Page 30 of The Scenic Route
“That seems like a terrible business model,” Felicity said, resisting the urge to laugh.
Lou shrugged as she headed for the back, emerging soon after with a register tray. “Just for today. Usually I’m a star employee, so I feel like I’m due a few creepy-stare days.”
Felicity couldn’t really argue with that, so she just exchanged a what-a-weird-place-this-is look with Bennett and settled in to wait for the rest of the murder club ladies. Lou got them all coffee before unlocking the door and lighting up theOpensign.
Ellie was the first to arrive, holding the hand of an adorable, serious-faced toddler.
“Mila!” Lou immediately swooped the baby up, peppering kisses all over her face and eventually getting a tiny giggle before setting her back on her feet. The little girl reached up to Callum, and he picked her up, placing her on his lap with a faint hint of smugness ruining his usually excellent poker face.
Lou shook her head in mock disappointment even as she smiled at the pair. “Why does she like you so much more than me? I provide all the best bribes—candy, puppies, toys—and she still picks you. I don’t get it.”
“Hey, Felicity,” Ellie greeted her with concern. “You okay?”
Before Felicity could answer, Lou spoke up. “They’re looking rough because they got shot at twice and had to sleep in their car.”
Ellie’s eyes widened, her gaze bouncing from Felicity to Bennett and back again as her hand rose to rub at her breastbone. “You were shot at? Were you hit?”
“Nope. Just twisted my ankle running away,” Felicity assured her. “Bennett’s windshield, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.”
“Your skip?” Ellie asked, taking a seat at the counter a few stools down from Callum.
Felicity raised her hands in a shrug. “The militia guys at least. I haven’t seen Dino yet though.”
Rory and Daisy arrived in quick succession, and the round of hellos and baby kisses interrupted the talk of shooting until everyone was settled with a coffee.
One unfamiliar twentysomething man came in, but Louput her creepy stare into action—which Felicity had to admit was truly one of the creepiest she’d ever seen—and the customer decided to take his muffin and cappuccino to go.
“Okay!” Lou announced when the door had closed behind the fleeing customer. “We don’t have a whiteboard this morning, but we’ll add any pertinent facts to it later. Felicity, why don’t you give a rundown of what happened after you left the gym last night?”
Felicity did just that, although she left out the part about bugging the office and listening to the murder club’s conversation after she and Bennett left the previous evening. Otherwise, she stuck to the truth, telling her rapt audience about the stakeout, the attempted shooting, Marian’s tirade, and the interruption of their short sleep by the shooters at the trailhead. She skimmed over the part about sleeping in the SUV and didn’t mention the only-one-blanket issue, even though she was pretty sure the murder ladies would’ve been enthralled by those juicy details.
“Why didn’t you call the sheriff’s office?” Callum asked when she’d finished.
All the women stared at him.
“I’m married to a deputy, and I still wouldn’t have called them if I’d been in that parking lot,” Daisy said. “Well, maybe I would’ve texted Chris to let him know I was fine when he heard the call come in, but other than that, nope.”
“Hard agree,” Ellie said.
Rory nodded.
Callum frowned as the toddler played with his shirt buttons. “Going through the proper channels—”
“Usually wastes a lot of time,” Lou finished for him, although she gave him an affectionate pat on the arm as she said it. “No one was injured, and the other people parked in the lot called it in soon enough. If Felicity and Bennett get involved in the cops’ investigation into the militia, it’ll just make things messy.”
“Or they’ll think Felicity’s a suspect,” Rory chimed in.
“Exactly,” Felicity said, relieved that the murder ladies were on the same page as her as far as involving the police. She already had one detective in Langston dogging her steps. She didn’t need a bored sheriff’s department in her business as well.
Although Callum let it drop, he still looked unconvinced. Little Mila grabbed a handful of his shirt, and he glanced down at her with a small smile.
Taking advantage of Callum’s distraction, Felicity changed the subject. “We need to find a better vantage point to watch the compound—wemeaning me and Bennett,” she clarified firmly, not wanting any of the murder ladies to take that as an invitation. “Dino might not even be there.”
“Didn’t Marian say that he was?” Rory asked.
Felicity thought back to the confrontation with the motel owner. “Not directly, but she definitely implied it.”
“You sure you want to keep pursuing this?” Ellie asked. “The situation seems to have a high risk of flying bullets. Aren’t there less risky bail jumpers you could go after?”
