Page 57 of Take a Hike
Everyone’s attention turned from the map to the laptop, and they all crowded around the table. Charlie dropped her phone into her pocket, shouldering her way between Fifi and Lou so she could see the video feed. Gabrielle was indeed getting out of bed, shoving her mussed long hair over her shoulder before she stretched. She dropped her arms as she looked toward the door, her lips moving.
“Turn it up,” Charlie said, reaching for the laptop even as she said the words. Cranking it up to maximum volume, she leaned closer to the screen as Gabrielle’s bedroom door opened and a skinny, white man stepped inside. He yanked off his baseball hat, leaving his hair mussed around his protruding ears.
“Sorry to bother you, Ms. Jones, but we were wondering if you’d talked to Clint about the break-in last night?”
Charlie turned her head so she could meet Kieran’s gaze. From his expression, he was wondering the same thing she was.
“Why would Jones’s widow be chatting with the new cult leader?” Fifi asked as if she could read Charlie’s mind.
“Shh!” Lou waved a hand at Fifi, her gaze locked on the screen. “We’ll miss what they’re saying.”
“It’s recording,” Fifi muttered under her breath, but Lou just shushed her again. Charlie gave an amused snort and received her own chorus ofshhs from Lou, Bennett, and—annoyingly—Fifi.
“I have,”Gabrielle said.“He’s sure the visiting PIs are involved.”
“Bounty hunters,” Charlie and Fifi said at the same time.
“Shh!” the others hissed at them.
“That’s what Saul thought too,”the skinny man on the screen said.“What’s Clint thinking we should do?”
“Besides, Iama PI, so she’s not totally wrong,” Bennett said, and then dodged Fifi’s swatting hand.
“I’ll meet everyone upstairs in an hour and tell you what he said.”Gabrielle made a shooing motion toward the door.“No sense in having to repeat everything.”
“Oh, okay.”The skinny guy retreated quickly.“I’ll let the others know.”
“Thanks, Daryl.”
“Daryl,” Charlie repeated. “Isn’t he one of Clint’s friends from the informant’s list?”
“Yes,” Rory answered.
“Gabrielle’s lying,” Kieran said. “Unless we missed her having a phone conversation?”
“Nope,” Fifi said. “She’s definitely lying. Someone’s been monitoring the feed since early this morning, and I even ran through all last night’s footage of her bedroom. She’s been asleepuntil just a minute ago, and her phone is way over there.” She pointed at the dresser on the screen where a phone sat, plugged into a charger. “There’s no way she could reach it without getting out of bed.”
“So…” Charlie said slowly as the wheels in her mind spun. “Maybe it’s not Clint giving orders from jail.”
Thirteen
Fifi was already nodding. Apparently, their psychic-sister link was up and working. “Even though Clint couldn’t have killed Cobra, it still might’ve been someone wanting to take over the militia.”
“After hearing about how Cobra treated his wife, I can’t really blame her,” Charlie said. There were mutters of agreement all around.
Charlie could barely contain her impatience as Gabrielle got ready. She appreciated that the woman got dressed in the bathroom after showering, so that she didn’t feel like more of a creeper than she already did for setting up a camera in a stranger’s bedroom.
Finally, Gabrielle took her phone off the charger and tucked it in her pocket. She stood by the closed door for several seconds, her shoulders curling in and her head bowing, making her look like a completely different person than the confident woman striding around her bedroom a few minutes earlier.
“What’s she doing?” Rory asked, leaning closer as she frowned at the screen.
“Getting into character.” Kieran’s voice was flat and filled with antipathy. Charlie couldn’t blame him. The woman was trying to frame him for murder, after all—or at least allowing it.
“That’s wild,” Lou breathed, sounding a bit impressed. “She’s like an actor before a play.”
Gabrielle swung open the door and scurried out, looking for all the world like a timid, beaten-down mouse who’d never commit murder or manipulate an entire militia.
Once she was out of range of the bedroom camera, Rory maximized the feed from the camera lurking in the taxidermied bear’s mouth on the main level. Charlie mentally complimented herself on her camera placement, because almost the entire room was within view. A half dozen men were milling around, including skinny Daryl. Except for one surly-looking man, they all rushed over to Gabrielle when she arrived, solicitously helping her get settled on the couch. Once they’d all taken their seats, Gabrielle spoke, her voice soft and hesitant. Rory maxed out the volume on the bug stuck to the antler chandelier.
