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“Missing the fun? Sounds like a pretty extravagant party if it includes pony rides.”
“Yeah.”
She held the phone in front of his face as he idled at a signal.
“Wow. I never went to birthday parties like that.”
She traced her finger around Ethan’s smiling face. “Every party he’s been to at this school, it seems like the parents are trying to one-up each other. I’m not sure that’s a very healthy environment for kids. What were your birthday parties like?”
“I only had one birthday party—for my seventh birthday—and there were definitely no ponies there.” His mouth twisted. “It ended early when my old man showed up unexpectedly, drunk as a skunk, and started popping all the balloons with a lit cigarette.”
“I’m sorry. That doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“That was my old man—life of his own party.” He dropped his shoulders, which he’d raised stiffly to his ears.
He pointed to the phone in her lap. “You must’ve had parties like that.”
“I did.”
“And you turned out okay.”
“Did I?”
“Well, we’ve established you’re not crazy.”
“Did we?”
“Even if the guys in the videos aren’t the same person, you have several good reasons to believe they are.”
Leaning her head against the cold glass of the window, she stared at the landscape whizzing by. “It’s good to have someone on my side.”
“I tend to be a loner, but having backup is always good.”
Claire thumbed through a few text messages on her phone, her mind on the man next to her. He reminded her of a chameleon. He could be the charming fiancé, the kid-friendly visitor, the no-nonsense spy. Would she ever get to truly know him?
She stole a glance at him sideways through her lashes, taking in the strong hands that gripped the steering wheel and the hard line of his jaw. Without a wife, without children, what did he plan to do in his retirement years? He was too young to sit on some pier fishing or to stroll along some golf course.
“My hotel is coming up. We’ll retrieve my computer from the safe, send the video stills and lock it back up along with your thumb drives.”
“Then when we get back to the house, we act as if everything’s normal and that we never found a tracker on the car.”
“And we don’t lie about our whereabouts.”
She covered her mouth with her hand. “Depending on how long that tracker’s been attached to my car, it’s already too late for that. I’ve never admitted going to Brooktown, but he’s going to know I’ve been there.”
“So what? He doesn’t know what you’re doing there and it’s really none of his business, is it?”
“None at all.” She tilted her chin toward a glittering high-rise hotel. “Isn’t that it?”
“Yeah, I’m hoping to find a spot in the short-term parking out front so I don’t have to leave the car with a valet.”
He pulled into the circular drive in front of the hotel and slid into the last available parking space in the small lot to the right of the main building.
He guided her up to his room and ushered her in first.
“Nice.” She took a turn around the suite.
“Only the best for Mitchell Brown. He’s supposed to be a successful businessman. Do you think Correll will be checking me out?”
“Two hours ago, I would’ve said no. He doesn’t care who I marry since my marriage isn’t going to take anything out of his pocket.” She perched on the edge of a chair by the window. “After finding the tracking device? My bet is he’s going to look up Mitchell Brown to make sure he’s no threat. Will he be?”
“Mitch? Nah. He works for an international conglomerate that makes plastic coffee-cup lids, stir sticks and sleeves. Grew up in Chicago, went right to work in sales.” He yanked open the closet doors and dropped to his knees in front of the safe.
“Where did we meet, sweetheart?”
He cranked his head over his shoulder and she fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“We should’ve had this discussion last night. In fact, I was planning on it until that car bomb exploded.” He turned back to the safe and punched in some numbers.
