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Rafe and Hayes know better than to look at the same time. They wander around the car, kicking tires, opening up the doors, as if pretending we’re getting ready for a trip.
“Definitely a camera,” Hayes speaks first. “Direct line of sight on the front door.”
“Shit. That’s what I thought.”
“If that is him, and you bring Kaye out the front door…” Rafe says what we’re all thinking.
“Yeah, I’m with you.” I rub at the back of my neck. “He shouldn’t care about the four of you taking off. It looks like you’re headed on a weekend retreat.”
“How do you want to play this?” Rafe pulls up his phone and pretends to take a selfie of the three of us, but the camera shoots outward. He’ll send the photo to Mitzy and her team to see what they make of it.
Less than a minute later, all three of us receive a text with the make, model, and capabilities of the surveillance camera installed, along with the most likely direction of the lens. No surprise, it’s the front door of the girls’ townhouse.
“Fuck.” I close the back and gesture to the guys. “Back inside and let’s figure this out.” They seem to understand the urgency in my voice, and follow me in.
Inside, I explain the situation to the women. “It looks like Scott has eyes on the house. We can’t walk out the front door without him knowing about it.”
“I can.” Kaye’s face is pale with worry over her friends’ safety. “It’s what I normally do when I leave to go to him.”
“No way am I putting you on the street at this hour.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no way to know if he’s not waiting to grab you. Too risky.”
“Carmen and Rosalie can walk out with Rafe and Hayes,” she says. “It’ll look like the four of them are going on a long trip.”
“True. It’s you that will raise an alarm. The last thing I want is to tip Scott off before we have a plan of action.”
“What about the back yard?” Kaye offers a suggestion.
“I thought of that, but if he has the front under surveillance, he probably has the back as well.”
“What do we do?” Kaye asks.
“What about the roof?” Rosalie pipes up.
“The roof?” I press my fingers against my temple, staving off the beginnings of a headache. Why can’t things be easy? There’s always a wrinkle. What I wouldn’t give for one easy day.
“Yes.” Rosalie sounds like she knows what she’s talking about. “There’s that oak growing between the buildings. You can use it to get to the roof next door. I haven’t looked closely, but it should be sturdy enough.”
“Rosalie and her trees.” Hayes laughs. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s to trust my woman. We should check it out.”
I glance at Hayes, who gives a noncommittal shrug, then back to Kaye to see what she thinks. Not as sure about it as Rosalie; she’s scared enough to try almost anything.
That worries me. The pressure she’s under could lead to her taking risks where she shouldn’t.
“Let’s take a look before making a decision.” I gesture up the stairs.
Rosalie moves first. She takes Kaye’s hand in hers. “It looks scary, but it’s easy enough. Just don’t look down.”
We ascend the stairs as a group and clamber up the fire escape to the rooftop terrace. Keeping Kaye out of sight, Hayes and I go with Rosalie to look at the tree.
Last time I was up here, I don’t remember seeing the large oak, but it had been dark and I was more interested in checking out Kaye.
The oak grows between this building and the neighbor’s. Its branches reach high. There’s a narrow gap between the roof’s edge and a branch about as thick as my arm.
“See.” Rosalie points at the branches. “You can cross directly over to the other roof.”
