“So the bodies have most likely been found by now,” Casper said quietly. “Anyone else know about all this?”
“No,” Cecilia said, shaking her head. “Only the attorney.”
“We got company,” Cam said from the hallway, his voice low. “Guy’s checkin’ out the front of the house.”
When the doorbell rang a few seconds later, I knew it wasn’t one of my team outside. They might hang back for a minute when they noticed the bikes parked out front, but they sure as hell wouldn’t have rang the doorbell.
“I’ll handle it,” I said. I strode to the front of the house with Casper at my back.
“Don’t like this,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, me, either.” Grabbing the pistol off the table near the door, I double-checked that the safety was on and stuffed it in the back of my sweatpants. As soon as Casper was out of sight, I swung open the door.
“Can I help you?” I asked, keeping my expression neutral as I stared at the motherfucker I’d seen the night before.
“Hey,” he said, smiling. “Sorry to bother you, but I was thinking about buying that place for sale down the street, and I was wondering how you liked the neighborhood.”
“It’s good,” I replied, hiding the fact that I wanted to grab him up by his scrawny neck and choke the life out of him. “Pretty quiet. No complaints.”
“Good, good,” he said, still smiling. “Good place for a family, then?”
“Don’t have a family,” I replied. “So, I couldn’t tell you.” I looked beyond him, wondering if he’d brought any muscle or if he was arrogant enough to come alone. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell. I wasn’t about to put Cecilia and the baby in danger by starting shit when I didn’t know who else was watching the house.
“Alright,” he chuckled. He stared at me for a moment. “Well, thanks for your time.”
“No problem.” I shut the door in his face and shoved the deadbolt home.
“Motherfucker had balls, showing up here,” I told Casper as he stepped into view.
“How the fuck would he know she’s here?” Casper asked.
“No idea, but he sure as hell does,” I muttered, looking out the gap in the curtains. He got right back in his car and drove away, not even bothering to continue the buying-a-house-down-the-street cover.
“He got to the attorney,” Casper said.
“Sure as shit,” I replied. “But how the fuck would he link me to Cec?”
My mind clicked through all the puzzle pieces, trying to find how they fit. Even though he clearly knew who Cecilia was, we hadn’t seen each other in over a decade. It would take serious digging and time to find any link between us. There was also no way that he could’ve known that I was one of the team who’d taken her from the house. Beyond the fact that we’d worn goddamn masks, Wilson had also copied and then wiped the security cameras far enough back that Cecilia couldn’t be connected to the crime scene. So, that left what? What did the guy know and how was he getting the information?
“We need to leave,” I told Casper as I strode back down the hallway. When I got to my room, Cecilia was pacing, the baby in her arms. She looked up at me when I entered.
“Who was it?” she asked worriedly.
“We gotta go, baby,” I told her softly.
“He found us? How?” she asked as I reached her. I pulled her into my arms, the baby tucked between us.
“Don’t know yet,” I said. “But I’ll find out.”
“Is he still out there?” she asked, turning her head toward the window.
“Nope, he’s gone.” I let her go and smoothed my thumb over her cheek. “He’ll be back. We’re leavin’ as soon as we can get packed up.”
“Do you have a bag?” Farrah asked Cecilia.
My lips twitched even as I started switching gears. I needed to call my team and we needed to find a place to go. “She’s got about ten,” I told Farrah. “Your daughter did a little shopping last night.”
“Thatta girl,” Farrah said, wrapping her arm around Cecilia’s waist so she could lead her away. “Where’d you stash them?”
“Somethin’ isn’t right,” Cam said as soon as the women left the room. “We’re missin’ somethin’.”
“Obviously,” I muttered, grabbing my go bag out of the closet. I always cleaned everything and stashed it when we got back into town so it was ready and I didn’t have to think about it when it was time to leave again, but this time, I was going to need a different supply list.
Kneeling by my dresser, I swung open the door that looked like the rest of the drawers and opened my safe.
“I’m gonna keep an eye on things outside,” Cam announced as he left.
Casper watched me from across the room. “Couldn’t they just take the whole dresser?”
“Safe’s bolted to the load bearing beams,” I said distractedly as I pulled out my passport, bank paperwork and a couple stacks of cash. “It’s built into the wall and I built the dresser around it.”
“Nice work,” he mused.
“Gonna call my team,” I said as I zipped my bag and got to my feet. “I wanna be out of here in five minutes.”
“We’re set,” he replied. “I’ll go help Farrah get CeeCee ready.”
“No one goes outside until we’re ready to go,” I ordered, pulling my phone out. “No reason to let them know we’re goin’ before we do.”
“This ain’t my first party,” Casper said in amusement as he walked away.
Crazy bastard. I swear, the more hectic things got, the easier going he seemed. For as long as I could remember, he’d been that way. We’d be holed up at the club because they were dealing with some heavy bullshit, and Casper would be strolling around the room like he didn’t have a care in the world, pinching his wife’s ass and laughing with the boys. It was a show he put on, and I knew it, but it was still hard to see any cracks in the façade.
“We’ve got trouble,” I told Forrest when he answered.
“Hell, boy,” he said with a sigh. “I knew this was comin’.”
“The fucker we saw at the house last night just showed up at my door.”
“No shit?”
“No shit,” I confirmed. “I’ve got no clue how he found Cecilia, but he did.”
“You know who he is?” he asked in surprise.
“Son of the dead man,” I replied grimly.
“Ain’t that some shit,” he muttered. “What do you need?”
“I’ll spread the word,” I told him as I grabbed clothes out of my dresser. “Siah and Eph, here. They can wait it out and see who comes to play. You, Eli, and Lu, meet up with us. Until we know what we’re dealin’ with, probably best if we all lay low.”
“You think they got a look at us?”
“No clue,” I replied, pulling my jeans on. “Wilson took care of the cameras, but there’s a chance. Very few ways he could’ve linked me to Cecilia, and that’s one of them.”