Page 46 of Crossing Paths
“Dash wants me to make friends with Chloe,” Norah blurted. In all the excitement following their abbreviated stakeout that morning, she’d temporarily forgotten about that plan. Now, the mention of Leifsen brought it all back, and anxiety rose in her again.
“Wait…what?” Molly asked.
She and Cara stared at Norah as Dash gave an amused grunt and took another one of her fries. Glancing down, she saw that he’d eaten all but four of them while she’d focused on the conversation with her sisters. She looked pointedly at her plate and then him, and he stopped with the purloined fry halfway to hismouth.
“I’ll get you some more,” he said, sliding out of his chair, presumably so he could track down Taren and replace her missing fries.
When Norah looked away from his retreating back, returning her attention to her sisters, she found they were both watching her with matching gleeful expressions.
“Let’s put the Chloe explanation aside for a moment,” Molly said, leaning forward. “I want to hear about that.” She gestured between Norah and where Dash had just been.
“What about it?” Norah asked warily, wishing for Dash to make a speedy return. Suddenly, a refill on fries didn’t seem as critical as ending this conversation.
“Everything!” Cara tossed her hands up as if encompassing the whole universe, and Norah swallowed hard as her mind blanked. “This came out of the blue, so while you two are busy exchanging secret smiles and private jokes, we’re flummoxed on this side of the table.”
“Flummoxed,” Molly repeated with a nod.
Norah struggled to find words to explain when she herself didn’t really know what was happening between her and Dash. All she managed were a few squeaks and various vaguely monkey-like noises. Finally, she just settled on, “I don’t know?”
That didn’t seem to satisfy her sisters. “How’d it start?” Molly pushed. “Did he make the first move? Did you? This is blowing our minds here, Norah. You need to throw us a bone.”
“Make a move?” The thought of instigating something with Dash made her entire body cold with panic. “Noooooo, therewas no move made. There haven’t been any moves.”
“No moves?” Cara sounded rather disappointed by that. “But there’s something happening between you two. It’s obvious.”
“So obvious,” Molly chimed in.
Norah eyed her sisters. “Why are you doing the twin thing when you’re not twins?”
With a shrug, Cara said, “Charlie’s been gone a lot lately. I needed a fill-in twin.”
“No changing the subject.” Molly rerouted the conversation back to its original, unpleasant path. “Do you and Dash… Ah, here you are, Dash! I was just wondering if you’d found…um…fries.”
Dash had reappeared next to their table like the supersize ninja that he was. Tilting his head slightly, he eyed Molly, and Norah felt her face heat up as she wondered how much of their mortifying conversation he’d overheard. Without commenting on Molly’s clunky attempt to cover up the fact that they’d been talking about him, Dash took his seat and slid a basket of fresh fries in front of Norah.
“Thanks,” she said, still feeling incredibly awkward, and then jammed a couple fries in her mouth so she wouldn’t have to say anything else. They were hot enough to make her eyes water, but she just chewed determinedly. The slight pain was better than explaining what they’d been talking about.
“So…Chloe Ballister,” Cara said, and Norah could’ve kissed her for tossing out a safe topic. “What’d you find out?”
***
By the time Norah had almost finished her second order offries, with Dash only stealing about a third this time, everyone was caught up on their surveillance and the burglary in progress they’d interrupted. Dash had paid the entire bill over their objections, simply handing his card to Taren before they had time to pull out their money.
“I think it’s a good idea to make friends with Chloe,” Molly said, turning her empty water glass in circles. Her gaze was focused on what her hands were doing, but it was obvious her thoughts were elsewhere, working out the next steps in their plan to bring in Leifsen. “Even though it’s doubtful she has anything to do with Leifsen anymore, she’s really our only lead right now. Do you know what her day job is or if she has one?”
“Not yet.” Norah hadn’t investigated Chloe much beyond her connection with Leifsen, just basic details like her home address and her band’s venues.
“See if you can find out more about her schedule so you can arrange anotheraccidentalmeeting.”
Cara chuckled. “Your turn to be a stalker, Norah.”
With a grimace, Norah dropped the last fry back on her plate. With the renewed churning happening in her stomach, she didn’t want to eat any more. Dash snatched it up almost before it hit the plate.
“Norah?” Molly prodded.
Although she heaved a deep sigh, Norah nodded, resigned to the plan. A part of her had hoped she could have Chloe as a true friend, but it was critical to bring in Devon Leifsen before he hurt anyone else. Molly and Cara had packed schedules, and it seemed like her sisters were fine with Norah doing fieldworknow that she had her own beefy bodyguard.
As if she’d read Norah’s mind, Molly gave her a stern look. “Research only unless one of us—or Dash—is with you.”
