Authors: Erin Nicholas
“I’ll bet he and the woman were working together,” Isabelle said. “She ran right into you and then did the whole ‘oh, you’re so big and strong’ number. She didn’t even squeak when he came up to me and she
had
to have seen it.”
Shane gave her a little grin. “I
am
so big and strong,” he said.
She elbowed him. “But they could have set it up.”
“Yep, that would make some sense. And it would be about the only thing about
any
of this to make sense. How the hell did you get involved in this?”
She simply shrugged. She agreed that some of the dots weren’t easy to connect—especially from Shane’s perspective—and her made-up story about the pendant’s healing powers or ties to a long-forgotten society clearly hadn’t intrigued Shane enough.
What they needed to sell this was a great backstory on the pendant. Yes, she’d put that on her comment card to Big Time when this was over. Maybe it could be tied to an old poker game in the twenties. Maybe a mobster’s girlfriend had put it in to cover his bet but when he lost she’d—
“I guess we can head out of town now,” Shane said, pulling her out of her daydreaming. “We did what we could by reporting it. We don’t have anything those guys want anymore so we can assume they’ll leave us alone.”
Isabelle focused on the now rather than the images she’d had going of a girl in a flapper dress, holding one of those long cigarettes between her fingers and exclaiming that if the guy really loved her, he’d do anything to get the pendant back…
“Iz?” Shane interrupted the mini-movie in her head again.
“Yeah?”
“Let’s get out of town before Bradley finds you again.”
Right. The leaving-them-alone-thing probably wasn’t going to happen. Unless Emma had paid for the economy package and that one “mission” was all they were going to get. When she’d asked Bradley what was next he’d said
you’ll see
. That didn’t sound like it was over. But she had to go along with Shane. Unless she could figure out a way to stay in Mitchell just a little longer…
“We’ll keep a look out,” Shane reassured her, clearly mistaking her frown of concentration for one of worry. “And I’m still waiting to hear from Michael on that pendant. Maybe there’s more to the story than what Greg got, but I don’t know what it would be.”
Reluctantly, she drove him back to the Corn Palace to claim his motorcycle, but as he started to open the door, she touched his arm. He turned back.
“Let’s leave your bike here. Conner and Ryan can come and pick it up.” Her sister’s boyfriend would love a chance to ride Shane’s bike, she was sure. “You can ride with me.” She wanted him with her. That was the point of the game, the point of the
trip
since he’d tagged along. All of his protectiveness, his worry, his attention was like a warm blanket around her and now that he was getting out of the car, she felt a definite chill. It wasn’t fear of being alone or fear of Bradley. But the little bit of the game they’d played had pulled her and Shane closer somehow. They’d teamed up and worked toward a common mission. With the threat of the fibro pulling them apart, she didn’t want to lose that.
Shane didn’t respond for several seconds. Then he said, “I better take it.”
Her heart dropped and the chill flooded in. The reason for riding separately was in case of a bad outcome once they got to the cabin. Clearly that was still a risk in his mind.
And it should be in hers too. Nothing had truly changed with him knowing about her fibro. The issues between them had just become clearer.
She pulled her hand back. “Yeah. Sure. You’re right.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
She gave him a smile she hoped was convincing. “Okay.”
If it wasn’t convincing, he gave no indication. He nodded and climbed out.
Biting her bottom lip, she checked her phone. She had a message. Her heart tripped. Maybe it was further instructions. She was surprised by how much she wanted that to be true. She typed in her code and listened as she waited for Shane to start his bike. Once it revved to life, she put the car into drive and pulled out onto the street. The message was a reminder about a dental appointment the next week and she could admit that she was disappointed. She tucked her phone into the tray between the bucket seats and the package lying on the floor of the passenger side caught her eye.
The book about fibromyalgia Shane had bought.
Well, that had to mean something. He was trying to learn. He wasn’t running away screaming.
Yet.
Chapter Six
Shane followed Isabelle as she drove through Mitchell on her way back to the highway.
This was good. Riding by himself, with time and space to think, was good.
They had a lot of talking to do and he was eager in some ways to get the conversation started. He wanted to know that they could work this out, and to be sure about that, he needed to understand a lot more about what was going on with her.
But he felt like an asshole thinking like that because it also meant that there was a chance they wouldn’t work it out.
So he needed some space.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and was glad they were pulling up to a red light. He stopped right behind Isabelle and pulled the phone out, finding a message from Michael.
Michael confirmed all of the information that Greg had given them at the police station, but there was something more. He could always count on the kid to dig. He knew Michael was interested in becoming a cop and working his way up to detective. He also knew he hadn’t told his dad.
Michael came from a long line of prominent and highly successful physicians. There was a lot of money in his background along with prestige and high expectations. Shane liked Nate. He was a good guy with a great sense of humor and he’d clearly done a great job raising his son alone. But he definitely pushed Michael, and Shane knew that he’d mentioned medical school, more than once, as part of Michael’s future.
But he’d make a hell of a detective.
Shane read the message quickly. There was, indeed, a similar pendant owned by a guy in Philadelphia that had not been reported stolen. In fact, it was on display as part of an antique jewelry collection at an art museum in Boston. Notably, that pendant had emeralds for eyes. The photo Shane had sent Michael showed blue gems for eyes. And the kid had found six of them with the blue eyes for sale on eBay.
The one Isabelle had been given wasn’t real.
That was good.
