as her car wasn’t going to be much of a threat, unless they were armed.
She wasn’t going to lead them home.
Who is following you? How did they know you were going to be at Erica’s?
Maybe they weren’t following her because they knew who she was, but had been watching Erica’s house and were suspicious.
Lucy exited the highway and turned immediately into a gas station. She parked near the doors that led to the mini-mart and said, “Keep your eye on the car, it pulled in at the pump, but the driver isn’t getting out. The windows are tinted and at this angle I can’t see the occupants.”
Lucy got out and went inside. She grabbed a water bottle and energy bar, then stood at the counter and waited for the lone person ahead of her while keeping an eye on the driver outside. The driver was partly visible, male. Young. She could see that there was someone in the passenger seat, but she couldn’t make out any distinguishing characteristics.
As soon as she reached the clerk, she put her items down and showed her badge. “I need the license number on that vehicle,” she said and gestured to the black Honda on the security screen behind him.
Without commenting, he enlarged the image, but didn’t say anything. She wrote down the number, paid for her items, and was about to go back to her car when she saw the passenger door open.
Elise Hunt stepped out.
Lucy froze for a second. As she watched on the security screen, Elise stretched as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Lucy ran out of the mini-mart, her water and energy bar forgotten. She walked right past her car, straight for Elise.
“Why are you following me?” Lucy demanded.
Elise stared at her.
“Answer the question.”
Elise frowned, looked around as if she were trapped. It was an act. Lucy had gone through this with her many times.
A guy filling his truck up was watching them. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
Lucy pulled her badge and flashed it at him, but didn’t take her eyes off Elise.
“Driver,” she called, “get out of the car.”
“Wh-what do you want?” Elise said, sounding like a scared child.
Elise Hunt was no child. But right now, she looked and acted younger than her eighteen years.
“I know exactly what you’re up to, Elise. It’s not going to work.”
“You’re scaring me. I haven’t done anything.”
“Driver of the black Honda! Get out of the vehicle now.”
Even as Lucy spoke, she realized she was escalating this situation when she should have called for backup.
Backup? Who would back her up? She wasn’t supposed to be investigating Mona Hill’s murder. She didn’t have any active cases. But she wasn’t officially suspended, she was simply told to take time off.
Garrett Lee had emerged from Lucy’s car. “Garrett, call SAPD.” To Elise she said, “It’s a crime to follow a federal agent.” Not exactly.
“I wasn’t following you! I wasn’t! I-I—stop, please stop, I served my time, why are you harassing me?”
The Honda’s driver emerged. Lucy diverted her attention to him. Male, Caucasian, under six feet tall. Mid-twenties. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
“What did I do?” he asked, but kept his hands on the roof of his car.
Garrett walked over and said, “Lucy, you need to let them go.”
“Did you call SAPD?”
“No, you don’t want to do that.”
“They were following us.”
“We weren’t!” Elise said.
“Your innocent act may fool your shrink, but it has never fooled me.”
The guy with the truck finished fueling, but he didn’t leave.
The driver said, “Are you arresting us?”
Lucy said, “I’m going to prove you killed Mona Hill. You’re not as smart as you think, Elise.”
“Kill? You’re going to kill me?” Elise acted hysterical.
“That’s not what I said, and you damn well know it,” Lucy snapped.
“If you’re not arresting us, we’re leaving,” the driver said. “Get in the car, Elise.”
“Do not move,” Lucy said.
But now she was stuck. She couldn’t arrest them. She had no cause. And she couldn’t prove that they’d followed her from Erica Anderson’s house. She had noticed the vehicle as she emerged from the neighborhood … but that was the most likely route to take from Erica’s house back to the highway. Elise was supposed to be in Los Angeles, but there was nothing keeping her in L.A. She wasn’t even on probation.
“You hate me, I haven’t done anything to you, but you hate me.” Elise was crying. She’d forced herself to cry on cue in the court, what did Lucy expect? That Elise was