It happened in a split second. If I had blinked, I would have missed it. I angled my body so I could watch the woman pushing the stroller from my peripheral without taking my eyes off my wife.
This woman was the key.
And just like that, I knew. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. When Betty had given me the information about the residents living on Flintwood Avenue, I had paid special attention to the brownstone where Gabriella stopped. It was the same woman pushing the stroller that had walked past us. There was a connection. Some reason Gabriella sat on this bench, watched this woman, and then sometimes walked past her house.
My wife was an amateur stalker.
Hell, it would be comical if it wasn’t so damn frustrating.
“What makes you so squeamish about fish?” I asked, interjecting a thought into the mix so Gabriella was forced to talk to me.
She shook her head, doing a double take. “Fish…oh, right—fishing Friday.” She smacked her forehead with the heel of her palm. “I’m sorry, Liam. I just…I didn’t sleep very well. Maybe Iamhaving a rough time.”
I nodded. Understandable.
But if I had to place a bet, it had nothing to do with shooting my cousin and everything to do with this key to the mystery.
“Come on,” I said, pushing to my feet and holding out my left hand.
Gabriella looked at my hand, and I clenched my jaw as she paused. She hadn’t had problems touching me before. I didn’t know what it was about right now that made her hesitate before she slid her tiny paw into mine. I gripped hers tight and began to walk slowly down the path of the park.
I kept the suburban housewife with the stroller a good twenty paces ahead, making our walk seem like we weren’t following her. Gabriella fidgeted, sipping her latte, eyes looking every which direction but refusing to focus on the mom and her precious cargo.
At the entrance to the park, I pulled Gabriella into my arms, putting my hands on her hips and dropping my forehead to hers.
“Maybe we should go away this weekend,” I insisted. “Go on a fishing trip upstate where the lakes are clear and the fish are fresh. Just the two of us.”
Why was her face so damn sorrowful? She chewed on her bottom lip again, and I snapped. Surging into her, I caught that bruised, swollen lip between mine, sucking hard. Her gasp sent a crackle of electricity through my veins. Peaches and something that was all her attacked my sense of smell as I drank her in. The idea of pushing my little exhibitionist’s boundaries was tempting. There were bushes not fifteen feet away.
But we were going to lose our prey if we lingered here.
I tore myself away before I could devour her mouth.
“You want to go upstate?” Gabriella asked as we continued to walk down the sidewalk.
“Yeah, it could be fun,” I said lightly. “A proper honeymoon in a cabin, just the two of us—and the dog.”
Gabriella muttered under her breath, “I suppose we can take the bleeding pup.”
“Don’t sound too upset about it,” I teased. There was no smile on her face. Her gaze kept darting to our prey as we meandered down the sidewalk.
When the mom turned and crossed the road, we followed suit. A car honked in protest, but he could feck off. We had the right of way.
Not ninety seconds later, Gabriella stopped, fidgeting with her pants.
“Alright, a honeymoon,” she said, taking a step in the wrong direction. “Let’s get back and pick out a cabin.”
I looped my arm around her shoulder, tugging her close.
“Nah, I’m out with my best girl. Time to see the sights,” I said pleasantly.
Gabriella’s steps slowed. She pretended to read the label on the iced latte, swirled it around in her cup, and then took a sip. Anything to stall, which only made me walk faster.
By the time we reached the brownstone on Flintwood, the mom had disappeared inside with her stroller. I took a few steps to the side and stopped beside a raised flower bed that was part of the sidewalk. I brought my boot up to it, muttering something about stepping in dog poop.
Gabriella was basically dancing in place, trying to get me to move away.
Storm, feeding off her energy, jumped and spun around instead of sitting nicely by my side, as I had tried to train him to do. I corrected the dog’s behavior and made him sit.
