Page 49 of Six
“Not a surprise,” Gavin said. “Thankfully, we now have a brand new car to follow him with that he won’t recognize.”
“Did I sense a little bit of sarcasm there, Gavin?” Nora asked, her response lit with humor.
“You all bought a car in less time than it takes me to go to the grocery store and buy ice cream. I’m equal parts in awe and disappointed that I wasn’t given this assignment years ago,” he responded. Then, after casting a quick glance at Six, he added, “Then again, I don’t think I would have been ready for this assignment if it’d come along any earlier.”
Six shot him a quick look, then returned her eyes to the road. They didn’t know which direction DePalma would take when he left the Newcrosses’, so she needed to find a place with a view of the driveway to lie in wait.
“Any signs of Julian?” she asked, spotting a small road almost directly across from where DePalma would emerge. She hadn’t noticed it on their way in as it was narrow and bordered by thick trees, but it would do.
“None,” Nora answered as Six pulled onto the small road. “Should we ask Joe to send someone up to check on him?”
Six executed a six-point turn, inching between a ditch on one side of the road and trees on the other. “Yes. It’s probably too late to save Julian, but we need to preserve any evidence we can.”
“Will do,” Nora confirmed. “DePalma is getting into his car now so should be down the drive in about five minutes. You good?”
Six glanced at Gavin, who nodded. “Yeah, we’re good,” she answered.
“We’ll be tracking you, but let us know if you need anything,” Nora said.
Six was about to thank her and end the call but stopped short when she realized there was more her friends could do. Knowing DePalma was minutes away, she quickly updated Nora on her email to Heather and asked Nora to reach out to Jeremy’s sister and fill her in on everything they’d discovered. She also requested they forward Heather all the files and invite her to the house to work on the complaint together if she felt up to making the trip to Cos Cob.
Nora assured her she’d take care of everything, and they’d just ended the call when DePalma’s SUV appeared on the driveway. Tucked far enough back that they didn’t have to worry about him seeing them unless he drove by and made an effort to look, Six and Gavin watched.
DePalma paused at the end of the drive and a minute passed, then another. Finally, he inched forward and turned left, away from them. Six waited thirty seconds, then pulled out onto the road.
“Anything you want me to do while you drive?” Gavin asked.
“What did you throw in that bag?” Six countered, realizing she should have given him some direction as to what to take from her car. Aside from the gun she’d handed him earlier, there were a number of things that could come in handy, including her trusty switchblade, a pair of nunchucks, a second gun with a silencer, and her small appliance kit that had everything from a tracking device to a bug to a small dose of poison. The second gun and the kit had been tucked into the hidden compartment.
“I grabbed everything, including the contents of the compartment,” he responded.
Six wasn’t quite surehowto respond to the reminder that he’d been told about the secret compartment and so she stayed silent. She wasn’t so much bothered by Gavin knowing, but it pissed her off that the information had come from Franklin. It was anotherreminder of all the intel Gavin had been gifted with pertaining to her. Andthatdidn’t sit well with her. On the other hand, if he was truly going to be a partner, then she was glad he had the intelligence to remember the minor detail Franklin had imparted at some point.
“So, the plan?” he asked for the third time.
“We’ll follow him and see where he goes. If we’re lucky, he’ll stop for gas or a piece of pie or something and we place the tracker and bug then.”
“If not?”
“He has to stop at some point. We follow him until he does.” Gavin didn’t respond, and they drove in silence for thirty minutes as DePalma headed northeast toward Concord. As the miles ticked by, it wasn’t hard to admit that this wasn’t her greatest plan, but it was the best option they had given the circumstances. And she assumed Gavin agreed, or he would have said otherwise.
Forty minutes into the drive, a text came in from Nora saying Heather was on board. She planned to review all the files Nora had sent, then she’d come to Cos Cob Saturday morning so they could strategize. Six was grateful Heather hadn’t hesitated, but she’d be lying if she said Heather’s involvement didn’t make her nervous—too many people had died already.
On a whim, she called Cyn and asked her to reach out to their friends Lucy James and Brian DeMarco. Brian’s family was filled with men and women in all sorts of law enforcement agencies. On occasion, and for the right people, some of the retired ones provided personal security. Another ten minutes later, a text from Cyn came in assuring Six that the DeMarcos now had two people watching over Heather.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Gavin asked as they passed through Concord, New Hampshire.
Six shook her head. “No idea. Why don’t we see if he has any properties or ties to the area? The club can help.”
Gavin pulled his phone out and sent a text. A few minutes later, the device dinged. “That was fast,” he muttered, reading the message. “Well, fuck,” he added after a beat.
“Not good?” she asked, perhaps unnecessarily.
“Depends on how you look at it,” he answered. “Cyn thinks he’s headed to the Stanley Rose quarry.”
Six frowned. “An active quarry or an old one?”
“Old,” he said on a sigh. “They stopped cutting there in the early sixties.”
