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Lucas looked at Birdie with calm determination in his voice. “Do you remember the trunks? Or have any idea where they might be or how we get them back?”
“Yes,” she replied, satisfied to be given the opportunity to spear Lucas with a sardonic look. Because the oblivious man had walked past the trunks several times. On one night in particular, he’d made love to her while one stood upright no more than a few feet away.
His face lit up with hope. “Where are they?”
Birdie crossed her arms. “Fulsom’s Service Station.”
* * *
Birdie rolledher eyes as Lucas kept staring at her with an incredulous look on his face.
“Did you just say Fulsom’s Service Station?” he asked.
She lowered her chin as if speaking to a toddler. “Yeesss,” she replied. “I used the trunks as a dresser and storage unit. One held all of my clothes and jewelry. The other, mementos and keepsakes. Basically, all of my worldly possessions.”
“So you found the diary and the thumb drive?” Lucas asked.
“I did not.” Birdie’s eyes flew to Flynn, who was avidly watching and listening. The last thing she wanted was to implicate another innocent person in her mission. Or vendetta.
She figured, the less Flynn knew, the better.
Sensing a pause, Flynn informed them, “I turned off the cameras. Feel free to conspire.”
She sighed and attempted, once again, to share her concerns with Lucas without clueing Flynn in any further. “I would like to keep this conversation between us. The least a certain someone knows…” She discretely bobbed her head toward Flynn, who was now standing inside the door with his hands in the pockets of his navy shorts, his polo shirt buttoned up to his neck. “…the less potential danger they might face from abusive and vindictive family members.”
Flynn leaned toward Lucas. “She’s talking about me. She’s trying to protect me.”
“Thanks for the clarification, buddy.” Lucas winked with a hand to his shoulder.
Birdie was on the verge of tearing her hair out. Lucas was treating Flynn like a partner in crime while she was trying to protect him, on top of Lucas, Mia, Angus, and Pearl.
The list kept growing. When what needed to happen was for everyone to get out of her way so she could end this. End Errol and Ariana.
Flynn puffed out his chest from Lucas’s camaraderie. A chest with some comparably impressive man boobs that, unfortunately, still measured less than his distended belly.
Birdie had always assumed his significant waistline was a result of too many bourbons. Now she knew, it was the result of an eating disorder brought on by the angst and anxiety of living with a control hound of a mother.
She thought his beverage of choice was bourbon, it was actually sweet tea, disguised as an alcoholic beverage in a refined crystal glass. Ironic how drinking eighty-proof alcohol was graciously permitted by his mother as it was a common pastime beverage of a more refined bygone era. As opposed to the backward hillbilly swill of sweet tea.
She had also discovered he was a grown man hoarding and hiding food all over the house.
Late one night, while she was lurking about, she had caught him with his entire arm in the chimney flue, rooting around and then pulling out a bag of Skittles.
While searching for stain remover, she had found a half-eaten box of Nutty Bars hidden in one of the cabinets of the laundry room behind a stack of dryer sheets. Nutty Bars a personal favorite, she might’ve snagged one of those bad boys.
Flynn wasn’t the only member of the household who Ariana monitored like a food Nazi. Birdie’s dinner plate was placed in front of her, void of carbs, while Ariana’s and Errol’s were teeming with mashed potatoes and pools of melted butter. As well as a variety of warm, yeasty dinner rolls to choose from.
Birdie had to presume that Vanessa, the housekeeper, had been aware of and unsupportive of Ariana’s carb-restricting rules, ignoring Flynn’s hidey-holes and instructing the maids to do likewise.
Flynn was now regarding Lucas as if he were the secret to regaining his freedom, his first-ever bromance, and a diet rich with carbs.
“You’re very welcome,” Flynn offered with aplomb. “Tati was looking for the trunks when she was my caretaker. Once earning her trust, she asked for my help. She promised to hire me as soon as I was able to break free from my family. I’m going to be her Assistant P.I. She’s my best friend.” He paused as if thinking of more pertinent details. “Oh, and she’s really beautiful.”
Lucas slapped Flynn on the shoulder congenially. “She is a looker.”
This caught Birdie’s attention. “You’ve met this Tati woman?”
“I have.”
