Page 3 of Their Little Christmas Bounty
“I’ll check the bedroom.”I start down the hall.
“Pervert,” Austin calls after me.
“Yep.”I step into a room that smells even better than the rest of the house, like sweet chamomile.
My phone buzzes with another text.
Did you even knock?
I gape at the message.I think it’s her.“Yo, Austin!”
He hurries in.“I found something.Did you?”
I show him my phone.
Scowling at it, he takes out his own phone.“Let’s cross-check the number with the one we have on file.”
I can save you the trouble.This is Ariel.
“It’s her.”I point to the new message.“And I think she can hear us.”
So what will you wager, sir?Will you be able to find me, and when?
Austin shakes his head and shares his own phone screen.He took a photo of something in her dining room.The image shows a reservation print-out for a cabin in Clear Springs.The page was torn in several pieces, but he fit them back together to get the address and dates of her reservation.
Little Ariel thinks she’s so clever.I text her back.Yeah, we’ll find you.I bet we’ll be there by tonight.
I wait, breath held, while she types out her response.
$100 wager?
It’s a deal, I write back.Then I turn to Austin to find him frowning angrily.“What?”
“Are you done flirting, asshole?We have a job to do.”
I gesture toward the door.“Lead the way.”
Two hours later, we’re standing outside the Clear Springs cabin.
“No car,” Austin points out, unnecessarily.
“No car.She could’ve hired a ride.”But my gut tells me she isn’t here.
We walk up and knock.No answer, not that I expected one.I peer in one of the windows when an automated voice from the porch camera startles me.A grouchy, older male voice asks, “Can I help you?”
“Uh, yes, sorry—we’re looking for Ariel Capulet.”
“She’s not here.She never showed.Paid for her time in full, though, and told me I could rent the place out anyway.Nice girl.What are you doing skulking around after her?”
“We’re concerned friends,” Austin says, but he sounds too annoyed to be concerned.
“Go be concerned somewhere else,” the man says through the speakers.
Back in the car, Austin shakes his head.“She tricked us.”
“Of course she did.”I pull out my phone.
“What are you doing?”
