local grocery store. From the expression on Brick’s handsome face, he’d thought she’d left him for good. She could see that he was upset and trying to hide it—now that he’d found her. She felt almost guilty for giving him a scare. Also for giving him a hard time last night. She had seen firsthand that the man definitely had a way with women. But then, she’d known that the moment she’d laid eyes on him.
He was too good-looking, too cocky, too full of himself, she’d told herself. And yet since they’d hooked up, so to speak, she’d seen another, more vulnerable side of him. Not that she was going to let that fact weaken her resolve to keep everything between them professional.
“You could have left a note,” he said, walking up to her.
She laughed. “You sound like we’re a thing. If you must know, I went out to get us some doughnuts and coffee,” she said, indicating the bag she was holding in one hand and the to-go tray with two coffees in the other. She handed him the bag, then took one of the coffee cups from the tray and handed it to him. “Also, I looked for an apartment.” He blinked. “Not for us, sweetie. For Natalie.”
The morning was sunny and just starting to warm up. She could smell pine and river scents drifting on the breeze. There was a picnic table on the lawn in front of the small motel. She walked to it and sat down. To anyone watching, they might look like a married couple on vacation.
She opened the bag of doughnuts and offered one to Brick as he joined her.
He took a glazed one and said, “An apartment for Natalie?”
“If you were her, what would you do? She can’t keep running. We know she has limited funds. She has to look for a job. Why not a small tourist town where people with money have built huge summer homes and would love a nanny? Most are probably from out of state and have never heard of Natalie Berkshire—not that she will use her real name, I would imagine. It would only be for the summer or maybe just a few weeks. Exactly what she’s looking for.”
He shook his head. “I’m still surprised she’d stop so close to where she was caught.”
“Because she knows that we expect her to run farther,” Mo said and took a sip of her coffee. “She needs to find a job, and if I’m right, disappear into a family with her next victim. She’s getting desperate. I believe that’s why she made the mistake she did.”
“What mistake was that?” he asked and took a bite of his doughnut, chasing it with a sip of coffee. He frowned at the cup in his hand.
“You do take your coffee with sugar and cream, right?” she asked.
He looked up in surprise. “How did you—”
“It’s no mystery. You had an old cup in your pickup. It was written on the side along with your name and the logo of your favorite coffee shop.” She grinned.
“Okay, you’re observant. I’ll give you that. What mistake did Natalie make?”
“She let her guard down and got caught. She’ll want to do what comes naturally to her, which isn’t running. She’s here in this town. I feel it.” Mo saw his skepticism and reached into her pocket to take out a scrap of paper. She handed it to him. “The apartment comes with a garage where she can hide the stolen car—if she hasn’t had a chance to get rid of it already.”
“Where did you get this?” he asked as he turned the strip of paper over in his fingers. He had nice hands, she noticed. Long fingers. Strong, tanned hands. A man’s hands. She felt a shiver at even the thought of those hands exploring her body.
“You want my jacket?” Brick asked, thinking she was chilly. He was already starting to take off his jean jacket.
She shook her head. “It was on a bulletin board in the only grocery store in town advertising a studio apartment cheap with the telephone number on the slips of paper on the bottom. Only one other slip of paper had been pulled off so I figured the ad hasn’t been posted for long.”
“That doesn’t mean Natalie took the other one.”
She nodded in agreement. “But there is one way to find out.” She pulled out her phone and called the number. No answer. She left a message saying that she was looking