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“Duke said you saw a blue van parked behind the cabin. What exactly were you doing there?”
She glanced at Chaya as she stood behind him before returning her gaze to Natches.
“I thought Chaya was the interrogator,” she pointed out mildly, a bit irritated with the questions.
Amusement gleamed in his eyes then, a teasing gleam she had a feeling he was helpless against. “I taught her everything she knows.”
For a second, his wife stared at the back of his head in disbelief.
“Oh, good grief,” Chaya muttered then with a roll of her eyes. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Probably, but that doesn’t change the question.” He cleared his throat, obviously holding back a grin.
Angel shrugged. “Getting the lay of the land. I was hiking and sightseeing.”
Silence met her answer.
“Angel.” Chaya said her name softly, the expression on her face knowing and demanding at the same time.
Angel looked over at where Bliss was moving into the living room at the urging of Annie and Laken.
“I feel sorry for Bliss.” She sighed. “She’ll never be able to hide anything from the two of you.”
It was so sad; sometimes a girl needed to have her secrets until she could figure things out on her own. Having a mother that could just look at you and know you were lying would simply suck.
“I was following Bran because I’d noticed Bliss was interested in him. He hadn’t said or done anything.” She shot Natches a silencing look. “I don’t even think he was aware she was flirting with him. She’s very subtle.”
“But something about him bothered you?” Chaya asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” She frowned. “He was with two other young men about his age and passed by the cabin. They continued on to a part of the lake I hadn’t known went back that far and settled down to fish, so I turned around and headed back to the marina. That’s when I saw the blue van parked behind it. Then after Bliss was nearly abducted, I recognized it as possibly the same van in the video footage from the marina’s security cameras. When I returned the day Bliss was nearly abducted, the van was gone, though, and the cabin was empty.”
The explanation didn’t sit well with Natches.
“So rather than alerting anyone else, you just went and checked it all out yourself?” he demanded, glaring at her, his expression filled with disapproval.
Her brow lifted. “Considering the fact that several hours before that you threatened to kill me?” Her lips pursed in consideration. “Yep, that was exactly what I did: went and checked it out all on my little lonesome.”
He stared back at her, those emerald eyes darkening to almost a jungle green as his expression tightened with arrogant reproach.
“You knew better than that,” he finally snorted. “If I was going to shoot your ass, I wouldn’t warn you first.”
She wondered how the hell she was supposed to have known that.
“Now see, that’s just rude,” she stated, as though offended over his inconsideration. “I wouldn’t mind a bit warning you first. It makes the playing field even, so to speak.”
She really hoped he remembered her warning where messing with food she was preparing was concerned.
He rubbed at his neck again before turning and throwing Chaya a look that had her smiling serenely.
“Let me see the pictures already,” Angel demanded, holding out her hand. “Before I get too tired to recognize anyone.”
Turning the pictures over, he handed them to her, his gaze hardening as she took them.
Laying the photographs in front of her, she recognized the first one instantly.
“That’s the one whose DNA Bliss managed to get when he grabbed her,” Natches told her quietly.
“He was at the lake several times when I was there with the girls. I’d remember those ice-blue eyes and that scar on his face anywhere.” She drew a slanted line down the man’s cheek.
