Chapter Fifteen #2
“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.”
His grunt of agreement sent Charlie into a spate of giggles, and Kieran gave her a questioning look.
“Not important.” She waved off her grunt-caused laughter as she concentrated on crossing the busy avenue. “Plus I already know it wouldn’t be funny if I tried to explain it.”
With an unhappy rumble that almost set her off again, he strode across the road as if he were taking a stroll through the park.
Traffic seemed to slow and stop for him, as if it knew how very cranky the man would be if he were to be hit.
Charlie hurried after him, wanting to take advantage of his strange superpower.
He held the laundromat door open, and she thanked him as she stepped inside.
Apparently, she had Manners Kieran with her this evening.
A thorough look around the small space showed washers and dryers, but not much else.
There definitely weren’t any lockers—or anything that could hold a necklace and be unlocked with a key.
They quickly eliminated the two restaurants as potential hiding places for Jane’s stolen goods, which left the gym.
“Except for the mailboxes place, this is probably the most likely,” she said under her breath as they entered. Kieran grunted in agreement.
Two people stood behind the reception desk, a man and a woman, and Charlie made a beeline for the man. “Hello,” she said cheerfully. “We’re new to the area and would like a tour please.”
The guy glanced at his coworker and opened his mouth. Before he could suggest that the woman give them the tour, Charlie shut him down.
“Chad!” she read the script embroidered on his polo shirt.
“Wonderful! I was hoping you’d be here. Mark Jones said to have you show us around since you know the gym better than anyone.
” She shot a quick glance at the woman, who was looking bemused.
“No offense. I’m sure you’re great too. It’s just that Mark’s a good friend, and he wouldn’t shut up about how great Chad here is. ”
“Uh…” Chad blinked. “Mark Jones?”
Charlie turned up the wattage on her smile. “That’s the guy! He wasn’t sure you’d remember his name, since you help out so many people here, but he was really impressed with the tip you gave him. Really improved his overhead lifts. So…tour?”
Chad seemed to gather himself. “My shift ends in ten minutes—”
“Just a quickie,” Charlie interrupted. “We’re pretty sure we’re going to sign up, but we’d love if you showed us around—just the highlights.
Norman and I are fast walkers.” She shot a look at Kieran to see how he liked his new name, but his scowl was locked into place as usual.
He did give her the tiniest side-eye glance, which she happily took as irritation. “I’m Claire.”
Chad still hesitated, so Charlie broke out her best pleading puppy-dog eyes and made sure her dimples were showing.
“Sure,” he gave in with a forced return smile. “Come with me.”
As Chad rattled off information about the gym, he speed-walked to the weight room, then zoomed through the treadmills and elliptical machines to reach the spin and yoga classrooms on the other side.
“Any questions?” he asked in a tone that seriously discouraged asking anything, his gaze fixed on the exit door.
“Can we peek at the locker rooms real quick?” Charlie asked, breaking out the dimples and puppy-dog eyes again.
With an impatient sigh, Chad led them to the locker room doors. “I can’t show you around in there,” he said to Charlie, gesturing at the door marked “Women.”
“That’s fine.” She shoved open the door. “I’ll just check it out myself.”
Inside, she hurried toward the bank of lockers, pulling the key out of an inside pocket as she did so. A woman sat on the bench in front of them, pulling on socks, and Charlie gave her an innocent smile—at least, she hoped it looked innocent.
“I forgot which locker I used,” she said with a self-effacing laugh.
The woman gave a polite smile in response, but her eyebrows drew together. “Isn’t the number attached to the key?”
“It must’ve fallen off.” Charlie started on the top left as she spoke, since she knew her time was limited.
She guessed she had a minute—tops—before Chad started fussing.
The key slid into the first lock smoothly, and her stomach jumped with excitement—but it refused to turn.
A key was in the next locker, so she skipped that one and tried the third.
Same thing—the key slid in but refused to turn.
By the time she’d tried all of the top row of lockers, her heart rate had sped up and she felt sweat prickling along her hairline.
“You about done in there?” Chad yelled from outside the door.
“Almost!” she called back, her voice higher pitched than usual.
