I knew that, but the reminder slowed me down. “Shit. He’ll know as soon as I leave.”
Kristie leaned on the island, arms crossed. “I’m with Lacy. I don’t like this either, but if you’re going anyway, maybe leave your phone here?”
Mama Hen said, “I’ll have mine. He’ll be able to track us, but he won’t get suspicious right away. We could even be heading back by the time he realized I passed the turn to the grocery store.”
I hadn’t been out of the clubhouse much, but there was nothing around for miles. We were tucked away on a long stretch of rural highway. Her trips to the store always took a while, so maybe we could pull it off without anyone noticing. Especially if they didn’t know I was with her.
“I had a plan though that required my phone,” I said as I tapped my chin. “How else can we record her?”
Mama Hen grinned. “Like I said, I need to grab something from the house. Let’s get you looking sickly andto your house. You’ll have to sneak out the side window since he probably has cameras at the doors, but you can climb in the back of the SUV once I move the car enough between the houses.”
Lacy ran over and threw herself onto me. Suddenly, Daisy and Kristie had piled on as well. “Be careful,” Lacy said.
Daisy squeezed us all hard and I laughed before she said, “Don’t get killed.”
“Don’t be heroes,” Kristie told me.
“Girls, c’mon. Stop being dramatic,” Mama Hen said.
The women all let me go, then turned and bombarded Mama Hen. “You too. We love you.”
Mama Hen chuckled. “Okay, okay. We’re just going to talk. Hell, that’s if she’s even home. You all are overreacting. Now remember,” she said pushing the women off, “Katya is resting, not feeling well. But only offer that up if anyone directly asks. No reason to be obvious.”
Klara grabbed me, “Here,” she said, shoving her watch into my pocket. “It looks like a regular watch, but it’s a phone. And it’s mine. So no tracker.”
“Thank you. But seriously, the only issue with this operation is how mad Hawk’s going to be if he busts me. Jeannie is a piece of cake.”
“Well, just in case. Consider it my small contribution to the cause. Because I really hate that woman,” Klara said before squeezing me.
I finally pulled away, and Mama Hen and I headed tothe door. I shook my shoulders and arms to loosen up and get hunched over a bit. I couldn’t very well be straight as a board if I was unwell.
When I got to the door, I turned back once more. They all nodded and huddled together, blowing kisses at us. I blew one back. They were all silly, but it was nice to know they were so worried.
“Okay, Operation What the Fuck, Bitch is underway,” Mama Hen said before we both stepped through the door.
Chapter 32
Katarina
After a bumpy ride on the floorboard of the back seat in Mama Hen’s SUV, she gave me the okay to climb up front with her.
“Good job,” I said as I buckled in, then put Klara’s watch on.
“The boys like to eat so if they think I’m off to get food, they don’t question much. I’m definitely thinking something is up with her. She should have been at the club last night.”
“The strip club, you mean? It was fairly early still. Maybe she’d stopped by on her way there?” I wasn’t trying to defend her by any means, but I knew that dancers stayed well into themorning hours if they worked the night shift. It was plausible, to me, that she could have had time.
Mama Hen shook her head. “The ladies usually get there well before shift change to get ready to hit the floor as soon as they can. They don’t dance all night, you know. They make rounds.”
“Sure. That makes sense. But then if you’re right, she was missing a high demand shift.”
“Exactly. And dancers don’t miss Saturday night unless they can’t move. I’m talking full on flu. I’ve had to send ‘em home on occasion for trying to work through a nasty cold.” She cracked the window, then said, “They don’t get PTO, so most of them will work through anything if I let ‘em.” She grinned.
“You really miss it, don’t you?” I asked.
“I do. And I can’t help but wonder if I’d have picked up on something if I’d been there lately.”
“Well, we can’t blame ourselves for the actions of others,” I told her.
