Chapter 17
I found my house empty the next morning and the SUV patrol car back in its position. Bray had neatly folded the blanket on the couch and left before I woke. He’d left a note on the dining table.
Nothing new to report overnight. Good luck today! ?
That damn smiley face again.
Despite myself, I smiled at it. I pressed the note to my nose as if I might smell him on it, but all I smelled was paper.
I braced myself for another day at the Browning house. Not only did I have to take care of two kids all day, but now I also had to figure out how to get into the garage and find out what was in those duffel bags. At least that would serve as distraction from thinking about Wallace and the ghost.
I rewrapped my ankle and stepped into my new running shoes. I took a picture of my feet and sent it to Bray with a little thumbs-up emoji.
I nearly rolled my eyes at myself.
When I left the house, I subtly nodded at the agent in the SUV. I locked the front door and then tried to open it against the lock just to make sure. It didn’t yield.
I took one step off my porch when I heard a friendly voice from the sidewalk.
“Hey, neighbor!” Alisha said. Jeffrey dangled from her chest in his complicated harness. “I’m so sorry to hear about your uncle.”
News travels fast, I thought.
“Thanks,” I said without much else to add.
Luckily, she kept the conversation moving. “Things are working out with the Brownings, I assume?” she asked, and nodded across the street where I was clearly headed.
I cast my gaze in the same direction and tried not to wilt. My eyes dragged over the SUV, and I had a thought. “They sure are!” I cheerily said before changing topic. “Hey, Alisha, have you seen anyone strange around the neighborhood lately?”
Her face fell. She patted Jeffrey’s bottom and bounced. “Strange? What do you mean?”
I tried for a casual shrug. “I thought I saw someone in the street the other night. He didn’t look familiar to me, but I’m so new here, I probably just didn’t recognize him.”
I hadn’t expected Alisha to know anything; she had been gone the night the ghost appeared in the street. My intent in asking was to put her on the lookout. More eyes on the ghost meant more chance of staying safe.
“Huh,” Alisha said. “Well, I doubt it was anything to be concerned about; it’s so safe around here. I’ll keep my eyes peeled though!”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I’ve got to get to work. Have a good day!”
“Bye!” Alisha matched the singsong I hadn’t even noticed I’d performed.
Between Bray’s smiley faces and everyone’s friendly greetings, the neighborhood was really getting to me.
I marched across the street with a determined step, ready to face the Browning family and praying Bray hurried the hell up with whatever he was doing to get me out of here as soon as possible.
The thought of leaving suddenly struck me as sad as I passed through Melanie’s rose border.
No one had been anything but nice and welcoming since I’d arrived, despite the mild criminal activity.
My apartment was beautiful, the neighborhood was one of the best in the country—literally, according to a ranking.
Sure, I’d lied to everyone I’d met from the second I got here, but of all the places I could be, Del Rio seemed perfect, despite my limited tenure.
Not to mention, if I left, what did that mean for Bray? Would he stay my handler? Would our relationship become primarily phone calls, brief rendezvous, and shadowy drops in the middle of the night, as it had been with Wallace?
But if I stayed, was I going to end up in a body bag?
I hadn’t even noticed I’d made it to the Brownings’ front door until it was swinging open in front of me.
“Good morning!” Melanie sang with the pep of someone who hadn’t been up doing illegal things in her driveway at three in the morning. She glowed in welcome, and I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole thing the night before.
“Hi!” I said, trying to match her energy.
She waved me in, and I followed. If she’d seen me and Bray spying on her last night, she didn’t let on.
She wore an outfit similar to last night’s, but instead of the sleek spandex being black, it was a shade of rosy pink.
It made her look like Workout Barbie. “I’m so glad you’re able to continue today; I have a busy morning. ”
“Oh?” I casually asked, hoping she wasn’t about to jump in the car and speed off with the evidence in the trunk.
“Yes. I’ll be out back on the Peloton for the next hour.
” She pointed out the back doors at the guesthouse.
I must have been right about it being their home gym, especially given her outfit.
“And then I’ll be in my office for most of the morning after.
The kids are in their playroom.” She hardly took a breath, and I decided she compensated for her late-night activity with copious amounts of caffeine.
“You all set?” she asked me with nothing but sweetness. It set me on edge.
“Yep!” I lied.
