“Okay, let’s go. I’ll follow you.” Rowland returned to his car, waited for Grayson to pass him, and then followed him.
“So what do you do when you’re not tasing possible kidnappers?” Grayson asked Kendra.
“Uh, I’m a bounty hunter.”
“Bounty hunter. Do you often shoot the fugitive you’re trying to apprehend with a taser?”
“Of course not.”
“That’s good to know.”
“So what do you do?” she asked.
He smiled a little. “I’m a bounty hunter when I’m not chasing down my sister.”
“No way.”
“Okay, she’s stopped in the parking lot.” Grayson pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. “It says she’s right here.” He got out of his SUV and walked to a pickup truck. In the bed of the truck, he found her phone. “Aw, hell, she has ditched her phone.”
“She has, or the guy she’s with did it himself?”
“That’s possible.” Rowland pulled up next to his SUV, ran the truck's tags, and confiscated her phone, using gloves to place it in a bag as evidence in case she had been forced to hand it over.
“I’m going to check the grocery store in case they went inside,” Grayson said.
Rowland cleared his throat. “You need to wear a shirt in the store.”
Grayson shook his head. “I didn’t have time to pack anything extra when I jumped in the SUV to go after Ivy.”
“I’ll run in and get you a shirt, and then you can go in,” Kendra said, though seeing him bare-chested and buff had been an absolute pleasure.
“All right, but hurry. I don’t want her slipping out a back door.”
Though they didn’t even know if Ivy had gone into the store. If she were with some guy, they could have put the phone in that random pickup and then left. But had he learned her brother was following her, and had he gotten rid of it? Or was she in on it?
Rowland went into the grocery store with Kendra to look for the pickup's owner and see if he could find Grayson’s sister while Kendra bought an extra-large T-shirt for Grayson. She hoped she got the right size to cover all his muscles, because they didn’t have a double extra-large. He might not like the style, but they didn’t have many choices. They only had two racks filled with T-shirts and sweatshirts.
She hurried outside, where he was pacing, waiting for her to hurry it up. She handed him the T-shirt. He read the saying aloud: "Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice.”
He laughed and pulled it on. It stretched over his beautiful muscles. He looked great in it, though he probably could have worn one that was a little larger.
She was glad he liked the T-shirt as he headed into the store, and she hurried after him. “I smelled Ivy’s scent in the store.”
“We need to look at the video security to see who she was with,” Grayson said.
Kendra agreed, but then she got a call. It was her bail bondsman with a mission for her. “We’ve located Monty Houston at the movie theater on Walker Avenue.”
“I’ll be on my way momentarily.” She hurried after Grayson.
“She’s not here,” Grayson said, half growling.
2
Grayson rubbed his lightly bearded chin. Kendra was right. When he didn’t find Ivy in the grocery store, he didn’t have any idea where to check for her. “All right. I’ll drive us to the movie theater to help you capture your fugitive, Kendra.”
Rowland met up with them and said, “I just saw the security video. Ivy purchased some snacks and then left the store. She was out of sight of the security cameras when she vanished. I didn’t see anyone with her at the store. We’re all still looking for her.”
“I need to get a bail skipper and turn him in,” Kendra said. “Let me know if you get any leads on Ivy, and I’ll help out again.”
