Page 6 of The Scenic Route
Realizing she hadn’t answered him, she twisted her shoulders in an uncomfortable shrug. Finding the necklace would just bring the hordes of treasure hunters and cops down on their heads. They’d already had a slew of break-ins, despite their newsecurity system. If there was even a hint that the necklace was in their possession, things would get a thousand times worse.
With a slight shudder, Felicity narrowed her eyes at the PI. “How about you do your investigation, and we’ll stick to ours. If we find anything of interest to you, we’ll text.”
She broke through the tree line and strode across the yard, but the PI dogged her steps all the way to the porch. “Here.” He thrust a card at her. “Let me know what you find out.”
Knowing he’d probably camp out on the porch swing if she didn’t at least play along, she accepted the card and then went inside, Charlie close behind. As the screen door slammed after them, Felicity glanced back through the wire mesh to see the PI still standing at the base of the steps, eyeing her thoughtfully.
Flustered for some reason, she tore her gaze away and closed the inner door a little too firmly.
Two
“Your private dick is back,” Charlie said, smirking behind her coffee cup.
Felicity shifted in her chair so she could see across the street where the large PI was indeed lurking, leaning against the brick front of the pharmacy, pretending to read something on his phone. He snuck a peek at Felicity through those mile-long lashes before hurrying to drop his gaze. She barely resisted the urge to bang her head against the small café table in front of her. “If he’s going to stalk us, he should at least have the decency to be a little sneakier about it.”
“You,” Charlie corrected. “His stalking is most definitely focused on you.”
Even though Felicity glared at her sister, she really couldn’t argue. She’d had an unwanted shadow for the past two days, ever since the guy had sat on her in the woods. Mr. B. Green, according to his business card, had been following her everywhere, even when she just wanted to sit on the coffee shoppatio and enjoy some caffeine and early autumn sunshine in peace.
“I did tell him to stalk me like a normal person.”
Charlie pursed her lips. “That probably wasn’t wise.”
With a quiet groan, Felicity turned so she couldn’t see Mr. Green anymore. “I was having a bad day and was slightly concussed. I shouldn’t be responsible for what I said.”
Felicity’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the name on the screen before answering. “What’s up, Molly?”
“So remember how there was no sign of Mom after she left the house?”
“Yes, I remember that thing that happened two days ago.” Felicity felt a little bad at her snarky tone, but she blamed her sour mood on Mr. Green. Pretty much everything that’d gone wrong since she’d literally run into him had been his fault.
To her credit, Molly ignored her sarcasm. “But who was leaving his house right as we started searching?”
Felicity thought back to that unpleasant day. “Who was leaving—oh! Mr. Villaneau.” Even as she said the name, realization dawned, and she wanted to smack herself for being so oblivious. She’d watched the guy leave and all she did was make a joke about his glare. “Mr. Villaneau, the man Mom had an affair with five years ago and then lightly blackmailed.”
By the way Charlie was staring at her, she’d figured out what the conversation was about, just from Felicity’s half. “She was hiding in that SUV that drove right past us, wasn’t she?”
“Need us to have a chat with Mr. V?” Felicity asked, giving Charlie a grim nod.
“Already did. Carmondy and I played good cop/bad cop, and I finally got to be the bad cop.” Molly sounded positively chipper. “He eventually admitted he’d brought her to that truck stop out by the interstate. Guess who she met up with there?”
Felicity rubbed her forehead, feeling an echo of her headache returning. “Zach Fridley.”
“Yep. But the good news is that we got a vehicle description from him, and our darling Norah is already working on getting the security video footage. Hang on—she’s handing me a sticky note wiiiiith…the license number and direction of travel.”
“Nice.” When Charlie gave her an inquiring look, Felicity said, “Norah has the plate number for Zach and Mom.”
“Way to go, Nor!”
There was mumbling on the other end of the call before Molly’s voice returned. “Our genius sister has managed through only slightly less than legal methods to access the State Patrol cameras on the interstate. Mom and Zach took the first Colorado Springs exit.”
Relieved to have a new lead after letting both Jane and Zach slip through her fingers, Felicity pushed back her chair and stood. “Thanks, Moo. We’ll stop home before heading out.”
“Um, Fifi?” Charlie followed her off the coffee shop patio toward where they’d parked on the road a half block away. “What are we going to do about Mr. Lurky McStalkerson?”
Letting her head drop back, Felicity groaned. “I forgot about him.” She couldn’t resist glancing over at Mr. Green. Although he was still pretending to look at his phone screen, his big form was almost vibrating with interest now that she and Charliewere on the move. His body language reminded her of Warrant when he spotted a squirrel.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to lead him to Mom,” Charlie said, serious for once.
