Chapter 78 Cara
SEVENTY-EIGHT
CARA
Cara was about to enter the left turn lane leading to Broad Beach Road when she saw the flashing red and blue lights. A police car was blocking traffic. The driveway and the street by the house were crowded with official-looking vehicles.
Veering back into traffic, and ignoring the horn of the Mercedes she’d just cut off, she merged into the right lane, turned quickly into the Trancas Country Market, and parked.
It had actually taken Stephanie longer to squawk than Cara expected.
Still, she had been counting on a little time to regroup before she decided how and where to turn herself in .
. . or if there were any other options. She supposed she could just drive over to the house and surrender now, but she didn’t want her last act of freedom to be so humiliatingly public.
She wasn’t ready.
How could she ever be?
A man who looked a lot like Robert Downey, Jr. stared directly at her. Actually, it was Robert Downey, Jr.
There was a time when she would have been thrilled to be recognized by an A-list movie star. As he stepped closer, she started the car and shifted into reverse, ready to peel out of the parking lot.
“Nice wheels,” he said, before continuing on into the grocery store.
She killed the engine.
When she was absolutely certain that neither Robert Downey, Jr. nor anyone else was paying any particular attention to her, she got out of the car and threw away the baggie, napkin, and empty bag of chips from the lunch Aunt Evelyn had given her.
Then she eased out of the lot and headed back down the Pacific Coast Highway toward Kanan Road, just like that was what she’d planned all along.
But nothing she’d planned had panned out at all.