In Her Sights (22 page)

Clayton looked at them. One side of his lips tipped upward
as he watched. His eyes softened. From her angle, she was barely able to
see in his downward gaze, but what she saw was sadness. He watched as they jumped
and played tag. “Precious.”

He’d muttered the word just loud enough she hardly heard
him. All day he’d seemed off from the man she knew. It only happened when they
got close and she wished to hell she knew what for. She could search into his
history and find out, but she didn’t want to learn about him like she did
everyone else. She wanted to know from him. It was careless, but if she read about
him, it would be black and white and the risk she was making was clear. When
she stood in front of him, everything seemed different. Somehow she’d find a
way to work out what they were around the secrets she kept. “You okay?”

“I’m fi….” His gaze pulled from the girls and settled back
on her. He blinked and whatever had been on his mind left as he cleared his
throat. “I’m fine. Just remembering how good it felt to be that young an—”

“Hi. Can I help you two?” The man approached wearing an
apron reading
I’m the Head-Honcho. I’m in Charge. I’m the Grill Master. I
grill what, how, when, and where my wife tells me.
He had pudgy red cheeks
and a warm smile.

She extended a hand out. “My name’s Jennifer Black and this
is—”

“Her husband, Mark Black.” Clayton grinned, shook hands with
the man, and then slung his arm across her shoulders.

She tipped her head against Clayton’s shoulder. Just for
Nate or not, she liked this touching they were doing. Simple, easy touches. “We’re
looking for Nate Bronson.”

“That’s me.”

“If you’ve got a few minutes, we’d like to ask you some
quick questions. We won’t take long.”

Nate frowned and took a step back. “Are you the woman who
talked to Jake Lawler?”

She stared at Nate for a few seconds, taken back by his
question. “Yes.”

Nate put his hands up, palms facing her. “Look, I’ll answer
whatever you want to know. Just don’t hurt my family.”

Her mouth fell open and she looked at Clayton, who snickered.
Nate was watching them, so she gave Clayton a gentle nudge to the ribs with her
elbows. “This is your fault. You only gave me forty minutes to get ready and
then wouldn’t stop for something to eat on the way. Now you’ve got people
thinking I’m horrible.”

Clayton cleared his throat, but it didn’t take away the fully
bloomed smile. He shook his head and glanced at Nate. “Women. They just can’t
throw something on and go.”

She crossed her arms under her chest and looked away from
him. “I guess I could buzz cut my hair and save me some time.”

“No, baby, I’m just teasing.” Clayton gave her a little
squeeze.

Nate had been silently watching this exchange.
His frown had eased, and an unsteady smile took its place. Perfect. “Let me
have my wife look after the grill, and then I can talk to you in private.”

A few minutes later, Lexie was sitting next to her pretend husband
on a porch swing. Clayton’s arm draped across her shoulders and held her close.
Not that she was complaining. She couldn’t remember the last time she just sat
and swung in a chair with someone. She did it a lot on her hammock, but then
she was always alone. if she was with someone, there was a purpose. To eat, for
a date, for some reason or another. And yes, they were in this chair to talk to
Nate, but until he got there, this part was nice.

She considered leaning her head against Clayton’s shoulder
and swinging the afternoon away in the breeze. Finish that kiss that had barely
gotten started in the park. Her lips tingled from the all too quick touch. She
didn’t know why he’d pulled away so fast. The park hadn’t been crowded. They had
been fairly hidden by low-hanging trees. It wasn’t entirely appropriate, but it
wasn’t like they were teenagers making out in front of a bunch of kids.

Clayton was easy to talk with. Easy to just sit with.

Nate sat across from them in a rocking chair. After her
performance yesterday, she took the backseat on this questioning and decided to
keep her mouth shut.

Clayton had agreed. “When’s the last time you talked to
Arnold Prichard?”

“Few months ago. He called me up out of the blue. I hadn’t
heard from him since college. Wanted to know if he could have a package mailed
here. He wanted me to keep it for eight days, repackage it, and then mail it to
Jake.”

“Did he offer you money in exchange?”

“He gave me eight thousand dollars.”

