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“Then let me call Annie tomorrow and see what she says. Could you go to Helena this Monday?”
“Three days from now?” Stunned, Julia stared at her friend. How could she get everything in order for Delia in two days, when they were both weekend days?
“Exactly,” Zoe said. “You need to do this now, Julia. I figured I was cutting you some slack by letting you stay here for the weekend. And I want you to stay with me for the next three nights. I don’t want you staying in your house alone.” Zoe smiled. “Unless you have a boyfriend I don’t know about.”
Julia made a scoffing sound. “A boyfriend? When would I have time for a guy? It’s been months since I’ve seen a naked man.” She narrowed her eyes at her friend. “And stay with you because I’m not safe in my house? Aren’t you being a little melodramatic, Zo?”
“Hell, no,” Zoe shot back. “You’ve had three things happen in the past week. Don’t you think you need to be careful?”
Julia slumped against the back of the seat and pushed her dinner away. The eggplant parm smelled delicious, but she’d lost her appetite. Zoe was right. Three things happening in the past week was not a coincidence. And who knew where the next attack would come from?
“You’re right,” she finally sighed. “I need help. And I have no idea where to go for that help. So I’ll see your sister Anneliese.”
“One thing,” Zoe said, her mouth curling up in a smile. “Whatever you do, don’t call her Anneliese. Or Annie. She goes by Mel. She has since she started working for the CIA. Didn’t want a girly name, I guess. I’m the only one who calls her Annie.”
“Okay,” Julia said faintly. “Mel it is.”
Zoe touched the computer bag. “I’ve got your computer in here, and it’s cleaned up. But I don’t want you to use it to connect to the internet. You can use it for your business, but only off-line. I have another, stripped down computer in here you can use for email and surfing the web. There’s nothing important on it, so it doesn’t matter if it gets compromised. All your personal information will be protected on your computer which won’t be connected to the web.”
Zoe picked up her fork and began eating her grilled salmon. After the first bite, she moaned. “This is amazing, Julia. What’s in this glaze?”
Julia managed a weak smile. “You know my policy about recipes, Zo. They stay at Madeline’s. But after all you’ve done for me, I’ll give you the salmon recipe. Although wouldn’t it be simpler to just eat here? I love having you eat with me.”
“I’ll try to do that,” Zoe said. She pointed her fork at Julia. “And don’t try to comp my meal tonight, like you usually do. You don’t have a huge margin here.”
“You’re never paying for a meal at Madeline’s,” Julia retorted. “Ever.”
“Okay, then,” Zoe said. “My payment for my meal is hooking you up with my sister.”
* * *
Monday afternoon, Julia got out of her rental car and stood at a high gate, staring into a compound of several buildings about ten miles outside of Helena, Montana. Finding the bell, she pressed it and waited.
A couple minutes later, a tall man with dark blond hair trotted toward the gate. “You Julia?” he asked.
“That’s me. Julia Stewart.”
He opened the gate and waved her in. “Drive in and park in the garage to your left,” he said. “I’ll open the door to an empty bay.”
Once Julia had parked, the blond guy was waiting for her. “I’m Devlin Smith. Mel’s partner. Mel was filling me in right before you rang. Sounds like you have some trouble.”
Julia straightened. “I do. And Zoe told me her sister was the best person to help me with it.”
“Yeah, Mel’s good,” Devlin said as he directed her toward an office building. “We all are. I think we’ll be able to help you figure out what’s going on.”
But as Zoe walked beside Devlin toward an office building, she wasn’t so sure. She trusted Zoe’s judgment. But if she took Zoe’s advice, she’d put her restaurant and herself into the hands of strangers. Trust those strangers to protect her from whoever was trying to harm her.
Trusting strangers would be tough. She hadn’t been the trusting type since the night her family died when she was sixteen years old.