The key grew slick in her grip, and she almost dropped it between the second and third lockers in the middle row.
The woman on the bench gave her an odd look.
Charlie forced another smile, but she was pretty sure it was closer to a grimace. “My boyfriend’s impatient.”
“Wasn’t that Chad?” the woman asked, looking more suspicious rather than less. “I thought he was gay?”
“My boyfriend’s with Chad.” The key sank into yet another lock but refused to turn. “I mean, not with him with him. Just standing with him in the hallway.” Three more lockers to go on the middle row. “Waiting for me.” Two lockers. “Impatiently.”
Chad thumped on the door, as if proving her words to be true, just as the key turned in last locker in the middle row, and the metal door popped open.
Charlie went still for an instant before grabbing the plastic grocery bag inside.
She shoved the bag and its contents into one of her cargo pants pockets, gave the inside of the locker a quick glance to make sure nothing remained, and then hurried toward the door.
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly as she burst from the locker room.
“I started talking to one of the members about the gym. Really nice woman. She loves this place. It was hard to get her to stop praising you guys. I think we’ve seen everything we need to in order to make our decision.
Right, honey?” she widened her eyes at Kieran, trying to let him know she’d found something without being too obvious about it.
She must’ve succeeded, since he actually spoke instead of grunted. “Yeah. Thanks for the tour.” Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the front exit.
“Thank you, Chad,” Charlie called over her shoulder, walking as fast as she could while still looking casual. “We’ll be back in soon to sign up. I’ll let Mark know that you were a great tour guide.”
Chad looked baffled and still irritated, but he just shrugged and headed in the opposite direction.
“Found it?” Kieran asked under his breath, shoving open one of the front doors and waiting for her to walk through.
“Found something,” she muttered, continuously scanning the area as they crossed the road and hurried back to the chiropractor’s office where the truck was parked.
She was feeling utterly conspicuous, as if the contents of the grocery bag were lighting up with flashing red lights.
“Didn’t have a chance to check what’s inside, but the size and weight are right for the you-know-what. ”
“One down, one to go.” When she shot him a confused look, he clarified, “Let’s go find your mom.” Instead of looking grim, he seemed almost eager for the chase.
She grinned at him. “It’s like you’re a boyfriend-bot, made in a factory to my very particular specifications.”
“Thanks?”
“You’re welcome.” The words were distracted when she caught a glimpse of Dave trying to hide in the shadows behind a too-small hedge.
The area was much too well-lit to hide Dave or his lack of skills.
Swallowing a satisfied smile, she hurried toward the passenger door of Kieran’s truck. “Let’s go back to Simpson.”
Kieran frowned but waited until they were both inside the cab before asking, “Why are we going back to Simpson? Shouldn’t we turn the necklace in to the police first?”
“Nope. This’ll only work if we have the necklace and Jane.”
“There are five treasure hunters watching us right now.” He started the engine. “Won’t we be sitting ducks once we’re in the middle of nowhere?”
“There are six, actually, and they’re just where we want them to be.”
The slant of his eyebrows conveyed his skepticism, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he turned west out of the parking lot. “Simpson it is then.”
“Thank you, perfect boyfriend-bot.” She ignored the scowl he sent her way, her brain too busy with the details of her plan. She pulled the bag from her pocket and peeked inside before holding it open so Kieran could see. “All this hassle over some sparkly rocks.”
His grunt sounded like agreement. “Not a fan of diamonds?”
“Nope. Waste of money.” She tucked the bag holding the necklace back in her pocket. “There’s too much fun stuff to buy instead.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, better spy tech for Fifi, fun nerdy computer stuff for Norah, tuition for Cara, a new car for Moo—or at least a new paint job so people quit bugging her to sell them weed wherever she goes—”
“What?”
“You’ll understand when you see it. Oh, there’s a Target. Let’s stop for travel snacks.”
This time, his look was knowing. “Why do I have the feeling we’re stopping for more than food?”
Leaning over, she kissed him on the cheek, her heart nearly bursting at his utter perfection. “Because you’re a smart man.”
With a smile he apparently wasn’t able to completely fight off, Kieran turned into the Target lot.