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I knit my brow. The place was a toy shop with the nameHarry’s Treasurespainted across the glass in perfect cursive. Above and below the words were illustrations of a teddy bear, a bouncing ball, a jump rope, each rendered with careful precision.
What the hell did this cocky guy want there? And if hedidwant something in there, why had he simply propped himself against the doorframe with his sinewy arms folded over his chest like he was waiting for something?
This guy wasn’t a regular customer. What was his deal?
As I watched, my nerves prickling with uneasiness, an elderly man appeared in the doorway. The younger guy pushed himself fully upright, flexing his shoulders in a posture that exuded menace. His laugh carried down the street, but there wasn’t much warmth in it.
He jabbed his thumb toward the doorway. The old man raised his hands as if in protest, his own stance humble, but the guy shook his head. Drooping further, the old man—who I was pretty sure owned the toy shop—ducked back inside.
He returned less than a minute later with a letter-sized envelope he handed over with obvious reluctance. The cocky guy checked inside, clapped his target on the shoulder, and started ambling away.
“Sorry, Miss, are you ready for your bill?” a voice said, startling me out of my daze. I realized I’d gone rigid in my chair, and my waitress—Beth—was peering down at me with obvious concern.
“Oh, um, yes, please,” I said hastily. My heart kept thudding as I dug my wallet out of my purse to pay for my meal.
I knew what a criminal transaction looked like when I saw it. No way were the contents of that envelope something legit. What the hell was going on in Hobb Creek?
The cocky guy was still in view a couple of blocks down the street. Not walking too fast but like he owned the place.
My teeth gritted. I tossed down a few bills that included a substantial tip and set off after him.
I stayed on the opposite side of the street and at least a block behind him, with regular glances at the store windows I passed as if I were simply taking a stroll. As I trailed the guy off the main street and through a residential section of town, it occurred to me that this might not be the smartest move I could make.
I should be staying as far away as possible from anything criminal. Anything that might tie back to my mother, no matter how tenuous the connections.
But I couldn’t shake the memory of the hopelessness I’d seen in the old man’s stance. My sense of peace had been fractured.
I needed to at least know what was going on. That was a reasonable strategy, wasn’t it? Even if I decided to avoid getting involved, it’d be easier if I knew exactlywhatto avoid.
Yeah, even I wasn’t totally buying that story. But it kept me meandering past the rows of houses to the edge of town. My hands rose, my fingers trailing over the subtly sharp edges on the set of rings I liked to wear when I wasn’t skating.
They looked pretty, and they could cut a guy with a swipe of my fist. Both features I appreciated.
When the commercial buildings I’d noticed before on the outskirts came into view, I slowed my pace even more. The cocky guy strode right on across the sprawling parking lot to where the pickup truck I’d seen before, a van, and a sports car were parked close to a boxy white storage building.
I stopped in the shade of a tree at the edge of someone’s lawn and pulled out my phone so I could pretend to be focused on it rather than the activity across the lot. If I got any closer, it’d be obvious what I was after.
A couple of other men came out of the storage building. I couldn’t make out what they said, but the macho posturing came across just fine. They shouldered each other and barked laughs with an attitude that reminded me way too much of the lower lackeys who hung around Mom’s mansion back home.
Even more apprehension gripped me. So when a low, deep voice spoke up from right behind me, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
My hand had already shot to the knife in my pocket before I recognized Rafael’s voice. I spun around and elbowed him as discreetly as humanly possible.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I hissed under my breath.
I wasn’t exactly surprised he was nearby—it was becoming clear that his bodyguard habits weren’t dying just because we’d left the dangers of my old life behind. He’d probably been shadowing me from a discreet distance from the moment I’d left the bungalow.
But he didn’t normally emerge from those shadows to hassle me with questions.
“I’m trying to figure out why you wandered all the way out here,” Rafael said, still keeping his voice quiet.
I motioned vaguely behind me, toward the storage building. “There’s something sketchy going on here—I’m sure of it. I saw one of those guys take an envelope from a store owner who really didn’t look happy about it, and… just look at them!”
Rafael didn’t miss a beat. “I already have.”
I stared at him. “What?”
