With what she hoped was a subtle shift of her gaze, Allison did her best to look at anything other than him. Something grabbed her attention from the corner of her eye.
She looked left, through the home's open floor plan to the beautifully rugged coffee table. More specifically, Allison zeroedher gaze onto the laptop and small stack of papers that hadn’t been there the night before.
“Were you able to find anything useful?” She turned back to him. “Regarding what we discussed last night?”
Liam followed her previous line of sight before bringing his stare back to hers. “Unfortunately, no.” He gave his head a quick shake. “I checked your phone for tracking software, but…it’s clean.”
“Don’t forget about the purse,” Maddie chimed in after taking a big swig of orange juice. To her, she said, “He dumped all of your stuff on the table. It was a big mess, but he cleaned it up so you wouldn’t be mad.”
Liam went through my purse?
“I would have waited to get your permission,” he explained. “But I kinda figured you’d understand time was of the essence.”
It would have been nice to have been asked, but Liam was right. Stopping Tommy and his men was far more important than a simple invasion of privacy. Plus, if his motives were anything but honorable, the man probably wouldn’t have one through her things right in front of her talkative daughter.
“Of course.” Allison let him know she agreed. “I take it you didn’t find anything in there, either?”
Frustration filled the rich browns of his eyes. “There’s nothing in your suitcases, clothes, or shoes, either.”
“What about the stuff still back at the hotel?”
He took a generous pull of his coffee before setting the ceramic mug back down onto the table. “Jagger and Hunt came by earlier, while you two were still sleeping. I gave them my room key so they could grab the rest of our things.”
“So there could be a tracker hidden in something there. Maybe my makeup bag, or?—”
“It’s already been checked.” The disappointment on Liam’s face said it all.
Allison sat there, racking her brain to think of anywhere else Tommy could have possibly placed a tracking device. The only other place she could think of was?—
“I’m done, Mommy. Can I go watch cartoons now?”
She blinked, her lips forming an automatic smile. “Put your dishes in the sink first. And wash your hands before you touch anything else.”
“Yeah.” She giggled. “They’re really sticky.”
Allison waited until her daughter was in the kitchen before resuming her and Liam’s conversation.
“What about the car?” she asked, determined to be free of Tommy and his henchmen once and for all.
“Yours or mine?”
“Um…both, I guess.” She frowned.
She’d been thinking about the SUV, but a tracker on her car also made a lot of sense.
“The guys went to the shelter straight from the hotel, and I went over the SUV with a fine-toothed comb. Both vehicles are clean.”
Damn.
“Okay, they’re clean,” Maddie announced as she walked past the table on her way to the other room. She made a bee line for one of the room’s two recliners. An instant later, the little ball of energy was already enthralled in a cartoon that was already playing on the giant flatscreen.
Allison turned back to Liam, ready to pick up the conversation where they’d left off. But as she parted her lips to speak, the expression on his handsome face gave her pause. It was one of regret, but also something else that was hovering just below the surface.
Dread.
“What?” She frowned, keeping her voice at a lower level. “What’s wrong?”
You know, aside from the obvious.
