Page 54 of Hiss and Make Up
Sierra knew a distraction when she heard one. Because if there was anything Liz did want to talk about, it was the cute guy Sierra was almost-screwing. And if there was anything her best frienddidn’twant to talk about, it was whatever dangerous crap Sierra had gotten herself in the middle of. Even if that dangerous stuff did involve the cute guy.
So steering the conversation back to the investigation was a hell of a stretch for Liz. It was also proof that she was truly the best friend Sierra could ever ask for.
“They must have something this psycho wants.”
“And what do you think they want with this guy and his sister? What kind of stuff are they into?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You do realize you aren’t an actual detective, right? Like not even one of those amateur ones.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. But I still have to figure this thing out, so he’ll give me that reward money.”
“That’swhat you’re after?” Liz rubbed her temples. “You want to figure out who’s terrorizing that family and get yourself killed for a few hundred lousy bucks?”
“Technically, it’s a thousand. Possibly more. But yes. I owe you.”
It was more than the money. Way more than that. But with Marc shutting her out and basically rejecting her today, she wasn’t willing to say it out loud.
“Sierra—”
“Don’t.” Sierra held a hand up to stop her friend. “I don’t want to hear it. I do not want Luna to miss one day of therapy.” She took a deep breath and blew out a tight stream of air to calm herself. “I want to hear that little girl speak again, and I can’t be the reason that’s delayed even a single day.”
Liz held her stare and nodded. Her mouth was tight and her eyes brimmed with tears. “Dang it.” She reached for the napkin holder and dabbed at her eyes before her eyeliner and mascara streaked. “Fine.” She blinked back the remaining moisture. “What’s the plan?”
The plan. That was the question that had been plaguing her through that whole sleepless night. She had no information. Nothing to lead her in any direction.
She had snakes she couldn’t trace. At least not until she could make a few phone calls on Monday, and even then it was a long shot. She had some stolen welding supplies and sculptures. She had a threatening email that Marc was tracing. And she had a fire.
Nothing matched up in any recognizable pattern or pointed a flashing sign at anyone. She had nothing.
But she had Liz.
Long before Luna appeared in her life, most of Liz’s friends had been petty thieves. Nothing violent, but she’d picked up a lot of tricks from that group. A lot of tricks that might be useful to Sierra now.
“How would I go about finding someone? Someone who did something illegal. Someone who didn’t want to be found.”
Liz shrugged. “Same way you find anything that doesn’t want to be found, I guess.”
Sierra frowned. “That’s not helpful.”
“I’m going to regret this.” Liz closed her eyes. “How would you find an animal? One that was hiding?”
After a moment, Sierra said, “I’d find out what they want or what they need, and I’d set a trap.”
What they want or need.
She had no idea. Clearly, they wanted Denise out of the house, and scaring her away with the snakes hadn’t worked, so they’d moved on to burning the place down. But why? What did they want? How was she supposed to know that?
Set a trap.
That was it. They were trying to get Denise away from the house, so all of this must have something to do with the property. She could work with that.
Liz watched Sierra’s face and frowned. “Yeah, I’m definitely gonna regret that.”
Sierra clapped with glee and stood from the table. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She had a plan. One that was more her speed. Forget research. Forget behind the scenes operations. Forget waiting for Marc.
