“No. The guys have everything back in order after last night, and I’m going fishing.”
“Enjoy your weekend,” Chase said, “I may take off to the lake, but you can get me on my cell if there’s a problem.”
“Yes, sir.” Bob gave them a nod and left them in the kitchen.
Chase took a bite of the burrito. “You make a mean burrito,” he said, turning sideways on the barstool to look at her.
“Thanks.” Jade bit into her burrito, telling herself she wouldn’t miss him today if he went to whatever lake. “After how hard Chloe and Rachel worked yesterday, I convinced them to let me cook breakfast.”
“Want to go kayaking on Lake Pueblo?”
“Yes,” Jade said without hesitation, knowing kayaking was strictly against the rules of her contract. She was sick and tired of every single rule. “But is it allowed?”
Chase tilted his head and frowned. “What do you mean allowed?”
“Since I’m a bed-and-breakfast guest of Chloe’s?”
“Sure.”
Jade smiled. “Great. I’ve never kayaked or been to Lake Pueblo. I’d love to go.”
“It’s about an hour from the ranch,” Chase told her. “We’ll take the thermos and cups back to Chloe and let her know we’re going to the lake.”
“What does a person wear when kayaking?”
“You always dress for the water temp and not the air temp,” Chase said. “Water’s probably about seventy-five degrees. So, a swimsuit and life jacket.”
“I have the swimsuit.”
“I’ve got the life jacket.”
* * *
“I’m concerned,this is life and death,” Franco growled at Mateo and the private investigator. He paced the Italian marble floor of his extravagantly furnished home office. He’d done his best to convince Jade that he and Mateo had plenty of room for her in their five-thousand-square-foot modern mansion surrounded by a cement wall and wrought iron gate.Yes, it is an absolute masterpiece of a mansion, he thought. He would not live like a peasant, and neither should Jade. But alas, she had insisted on having her own place. He and Mateo owned rentals, and he’d leased one to her. Turning to Axel Bisbee, who had picked the new lock on Jade’s door, Franco asked, “It’s Sunday, and she’s been gone since Thursday. How do you not know where Jade Taylor is?”
“Dr. Spatafore, I searched through everything inside her house,” Axel assured him. “There were no receipts, no bills, no notes, no laptop, no mail, nothing to indicate where she is. She didn’t leave a single clue.”
“This is all your fault, Franco,” Mateo said, swirling yet another bourbon in a crystal tumbler. “But I think she’ll be back to work on Tuesday.”
Franco whirled on him. “I think her contract requires my permission for any and all extracurricular activities as to what she’s doing, where she’s doing it, and with whom.”
“I know. I know,” Mateo said, stroking his goatee. “She signed a contract with me too.”
Franco pulled on his ear as he did when disturbed and glowered at Axel. “Get back to Foote Avenue and watch her house.”
The portly man winced. “The neighbors called the cops on me this morning. They must have suspected something was suspicious.”
“Charge up that electric scooter of yours and ride it over there. Sneak into her backyard and take the scooter with you!” Franco barked. “There’s a six-foot-tall redwood privacy fence surrounding the backyard. You can hide there without being seen.”
“What if Miss Taylor comes home and catches me?”
“Lie.”
“Yes, sir,” Axel said and headed toward the door.
Franco yelled after him, “If she does turn up, put a tracker on her car immediately!”
“I’ve always got trackers ready, sir,” Axel called over his shoulder and was gone.
