Chapter Ten #3
“She’d promised to.” And Elle had kept her word. “You mind staying here a bit longer?”
“Go. I’ll send you updates.”
“Thank you.”
Whiskey Springs, California
Monday, February 2, 10:30 a.m.
Elle hung back, not trailing Wendy Miller too closely.
It was hard not to, since they were the only two vehicles on this stretch of Highway 20 at the moment.
She wasn’t terribly stressed about keeping the young woman in her sight, though.
She’d slipped a tracking device under the Ford Taurus while Wendy had been inside the pharmacy.
Today was different than the other two times Wendy had gone into the pharmacy. This time she had her baby with her. According to Steve Garfield, she’d been alone the first two times.
Steve Garfield.
Who was now dead.
If Miller had killed him, how the fucking hell had Miller known she and Sara communicated with him?
Sara could have missed a tracker. Her friend wasn’t infallible.
Elle needed to stop and scan the Tahoe again. She’d pull over when she got to one of the numerous pullouts on the road. They were meant for slower-moving cars and trucks to make way for faster traffic, so she’d have plenty of room to search from all angles.
As she navigated the sharp curves, Elle thought about the look on Ronan’s face when he’d gotten the call about Garfield’s body.
Suspicion. Anger. Betrayal.
She’d seen it all in his expression. She wasn’t sure she could blame him. He’d known she’d been hiding details. She’d assured him that there was nothing that put anyone in danger.
She’d been wrong.
“We should have told him about the drug dealing,” she murmured aloud. “Dammit.”
But they hadn’t and they’d have to live with that. Whether it was a drug dealer or Miller who’d killed the young pharmacy tech, she and Sara had possessed information that Ronan might have used to save Garfield’s life.
The sat phone rang, startling her. She was expecting a call from Ronan, but it was Sara.
Putting the phone on speaker, she answered warily, “Yeah? What’s up?”
“Just checking on you. You still in pursuit? We can turn around right now and be there in two hours to back you up.”
Sara didn’t trust her anymore. Elle could hear it in her voice.
“I’m okay, Sara. I’m capable of closing this case on my own.”
There was a moment of silence. “I’m not questioning your capability, Elle.”
“Then why call?” Elle sounded defensive to her own ears. Sara would definitely hear it.
“Was Detective Clarke parked next to you when Wendy entered the pharmacy?”
“No,” Elle replied, keeping her tone steady even though she knew what was coming. “He’d gotten the call about Steve Garfield’s body, so he was already gone.”
“Did you tell him you saw her?”
Elle considered lying. She really did. Then she lifted her chin even though Sara couldn’t see her. “I did.” Then, because she was a fucking coward, she added, “I might need backup faster than the two hours you’d need to get here.”
“Because you’re capable of bringing Miller in alone,” Sara said flatly. Sarcastically.
Elle had to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. “I need to go. Do you have anything more to add?”
“No.” The single word was cold. Angry.
Final.
“Then we’ll talk when I’ve apprehended Miller,” Elle said. “I will call you as soon as the deed is done.”
“All right. Goodbye, Elle.”
Elle was steadily losing hope that they’d be able to stay friends when the dust settled. “Goodbye, Sara.”
She ended the call and blinked hard, clearing the stupid tears from her eyes. The road was too twisty to have blurry vision. It wasn’t safe.
But the tears kept coming and she wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her moto jacket. This was not safe. I need to pull over.
She dashed away more tears and kept driving until she came to a pullout.
She slowed and glided to a stop on the side of the road. She gave herself two more minutes to cry, then shook herself into action.
She was not losing Miller because her feelings were hurt. Get busy. Check for a tracker.
She got out of the car and walked around the Tahoe, noting the gravel, sharp rocks, and broken glass. They would slice her moto jacket to ribbons and that wasn’t acceptable. She could wear the new thinner, more insulated coat that she’d ordered online, but rocks might rip that up, too.
Five minutes later, she was lying underneath the SUV, wearing the cheap parka she’d bought at Walmart two weeks before. It was ungainly and made it hard to maneuver her body as she scooted under the Tahoe, but she wasn’t ruining her leather jacket or her new coat.
She’d focus on the undercarriage since Sara had already scanned the area reachable with the scanner without going underneath.
Ten minutes after that, she’d found nothing.
She threw the parka into the back, retrieved her moto jacket and her new coat, then checked Wendy’s location on the sat phone. The young woman must have also stopped, because she wasn’t too far ahead.
Maybe she suspected she was being followed. Elle waited until Wendy’s car began moving again and resumed tailing their best link to Reece Miller.
If this was to be her final case, she wasn’t going to fail.