Two
“Your private dick is back,” Charlie said, smirking behind her coffee cup.
Felicity shifted in her chair so she could see across the street where the large PI was indeed lurking, leaning against the brick front of the pharmacy, pretending to read something on his phone. He snuck a peek at Felicity through those mile-long lashes before hurrying to drop his gaze. She barely resisted the urge to bang her head against the small café table in front of her. “If he’s going to stalk us, he should at least have the decency to be a little sneakier about it.”
“You,” Charlie corrected. “His stalking is most definitely focused on you.”
Even though Felicity glared at her sister, she really couldn’t argue. She’d had an unwanted shadow for the past two days, ever since the guy had sat on her in the woods. Mr. B. Green, according to his business card, had been following her everywhere, even when she just wanted to sit on the coffee shop patio and enjoy some caffeine and early autumn sunshine in peace.
“I did tell him to stalk me like a normal person.”
Charlie pursed her lips. “That probably wasn’t wise.”
With a quiet groan, Felicity turned so she couldn’t see Mr. Green anymore. “I was having a bad day and was slightly concussed. I shouldn’t be responsible for what I said.”
Felicity’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the name on the screen before answering. “What’s up, Molly?”
“So remember how there was no sign of Mom after she left the house?”
“Yes, I remember that thing that happened two days ago.” Felicity felt a little bad at her snarky tone, but she blamed her sour mood on Mr. Green. Pretty much everything that’d gone wrong since she’d literally run into him had been his fault.
To her credit, Molly ignored her sarcasm. “But who was leaving his house right as we started searching?”
Felicity thought back to that unpleasant day. “Who was leaving—oh! Mr. Villaneau.” Even as she said the name, realization dawned, and she wanted to smack herself for being so oblivious. She’d watched the guy leave and all she did was make a joke about his glare. “Mr. Villaneau, the man Mom had an affair with five years ago and then lightly blackmailed.”
By the way Charlie was staring at her, she’d figured out what the conversation was about, just from Felicity’s half. “She was hiding in that SUV that drove right past us, wasn’t she?”
“Need us to have a chat with Mr. V?” Felicity asked, giving Charlie a grim nod.
“Already did. Carmondy and I played good cop/bad cop, and I finally got to be the bad cop.” Molly sounded positively chipper. “He eventually admitted he’d brought her to that truck stop out by the interstate. Guess who she met up with there?”
Felicity rubbed her forehead, feeling an echo of her headache returning. “Zach Fridley.”
“Yep. But the good news is that we got a vehicle description from him, and our darling Norah is already working on getting the security video footage. Hang on—she’s handing me a sticky note wiiiiith…the license number and direction of travel.”
“Nice.” When Charlie gave her an inquiring look, Felicity said, “Norah has the plate number for Zach and Mom.”
“Way to go, Nor!”
There was mumbling on the other end of the call before Molly’s voice returned. “Our genius sister has managed through only slightly less than legal methods to access the State Patrol cameras on the interstate. Mom and Zach took the first Colorado Springs exit.”
Relieved to have a new lead after letting both Jane and Zach slip through her fingers, Felicity pushed back her chair and stood. “Thanks, Moo. We’ll stop home before heading out.”
“Um, Fifi?” Charlie followed her off the coffee shop patio toward where they’d parked on the road a half block away. “What are we going to do about Mr. Lurky McStalkerson?”
Letting her head drop back, Felicity groaned. “I forgot about him.” She couldn’t resist glancing over at Mr. Green. Although he was still pretending to look at his phone screen, his big form was almost vibrating with interest now that she and Charlie were on the move. His body language reminded her of Warrant when he spotted a squirrel.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to lead him to Mom,” Charlie said, serious for once.
“Agreed.” Felicity resisted the urge to stomp her feet as she headed toward the driver’s door of her car. “Just what we need—another complication.”
“I know, right?”
An idea took root in her mind. She didn’t like it at all—hated it, in fact—but there was just one solution she could think of. “Guess I’m going to be goose bait.”
Eyeing her over the top of the car, Charlie asked, “What?”
“Goose bait.” Felicity waited until they were both in the car and the doors were closed to explain. “We’re going to lead Mr. B. Green on such a wild goose chase, he’s going to regret stalking the Pax sisters.”
With a grin, Charlie held up her fist. Felicity bumped it with hers, unable to hold back her own smile. Private Investigator B. Green didn’t know who he was messing with.
***
Norah and Cara both lit up like sparklers when Felicity mentioned her plan—at least the rough outline she’d come up with.
“Ohhhhh,” Cara said, shuffling through the files they had on various bail jumpers they were currently investigating. “We need to pick a believable destination so your stalker won’t figure out what you’re doing and drop you to chase after Charlie instead.”
“I don’t know,” Charlie said around a bite of apple. “He’s pretty fixated on Fifi.”
Giving Charlie a glare—both for the comment and the hated nickname—Felicity turned back to her other sisters. “Any skips with out-of-town connections worth checking out? Preferably in the opposite direction of the Springs? Might as well be productive so it’s not a waste of time and gas.”
Norah’s fingers tapped on her laptop and then paused. “How about Douglas Fletcher? Before he moved here, he spent a few years with some militia group in the mountains.”
“Douglas Fletcher?” Charlie leaned over Norah’s shoulder to look at her laptop screen. “Oh, Dino! The meth dealer. Pretty good payoff if you bring him in too.”
“Perfect.” Felicity was starting to get excited about the detour. As much as she wanted to help track down her mom, a mini vacation in the mountains sounded really nice. She’d been working on the same case for weeks, and a temporary change in target would be a relief. Also, the aspens would be changing color, and she’d get a couple of days to herself—well, by herself except for her PI stalker. It would be satisfying to lead the annoying Mr. B. Green astray, so his presence was almost a bonus. “I’ll go do some nosing around…where exactly?”
“Just about three hours west of here.” Norah peered at the map on her screen. “Right outside a town called Simpson.”
“Simpson, huh?” Felicity peered over Norah’s shoulder at the small dot right in the middle of the Rockies and then made a smug face at Charlie. “While you’re chasing Mom and Zach, I’ll be relaxing in a sleepy little mountain town. Guess there’s an upside to being stalked.”
“Ugh.” Charlie frowned at her half-eaten apple, not looking quite so cocky now. “Suddenly, this plan doesn’t seem so great for me.”
With a light step and growing excitement, Felicity headed upstairs to pack for her mini vacation. Maybe being goose bait wouldn’t be so bad after all.