Treacherous Intent by Camy Tang Read Free Book Online Page B

do?”
    Elisabeth grabbed her car keys. “I’ll move the car behind the house.”
    Liam followed her out the door. “I’ll hide behind the trees in the yard to wait.”
    “I’ll meet whoever’s coming.” Nathan stopped to collect a gun from a locked cabinet.
    Elisabeth dashed to her car. She cranked the engine and held her breath until it caught. She drove around the house as fast as she could, into a dirt area just beyond the back door.
    She pulled her gun from her purse and made her way to the corner of the house, peeking around the edge. She had a clear view of the barred gate, where Nathan stood waiting. His posture was casual, but she could see the tense set of his shoulders even from where she stood. She couldn’t see Liam at all, but assumed he was hidden in the shadows of the stand of oak trees.
    Soon a car came into view. Elisabeth noted that it was an older-model sedan, nothing like the newer cars that had driven up to the women’s shelter. She remained hidden around the corner of the house, but some of the tightness in her stomach relaxed.
    Nathan didn’t open the gate, but climbed over it to speak to the driver. Elisabeth watched, hating the fact that he was vulnerable to whoever was in the car, despite the fact she knew he was armed. What if the driver pulled a gun, too? She shouldn’t have let Nathan greet the visitor by himself.
    After a moment, the car did a three-point turn and left. Only then did Elisabeth’s jaw unclench. She took a deep breath, then stepped out from behind the corner of the house. Liam appeared next to Nathan at the same time.
    “They took a wrong turn,” Nathan said. “They were looking for the Howards’ farm. It’s the next driveway about half a mile down the road.”
    “It wasn’t a trick?” Liam asked.
    “Hey.” Nathan gave him a mock punch in the arm. “I may not be a detective anymore, but I can still tell when someone’s lying.”
    Liam held his hands up. “Sorry.”
    They all headed back to the house. “It may have been a false alarm, but it cemented for me that we can’t stay here and put you in danger,” Elisabeth said.
    Nathan opened the front door for them. “I can take care of myself, and I can help you. Besides, there’s strength in numbers.”
    “Not if we have to stay out of sight because we’re not supposed to be here,” Elisabeth said. “Just now, we left you exposed. And what if someone comes to visit you and gets caught up in our mess, too?”
    “She’s right.” Liam’s eyes were determined as they rested on his friend. “When you and Arissa and Charity stayed at my place last year, I didn’t have any visitors because no one in Sonoma knew yet that I’d come back to town. But you have a job here, friends, family. You’re not as isolated as I was. Having us hide out here is more dangerous to you.”
    Nathan closed the front door, his jaw set stubbornly.
    “Besides, we have to go to Los Angeles,” Elisabeth said.
    “Because it’s so much safer to go somewhere crawling with Bagsics,” Nathan said.
    “We need to find a way to stop the threat against Elisabeth and Joslyn,” Liam said.
    “We think Joslyn’s ex-boyfriend, who looks like he might be a Bagsic captain, murdered her father,” Elisabeth said. “If we can find proof, we can put him in jail and the threat against us will end.”
    “We were hoping you could check with your LAPD contacts for information about the murder,” Liam added. “In the meantime...we’re investigators. We’ll investigate down in L.A.”
    Nathan hesitated, then reluctantly nodded. “I’ll give my contacts a call and see if I can dig up anything that’ll point you in the right direction. But you’ll need to be careful with your investigating. You won’t have a chance to find much if you’re recognized by the gang.”
    “I have an idea,” Elisabeth said. “But I’ll need some help.”
    * * *
    Jericho Street was crawling with Bagsic gang members.
    Liam’s palms were damp against