“Great. Remember the instruction binder is in the kitchen. Shout if you need anything.” She pivoted and glided off toward the back of the house.
I wondered if right then was the optimal time to dash to the garage, but I decided I needed to get set up with the kids first.
I found them in the playroom among another explosion of toys. Karli had built herself a fort of blocks and a few pillows, and Kaden was driving toy cars around an elaborate plastic racetrack and making motor sounds.
My ankle gave a pang of protest when I squatted to join them. “Hey, guys. What are you doing today?”
They each took a turn explaining their respective games to me and invited me to play. I casually folded myself into their little imaginary world and realized infiltrating playtime was just like infiltrating any other job I’d had, albeit a lot cuter and less dangerous.
“Did your mom tuck you in last night?” I nonchalantly asked while I looped a neon-orange racecar through Kaden’s track. I figured I’d see if I could get any useful information out of them.
“No. Dad puts us to bed when Mom is busy,” Kaden innocently reported.
“Was Mom busy last night?”
“She had a party!” Karli sang and made a stuffed dolphin dive off the top of her fort.
“A party?” I said gleefully. “That sounds fun. Do you know where it was?”
“Somewhere fancy. She dressed like a princess,” Kaden reported.
I silently considered. A fancy party could be many things. Maybe a fundraiser, a gala, a banquet. But why leave the house for that and come home at three a.m. dressed like a bank robber?
“I have to go potty,” Karli suddenly announced and stood up. Flips the penguin fell to her side. She stared at me expectantly, and I realized I was supposed to help.
“Oh!” I said, trying not to sound nervous.
“Okay.” I stood as well, and she slipped her little hand in mine.
She led me back into the hallway and to the bathroom I’d hid in the other day after I overheard her parents’ tryst. “Do you need me to come in with you?” I asked and held my breath, praying she’d say no.
“No. You can wait here,” she announced and marched inside and shut the door.
“Okay. I’ll be right here,” I said with full intention to use the excuse to find the garage. I heard the toilet lid lift and clank against the tank and wondered how much time I had before she came back out. When she started singing to herself, I figured it would be a while.
I closed my eyes and drew a mental map of the house, remembering where Melanie had led me that day we gathered the wagon to go to the park.
I paused to make sure I could still hear Karli singing. When her tiny voice carried down the hall, I dashed for what I was pretty sure was the right door.
It opened with the suction of a door sealed off to the outside, and in an instant, I was standing in front of Melanie’s SUV.
I whipped out my phone to text Bray.
Made it to the garage. Kids said mom was out at a party last night, dressed up.
I shoved my phone in my pocket before he could answer.
The hulking SUV flashed its lights at me when I reached for the door handle, and I thanked my lucky stars it was unlocked.
It seemed like Melanie was the scariest thing in this neighborhood, other than my roving henchman, so why would she need to lock her car inside her garage anyway?
When I leaned inside to look for the back hatch release, the smell of expensive leather and perfume hit me. The car was spotless. Regularly detailed, surely. Perhaps to keep up with Melanie’s standards or to erase evidence.
“Got you,” I said when I found the hatch release.
The back of the car opened with a soft ding. I winced at the sound as I hurried around to look inside.
The duffel bags were still there.
Relief washed over me at the same time adrenaline pumped into my veins. For the first time in this case, I was getting my hands dirty. The rush of breaking rules was still tied to some hardwired need for it.
My trained fingers were lightning fast with the first bag. I ripped open the zipper and found … computers. Two laptops, a mobile router, a tangle of what looked like microphones and discreet earpieces.
“Surveillance equipment,” I muttered at the telltale package. I pried the bag open as wide as it would go and snapped a few pictures for Bray.
I moved to the other one, not sure what to expect, and found a burst of colorful, expensive fabrics.
Gowns.
Kaden had said his mom was dressed like a princess last night.
I pawed around at the silky fabrics, thinking of all the times I’d donned a dress from a duffel bag.
I almost laughed when I felt another object I was very familiar with.
I pulled out a long red wig and wondered which one of them dressed up as the Little Mermaid last night.
“What were you ladies up to?” I murmured as I snapped pictures of the bag’s contents. I texted images of both bags to Bray with another message.
I think our girls pulled off a heist last night.
“Lauren?” someone called from the garage door.