Page 66 of Take a Hike
Lou continued without seeming to need to pause to breathe. “He mentioned Gabrielle once and then turned pale and tried to cover his slip, so Summers brought her in for questioning. After hearing that Tank was claiming credit, Gabrielleflipped out. She not only confessed to killing Cobra and organizing the coffee shop fire, but also to trying to shoot you outside of Rory’s store.”
“I’d totally forgotten about that,” Charlie admitted, shrugging at Kieran’s incredulous look. “What? It’s been a busy few days.”
“There were a bunch of other illegal things she’s been doing—well, the militia’s been doing under her leadership—all without anyone knowing thatshe’s in charge, not Clint. So she’s been arrested for all sorts of things, as well as most of the remaining militia members, so we’ll probably drop our petition, since the Freedom Survivors are basically no more—unless they continue doing their little meetings from prison, in which caseit doesn’t matter what they call themselves, since it doesn’t reflect on Simpson, and—most importantly—we don’t have to say or think about the name ever again—well, ever again after all the gossip dies down. Wild, huh?”
Charlie blinked, absorbing all the information Lou had just dumped on her. “Definitely wild. Thanks for all this, Lou. Tell Rory thank you too. I’m impressed she managed to get all that out of the deputy. I wouldn’t have guessed her to be such a good interrogator.”
Lou laughed. “It sounds like Deputy Carl was dying to share, so Rory just stared at him as all the information about the case came pouring out of his mouth. I don’t think he’s going to last long at the sheriff’s department.”
With a snort, Charlie said, “Definitely not. I almost feel bad for him when Sheriff Summers finds out what he did.”
“We’ve got to get the scoop from these baby deputies while we can, before they figure out how to keep their mouths shut. Good luck with your lock searching. Call me the instant you find the one the key fits into, or when you find the necklace, or when you find your mom. Just call me whenever you have exciting news, got it?”
Charlie made a sound that wasn’t really agreement but was close enough to pass for it, since Lou signed off and ended the call. She met Kieran’s gaze briefly before he turned back to his driving. “Congratulations,” she said. “You’re no longer a person of interest.”
“Does this mean I can leave town?”
Her heart gave an excited stutter, but she affected calm. “I hope so, since we already did a couple hours ago.”
“No.” He gave her another of his brief but meaningful looks. “Leave. For good.”
“Where are you thinking of going?” Her nonchalant tone was failing, and the words came out more high-pitched than she was going for.
He obviously heard the excitement she was trying to hide, since the corner of his mouth tucked in like he was concealing a smile. “I don’t know. I heard Langston is nice this time of year.”
At that, she couldn’t hold back her excited squeal, and only the thought of sending the truck flying off the road and over the cliff kept her from hurling herself at him so she could hug the snot out of him. “Really? I get to keep you?”
His growl-laugh made her heart sing. “Yeah. You get to keep me.”
***
By the time they reached Denver, it’d been dark for a while.
“This’ll be good,” Charlie said, trying very hard to ignore how the minutes remaining until Jane’s first court appearance tomorrow were slipping away at a terrifying rate. “We can wander around without too many people noticing us.”
Kieran made a skeptical sound as he turned onto the street where the Cherry Creek mailing store was on, and she couldn’t even be mad about it. The place was packed with cars and pedestrians enjoying the cool fall evening.
“Or not.” She frowned thoughtfully as she studied the crowds, trying to come up with a plan. “Should we wait a fewhours before going in? It’s going to look suspicious if we try the key in every lock.”
“Mmm,” he grunted his agreement.
“Ugh. I hate wasting time, especially when we have so little of it left.” When she realized that they were just grunting back and forth, she had to laugh, despite their current dilemma. She’d already called the hotel where the necklace had been stolen from. Although they did have safes in the rooms, guests had to clear them before checking out. There was no way Jane could be holding on to a room—she couldn’t afford to pay for that many nights. The hotel clerk had suggested the mailbox place as the closest rentable storage. “Let’s go to the intersection where Jane was picked up by police and check it out.”
With a grunt of assent—which made her laugh again—he turned left and carefully eased down the crowded street. He parked in the small lot of a closed chiropractor’s office just a few blocks from where Jane’s dash from the law had ended. As they walked along the sidewalk, Kieran rested a hand at the small of her back, and she marveled at how that simple touch made her feel taller and braver and just about indestructible.
The streetlights were frequent and bright, plus they were supplemented by security lights mounted on people’s homes. Charlie looked around, trying to put herself in her panicked mom’s shoes. She had to have been freaking out carrying that necklace around with no safe place to hide it. If the cops had found it on her, there wouldn’t have been any chance of her escaping justice. For a secret second, Charlie wondered if that might’ve been a good thing—no possibility of innocence meantno bail, and that would’ve meant she and her sisters could’ve avoided potentially losing their childhood homeandnot had to chase Jane all over the country. Sure, Jane would’ve definitely gotten prison time, but Charlie couldn’t really see any downside to it. She gave an amused—but also sad and frustrated—snort, and Kieran’s hand pressed a touch more heavily against her spine.
“What?” he asked.
“Just thinking about Mom and the necklace and what-ifs, and also how rich people never have to live in the dark.”
He hummed in a way that made her stomach warm, because it meant he was truly listening to her and wasn’t just impatiently waiting for her to stop talking like a lot of people tended to do. Between the flutter in her belly and the warm press of his hand against her lower back, she was hit by a rush of love so strong that she almost staggered. Catching herself, she turned her faltering step into a turn, pretending that she was getting a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the area.
She eyed the houses and the few businesses, forcing her brain off Kieran and back on to what a panicking Jane might’ve been thinking that night she stole the necklace. “This should be easy,” she complained. “Most of the buildings around here are private homes.”
“Does she know anyone who lives around here?” Kieran asked, following the path of her gaze with his own.
“Doubt it.” She swallowed a snicker at the thought. “She’s more of a Dutch’s clientele kind of person. Let’s go check out that laundromat. Maybe they have some lockers available to rent.”
