctor, unless somehow Janice or the agency is involved?” He glanced at Avery.
    “This is a missing person, not a homicide. There isn’t a crime…yet.”
    Reed turned his head back to the window. “Yet.”
    Ten minutes later, Emily emerged from the building, carrying a box. Picture frames and a small plant stuck out above the rim. She wiggled her brows up and down in quick succession with a grin on her face. The drive back to the house seemed as though it took forever. Reed