“Deal,” Reed and I say in unison.
She starts for the door. Stops with her hand on the screen and turns around.
“Actually, before that... come here, all of you.” Arms out. “I’ve been thinking about a group hug for six hours of interstate.”
Nobody needs telling twice. Reed folds in from one side, I come in from the other, Ash closes it across from me, dropping his bags, and for a minute the four of us stand there in one knot with her face in the middle of it, three scents closing over honey and gooseberries until you can’t tell where anybody starts. Shemakes a sound into Reed’s shoulder, small, content, fraying at the edges into a purr.
My eyes find Ash’s over the top of her head. Then Reed’s.
Two million dollars,I think,and this is still the best thing on this porch.
“Okay,” Luna says, muffled. “If I don’t go now, I’m sleeping standing up in this exact spot.”
She pulls back and kisses Reed full on the mouth. Then me, leaving me wishing I could keep her lips on mine for the rest of the night. Finally, she kisses Ash before slipping inside, the screen door clapping shut behind her.
Reed exhales a week’s worth of air and drops into a porch chair. “Two million dollars.”
“Yeah.” I put both forearms on the rail, and breathe the orchard for a minute.
Ash laughs at the pair of us, hooks the bags off the boards, and tips his head at the door. “Alright, let’s get inside. Help me with the luggage?”
The question pulls me out of my stasis. “Actually, guys. There’s something you both need to hear first.”
Ash sets the bags back down, slow. Reed sits up out of his slouch.
“I might have cracked the mystery about Luna’s bag,” I say. “The one she got back unexpectedly.”
Reed’s jaw sets. Ash goes from tired to still.
“Somebody walked that bag up to a parcel counter in Lakeview about a week ago and shipped it to this house. Prepaid, cash, no return address. But the depot keeps its counter slips, and my colleague from the station, Denny, managed to get one of his contacts to find it.” I pull my phone out of my pocket, tapping the screen to bring up the scanned slip. “The sender is a man named Wade Fenton.”
Reed’s out of the chair. “Who the hell is Wade Fenton?”
“That was my question when I got it earlier today. Then I had the county run the name, and I heard back from them this afternoon.” I swipe the screen and show them the mugshot. “Skip tracer, works out of Ridgeville most of the time. He’s got a record—impersonation pled down to a fine, trespass in two counties, and a fraud complaint that didn’t stick. He finds people for money.”
“A PI,” Ash says.
“A PI needs a license. This is what lives underneath a PI.”
Reed’s still looking at the screen, and I watch him get there. Brown hair. Thirties. A face nobody would remember.
“The teen’s guy,” he says. “Alpha, thirties, brown hair, never seen him around town.”
“Exactly,” I say. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Fenton’s the one who paid that teenager to sabotage us. It fits the pattern.”
“Which brings me to the other thing,” I add. “After you and Luna caught that kid, I asked every front desk in the valley to flag anybody suspicious. And I got back maybes. A fella in room four at the Creekside. Two guys at the motor lodge on Route 9 the manager didn’t like. A salesman nobody could place. But I mean, it’s leaf season so there are strangers everywhere, and nothing I could do with any of them.” I tap the booking photo. “So as soon as I got Wade Fenton’s info, I sent his face and name to all of them. A little before you pulled up, Pearl Hutchins called me back. The man in one of her rooms is Wade, although he signed in as Cole. He’s staying until Sunday.”
“Cole,” Ash repeats, flat.
“The fake name tells you everything,” I say. “Honest men don’t do that.”
Nobody says anything for a beat.
“It’s Derek.” Reed’s voice has gone low. “It has to be. He paid this Fenton to find her, and then to start messing with us.” He looks between us. “So how do we make that fucker pay?”
“Reed—”
“I’m serious.” He’s down the steps, keys already out and swinging around one finger. “He’s just a few miles down the road. I’ll drive right now.”
