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“Which is part of the reason I want to go now.”She glanced at Lucas.“You could drop me off at the beginning of her driveway.I can go in alone.That way, if I’m caught, I’ll be the only one charged with trespassing.”
His brow furrowed.“You know people can shoot you for trespassing, don’t you?”
She nodded.“Thus, the reason why I want to go while Mrs.Crabtree is away.”
“What if she has a security system?”he asked.
“I didn’t see one when we were there.Nor did I see security cameras.”
“Let me get this straight.You plan on going into her house?”
Felina nodded.“By myself.I don’t want you to come with me.”
He shook his head.“Sweetheart, where you go, I go.”
“Seriously, I’m going alone,” she said.“I don’t want you to go to jail because of me.”
“And I don’t want you to get shot.”Lucas slowed to take a curve.“She could have come home early.”
“I’ll check for her car in the garage before I go in.”
“And how do you propose to get in?”
She shrugged.“I’ll check for windows that weren’t locked.There has to be at least one.”
“And if you don’t find one unlocked, can we go home and forget about committing a felony?”
She sighed.“Yes.”
“What are you looking for if you get inside Crabtree Manor?”
“The ring,” she said.“And maybe, the costume.”
“If Mrs.Crabtree was the woman in green who killed Thomas Crabtree, don’t you think she would’ve gotten rid of the costume by now?She probably ditched it that same day in New Orleans, where it was buried under the mountains of trash generated during Mardi Gras.”
Felina had thought that as well.“I don’t know why, but I feel compelled to look for something—anythingthat either confirms she was the one or completely exonerates her.”She faced Lucas.“When I went to Trish’s house, I found the blue dress and mask.”
“Trish had nothing to hide,” Lucas reminded her.“She didn’t kill Mr.Crabtree.You said so yourself.”
Felina nodded.“I one-hundred-percent believe that to be true.Yet, Big John, or whoever it is, is blackmailing her with damning photographs.What if they’re doing the same to Mrs.Crabtree?They could be extorting money from her, using the same threat they used with Trish.”
“Except Mrs.Crabtree could be that woman in green.We should let the sheriff’s department question her and search her house for evidence.”
“They did immediately after her husband’s death.But they didn’t know what to look for.”
“The green dress and mask?”His lips pressed together.“Again, she’d be insane to keep those.”
“True,” Felina said.“Someone might’ve seen her in the costume, but they might not have noticed the ring.”
“It seems like a long shot.”Lucas slowed as they approached the gate to Crabtree Manor.“I don’t like this plan.”
“Then leave me here.I’ll find my way back to town.”
“Not an option.”He passed the gate.
Felina swiveled in her seat.“You passed her gate.”
“Yes, I did.I’m not parking anywhere near it.What kind of covert operation would it be if I left my truck where anyone would notice it?”A quarter mile past the Crabtree Manor gate, Lucas pulled off the paved road onto a gravel road and drove his truck into the woods, circling so that the truck faced the road but was hidden behind a tangle of briar bushes.
