Chapter Seven #3
He’d been so thoughtful, offering her an olive branch. She’d liked his sincerity. She hoped they could talk again soon.
She’d read up on him after their impromptu meeting on the bluff. He was a solid cop with a good record. No scandals and no over-the-top glory, either. Just steady crime solving for twenty years, first with the San Francisco PD and then with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department.
Despite being a dad to Penny, Ronan didn’t appear to have a woman in his life.
He still might be seeing someone.
Which did not matter. He is not for you.
“Elle?”
Elle blinked when Sara shouted her name. “What? Oh, sorry. I drifted off.”
Sara gave her a dubious look. “What are you eating?”
“Mushroom candy.”
She didn’t want to share, so she didn’t offer. Just as well, because Sara’s face twisted into a grimace.
“That’s disgusting.”
Elle shrugged. “More for me. Are we ready, Orrin?”
“We are.” He held the remote control and twisted a knob. The drone lifted from the pavement and hovered in midair. Slowly it rose and then went flying across the morning sky in the direction of the illegal growers’ crop.
“That is so cool,” Sara breathed. “Super good idea, Elle.”
“Thanks.” Soon she’d know whether to tell Ronan about the Willits connection. She’d feel a lot better if she knew conclusively that Reece Miller wasn’t hiding on his grandparents’ old property.
“We’ve got incoming video,” Orrin announced, checking his cell phone, where he was recording the flight. There was an app for everything, including expensive drones.
Sara leaned in to look at Orrin’s phone screen. “Trees. That’s consistent. We walked through miles of trees.”
Orrin squinted at the rising sun. They’d wanted to get the earliest possible start so that they could be back in place to stake out the pharmacy starting at nine. Whether they’d make it in time depended on what they found in the forbidden zone.
“Okay, there’s a fence with a gate,” Orrin said, narrating as he flew the drone.
“We climbed over that one,” Sara said.
Orrin lifted a brow. “Oh yeah? I thought you weren’t able to explore this area on foot. That’s what Felicia said.”
“Because we turned around after the gate,” Sara said, backpedaling as if her life depended on it. It probably did. She didn’t want Felicia knowing they’d met the growers.
“Uh-huh,” Orrin said with a sly grin. “Right.”
Sara turned an evil eye on Elle. “Right?”
“We turned around at a gate,” Elle confirmed obediently.
“A gate,” Orrin said, not taking his eyes off his phone screen. “Not this gate. Right, Elle?”
Sara glared at her. Elle popped another mushroom candy into her mouth.
“When did you get that?” Sara asked, pointing to the bag in Elle’s hand.
“Last night when I went out for a walk,” she answered.
Total truth.
Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you get it?”
“Drugstore.”
Technically true. Ronan had purchased them from the pharmacy store.
“Most everything closes early here,” Sara said. “What’s even open after seven thirty?”
“CVS is open till ten.”
Still true, but Elle was skating on thin ice and she knew it. Luckily she was saved by Orrin.
“Oh look,” he said excitedly. “There’s a house.”
Sara crowded closer to see. “It’s just a shell.” She glanced up at Elle. “Roof’s caved in and only two of the walls appear to be standing. Miller can’t be hiding there. Looks like it could fall down any minute. Can you get closer, Orrin?”
“I can try.” Orrin turned away from the sun. “Just realized I don’t have to be pointing that direction. I can see the drone on my—”
A shot cracked the air in the distance and Orrin stared at his phone in dismay. “Shit.”
“Shit, what?” Sara demanded.
“It’s gone. The drone…it’s just gone.”
Shot out of the air. Clearly the growers hadn’t liked being spied on.
Sara’s face was pinched. “Felicia is going to kill me.”
“Probably,” Orrin agreed glumly. “At least you don’t have to return to San Francisco empty-handed. She’ll kill me first.”
“Sorry.” Sara patted his arm. “I’ll call her and tell her what happened. That way you don’t have to be the bearer of bad tidings.”
Orrin sighed. “Of no joy.”
Elle checked the time. “We should be heading back. It’ll take us at least an hour to get back to the coast.”
Orrin blinked. “It’s less than thirty miles.”
“As the crow flies,” Elle explained, “but the road is twisty and goes over mountains and through a thick redwood forest. It’s kind of treacherous.”
“Wow.” Orrin shook his head. He’d come straight up the 101 from San Francisco, so he hadn’t encountered any of the roads to the coast. “Are there bears?”
Elle shrugged. “Probably. But we haven’t seen any.”
Orrin shuddered. “Give me big cities any day. Sara, don’t send me hunting in the wilderness.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “Fine, you big baby. But, for the record, I’ll take the city as well.”
Elle kept her mouth shut, because she kind of liked the wilderness. She wouldn’t mind staying a while.
“Let’s stop at the drive-through and get breakfast,” she said instead. “I’m starving.”
She was hungry, but that wasn’t what was making her stomach all fluttery.
She was going to see Ronan again this morning.
She couldn’t wait.