Page 48 of The Billionaire's Special Relationship

“He added that two months ago. To make his car stand out from the crowd. That’s his car. And that’s his voice.”

“But why would he want to harm my son, and pin it on me?”

Tabby couldn’t answer neither of those questions. They all werefloored.

“What do we do, Boss?” Lou asked. “Take her and that tape to the DA?”

“So the DA can sit on this evidence for another week? Hell no. We’ve got to handle this ourselves. We’ve got to check out that car, and then have a conversation with this Darius.”

He looked at Tabby. “Looks like you’re going back to Larkin after all,” he said.

She was pleased that she could check on her home. But Darius was involved in a murder plot?Darius? She was alarmed too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Because a condition of Stuart’s bail was that he surrender his passport and that he was not to leave New York City, they could not involve anyone else in their trip to Larkin. Only the three of them: Stuart, Tabby, and Lou Fenson were in on it. But it also meant that they could not take Stuart’s plane. They had to drive the entire distance.

On orders from Stuart, Lou drove his Genesis GV80 SUV around to the back of the building and parked in the private penthouse garage. Although it wasn’t tinted up front, it was heavily-tinted in the back. That was why Stuart and Tabby piled onto the backseat in baseball caps pulled down over their foreheads, and they hit the road. It turned out to be a relaxing drive.

But as soon as they arrived in Larkin, and Darius was not at his apartment, they piled right back into Lou’s SUV.

“Didn’t you say he owned a clothing store?” Lou asked as they got back in.

“He does,” Tabby said. “On the far end of Grant Street, just past Bright’s Barbershop.”

“You think he’s there?” Stuart asked her.

“He’s out of town a lot on business trips, usually to buy more inventory, but if he’s in town then he’s at his store.”

Lou looked at Stuart through the rearview.Stuart gave a nod and Lou drove off, heading for Grant Street.

But when they arrived, Lou didn’t want to go up front. “If he sees us, he may run. Is there a back way in, Miss Morgan?”

“It sure is. Pull up just after you pass the intersection at Richmond,” Tabby said. “There’s an alley on the side of his store. You can park in that alley and then walk around back.”

“There’s a backdoor?” Stuart asked.

“Yes, and he keeps it open to let a breeze in because that’s where his workers hang out when nobody’s in the store. They play cards and smoke cigarettes and whatever else they smoke back there.”

Stuart looked at Lou. “That means we make get resistance.”

“From who?” asked Tabby. “Not from his workers, that’s for sure. They can’t stand Darius. They’ll act like they don’t even see us.”

“There’s no us,” Stuart said as he and Lou began getting out of the car. “You’re staying put.”

“But why? If he sees me, he won’t think nothing of it.”

“And you’re still staying in this car.”

“You let me get out at his apartment.”

“Because we could take control of him as soon as he opened that door. That’s not the case in a store. You’re staying here,” Stuart said.

Tabby didn’t like it, but she let it go. “But leave the keys in casea delivery van needs to get through.”

“It’s still on,” Lou said, “or you’ll burn up in there. It’s hot as hell in this town.”

“Just make sure you bring him with you so I can ask him some questions.”