“Whose cow is this?” Kellen asked as the glittery Daisy gave him an affectionate headbutt in the gut.
“Nicholas.”
Nick jumped, and Weber let out a girly yelp of surprise.
Elanora seemed to have materialized on the ruined lawn out of nowhere.
“You will take me to my granddaughter,” she announced.
“Love to, lady, but I don’t know where she is,” Nick snarled.
She held up a pale, wrinkled hand. “You will find her and take me to her. She’s in danger.”
“Gee, you think?” he snapped.
“There is no time for sarcasm, young man.”
Weber’s phone rang. “What have you got?” he barked.
Nick’s phone rang. He stabbed at the screen. “Now’s not a great time, Penny.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Mrs. Penny said, obviously not having received Elanora’s memo on sarcasm. “Seeing as how we’ve got a Code Sparkle Poo.”
“What are you babbling about?”
“Your girlfriend just got dragged into Channel 50’s studio by a gun-toting lunatic. It’s definitely a code Sparkle Poo.”
He tensed. “How do you know that?”
“You pay me to follow your girlfriend. I follow your girlfriend,” she said. “I followed her to her parents’, saw the whole thing go down. Bad guy showed up to leave a package and ended up tranquing Gabe and abducting Riley and that helmet-headed hyena who lives next door. I’ve got Gabe with me. He’s a little woozy. We followed your bad guy across the river. Looks like he’s planning something pretty big.”
Fuck.
“Why are youjust nowcalling me?”
“I got so excited I dropped my phone under the seat. My hands were all greased up from hashbrowns. Just now fished it out.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“We’re figuring out a way inside,” Mrs. Penny said.
“Do not do anything stupid before we get there,” Nick shouted into the phone.
He disconnected, and Weber did the same.
“We gotta go to Channel 50,” they said in unison.
They jogged back to Weber’s cruiser.
“I will join you,” Elanora said, appearing next to Weber. Weber jumped and slapped a hand to his chest.
“Fine. Whatever. Get in,” Nick said, pushing Weber out of the way. “This time I’m driving.”
He didn’t wait for his passengers to close their doors before revving the engine and throwing the car in reverse.
“We’ll get to her,” Weber promised.
Cold dread settled in Nick’s gut. The suspect had deviated from the pattern, which meant anything could happen. And Riley was unarmed and unprotected.
