Roy frowned but continued to bob his head. “He seemed like he was in an okay mood. He said he didn’t want to eat too much because he was heading out for a run later.”
“Did you see him leave for the run?” Nick asked.
“Uh. No. Is Larry okay?” Roy asked, finally realizing it was weird to have strangers in his house asking questions about a man he hadn’t seen in almost a week.
“Do you know who’s been feeding Larry’s cat?” Riley asked.
“Mr. Pickles?”
Nick covered his laugh with a cough. “Uh, yeah, Mr. Pickles.”
“Larry feeds him.”
Riley’s smile was starting to show strain around the edges.
“You’ve been a big help,” Nick lied. “Here’s my card. If you think of anything else, give me a call.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Head bob. “Do you have a card?” Roy asked Riley.
“No. She doesn’t,” Nick snapped.
“Oh. Okay. So if I want to talk to you, I’ll just get a hold of Rick.”
“Nick,” Nick repeated.
“Oh. Okay. Right.”
They got back in the Jeep. Roy was still watching them and waving from his front door.
“And that’s why you talk about your feelings,” Riley said, waving back.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, Thorn. I’ll take you to lunch.”
8
4:45 p.m., Thursday, August 13
“Uh. What errands do you have here?” Riley eyed the squat concrete building in front of them.
The sign above the double glass doors read Big Johnny’s Guns in red, white, and blue.
“Consider it employee training,” Nick said, cutting the engine.
They’d gone to lunch then dropped off Burt at the mansion so he could supervise Fred and Mr. Willicott as they went back to the drawing board for the ramp. Riley had planned to watch a few of Bianca Hornberger’s 4EvaYoungBitchez videos on YouTube when Nick had insisted she join him for an errand. She’d thought it was code for car sex. She was wrong.
“You’re going to teach me to shoot?” she asked, perking up. This was the first sign that he was actually going to show her the ropes of investigation. Up until this point, he’d seemed hellbent on barricading her behind an impenetrable wall of paperwork.
“I’m going to teach you how to safely and responsibly handle a gun,” he corrected, climbing out from behind the wheel and opening the back door. He picked up a large black bag and slung the strap over his shoulder. Then took her hand. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Johnny.”
Big Johnny’s Guns had concrete floors, neat displays of ammo, tactical accessories, and the kind of people Riley had imagined would hang out at a gun shop before five p.m. on a weekday. The kind who wore a lot of camo and carried visible weapons on their belts.
Hastily, she silently ordered her spirit guides not to let any stray thoughts through unless they were important. She didn’t want to accidentally end up inside anyone’s head here. Her spiritual garage doors closed on the pretty pastel clouds, leaving her with the relative peace of her own thoughts.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The muffled sound of gunfire made her flinch.
“Is it weird that I feellesssafe surrounded by a bunch of people carrying guns?” she whispered, edging closer to Nick.
