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Penny had been watching from a distance and joins us once Gretchen goes back to serving cookies. We collect her belongings and go upstairs, where my parents are waiting for us while Scott and Roger keep watch over them.
When we exit the church, the sun is shining brightly, and the glare is nearly blinding. I bump into Anna, who has stopped dead in her tracks. She grabs the back of Penny’s shirt just before she gets to the steps. “Get back inside, now. Suspect—two o’clock.”
Jerry and Jessie take off running while my family complies with Anna’s order. Penny looks at me in befuddlement. “Why does Anna sound like one of the bodyguards, Dad?”
Once we’re safely back inside, Anna takes hold of Penny’s hand and does her best to explain since Penny is catching on. “That’s because I am a bodyguard. I was hired to protect and look after you, Penny.”
Penny’s eyes leak tears, “So you’re not really my nanny?”
“I’m still your nanny, Penny. What does a nanny do?”
“They take care of you. They love you. They make you pancakes,” Penny says, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Have I taken care of you?” Anna asks.
Penny nods.
“I most certainly love and adore you,” Anna adds.
Penny sniffles, “I love you, too.”
Anna bends down to Penny’s level. “And have I made you pancakes?”
“The best I’ve ever tasted! The peach ones were scrumptious!”
“So, based on your definition of a nanny, what does that make me?”
“You’re a nanny that protects me?” Penny answers, not quite sure that’s the correct answer.
“That’s right. Protection is my superpower, just like hugs are yours.”
Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I have to ask, “Who did you see, Anna? Was it Sean or Conor?”
“No, Aiden. It was Amy, and it doesn’t look like she took you up on your offer.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Savannah
Despite their best efforts, Jessie and Jerry were unable to apprehend Amy. Her distance and speed gave her a significant head start. After Jessie and Jerry returned, the “Shaw Squad” conducted a thorough perimeter sweep of the building, giving us the “all clear.” The space from the church’s front steps to where Amy had been standing and watching was just over 200 yards, the minimum requirement that she must maintain without violating her restraining order.
We secure the family in the vehicles idling by the curb, and the drive to the house takes about ten minutes. No sooner is the family safely ensconced inside than I turn toward the two teams and ask, “How did Amy get so close without any of us noticing? That shouldn’t have happened.”
Roger speaks up first, “She didn’t appear on the sidewalk across the street until people started filtering out. I had a micro-camera on each side of the building and was monitoring the feeds during the service. She must have been sitting in the coffee shop prior to our arrival or ducked in and waited while I was mounting the cameras to the exterior.”
The micro-cameras we use are extremely small and have an adhesive backing. To a person passing by, they would look like a tiny piece of debris or a small bug. We can slap and stick them nearly anywhere and then remotely turn them on.
“At least the cameras are still there. As long as it doesn’t rain in the next week, we’ll have eyes at the church long before we arrive,” I say.
Jessie steps forward, “Since there are seven of us, we can always send a scout force when the whole family will be traveling together.”
“Sounds good,” I say.
Everyone’s phones start chiming, and I look to see the nature of the alert. A black town car is at the gates, and the request to enter is from Mr. Gerald McFadden. I do a quick internet search and sigh when his profile comes up. “It’s a lawyer.”
Aiden, having received the same alert on his phone, joins us outside. “I don’t know who that man is, so I didn’t permit him entry.”
I show him my screen, and he squints to read it. Aiden makes a quick call, and the next thing I know, the town car is coming up the driveway. A man in a dark suit with slicked-back dark hair emerges from the vehicle carrying a manila envelope. He walks toward Aiden, and all of us form a perimeter.