Clayton met her stare, and she faced Nate. “Eight thousand?”

Nate nodded. “Thousand for each day. He wouldn’t tell me what
it was all about, but with triplets, it was an offer I couldn’t turn away. It
didn’t matter how shady it sounded.”

The idea for her to stay silent passed, and she took over
the questioning. “I guess since he asked you to repackage it, you saw the
contents?”

He nodded again and took a deep breath. “A dagger. Had some gold
on it. Looked expensive.”

“Did Arnold say anything else? Even something small about what
he might be planning?”

Nate rubbed his lips and took another heavy breath. “No. Not
that I can think of.”

She watched him a moment longer. He twiddled his thumbs and
tapped his foot. “Seems like something is on your mind?”

Nate looked at her, then Clayton, and scratched the side of
his head. “It’s just, Arnold’s usually a pretty easy-going man. Nice, soft
spoken, but when we talked about this dagger, he was all but sweating bullets.
We were on the phone and I couldn’t see him, but you could just hear it in his
voice. Clipped tones, and he ended the call real fast.”

She glanced at Clayton and wondered if he was thinking the
same thing. Arnold was nervous. “Thank you for your time. I hope we didn’t take
too much of your day.”

Nate stood and shook their hands. “Not at all.”

Lexie walked with Clayton at her side and kept her mouth
shut until they were both in the privacy of his car.

Clayton pulled away from the curb and sat back. His wrist
rested over the top of the steering wheel. “Arnold was scared before he even
got the dagger. Before he was followed home and handed it off to you.”

“That’s what I thought, too. All this mailing around could just be delaying the dagger’s arrival?”

“That’s what I’m starting to think. He was buying time.” He
lifted a hand. “Just, if he was that afraid, why even pick it up from the post
office? Why not let it stay there? Why not send it back to the owners or just
anywhere to get rid of it?”

Chapter Twenty-One

Lexie was back in Gillette an hour before her planned meeting.
Her car was parked close by, but not too close. Far enough away that she’d be
doing some running if an unexpected, immediate need came about. Knowing there
were at least two snitches in this gang, and they might be cops? She was
farther away than usual. From the distance, she was pushing her bow’s limits if
she needed to deliver a message.

She squatted on the rooftop, leaning over enough to see the
park below. A few street lamps lit the area, causing bursts of light in the
dark evening. Rain clouds were moving in overhead, and she planned to have this
meeting wrapped up and be home before the downpour started.

At five minutes ‘til, headlights shone in the park.

Through binoculars, she watched as Joe crossed the park and
sat on the bench. He lifted the phone she’d left there and waited. One would picture
Joe as some huge kingpin who looked like he could handle the gang he ran. Instead,
Joe was a fairly thin man. He kept his receding hairline neatly trimmed. He
didn’t get out much, so his skin was pale.

Four of his members surrounded him, looking more like one
would picture a gang member charged with guarding the boss. Stocky, thick, and
carrying weapons that probably teetered on the legality line. They scanned one
end of the block to the other. Nonstop looking and searching. They wouldn’t see
her. Wouldn’t get a chance for target practice, as they no doubt hoped.

She clicked on her phone and made the connection to Joe with
her hands-free set. He answered, and she got right to business. “What do you
know about the dagger with the ivory handle?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She shook her head, removed her bow, and let an arrow go. At
least they could get this over with early so she could start making some tracks
while they talked. The silver arrow thudded in the park bench a few inches from
his shoulder, and he nearly jumped two feet off his seat. His yelp sliced
through the phone. His men raised their guns, but the only light was from a
post right over Joe’s head, creating a limited glow around them. They could see
at best ten feet in front of their faces and wouldn’t have a clue discovering which building the arrow would have come from. Their only hope would be to surround
the entire side.

Not that she was sticking around for them to block her in.

She dropped the bow over her chest as she moved across the roof. “Try again. And think harder. The next shot won’t be a
warning.”

Joe cleared his throat and, by the shifting and squeaking of
the bench she could hear through the phone, she easily pictured his squirming. “We
were contacted and asked to retrieve it.”

