“Let’s go together and leave together.”
Chase didn’t agree or disagree. Today, he wore a black Triple C Ranch tee shirt tucked into his jeans, along with his silver buckled black belt and black cowboy boots. Ready to go, he swaggered toward the kitchen as Jade jogged to the bedroom. She slipped on a snug, white, V-necked Triple C tee shirt they’d picked up at Cash’s store. Stepping into a pair of cutoffs, she tugged on her red boots. She washed her face, dabbed on a little mascara and lipstick, and brushed her hair into a ponytail. Grabbing her purse, keys to the rental house, and an extra set of keys to her VW, she met up with Teresa in the kitchen. Teresa stopped her long enough to give her a bacon and egg breakfast wrap and a thermos of coffee.
“Chase already ate, and he’s waiting for you out back,” Teresa said. Then, giving Jade a hug, she said, “You be careful and come back to us.”
“Thank you. I will,” Jade said, hugging Teresa. “And I’ll bring Chase with me.”
“Bring Bob too. He’s going with you.”
“I will.” Jade took a bite of her wrap and hurried out of the door. Chase had unloaded the magazine after showing her gun to Bob and Coop. When she joined the men, Chase traded her wrap and coffee for the gun and magazine.
“Reload the magazine and put on the safety,” Chase said.
“Will do.” With her purse over her shoulder, Jade clicked the magazine into place and snapped on the safety.
“Slick as a whistle,” Bob complimented.
Jade smiled up at Chase before placing the gun into the holster on her red belt. Then she took back her coffee and wrap.
“Y’all be careful,” Coop said and hugged Jade. “If you’re not home after a while, I’m comin’ to get you, guns blazing.”
“We’ll keep you posted, Coop,” Chase said. His black truck was out of the garage with Bob’s truck parked behind it. Chase walked to the passenger’s door and opened it for Jade. She stepped onto the running board of the truck, leaned across the seat, and set her thermos in a cup holder. He flattened both hands to her fanny and said, “We’ll be near enemy territory today, so stick close to me if you don’t want a spanking.”
“Ooh, maybe I do.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
“Hi! Good to see you guys!” Bill called and waved.
Chase had parked his truck in front of Jade’s rental house on Foote Avenue and was making his way around to her side of the vehicle. Bill walked toward them wearing his two different colored flip-flops, the calico cat on his heels.
“Hi, Bill,” Jade replied, alighting from the truck. “Hi, Bella.” She leaned down and petted her furry friend.
“Hey, Bill,” Chase said and shook his hand. “Thanks for letting us know about Jade’s car,” he added with a nod toward the red Volkswagen in her driveway.
“I heard a car door slam just as the sun came up this morning,” Bill said. “I hurried to the window and saw a guy in jeans and a cowboy hat. As he ran down the driveway, I noticed big, ugly spurs on his cowboy boots. As an animal lover, that didn’t set well with me.”
“Ragsdale,” Chase said to Bob as he joined them.
“Has to be,” Bob agreed.
“He temporarily worked on the ranch, and we made him take those spurs off well before we fired him,” Chase told Bill and then made introductions between the men.
“I’m going to see if my car is how I left it,” Jade said.
She dug out a set of car keys from her purse, and they followed her up the driveway to the VW. She unlocked the car and found her original keys in the driver’s seat. The car looked like it had been washed and vacuumed. No doubt in an effort to rid it of fingerprints or other evidence of it having been in the Spatafores’ possession. Chase felt for the tracker he was certain had been put on her car and, sure enough, found it.
“They were too dumb to take the tracker off,” Bill said.
“That’d be Ragsdale,” Bob said with a glance at Chase.
“Right,” Chase agreed, holding the tracker. “Let’s move your car into the garage, Jade. Let them wonder where it is.”
“It’s got a full tank of gas,” Jade noted as she slid behind the wheel.
“He’s already working to get back in your good graces,” Chase said.
Jade parked her car in the garage and was walking back to them when the moving truck arrived. It was a medium-sized vehicle that advertised itself and its two movers on the side panel. The driver backed the truck into the driveway, hopped out, and greeted them. As he verified the destination of the move with Chase, Jade unlocked the house.
