looked at the table where the cash and the rest of the stuff lay—a very strange decorative centerpiece in Alice Greely’s neat kitchen. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Who’d have guessed old Elliot would tangle with real bad guys?” His slow head shake seemed to be admiring. Jake would always admire her brother.
She closed her eyes and waited.
A few minutes later, Nick came in the back door, closing it softly behind him and then locking it. She wanted to run to him, burrow in close to feel his reassuring touch, but she couldn’t look like a weenie or he’d leave her here.
“We’re meeting tomorrow at the house.”
“House?”
He grinned briefly. “Your house. The place I’m staying.”
“Why didn’t he want to meet in the café?” Ames shivered and hugged herself.
“He must figure his people would stand out like sore thumbs or more like space aliens.”
“His ‘people’?” Oh God.
“Don’t worry. Bert wouldn’t travel anywhere alone.” He shrugged as if to emphasize how unimportant the extra men were. “His dad, Cesar, is even worse. The guy must have seen too many gangster movies or maybe too many rock documentaries. He likes to have an entourage.”
He pointed to the stuff lying on the kitchen table. “Got another garbage bag we can use?”
Jake went to a drawer and, after fumbling with a box for a while, extracted a big green bag. Ames wondered how often he had to take out the garbage.
Nick tossed the money and the book into the bag and slung it over his back. He shoved the drive into his pocket and walked to the kitchen door.
Ames jumped up. “Wait for me.”
“Me too.” Jake put his cup in the sink.
Nick looked at them, a sour scowl on his face. She wished he didn’t look at her with the same expression he used for Jake.
“All right. We’ll take two cars.”
Jake grabbed some keys from the counter and jingled them. “Ready to go,” he said cheerfully, as if they were going on a trip to Dairy Queen.
The roads were nearly empty.
Nearly.
Ames glanced over her shoulder. Jake’s truck was behind them, but another set of headlights soon appeared as well. Even if she hadn’t been entirely paranoid, she would have noticed another car turning onto the road out of town, especially at two in the morning.
She twisted in her seat. “We’re being followed. Do you suppose it’s your friends?”
Nick glanced in the rearview. “Shouldn’t be. Not yet.”
She expected him to do some kind of maneuvering and try to lose the tail just in case, but he just turned into the long gravel drive that led to the house.
Partway down, he stopped and waited. Only one set of headlights followed—Jake’s.
They pulled up to the front of the house, and Jake jumped out of his truck and headed to the car. He held something at his side.
“Oh no,” she breathed. “He’s got a shotgun.”
Nick put his hand on her shoulder for a moment. “It’ll be okay.”
They got out of the car, but Nick kept the keys in and headlights on. He nodded a greeting at Jake. “Thanks for coming along.”
“You didn’t sound so happy about it at my house.” Jake looked him up and down. “Anyway, I’m doing this for Ames and Elliot, not you.”
“All good,” Nick soothed, and Ames thought, he’s up to something. When he gets diplomatic, he’s got a plan. She wasn’t sure if knowing that made her feel better.
“Listen, Jake. I need you to go back into town and check around for that SUV that was behind us. Did you get a good look at it? Would you recognize it if you saw it again?”
“Yeah. Absolutely. I know pretty much what everybody drives around town, and that wasn’t a local. I can hunt for it. And then what?”
“Maybe take a look at the motel parking lot. If you see that car, call me and let me know ASAP. Don’t go near it.”
“Damn, I’ll go talk to Billy and see what he knows.” Jake went back to his truck and began rooting through the empty fast-food bags and other junk on the passenger seat.
“Who’s Billy?”
Ames sighed. “The night guy on the desk at the Middle Inn. He’ll want to know why you’re curious, Jake.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Jake ambled back. He had put on a ball cap and carried a phone. “Seems to me that the more people who know something is going on, the better.”
“You could be right,” Nick said—the last thing she expected from him. “But that’s only if you can leave out the