“By who?” She used a board as a bridge to walk to the next
rooftop.

“A woman. Janet Parker.”

“How did she contact you?”

“Through one of my members. They go back years.”

That explained that. It wasn’t everyday a person could just
walk into a neighborhood and ask for some illegal help and not get in trouble. She
scanned the alley below the ladder for the roof access and, when she saw no
one, eased down it, careful so her breath wouldn’t labor and signal she was on
the move. “What did she want? Exactly.”

“A dagger that we were to take from Arnold Pritchard. She
gave us a date when he was supposed to pick it up. Why do you care?”

If she wanted any more questions answered, she’d need to
answer some of his. At least, give an answer. It didn’t have to be a good one. “It’s
valuable, and I like it.”

“How are you even aware it’s here?” he asked.

“People talk when I want them to. Tell me the rest about
this Janet Parker. What’s her relationship to Arnold Pritchard?”

“I don’t know much else. She contacted me about the job for
cash. She hasn’t made contact back since we failed.”

“When was this?” She checked the streets, stayed close to
the buildings, and walked down a block.

“Two weeks ago.”

Whoever Janet was had waited late to make arrangements. Or
maybe she was late to the dagger’s party. She already knew for a fact that Arnold
had been making arrangements with the dagger for months now and had been afraid
when he made those arrangements. If it hadn’t been Janet making him nervous, it
was someone else. “What happened to the dagger?”

“My men saw it go into Lexie Olympia’s home.”

“
We have you surrounded!
” A voice echoed through the
night, then through the phone. “
Come out with your hands on the back of your
head
.”

She hurried to the end of the next block and peeked between
buildings. The sky over the park glowed with lights. Now, this wasn’t good. Police
sirens whined in the dark. A set-up. That piece of shit.

“Bad move, Joe,” she cursed.

“It wasn’t me. It was a man. It’s been handled.” His voice
cracked, whining, and she disconnected.

But it didn’t matter. If he wanted to be the leader of a
gang, he had to accept responsibility for all members. He knew that as well as
her. And if it was only one man, he still had another leak in his organization.

She clicked on her phone and dialed Kyle. “I need your eyes.”

His voice cleared. “Getting your coordinates now. How bad?”

“The usual. Six ways from Sunday.”

“That’s pretty bad, Artemis.” He clicked across keys as fast
as she sprinted down the road. Good thing about poor areas: no street lamps so
the roads were dark. “I’ve got you on your phone’s coordinates heading north on
Pent Street.”

“Confirmed.” Eight blocks from her car. If she could make it
there, she’d be scot-free. Police couldn’t keep up with her. That was the
point.

She turned through a dark alleyway and skidded to a stop at
the end. Cops coated the streets on foot and patrolled in car. They had really pulled out all the stops. State police and county, too.

“I’m going up to see my options.” She climbed a ladder to
the rooftop of a short, two-story building that was crumbling at the edge. The
rooftop was dark. No edging or lip to keep her from falling off or to hide her enough
to easily peek over. Heart pounded and nerves trying to get away from her, she
dropped to her belly. Panicking was a good way to get killed.

She crawled to the edge of the rooftop. Cops scrambled
everywhere, like rats in a sewer system. Something she, sadly, had seen
firsthand. “I really need your eyes.”

“I’m trying to find a satellite to help you out. If you’d
given me some warning, I could have been on top of this.”

“I know.” She rolled to her back and shot off a text to
Samantha to find out what was going on. Hopefully, she was working at the
clinic right now and could pick up chatter from someone. “But you typically don’t
like to hear when I’m doing these things.”

“Shit like this is why.”

“I’m going to contact a local for help.” Until Lexie had an
answer, she waited. And watched. They patrolled streets. Up one and back down. In the distance, they fanned and thinned out during their search. The more they moved, the easier to slip through.

Her phone buzzed a response from Samantha.

No idea. Cops are everywhere. Hearing your name muttered.
I can come get you.

She shook her head and sent Samantha a no thanks. If they
both got caught, that’d be worse. And she could ease out of here if she was
careful. There were a lot of cops, but Gillette was a wide area with a lot of
dark alleys.