Page 52 of Deadly Conflicts

“If you don’t, your mother will come looking for you.”

“We’ll be there,” Mandy squeaked, causing Louis to chuckle.

“She’s so darned cute I can’t stand it,” Louis said, shaking his head as he turned to leave. “I would text Jake back, too. He sounds angry.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” James said dryly, glancing at the lump under the covers. “Baby, you didn’t tell Ally Jake’s plans by any chance, did you?”

Mandy was offended, even though she refused to take her head out from beneath the sheet. “Of course not! I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t ruin things for Ally.”

“Jake thinks you did.”

“Well, Jake is a butthead.”

James pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “He says Ally asked where he saw their future going last night,” he said. “That seems a little coincidental that she would bring it up so close to Jake proposing.”

“What are you accusing me of?”

James pushed the tip of his tongue against the back of his teeth as he considered his options. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for a fight. “I’m accusing you of being the love of my life.”

“Good answer, son,” Louis said as he descended the stairs. “Don’t forget breakfast. Your mother will come looking for you if you’re late.”

“And we don’t want that,” James said, patiently waiting for Mandy to poke her head out. When she did, he fixed her with a pointed look. “Are you sure you didn’t say anything to Ally?”

“Of course not!”

“Okay.” James kissed Mandy’s forehead. “It must’ve just been some weird coincidence. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried,” Mandy muttered.

“So … we have ten minutes until breakfast,” James said. “What do you want to do?”

“Go back in time so your father doesn’t see me naked.”

“I can’t arrange that but, I think I can schedule a trip of another sort if you want to join me in the shower and multitask.”

“Fine,” Mandy grumbled, throwing the sheet off her body and hopping off the bed. “You’d better wow me, though.”

“Consider it done.”

“ARE YOU sure?”

Jake didn’t want to call his boss a liar, but ever since Ally pressed him on the issue of their future he couldn’t get the idea of Mandy letting something slip out of his head. Ally seemed happy with their living arrangements before yesterday. Now Jake was nervous and antsy and he needed someone to blame. A loose-lipped blonde seemed like an easy mark.

“She didn’t say anything,” James said, following Jake into a dark parking garage on the south side of Warren. “I asked her twice. She said she wouldn’t do that to Ally and I believe her.”

“I’m not saying she did it on purpose,” Jake clarified. “It just defies reason for Ally to bring it up when she did.”

“I agree,” James said. “Mandy didn’t say anything, though. She’s gossipy, but she would never do something like that. She loves Ally too much. If she did do it she would freak out and run to me to fix it.”

“Maybe she told someone else,” Jake suggested.

“No, she would tell me that, too,” James said. “She can’t keep her mouth shut. Even when she does something wrong she tells me. She’s a terrible liar. I would know.”

“Then I don’t know what to do,” Jake said. “Ally looked so sad I almost blurted it out right then and there. I don’t even pick up the ring for another two hours.”

“Chill out, drama queen,” James intoned, narrowing his eyes as he studied the numbers on the wall. “Sven said it was just around this corner. He should be waiting for us.”

James was in the middle of an uncomfortable family breakfast – Mandy refusing to make eye contact as Louis kept laughing to himself – when he got a call from Peter. Someone found a car matching the description of Vince’s stolen model in an abandoned parking structure in one of Macomb County’s largest cities. The parking garage itself was rundown and ramshackle. It was due to be destroyed later in the week, in fact. James couldn’t believe the car would be that easy to find – or think of a rational reason for someone to dump it in an empty garage after all the work it took to steal it – but he knew he had to exert due diligence and check it out.