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Sam’s confrontation with Marshall lasted less than twenty minutes. But it had the reaction everyone wanted to see. It got Dennis on the move. As soon as Sam left the building, the real estate magnate went out to his Lexus and pulled out of the parking lot.
“I’m right behind him,” Birk vowed. Behind the wheel of his pickup truck, he instructed Jade to relay the information to Lucien.
Marshall’s headed through Santa Cruz, driving north, not south, toward his house. He’s turning onto a backroad. We’ll update you when we know the subject’s destination.
“Don’t follow so close,” Jade cautioned when Birk picked up speed. “We don’t want him to see us.”
“I know how to follow a car,” Birk snapped. Immediately regretting the tone of his words, he drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m on edge about Marshall. I know too many guys like him. I don’t trust this desperate side. If his assistant had gone to lunch, I could’ve gotten into the office and stuck a bug on his phone. That way, we’d know where he’s going and what he intends to do when he gets there.”
From the passenger seat, Jade sensed his edginess. She reached out and touched his arm. “It’s okay. I know you’re used to working with real professionals.”
“That’s not it. You’re as much a pro as anyone I’ve ever worked with. You helped solve Brigid’s disappearance when no one else could manage that. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel that way. I have a brusque nature. Sometimes I need to remember you deserve better.”
Jade smiled. “You’re working on it. Oh, look. Marshall’s turning up ahead, definitely heading toward Pelican Pointe.”
She keyed in another text to Lucien.He’s headed your way. Stay put and wait for him to make his move.
On the outskirts of Pelican Pointe at the cutoff to Santa Cruz, Brogan had pulled off the road. They’d switched cars after making sure Brownlee had done his part. She sat behind the wheel of her Range Rover drumming her fingers on the steering wheel while Lucien communicated with Jade.
Their coordinated surveillance was paying off. They already knew from Beckett that Richie had left his house twenty minutes earlier, about the same time Kelly reported Tazzie leaving her house. They figured the trio would be meeting somewhere in between. But they weren’t sure where it would take place.
“This is nerve-wracking waiting for Beckett and Kelly to point us in the right direction,” Brogan huffed.
Lucien squeezed her hand. “Patience. We need to see how this plays out for ourselves. No third-party exaggerations.” His phone dinged with a message. “Richie’s headed this way. Beckett’s pulled off in a holding pattern to wait for Kelly to catch up. Make sure you don’t pull out too soon.”
Brogan sat straighter in the driver’s seat, yanking the gear shift into Drive. “You want to do this?”
“No. I trust you.” His entire body shifted to the right when an older model pickup zoomed down the road. “There. That’s Richie’s truck turning toward Santa Cruz. They’ll probably pull over to the side of the road just beyond a four-way stop. There’s a clearing after the bridge. Just make sure you don’t lose him or park too close.”
Before she could follow, an old truck whizzed past them at a high rate of speed, with Tazzie at the wheel. “That must be the clunker she referred to having. Isn’t she in a hurry?” Brogan pointed out right before accelerating onto the highway in a leisurely pursuit. In the rearview mirror, she spotted Kelly behind her and waved.
“Just keep your eye on the prize until Brent joins us.”
From a safe distance back, she continued to follow Tazzie. Five miles later, she spotted a Lexus on the other side of the roadway. The vehicle made a quick right turn onto a dirt road and then headed into a canyon surrounded by hilly slopes and valleys. “That must be Dennis.”
From the passenger seat, Lucien fidgeted and keyed in a text to Jade.Don’t let them spot you. Keep out of sight.
Beginning to sweat, Lucien turned up the AC in the car. In the distance, he could see Birk, eastbound and coming in from the southwest. “Jeez, I hope he backs off. This will go sideways in a hurry if Dennis thinks we’re on to him.”
Brogan watched as Richie gunned his pickup down the dirt lane and parked next to the Lexus. Tazzie pulled in beside Richie. All three got out of their cars.
Brogan veered onto the shoulder in a cloud of dust while Kelly parked behind the Range Rover, and Beckett swerved in behind Kelly’s truck. “I’m still not sure what you want from this. We’re two hundred yards away, at minimum. We can’t even hear what they’re saying.”
Kelly and Beckett hopped into Brogan’s backseat.
“What’s the plan?” Beckett asked.
Lucien pointed to Birk, whose truck traveled past the dirt road and pulled into a patch of high weeds for cover directly across from the Range Rover. “We’ll follow the dirt road on foot, get as close to the field as possible. We need to hurry, though. Birk and Jade are already on the move.”
Brogan popped open her door and let it close without slamming it. She streaked across the road, hoping to catch up to Birk and Jade. The others followed her lead, hurrying toward the meeting place.
By the time she reached Jade, the couple had found a hiding place behind a thicket of thriving coastal sage and lemonade berry. The landscape made a perfect place to eavesdrop. Birk had turned on his phone to record the conversation, which was now a heated exchange of opposing views.
“Don’t give me any guff about this, Richie,” Dennis hollered. “I don’t need that right now. I’m up to my eyeballs in this mess. I need you both to shut up and do what you’re told.”
“Don’t yell at him,” Tazzie argued. “He’s trying to point out how insane this idea is. You’ve gone completely off the rails. I told you it was a bad idea to send Brownlee. But as usual, you didn’t listen.”
“He never listens,” Richie stated. “And now he’s panicking. The great Dennis Marshall is having a conniption.”
