Rachel shrugged, not ready to believe what he’d said but desperately wanting to.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Mick said. “If he didn’t want you to ask questions, then why did he mention the Bilton Foundation at all?”
She shook her head over the question that had been bugging her since Friday. But the answer was suddenly clear. “Because he knew I would look, no matter what he said. So he gave me something I could research on the internet. He probably figured that was safer than going out and asking the wrong people questions.”
“And you did that, right?”
Rachel ticked off facts on her fingers. “I found a corporate address in South Carolina. And on the ChariGuide database, I found the foundation’s annual Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for nonprofits and the board of directors list. No names I recognized on that.”
“Riley never expected you to track down the information thathefound.”
“But I did. So, if I’m going to help him now, I need to know all of it.” She patted the bag. “Want me to drop you off at your truck?”
“It would definitely shorten the walk.”
When she glanced over, he grinned. “Maybe I parked a little farther than I said earlier.”
Rachel rolled her eyes but then stepped to the controls for the propane heaters. They moved about the room, closing boxes and stacking tubs the best they could. Sure, it was a little awkward between them, but not as much as she would have expected. It felt like they were on the same team. One that just might be able to help Riley. Maybe they could forget that they’d made love while working together to uncover the truth. Or at least pretend to.
She had no doubt that the situation was about to get darker once they studied all the information they’d found. But for just that moment, she let herself breathe and appreciate that she wasn’t alone.
Chapter 18
Even with the arrival of daylight savings time, the sun was already dipping by the time they stepped outside the garage. Rachel shivered as the wind seemed to blow right through her coat and her clothes, the temperature having dropped at least ten degrees.
“I can’t believe I let it get so late,” she said, taking a peek at the time on her phone. Stacy had offered to keep the girls through dinner, but she hadn’t invited them for a school-night sleepover.
She rushed to lock the dead bolt but only ended up dropping her keys. Mick bent to grab them and handed them to her.
“Nobody forgot to lock up this time,” he said as she inserted the key.
Then his attention shifted toward something farther down the drive. He froze.
“What is it?” Her heart thudded in her chest.
Instead of answering, Mick wrapped an arm around her and pressed them both flat against the exterior of the garage as though to shield them from being seen.
“Try to get back inside,” he whispered, his voice tight.
But with the bolt set, it was too late.
A dark-colored sedan that had been right behind her minivan spun out, its daytime running lights flashing against the cell in her hand. Then it raced down and out of the driveway. As it turned onto the two-lane road, it fishtailed and raced away.
“What was that? What were they doing here?” Her whole body trembled, so she crossed her arms to hold herself still. “Did you get a look at the driver?”
Mick shook his head. “The windows didn’t appear to be tinted, but I still couldn’t see inside. We’ve got to get out of here.”
When he took hold of her arm, she jerked free and stepped back.
“But we don’t know—” Only she did. No one appeared to have been at her dad’s house since she’d taken Riley to rehab. No tire tracks or plowed snow. Even the unlocked door didn’t seem as suspicious as it had earlier since nothing, other than a few boxes the Mick had looked in, appeared to have been touched.
And now, on her first time back visiting the house, someone had shown up there.
“Do you think they followed me?” A fresh wave of shivers took her as she suspected she already knew the answer to that. “I watched to make sure that no one did.”
His quizzical look reminded her that she’d pretended not to have been concerned earlier.
“Whoever it was just saw us together,” he said.
