She grabbed the crackers, whirled around to dash to produce, and nearly knocked over an older man. She grabbed his arm to steady him. “I’m so sorry . . . oh . . . hello.” She stared at his face, trying to place him.

He smiled back, “Ava, right?”

She nodded, her brain still spinning.

He saw her confusion. “We met the other day. You bought the art piece I wanted. I’m David.”

“Oh! Of course.” He clicked into place in her head. “I’m sorry, it’s been a busy couple of days.” She frowned. “Do you live in the neighborhood?”

A small suspicion niggled at the back of her brain.

“I’m staying nearby,” he said. “Did you hang up that lovely piece of work yet? I’ve been trying to find out more about the artist. She’s hard to hunt down. Maybe she paints under a pseudonym.”

“No, that’s her name,” Ava said, and immediately wished she hadn’t. “I believe it’s the first time she’s ever put her work up for sale.”

“I’d love to find out if she has more available somewhere,” he said.

Alarms sounded in her head.

“I don’t know how to help you,” she said. “You’ll excuse me? I’m running very late.” She turned and left before he could answer.

Twice in a few days? Both times with questions about Jayne? Her brain spun with scenarios. He could be a bill collector. No doubt Jayne owed someone money. But would a collection agency send someone to track Ava, hoping to reach her sister?

Maybe he was an enforcer for a drug lord Jayne had stolen from?

“David” was in his sixties. He didn’t look like someone who would break Jayne’s kneecaps, but to be effective all he needed was a gun. For a normal person, that would be a ridiculous scenario.

Jayne wasn’t normal, and Ava knew the scenario was very plausible.

Oh, Jayne. What did you do?

At least her sister was locked up and reasonably safe. If the man was following Ava and asking questions, it meant he didn’t know where to find her sister. A good thing.

Is he dangerous?

She skipped the produce and went to pay for her olive oil and crackers, looking over her shoulder for David as she waited in the checkout line. She didn’t see him. After paying she grabbed her items and went out the far door of the grocery store. She’d parked by the other door, but she knew there were a few trees and pillars at this end from which she could unobtrusively watch both entrances.

She stood behind the second pillar and watched. Nothing. His basket had held two items . . . both boxes of cookies. Things he could have picked up in the aisle where he’d finally approached her.

He hadn’t been shopping; he’d been following her.

For how long?

She’d left the task force meeting in downtown Portland and then driven out to her office by the airport. After a few hours there, she’d gone straight to the grocery store . . . which wasn’t anywhere near the small shop where she’d bought Jayne’s painting. If David knew Ava was an FBI agent, he could have waited near her office building until he saw her leave and followed. Did he know where she lived?

Bingo’s odd outdoor behavior popped into her head.

Had someone been in their backyard?

Dread crept up her spine. That would be very heavy-handed for a bill collection agency. It spoke of something much more important. Whom was Jayne mixed up with?

She had to talk to Mason. She’d forgotten to tell him about Bingo after the task force meeting.

Do I need to reach out to Jayne?

She wondered if Jayne’s doctors would let her see her twin. Her stomach churned at the thought of facing and questioning her sister. Ava touched her left side below her ribs. She’d nearly died from a secondary infection after being shot that summer. She’d been mentally off her game, traumatized by Jayne’s suicide attempt, which Jayne had made Ava believe was her fault. The months apart had been necessary for Ava to heal mentally and emotionally. She’d had to distance herself from her twin in every way.

Was she ready to bridge that gap?

Was Jayne ready? Her therapists felt the distance had been good for her.

“Dammit.” Ava didn’t know what to do.

She kept her gaze on both grocery store doors. People came and went, but not the man she was waiting for. He could have immediately left when she’d run off, realizing that she didn’t believe their meeting was a coincidence.

He must have traced Jayne through the art show newspaper announcement, hoping she’d show up. Instead the second-best person had shown up: her twin. Is that when he’d started to follow Ava, hoping she’d lead him to Jayne?

She mentally ran through the information that would be available about Jayne on the Internet. It would primarily be newspaper articles on arrests. Jayne moved so frequently, she had to be next to impossible to track. Even Ava hadn’t known where to find her half their lives.

But Ava had a more stable history. Any skilled skip tracer would figure out her home address through utility bills. “Fuck.” Both she and Mason were very careful about keeping their private lives out of reach of the public, but professionals who searched for missing people knew how to find almost anyone.

What will he do next?

“Do I care?” she mumbled out loud. It was none of her business. If Jayne owed someone money, then she needed to pay. Of course she didn’t have any money to pay with, but it wasn’t Ava’s responsibility to get her out of debt. “Not my monkeys.” Jayne could dig her own way out of her problems. Ava had already paid for enough of them.