Page 15 of The Scenic Route
“I’m fine here,” he said, back in poker-face mode.
Felicity studied him, wondering if he ever really left poker-face mode or if she was just getting better at reading his slight changes of expression.
Daisy remained hovering above her chair, half sitting and half standing. “You sure? It’s no problem to grab a chair from the front.”
Bennett gave a slight but firm affirmative dip of his head, and Daisy settled into her seat again.
“Pretty nice promotion,” Lou said to Bennett with just the slightest suspicious edge to her vivacious tone. “From stalker to partner.”
Felicity found herself inexplicably bristling. Pressing down the urge to defend the big guy, she managed to say mildly, “Not quite a partner. More of a lieutenant in my brand-new bounty-hunting army.”
“You’re a bounty hunter?” Ellie asked.
“Yes!” Lou answered excitedly before Felicity could say a word. “She’s after a meth dealer and needs our help finding him.”
“Just research help.” Felicity had a feeling she needed to slow the runaway train that was Lou before everyone in the room ended up breaking into the militia compound at two in the morning, rappelling down the walls in black catsuits like the mountain version of Charlie’s Angels. “And you’ll be researching somewhere safe and far away from the actual militia.”
Lou laughed, not appearing to take offense. “Callum will be relieved to hear that. Why don’t you tell us who and what you’re looking for, and we’ll share what we know?”
“Okay.” Felicity resisted the urge to clear her throat. With all the stares fixed on her, she felt like she was back in high school, about to give an oral report. “Before I do, I’d ask that you keep what I tell you to yourselves—”
“Callum and Chris, Daisy’s husband, already know,” Lou broke in. “And Ellie and Rory tell their husbands everything.”
“That’s fine.” It wasn’t really fine, but Felicity knew it was inevitable that they share the news with their respective partners. “If you can just limit it to the eight of you, I’d appreciate it.” She waited for nods all around before continuing. “My skip is a member of the Freedom Survivors…”
A groan from multiple people interrupted her.
“Do you think we could start a petition to change that name?” Daisy asked. “It’s so dumb that it’s embarrassing for everyone involved.”
Hopping off her perch on the desk, Lou grabbed a marker from the ledge of the whiteboard propped on an easel in the corner of the office. She wroteCreate petition to change name from Freedom Survivors to something betteron the bottom of the board. “Not a priority right now, but I agree it’s something we need to do as soon as Felicity gets her guy. A name that bad reflects poorly on the whole town.”
Bennett gave a soft cough, drawing Felicity’s attention. Although his expression hadn’t changed, she had a feeling he was amused.
She swallowed her own smile and asked, “Okay for me to continue?”
Lou waved a hand in an expansive gesture before lifting the marker to the top of the board and pausing there as if waiting to record whatever Felicity was about to say. All the focused attention was throwing her off a little, but she gamely plunged back in.
“Dino Fletcher is a meth dealer who was arrested in Langston.” She paused as Lou wroteDino Fletcher—meth dealer,Langston, CO. “He was released on bail but never showed up to his first court date. Before he came to Langston two years ago, he was a member of the…Freedom Survivors.” After the previous discussions, she couldn’t help pausing before she said it.
Lou used her marker to tap the note about the petition.
“Do you have a picture?” asked the serious one of the four—Rory, Felicity remembered.
Felicity pulled up Dino’s mug shot on her phone and handed it to Rory. She studied the photo before passing it across Felicity to Ellie as Daisy and Lou moved to where they could see the screen over Ellie’s shoulder.
“Tall guy,” Ellie commented, and Felicity nodded. At six four, the guy should be easy to spot in a group. He could change his hair color or length, grow a beard, or even disguise his face, but he was stuck being tall.
“Have any of you seen him around Simpson before?” Felicity asked.
“Don’t think so,” Lou said, and the other three shook their heads.
Ellie handed Felicity’s phone back to her. “Sorry.”
Waving off the woman’s apology, Felicity gave her a small smile as she returned her phone to her pocket. “It was a long shot anyway. Since the guy just skipped bail, he’s going to be doing his best to stay out of sight.”
“What information do you need from us?” Rory asked.
“To start, where the militia compound is located.”
