Page 57 of Call Back

“I liked it more than I expected,” I said honestly. “And while part of me hated you for tossing me into the deep end, I also know why you did it.”

She smiled, but she still looked so exhausted . . .

“Momma, Colt and I have the cleanup covered. Why don’t you and Tilly head home?”

She started to protest, but then she conceded. “Okay.”

Colt didn’t look very pleased with my suggestion, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Leave the dishes for tomorrow,” Tilly said. “We’ll wash them in the morning.” Then Momma and Tilly walked out the back door and into the parking lot.

Colt stepped up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s not looking good, Maggie Mae.”

“I know,” I said as I gnawed on my bottom lip. She’d gotten worse so quickly. How much longer did we have left?

Colt dropped his hand and grabbed a pan off the counter. “I can’t believe you volunteered us to finish cleaning up.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the screen.

I put a hand on my hip. “You got a hot date?”

He glanced up. “What?” Then he gave me a sly grin. “I’m going to listen to a friend play in Nashville. I would have asked you, but you’re sleeping with Hot Stuff.”

I didn’t believe him for a minute. He’d set up that meeting with his contact, and the guy was supposed to pick up the bar of gold at eleven. Had Colt already dropped it off? Would he have risked leaving the remaining bar of gold behind a metal drum all this time? Doubtful. Otherwise, the person behind the cameras could have picked it up hours ago. Colt probably planned on lying in wait to see who showed up. “Who’s the friend?”

“You don’t know him.”

“Obviously. I don’t know any of your friends.” And I hardly knew anything about them either.

“Let’s hurry or I’m gonna be late.” He grabbed a pan and headed out the back door. The two remaining waitstaff helped pack up the rest of the linens and dinnerware.

Ten minutes later, we were both in the van and headed back to the catering kitchen. Colt bounced his leg most of the way, checking the time every thirty seconds or so. When he pulled into the parking lot, he turned off the engine and shoved the keys into his pocket.

“Why don’t you go unlock the back door and turn on the lights,” he said as he opened the driver’s door. “I’ll help unload the pans and then take off.”

“Why are you so antsy?” I asked. “You don’t usually get so excited over women.”

“I told you I’m going to listen to a friend, and he starts playing at eleven.”

He didn’t fool me for a minute. He’d set his trap, and now he was intent on watching it. I’d struggled most of the evening, wondering whether to confront him with what I knew, but in the end, I had decided to keep playing dumb and follow him. If Owen was behind the cameras, Colt was walking into danger. If he wouldn’t let me walk in there with him, side by side, then at least I’d have his back. So to speak. I didn’t have a weapon, but surely there was something I could do to help. I couldn’t let him go alone.

“You head home,” Colt said. “We can just come in early to clean out the rest tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t. I have to work at Ava’s Bible study.”

Colt opened the back doors of the van as I unlocked the kitchen door. After I went inside and turned on a few lights, I came back out to help Colt carry in the pans. Once we got them all inside, I opened the back door and said, “Why don’t you go? I’d hate for you to miss hearing your friend.”

“Thanks,” Colt said, running for his truck. “I owe you.”

He was going to owe me all right.

I grabbed a pan and put it into the commercial sink, then hurried over to the still-open back door and watched out of the crack as Colt steered out of the parking lot.

He wasn’t going to pull one over on me.

I locked up the kitchen and ran over to my car, but when I turned the key . . . nothing. The engine didn’t turn over, and the interior lights didn’t come on. The battery was dead.

Dammit.

This had the stink of Colt all over it. I knew I hadn’t left the lights on to drain the battery, which meant he must’ve messed with my engine. I climbed out of the car and popped the hood, grateful the overhead lights in the parking lot were bright enough to illuminate the engine.

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