Page 49 of Kill Me Sweetly

“Nope. Nothing at the shop.”

“So when JJ brought Four there, they did in fact have that location.” I nodded. “Which means this person who told Wes they wanted to meet with us knew that was where to find us.”

“If it’s the consortium people who called it.” Angel was right. It could have been someone needing our services.

By the time we put the sheets in the dryer, I was beginning to think no one was coming. I texted JJ, asking how things were there and updating him on what was happening here.

Aziza had arrived and was still talking with Four and all was quiet there.

“This is a bust.” Noel stood and paced the floor.

“Maybe Wes got the message wrong,” I wondered. “I’ll call the shop.”

Lizzy picked up on the third ring, “Saintly Sweets, how may I help you?”

“Hey, Lizzy, is Wes there?”

“Sure, hang on.”

A few seconds later, I heard him say hello.

“Hey, so the message, are you sure that address and town are right? We’ve been here but no one has showed.”

“Huh, bizarre. I even read it back to the guy to be sure.”

I shook my head when Noel and Angel looked my way. “Okay, thanks, Wes.”

I disconnected the call and shrugged. “Let’s just go home once the sheets are done; this is a bust.”

With no argument, we waited the ten more minutes until the dryer buzzed. Angel tossed the sheets into the bag without folding them, I was sure Mason would give him an earful for that, and we left the laundromat.

“What a waste of time,” Gabe complained as soon as we were in the SUV.

We were halfway home when something dawned on me. “Stop the car!”

Nick pulled off to the side of the road and all of them turned to me.

“What?” Angel asked.

“Noel, you explained there are boomerangs, right?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gabe wasn’t made aware so Nick explained quickly. “Okay, cool, but what’s that got to do with you yelling at Nick to stop?”

“If they can’t ping a location on us, they’d find another way.” I raised my eyebrows. Clearly, I had too much faith in my brothers to realize what I was saying. “Wow, okay, I’ll dumb itdown. Did you ever think that they brought us to a location so that they could follow us to our house?”

In unison their eyes widened.

“Fuck.” Noel’s head whipped around, searching out of all the windows.

“But they could have just followed us from the shop if they wanted to follow us. They obviously knew where to find us.” Angel wasn’t wrong.

“It’s near impossible to follow us from the shop.” Gabe snorted. “We’re close by, and it would be obvious. Or they aren’t one hundred percent sure and…” He nodded. “I think you’re right, Shep. They might be following us to see where we live and stake out the place.”

“I still don’t understand. Why not do it from the shop?” Angel wondered.

“They arrived this morning to give us that message, which means they knew Four was at the shop at some point, but maybe they don’t know that he’s with us. They spend their lives being a secret; they aren’t about to stick out like sore thumbs. They are doing it their way, and if we lead them right back to the house, they’ll find out somehow.” I had to text JJ and let him know.

“So we what, never go home?” Nick chuckled.

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