Page 89 of The Pretenders of Copper County
Dante and I turned to see a small, shadowed figure by the open door to the cabin. When he stepped forward into the light from the window above the kitchen sink, I frowned.
“Bob? You should go back to your camper.” I moved to put myself between him and Dante. “This isn’t a good?—”
But to my shock, Bob looked over my shoulder and lifted his chin at Danny. “Dante.”
“Bobby?” Dante’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m retired.” Bob shrugged, smoothing a hand over his thinning hair. “Sort of a forced retirement, since the whole thing with Robert Jr., so we bought a camper and ended up here. Kinda weird coincidence, I guess?—”
“Can you two catch up later?” I demanded impatiently. “I’m alittlebusy trying to figure out where the fuck Chris is?—”
“I can help with that.” Dolores appeared in the door, pulling off the hood of her raincoat to fluff her red curls.
“Dolores,” Dante said. “You’re looking well.”
“Dante.” She nodded with a slight softening of her face. “I saw your nephew earlier. Actually,bothof them.”
“You saw Chris and Nicky?” I demanded. “Where?” I was not used to being the person with no information and I didn’t like it one bit, especially when the safety of the man I loved—and hadn’t told yet—was on the line. “And how the hell do you know our campers?”
“This is Robert Evanovich—” Dante nodded at the man.
“Evanovich?”I repeated, feeling my head begin to spin. “You’reRobert Evanovich?”
“Senior,” Bob corrected. “Important to clarify that, since my son got himself arrested for dealing and bookmaking, amongst other unsavory things.” He shook his head in disgust. “No honor in this next generation.”
“Where’s Chris?” I repeated, trying my hardest not to pull both guns and start shooting.
Dolores’s expression was a mix of sympathy and hard-eyed determination. “Chris came over to the RV this morning for online shopping, but when I got interrupted, he skedaddled. I came to check on him a couple hours ago and he seemed kinda nervous-like—on account of the storm, I figured. I invited him back over, but he never showed. His email was open on my laptop—a message from Nicky begging Chris to call. I can only assume he did?—”
“He did.” I scrubbed both hands through my hair. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. Once I saw Nicky’s name, I put two and three together real fast. I came back to warn Chris… and that’s when I saw Nicky holding a gun on him in the woods.” She shook her head. “Didn’t like Nicky before, but now…?” She shook her head angrily.
“Nicolas and I are going to have words,” Dante promised.
I stared at him in disbelief. No, Nicky was going to end up behind bars for a very long time, if I had anything to say about it… assuming he hadn’t hurt Chris. If he had, all bets were off.
“Do you know where they went, Dolores?” I prompted. “Did you see Nicky’s car? Or which direction they headed.”
“I was getting to that part.” She lifted one red eyebrow. “Cabin 13.”
“Cabin—? Holy shit! He’shere? He’s at the campground? You saw them?” I demanded. When she nodded, I headed for the door.
Bob blocked my path. “Hold up, kiddo. We need weapons and we need a plan?—”
“Kiddo?” I snorted. “No.Youdon’t need shit.Iam a trained Division agent, andIneed to go?—”
“Bobby’s right,” Dante interrupted. “Three… well, four,” he corrected with a nod at Dolores, “against one is a lot better odds. And I’m sure as hell not going to sit around waiting, Mr. Trained Division Agent, since Chris got kidnapped on your watch. So either take us with you, or we’ll go ourselves.”
I shook my head as I pulled out my weapon to check it. What the fuck had my life come to that I would be leading an extraction team of two old men and one very opinionated lady?
“We care about him, too,” Dolores said firmly.
Because of course they did. Because Chris was… Chris. Gorgeous and warm and so fuckinggood, he attracted good feelings to him like a magnet.
Too bad he attracted trouble, too.
“Fine,” I agreed because I didn’t have time to argue. “But you three will followmylead.”
