Page 76 of Bling

Chapter Seventeen

“Aunt Izzy, wake up.”

Isabelle blinked her eyes several times as she struggled to wake up. It was Monday morning and she was back home after a wonderful weekend at Solitaire with Garrett. She missed sleeping next to him.”

“What’s wrong? Did I oversleep?”

Sarah shook her head. “No. There’s a man sitting in our driveway and he’s freaking me out. He has a camera.”

Isabelle’s heart lurched. Had Darren finally found them?

She rolled out of bed and jogged to the large window that faced the driveway.

She didn’t recognize the car and she didn’t see a camera, but Sarah had no reason to lie. Maybe it was security from Garrett. She picked up her phone to text him.

Do you have a security guard in our driveway?

She paced while she waited for him to respond. He was an early riser, so she knew he was probably already up.

His name lit up her screen and she quickly answered.

“You’re up early, Isabelle. What’s this about security in your driveway?”

“There’s a car I don’t recognize parked in the driveway. I can’t see the driver, but Sarah saw him first and said he had a camera.”

“One second, Doll.”

She heard him talking to someone else, maybe on his office phone. “Do we have someone sitting in Isabelle’s driveway?”

The response was muffled, but Garrett came back to her seconds later. “Our guy should be across the street. Look for a black town car.”

Isabelle went to the window again.

“I don’t see anything, Sir. The car in the driveway is a silver Honda.”

“Damn it. Hang up and call nine-one-one, Isabelle. I’m on my way.”

Isabelle turned and smiled at Sarah who was still sitting on her bed.

“Sarah, sweetheart. Why don’t you get ready for school, OK?”

The girl looked as if she wanted to argue but didn’t.

She called the police when Sarah was gone. At first the operator was confused, but finally understood and said they would send a patrol car by as soon as possible. Five minutes later, she saw a police car slowly drive by. The mystery car backed out just as Garrett’s driver turned the corner.

Knowing Garrett would be upset if she went outside, she went downstairs and waited for his knock.

As soon as his knuckles hit the door, she jerked it open.

“Did you even bother to check and see who it was?” he asked sternly.

“I’ve been watching from the window,” she murmured.

His gaze softened as he stepped into the house and pulled her into his arms.

“Who was that?” she asked after a moment of silence.

“I don’t know, but we got a license plate, so we’ll be running it down ourselves as well as passing the information to the police. Jax will be at the office this afternoon. What time are we supposed to be at the prison to talk to Carmen?”

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