“You didn’t seriously order only two pizzas, did you?” Josie asked Riley.
“No. And I didn’t order them from Dolly either.”
Nick and Kellen both drew their weapons.
“Everyone get down and stay out of sight,” Nick hissed, moving soundlessly toward the patio door.
They did their best, but there weren’t exactly a lot of places to hide in a room full of windows with one table in the middle. Brian wheeled into the corner where he was partially concealed by one of the heavy drapes and produced a gun.
Josie crawled under the table with everyone else and readied her stun gun.
Nick gestured at Kellen, who nodded and skirted around to the other side. He held up three fingers as Kellen reached for the doorknob.
Riley’s heart pounded. She was kicking herself for being absolutely useless in this situation. They had no psychic advantage. No way to know who the intruder was or what they wanted.
Three. Two. One.
Kellen threw the door open just as Dolly stepped up to peer in through the glass.
Nick jumped in front of her and leveled his gun. “Freeze!”
Dolly gave a little squeal and dropped the pizza boxes.
“Nooo!” Josie yelled.
Dolly recovered quickly and put her hands on her hips. “Nicky, that was not nice! I almost got grease all over my costume.”
“Sesame?” Nick growled.
Burt appeared out of nowhere and pounced on the first box.
“No!” Riley shouted. “Not the extra sausage!”
Kellen grabbed his sister by the arm and yanked her inside. “You have five seconds to explain what the hell is going on, or I’m calling the police, and you can explain everything in an interrogation room.”
“He will too because he’s a narc,” Nick said, adding weight to the threat.
“Explain what?” she asked innocently. “I was shopping and decided to spend the night at the Hershey Hotel. Didn’t Tommy tell you?”
Kellen looked as if he were about to explode.
“We’ve all had enough of your bullshit. You have three seconds. Start with why you lied about where you were going and how shortly after you disappearedagaina thug delivered a warning addressed to you. Then you can move on to where the hell your husband ran off to after he got spooked. And how about we wrap it all up with an explanation of Lucore Laboratories and why your name is listed as a corporate officer.”
Sesame gasped. “Tommy ran off?”
“Somewhere in the timeline of him finding out you lied about going shopping and being threatened with a signed NDA and a finger,” Riley explained.
The woman pawed through her bag and produced her phone. She plugged in a number and impatiently held it to her ear.
“Won’t work,” Nick said. “He left his phone here when he jumped out the window in his pajamas.”
“Is that why he wasn’t answering my calls or texts?” Sesame looked frantic now. “Oh, my poor Tommy!”
There was a loud thump and a muffled curse that sounded as if it was coming from inside the dining room wall.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Nick groaned.
Riley frowned. “Wait a second. That’s coming from the secret staircase.”
