Page 21 of Fire Peak

Shit. He’d really screwed this up. And that hardware store camera bothered him. Was someone else spying on Charlie, or maybe Lila? Surveillance cameras like the ones he used were specialty items. They wouldn’t be easy to come by out here. Who else was spying on Firelight Ridge residents?

Maybe he should go back and warn them. But Charlie had made it pretty clear she wouldn’t believe anything he said anyway.

Still, worth a try.

He called The Fang again. This time, Bear answered.

“Hi Bear, this is Nick Perini. Don’t?—”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.” Bear hung up.

Jesus. Should he call back yet again? Charlie knew about the camera at the hardware store, so she’d probably already disabled it. If Charlie was the target, clearly she could take care of herself. If Lila was the target, well…she had Bear on her side. Nick had come to know Bear as someone with a terrifying exterior and an endlessly kind heart.

Anyway, they weren’t his responsibility. Mark Jones was the one paying him. He placed his next call to Jones.

“Checking in as requested.”

“Good. Listen, what’s your best guess? Is Charlie going to stick around there?”

“I doubt it.”

“Why? You said she has friends there.”

“Yes, but…” He made a series of quick calculations. His gut said that Charlie was going to stay here for a little while. But he didn’t want to tell Jones that. He didn’t trust him. How to misdirect, but not appear to be doing so? “I think she’ll come back for her father.”

“Isn’t he in prison?”

“Yes, but he’s extremely important in her life. I’d say he’s probably at the heart of everything she does.”

“Old Donnie Santa Lucia, huh?”

The nickname had Nick’s ears perking up. Did Mark Jones know Donato? It sure sounded like he did. Interesting. He’d never mentioned that. There was nothing about Hobbs Financial in the file on Charlie. In fact, the file had barely even mentioned her father, other than the fact that he was in prison.

This called for some off-the-books research.

“Okay, Perini. We’ll debrief more later. Bested by an amateur, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all.”

Nick ended the call with his traditional middle finger salute, then started up the car and got back on the road.

So much for his Firelight Ridge adventure.

For now.

10

One month later

Fire Peak Lodge turned out to be the perfect hideout. In the past month, Charlie had seen no hint of Nick Perini or anyone else nefarious. Also, the manager’s office had a view to die for. Midsummer wildflowers carpeted the southern-facing slope of Fire Peak in shades of rust and violet and sunshine yellow. Charlie could lose herself in that view and imagine her troubles had never existed. On this late June day, the window was propped half open to allow in the pure mountain air, which was spiked with the scent of spruce sap and yarrow flowers.

Divine.

And…divine intervention?

“Say that again, Daddy?”

“Early release, bunny! It’s really happening! They’re calling it compassionate early release because of my emphysema. Next week, I’ll be out!”

She could hardly believe it. After Nick had left town, she’d contacted Gomez at the prison. He’d told her they needed to wait at least until the end of summer thanks to a recent escape attempt by another inmate. She’d decided to stay at Fire Peak Lodge because Nick would assume that she’d skip out as soon as possible. And because she liked it here. But she’d fretted constantly over her father.

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