I tried to stay calm despite my pulse shooting into triple digits. This was not what I needed right now.
Eddie tipped his head toward the road and the departing Felis. “You have no idea what I do.” He gave me a sideways glance. “I coach a curling team every year made up of kids without fathers. I do a lot of work you’ll never see if you’re lucky.” He snorted. “If I were like McCallister I wouldn’t be here to help. I’d be tucking away a few beers at the bar and wondering who to take home tonight.” He locked eyes with Bran. “I don’t expect you to trust me without question but I do expect you to respect me as a family member.”
Bran didn’t say anything for a long, agonizing minute. He didn’t look away but kept the stare going, neither of them blinking first.
The lump in my throat grew, demanding attention. I couldn’t interfere with this but I needed to cough badly.
Bran dropped his gaze to the ground. “I apologize.” He stuck out his hand. “I was wrong in my comments about you and the Middleston family.”
Eddie studied Bran’s face for a second before grabbing the hand in a tight bone-crushing grip. Both men grimaced as they squeezed harder, each trying to top the other.
Men. Felis or not, they drove me nuts.
I cleared my throat with an almost-painful cough.
“Okay, break it up before I get seriously turned on.” The two men turned toward me, both red-faced. “Eddie, you know I’m going to have to go to where Evan and Lisa are. No disrespect intended, but what’s to stop you from grabbing Lisa and making a break for it?”
Eddie grinned, confirming my concerns. “You are a smart one.”
“Not just a pretty face.” I pointed at the farmhouse. “But I’m not going to turn down help when I can get it. You know the Chandlers. You’ve been brawling with them for years. Where would they take Angie?”
Eddie leaned against the Jeep. “Won’t be their main farm. Be too risky to have her near all the kits. Mary might be angry but she’s not stupid, she’s not going to let this human find out ’bout the family.” He tapped his chin. “They won’t take her farther north, make it harder for them to bring her back. She’s got to be somewhere within maybe fifty miles.” His eyes narrowed as he did the mental math. “Still leaves a lot of options but not as many as before.”
“Right. I need you to track down where she is. You know their farms, their businesses, where they could be stashing her.”
Eddie chuckled. “Good idea. And it keeps me out of the way, right?”
“Yes. Nothing personal.” I didn’t have time to mince words. “I’ve got your phone number. Here’s mine.” I rattled off the digits. “Call me when you have their location. Don’t move in until I arrive.” I paused, choosing my next words carefully. “I’m assuming you’ll be reporting back to Jake. Please don’t call in any more friends until we get this sorted out.”
Eddie nodded. The last thing we needed was a swarm of Middleston enforcers charging to Angie’s rescue under the premise of “helping out.” That was a fast way of moving the family feud up from the occasional brawl to all-out Felis war.
“I’ll call.” Eddie headed for his pickup truck, one of the few vehicles left in the lot.
Bran rubbed his throat. “Strong bastard.”
“Yep.” I opened the driver’s door. “Give me the keys.”
“What’s the plan?” Bran asked as we pulled out of the parking lot, tires spewing gravel everywhere.
“No idea.” I stomped on the gas pedal, taking some of my anger out on the car. “No fucking idea. Yet.”
We pulled onto the highway just before rush hour—which was to say that the roads were three-quarters clogged with people racing to get back to Toronto instead of up to Northern Ontario. Bran had a death grip on the dashboard as I wove between tractor-trailers, tucking the Jeep into spaces technically not recommended for cars my size.
“So,” he gasped as I narrowly swerved around a chemical tanker, “where are the kids?”
I put a finger to my lips and pointed at my feet. He caught on quickly enough.
I wouldn’t have passed up the chance to put a bug in my car as it sat outside, unguarded.
I wouldn’t put it past the Chandlers and McCallister to do the same. I’d have to wait until I got home to make a full sweep but I couldn’t risk it.
“Let’s get home first.” I feigned a yawn. “I’ll have to make some phone calls and see how the bus schedule is. I don’t remember when the next run is from Buffalo.”
“Drop Trace a call.” Bran ignored my glare. The last thing I needed was for the Chandlers or Middlestons to start brawling with the Penscotta Pride.
I aimed the Jeep between two large SUVs, brushing the paint on both bumpers and enjoying Bran’s discomfort.
He’d earned it. Besides, it kept him from worrying about Angie.
That made one of us.
Chapter Twelve
We made it back to Toronto just before six o’clock, my internal clock screwed five ways to Sunday thanks to all the disorientation I’d experienced in the last twenty-four hours. My throat was sore from making small talk about every sports team Toronto had and a few we thought should be added. I slipped the Jeep into the tiny parking lot at the back of the house and we headed inside.
Bran tugged at my sleeve as I fumbled with the lock.
“Think they’ve got bugs in here too?” he whispered.
“I doubt it. Still—” I locked the door behind us and went to my desk, ignoring Jazz’s demanding trill.
Bran picked her up and stroked her white fur, muttering sweet nothings.
I opened the bottom drawer and pushed aside a stack of newspaper clippings and a very old package of Scotch mints.
It’d been an expensive purchase for a very nervous client who demanded his house be swept weekly while he dealt with a very angry ex-wife-to-be. His paranoia wasn’t totally unfounded as I found not only a hidden camera but also two microphones, clumsily placed by the ex during one of her visits. The divorce had gone much smoother when I explained the illegality of what she’d attempted and her lawyer had given in to most of my client’s demands to avoid getting the police involved.
I put the small electronic box on the desktop and turned it on. The answering beeps and boops told me all I needed to know.
“We’re good.” I let out a sigh of relief. The last thing I needed right now was to strip the house down looking for electronic bugs. The place was so old I’d be better off just setting it afire and claiming the insurance.
Bran walked into the kitchen, the cat still in his arms. The refrigerator door opened and closed with the familiar sound of cat food being dumped into a bowl. He re-appeared with two cans of soda.
He placed one on my desk before opening the second and drinking half of it in three gulps.
The man had excellent breath control. My heart gave a little flutter before calming down and remembering the current crisis.
“Okay. What’s the plan?” he asked again.
“The kids are with a homeless man called Red. He’s family.” I popped the punch-tab on the can. “Down in a squat under the Gardener Expressway.”
Bran flopped down on the sofa. “A homeless Felis?”
“I got lucky. So did they.” I sipped the carbonated drink. “I’m going to ask Evan to go home. I’ll explain the situation to them.”
“And if he says no?” Bran finished his drink. “You can’t leave Angie out in the cold like this.”
“I wasn’t planning to.” There was a bit more bite in my words than I’d planned.
Bran shook his head as he crushed the can in one hand. “He’s a kid. He doesn’t know what he wants to do. You can’t leave this up to him, it’s a lot bigger than just running away with his current love du jour. There’s a woman’s life at stake.”