Chapter 36

"Hey, Cora." Jazz's greeting came out softer and weaker than she'd intended. Probably thanks to the tightness of her throat and dryness of her mouth.

She'd turned over her decision in her mind a hundred times on the drive to PK-9 headquarters. But she knew it was the right one. She had to be ready to leave with Hawthorne. He was her future. She'd never belonged at Phoenix K-9 anyway. No matter how hard she'd tried.

The self-reminders rapid-fired through her brain as she forced her legs to carry her to Cora's desk just inside the front entrance.

Jana came out from behind the desk to greet Jazz, her swishing tail and friendliness only making what Jazz had to do harder.

Cora smiled up at Jazz, no hint of suspicion in her innocent blue eyes. But there was a trace of a question. Had she asked Jazz something?

"Sorry." The heat of a blush surged into Jazz's cheeks as she straightened from petting Jana. "Did you ask me something? I was…distracted."

Cora kept her sweet smile. "I only said hello to you and Flash." She looked down at Flash, standing on leash next to Jazz. Then she lifted her gaze, and fine lines crossed her forehead. "Is something wrong, Jazz?"

Cora always was perceptive about people.

Though Jazz wasn't exactly doing a brilliant job hiding her tension either. "Not really." She tried to force a casual tone, but her own ears told her she'd failed. She took a breath. Better just rip off the bandage. "I need to put in my two weeks' notice."

Cora blinked. Then her eyes widened as she watched Jazz for agonizing seconds. "Do you mean notice of resignation?"

Something like guilt clogged Jazz's throat. She shouldn't have to feel guilty. People left jobs all the time. "Yes." She swallowed. "You need two weeks, right?"

Cora tapped something on the keyboard of her open notebook computer that sat to her left. "I believe so. It's never been a question before."

Meaning Jazz was the first employee to ever leave PK-9. Great. Just went to show how much of a misfit she was. The only one who wasn't accepted there, who'd never managed to be well-liked enough to be happy.

Cora's eyebrows pinched together as she examined something on the screen. "Yes. Two weeks' notice is required." She brought her gaze back to Jazz. "Are you sure you want to leave?"

Jazz nodded, tightening her muscles against the sadness in Cora's voice. "Yes."

"I'm so sorry, Jazz." Cora's words socked Jazz right in the growing balloon of guilt in her belly. Cora didn't have anything to apologize for. She'd been the most welcoming person at PK-9. If they'd all been as loving and accepting as her, Jazz probably would've been able to belong there.

"I thought there might be something troubling you. I should have tried to help." Regret shaped Cora's features. "Can I help you in some way now?"

This was harder than Jazz had thought it would be. She hadn't meant to make Cora feel bad. But the problem wasn't something Cora could fix. It wasn't really something anyone could fix. Jazz just didn't belong at PK-9. And didn't even belong with her best friend anymore, apparently.

The memory of Nev turning away from her and leaving without another word fueled Jazz's resolve. She finally had a better option than staying where she wasn't wanted or wandering through life alone. She had Hawthorne and an uncle who loved her. She could travel with Hawthorne and keep in touch with Uncle Pierce, visiting him whenever she could. Especially at holidays and birthdays, like normal families did.

Yes, this was definitely the right decision. "You're so sweet, Cora. Thank you. But I don't need help. I'm okay." Jazz managed a smile. "This is the best decision for me right now. I plan to travel soon and try other things."

"Oh." Sadness still sloped Cora's mouth. "Well, I hope that goes well for you." She looked at the computer screen again.

Probably the moment Jazz should make her escape. She didn't want to risk caving under misplaced feelings of guilt and Cora's kindness. "Thanks for taking care of it for me. I'd better get going." She started to turn toward the doors.

"Jazz, wait."

Jazz tensed and rotated back.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to double check to be sure. But in order to officially submit your two weeks' notice, you'll need to talk to Phoenix."

"What?" Jazz's stomach twisted.

"Yes, I'm afraid it's in the contract you signed."

"You're kidding." Jazz stalked around the desk, Flash following her sudden movement.

Cora leaned back in her chair so Jazz could see the contract she'd pulled up on the computer screen.

