“Looks like it. It makes sense. It’s a posh, new luxury resort.”
“And Astor has invested in it.”
“So the question is, what is he doing there today? Checking out his investment? Or taking advantage of it?”
“What do you mean by taking advantage?”
“Taking to the slopes. I mean, come on, this guy must invest in resorts for a reason. He wants to be in on the action and ski the new slopes.” He thought about Brad’s offer. He still hadn’t gotten back to him. Would Brad call Liam before he moved on to another candidate?
He steered into the parking lot, found a spot at the far end, and shifted into park but left his truck running. What should he do? Work for Brad? If he did, he’d need to put him off until Zoey was found. If he took the job, Heath would be upset. His brother wanted the best for him, Liam believed that, but he also knew that Heath thought the best for Liam was working at the ranch. Home. Family.
Deep inside, Liam wanted all that and more. But it consistently seemed out of his reach. Finally, he turned off the ignition.
“What are we going to do?” Rae asked.
“We’ll go inside and hang out. Follow him around. Watch and wait.”
“As for waiting, I don’t like this sitting around business.”
“You’ve already made that clear. And as I’ve said before, have some patience.” Listen to your own advice. Liam didn’t like it either. He was more practiced at infiltrating drug-trafficking gangs and power players. What was the best way to help Rae?
“They’re going in,” she said. “I’d like to know who he’s with.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Astor followed a group of resort patrons through the doors. “If he skis,” Liam whispered, “then we’ll ski too.”
Her beautiful eyes narrowed. “Wha-what?”
At the look in her eyes, he chuckled. “You said you were tired of sitting and waiting.”
“I did, didn’t I? Honestly, I never pictured you on skis.”
He arched a brow. “Then you don’t know me that well.”
“No, I guess I don’t.”
They got out of the truck, and she walked next to him through the front doors and the expansive great room with the massive fireplace. “I don’t see him. We should have followed more closely. Again, I’d rather just talk to him.”
“You were never patient, Rae.”
He led her through the resort. A couple rose from their chairs, and Liam quickly grabbed their spot by the corner near the windows. Rae plopped into a chair and turned her attention to the ski lifts. The elevators were behind them. Liam focused on those.
“From here,” he said, “we can see him coming or going or even getting on the ski lift there. But if he’s here to ski, I have to ask why this guy doesn’t use the heli-skiing. He can certainly afford it. Why go where everyone else goes?”
“Wouldn’t you want to check out your investment?” she asked.
“Yes. But I wouldn’t have to ski to do it,” Liam said. “I can grab us coffee while we wait. Act normal.”
“No. I see him.” Rae peered around Liam. “He’s with his sidekick. They’re heading into the café.”
“It’s crowded but not so bad that we can’t get a table. Crowded serves our purpose. We won’t be so easily noticed.” But it would be more difficult to glean information from the two men’s conversation.
Liam accompanied her inside the café, where patrons were asked to seat themselves. Three college-aged women left a booth as Liam and Rae passed, and they grabbed it. The men they’d followed were two booths away.
Rae and Liam ordered coffee.
Coffee, coffee, coffee. Liam was already too wired. This was what he hated about stakeouts. He could relate to Rae’s impatience and agreed that at some point they might need to bump this up. Correction. He might need to bump things up. He didn’t want Rae going even deeper into this dangerous situation.
“You make a great private investigator,” she said. “But don’t you get bored?”
“Not with you as company.”
She glanced up at him from her tablet.
He averted his gaze. Flirting with her was playing with fire. “If I did this for a living, yes, I would probably get bored. I prefer getting in the middle of it. Or at least I used to.” Part of him missed the action, but another part of him struggled with what was considered the means justifying the end. He’d seen a few undercover agents lose their identity because they’d played their role so well for too long.