But even more confusing. Why did these guys want to get some knock-off pendant to a drop-off site in western South Dakota? The thing was too tiny to have any kind of hidden compartment. It was worth, according to the current high bid on eBay, thirty-two dollars and sixty five cents. It didn’t have any historical significance. If it had any sentimental value to the guys involved, they could get a replacement on eBay tonight.
The whole thing made absolutely no sense.
The light turned green and Shane followed Isabelle for two blocks, but then she turned down a side street three blocks before she was supposed to.
Shane frowned and followed. And realized that there was someone in the car with her. Someone had jumped in the car at the red light while he had been distracted by Michael’s text?
What the
hell
was going on?
He sped up, staying right behind her now. Close enough that if she touched the brakes, his nose was going to be up close and personal with her back window.
Yes, there was a man sitting in the passenger seat, gesturing with his hands as he talked. They turned the next corner, then the next. Finally they came to a stop sign at the intersection of a quiet residential area. The passenger door opened and Bradley jumped out. He glanced at Shane then took off running in the opposite direction.
Yeah, he’d better fucking run.
Shane jumped off his bike before the engine had even quieted. He sprinted to Isabelle’s car. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“You sure?”
She looked…like she was fighting a smile.
“I’m fine,” she told him. She lifted her hand. The dragon pendant swung from her fingers. “But we’re not done with this yet.”
Shane smacked the top of the car with his hand and looked in the direction Bradley had run. Chase him or not? God only knew what might happen with Isabelle if he left her alone here. No doubt Harris was still somewhere in Mitchell And he’d be looking for the pendant.
Probably.
Fuck. He didn’t know. His phone vibrated again and he yanked it from his pocket. It was Michael.
“What?” he barked.
“Found something on the SUV you might want,” Michael said.
Shane felt his heart clench. “Yeah?”
Shane paced away from the car. He didn’t want to rile Isabelle up. At least until he knew what was going on. He motioned for her to pull the car around the corner and park at the curb.
“Well, it’s weird.”
“Jesus, Michael,
what
?”
“The SUV is registered to a company called Big Time.”
“What’s Big Time?”
“Well…it’s weird.”
Shane stomped back to his bike, shifted it into neutral and began pushing it toward where Isabelle was now parked. “I’m losing patience here.”
“Okay, okay. They stage…like elaborate parties and stuff.”
Shane stopped. “Parties? What are you talking about?”
“They make their money putting together these weekend parties for grownups. For instance, there’s one here where you get to use this big old house they have. You invite a bunch of people over for the weekend, they cater a big dinner and then at some point, there’s a dead body in the middle of everything and the rest of the weekend people have to try to figure out who did it. Stuff like that.”
Shane ran a hand over the back of his neck. “What the hell does that have to do with all of this?”
“I’m thinking…it’s very possible that you’re in the middle of one of their games.”
Michael’s words made Shane freeze. That actually made all kinds of sense.
Shane looked to where Isabelle had climbed out of the car, clearly trying to figure out what
he
was doing.
She could have easily set all of this up. She had to have known he was going to show up and accompany her to the Black Hills whether she told him what time she was leaving or not. She had already been concerned about it being boring for Shane so she could have come up with this as a way of making this a fun, memorable week.
So they were in the middle of a big game. Did that make sense?
More than anything else. Any other explanation was…there wasn’t really another explanation.
“Is there any way of finding out if Big Time was hired for something in South Dakota this week?”
He heard clicking on Michael’s end. “Not easily. It’s a very secure site. Do you have any reason to maybe serve a warrant and see what’s going on?”
Shane sighed again. “No.”
“Well, let me know what I can do.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
“And Shane?”
“Yeah?”
“Have fun.”
Shane could hear the grin in Michael’s voice. The kid thought a bunch of adults running around playing an elaborate game of keep away sounded fun?
Shane thought about that.
Okay, maybe it did.
He hung up and finished pushing his bike up to Isabelle’s car.
She was certainly looking excited and happy. She didn’t look scared or nervous about the men chasing after them. That alone should have tipped him off. And she was clearly enjoying herself. Maybe it was a game where the company set it up but didn’t give even the host or hostess hints or clues. That way they could play along with a little intrigue too.
Or maybe she knew everything that was going to happen and she was enjoying this for him.
Either way, it was sweet of her to do this.
It didn’t give them the quiet, relaxing experience she’d said she needed. Now that he knew about the fibromyalgia it seemed clear that what they needed was a chance to talk and figure out what life was going to look like with that consideration.
But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have some fun too.
He wasn’t going to ruin this by telling her he knew what was going on. He’d go along, enjoy it, have some fun and they’d still figure everything else out. Later. Probably.
“Here’s the deal,” he said to her. “I don’t know what’s going on, but as long as you have that necklace, I’m right by your side.” He could so play this game. Using it as a reason to stay close and get as many of those jump-into-his-arms-legs-around-his-waist kisses as she’d give him was a good enough reason by itself.
Her smile was bright. “You’re riding with me then?”
She’d wanted him to before. Then he’d said no. The next thing he knew Bradley was in her car and she had the pendant again. Yeah, that wasn’t suspicious at all.
He shook his head. She really was a lot of work. But this was…kind of cool.
Crazy as it sounded,
this
felt more comfortable, more normal, than the serious conversations they were facing. Being chased by fake bad guys and protecting a not-so-precious-or-mysterious pendant was more his comfort zone than reading about a disease he’d barely heard of and that was going to change his life—one way or another.