There it was in black and white. Any employee wishing to terminate employment needed to meet in person with Phoenix Gray before notice of resignation could be submitted. Jazz narrowed her eyes. Wasn't that just like Phoenix to have one last trick up her sleeve. A secret hidden away to trap Jazz at the end.

Though a vague recollection started to surface in Jazz's mind. That she might've noticed the clause but hadn't cared when she signed. From Nev's description of the work environment and her great love for all the agents at PK-9, Jazz had thought she'd stay forever.

She dropped her gaze to Flash, who was enjoying petting from Cora. As Jazz looked at the screen, instinctively checking to make sure the requirement was still listed there, her gaze caught on a notecard on top of a thick stack next to the computer.

Beautiful calligraphy filled the card. But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." – Isaiah 43:1

"Is that from the Bible?" Jazz stared at the words.

Cora took a second to answer, probably looking to see what Jazz was talking about. "Oh, yes. Those are my Scripture memory cards."

Jazz turned her attention to Cora. "You're memorizing that?"

"Yes." Cora smiled. "All the verses in the stack."

"Why?"

"Because I want to have God's Word hidden in my heart, so that I know what is true and what is not. So that I have His comfort and promises with me wherever I go. I never want to forget that He loves me or forget the proof that He loves me."

The proof that He loves me. It sounded like the way a woman talked about the man she loved. Cora was married, and her husband, Kent, clearly adored her. But she still wanted to believe that a distant, probably made-up being loved her? Seemed weird when she had the real, sure love of a man she could see and touch.

"Here's another favorite of mine." She pulled the next card out of the pile and read from it. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

"Is that talking about Jesus?"

"Yes, it is." Cora set the card on the desk and angled her blue eyes up at Jazz. "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of His children and give them everlasting life with Him."

"Is that what Christians believe?" Jazz hadn't heard it put quite like that before. Never really heard an explanation at all.

Cora nodded. "It's why we follow Christ. Because He redeemed us, and we belong to Him."

That must be what Hawthorne believed, too. Would that keep him from wanting to be with Jazz, like Nev had said? Only one way to find out. Cora would never give a misleading answer for personal reasons.

"Is it true Christians aren't supposed to marry someone who doesn't believe the same as they do?"

Cora pressed her lips together in a thoughtful expression. "If you mean that the other person is not a Christian then, yes, that is true. God directs us in His Word that we should not be unequally yoked, not bound to an unbeliever."

Then Nev hadn't made that up to get Jazz to stop liking Hawthorne. Jazz started around the desk.

"Jazz?" Cora's voice stopped her again. "Phoenix doesn't believe Gary Ackerman had anything to do with the attacks on you."

For once, Jazz agreed with Phoenix on something.

"We're still trying to find a possible motive or likely suspect. Do you know much about your father's military service in Iraq?"

Jazz shrugged. "He won some medals, so I guess he did all right. Didn't you say his record was impeccable?"

"Yes, it seems to be." Cora folded her arms over each other on the desk. "However, there is one incident Phoenix wanted me to look into more deeply. I feel I should warn you that what I find could be…difficult."

Jazz stepped closer to the desk from the front side as her stomach clenched. "What do you mean? What is it?"

Cora straightened. "I don't want to give details until I'm sure of the facts. Speculation is never a good idea. Phoenix likely wouldn't want me to say anything yet. I'm waiting to hear from her Army contact, who I hope will give me the details I need to know the truth."

Great. More of Phoenix's ideas and orders. "Fine. Maybe I'll be gone by then anyway."

"I did find some concrete information that I wonder if you'd like to know." The hesitation in Cora's tone added a twist to Jazz's stomach. "It concerns your mother."

Jazz stopped breathing. Had Cora found her?

"I know this is an understandably painful area for you. I will keep what I learned private and not share it with you unless you want to hear it. But you may want to know this."

Jazz forced herself to breathe. She could handle it, couldn't she? She had a man who liked her, maybe loved her. And she had a supportive uncle who seemed ready to be a better father to her than her real dad had been. They could help her through meeting her mother or learning she was a homeless drug addict. Whatever it was. "Go ahead. Tell me what you found."

Sympathy pooled as unshed tears in Cora's eyes. The first sign Jazz should've said no. "I'm sorry, Jazz. Your mother passed away ten years ago."