Chapter 3
Gabe knew a lot of people liked country music. The playlist on the local radio station was full of songs by Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, and Dolly Parton. If you enjoyed music about achy-breaky hearts and love gone wrong, Sapphire Bay was the place to come. What he hadn’t expected to see were hundreds of people waving American flags and wearing Ryan Evans Fan Club T-shirts.
“I thought you were exaggerating when you said there would be a lot of people here. Where did they come from?”
Caleb pulled him out of the way of a lady pushing a stroller. “Beats me. Mabel said she got inquiries from people as far south as Texas. It’s just as well I bought our tickets when I did.”
Gabe looked over his shoulder. The line of people waiting to buy concert tickets hadn’t shrunk since they’d walked through the makeshift gates.
“We’re sitting over there in the VIP area.” Caleb pointed to an old, gnarly oak tree on the right-hand side of the stage. “If anything goes wrong with the sound system I’m not far away.”
“I thought you’d be backstage.”
“Not this time. Ryan brought his own sound technicians. All I had to do was set up everything.”
For Caleb’s sake, Gabe hoped nothing went wrong. Even though they weren’t sitting far from the stage, it would still take a few minutes to move through the crowd.
“Gabe!”
He turned around, searching for the person who’d yelled his name.
“Over there.” Caleb pointed to a woman waving a red sun hat in the air. “Is that Natalie?”
Gabe watched a smile appear on Natalie’s face. “It is.”
“Come on,” Caleb said as he changed direction. “We’ll need to be quick. The concert starts in fifteen minutes.”
“You don’t need to say hello. I can meet you by the tree.”
“Are you kidding? You might not be intrigued by your neighbor, but I am.” Caleb kept walking toward Natalie.
“What do you mean ‘intrigued’?”
“She’s a woman with a mysterious past. Sapphire Bay is a great place to hide, but she might need our help to cover her tracks.”
Gabe frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I know a thing or two about creating decoys. It wouldn’t take much to confuse whoever is looking for her.”
“We don’t know if anyone’s looking for her.”
“A wildly attractive artist, who by all accounts is close to being a millionaire, is on the run from someone who broke into her apartment. With your imagination and my IT skills, we could convince most people that she’s living in New Zealand.”
“You should have been a writer.”
Caleb grinned. “I’d make a better undercover agent. Just call me Bond. James Bond.”
Gabe shook his head. “MI6 wouldn’t be safe with you around.” He moved the blanket Caleb had given him to his other arm. “Don’t ask Natalie about her personal life.”
Caleb stopped in the middle of the walkway. “Why not?”
“She might not want to talk about it.”
“Most people enjoy talking about themselves. It’s only when you’ve got something to hide that it becomes uncomfortable.”
“She isn’t the only person who likes their privacy,” Gabe reminded him. “When was the last time you talked about your work?”
“Ican’ttalk about my latest project. I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement.”
