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“I, well, my mistake, really screwed things up for you.”
She shook her head. “Your methods might be odd, but if we nail Lester it will be worth it.” Her smile, weak and fleeting, told the real story.
“When,” he corrected.
“When what?”
“When we catch Lester, not if.”
“Yeah.” Her smile gained a little strength. “I like that better.” She picked up a backpack and another small bag. “Let’s get moving before Sarah realizes I’m still within arm’s reach.”
He held open the door for her, refusing to notice the sweet scent of her hair as she squeezed past him.
While he waited for her to lock up, his phone chirped with a text message.
“Anything important?”
He didn’t answer right away as he was re-reading the message and trying to put it into context. When they reached the car and her bags were loaded, he handed her his phone. “Take a look and tell me what you think.”
Chapter 8
Heather groaned at the sight of her brother’s phone number on Dale’s phone, but the message had nothing to do with the ring on her finger. “There was someone watching us in the woods.”
“Smoking,” Dale added. “He said the trail went cold at the service road.”
“Yeah.” She’d just read that line too. “But no one was smoking when we were out there. I never would have missed that.”
“Me neither.”
“So they wanted us to know they were there.” She jumped a little when his phone chimed and shivered in her palm. “J.C. sent a picture.”
“Hand-rolled cigarette?”
She swiped the picture to enlarge it. “Looks that way. Who is dumb enough to leave behind a sign like this?”
“More cocky than dumb is my bet.”
“You know something about it.” She watched his hands flex on the wheel and experienced a ridiculous rush imagining his hands on her. “Do you want me to respond for you?”
“No.” Long fingers stretched and gripped again. “There was a fire alarm at the office on Christmas Day. During the evacuation, someone went through my files, but the security video didn’t give us much to work with.”
“That’s pretty bold, walking into an FBI office.”
“I agree. Lester has been bold throughout his criminal career.”
She rested Dale’s phone in the console and let him drive, let his mind work as he merged onto the interstate heading back to Columbia. She had her own thoughts and adjustments to make. It had not been a reasonable expectation that her family would be happy to hear she got engaged to a man they didn’t know.
Cutting herself some slack, she’d never expected they would find out about the ring on her finger. In light of that cigarette, she was glad they’d stayed in character as a couple at the shelter and out near Terry’s body.
Even if her family was having conniptions over it now. Oh, well. Someday she’d be able to tell them the truth and they would all laugh about it. She didn’t hold out much hope that they’d ever praise her courage to follow her instincts on this, but that went with being the baby of the family.
“We found a hand rolled cigarette near the FBI office after that fire alarm.”
“Did they use the smoke to set off the alarm?”
“No.”
He didn’t elaborate, so she tried another approach. “Do you think it was the same person at the office and out near the shelter?”
