Pretzel Logic

  “But what if it drives me crazy waiting for her to come home?”

  Bill smiled. “Love’ll do that to you anyway.”

  * * * *

  It was the second Friday since Brita’s arrival. She’d been living at Sachi’s for eleven days now. Brita had gone shooting with her several times, sometimes sitting and watching Sachi teach others, sometimes joining in and using one of Sachi’s guns and loaner safety gear.

  She missed her Baikal, its comforting weight and the way it shot. Her scores initially weren’t very good, but as she grew more comfortable using the loaner, they picked up again.

  She missed Ethan and hoped he wasn’t worrying too much about her.

  She desperately missed Jordan, and George.

  Alisse and John, and her friends.

  She missed Ethan’s house, her own condo.

  The dresser in her bedroom was slowly losing surface territory to the growing army of amigurumi animals she’d created. Her skill making the dolphins had increased to the point she could easily make two in an evening, although other animals, like a kitten and an otter, were still one in an evening. She’d been eying another of the patterns that she wanted to try next, a puppy, except she was almost out of the grey yarn.

  She wasn’t even sure what kind of yarn to get if she tried to buy it locally.

  Logging onto Amazon, she went in and changed her credit card info to add one of the pre-paid cards. She used a different e-mail address for this, one she only used for Amazon, but suspected Ethan might not even remember that, especially since she wouldn’t be triggering a bank alert with the purchase.

  A lot of times, she’d order stuff from his account and have it shipped to his house. She had one of her credit cards on his account for just that reason. He received a lot of auto-ship orders, for things like vitamins, and if she wasn’t going to be at the condo when something arrived, she didn’t want it sitting outside at her complex.

  She immediately logged into the e-mail account and deleted the alerts from adding the credit card.

  Then she added Sachi’s address and went through her last order, the one for the yarn, and added everything she needed to her cart.

  Even though she was starting to feel like maybe she’d regained some of her grounding, she still felt off-kilter.

  Am I hoping he’ll look this up and see it and find me?

  This was a stupid mistake, probably. This was the kind of choice criminals made every day that allowed cops to find them.

  Yet she hadn’t seen anything in the news about an arrest in the arson or hacking into Sorrellson’s computers, even though the hacking had finally made the news.

  I don’t care.

  She hit the buy now button.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Sachi was still home when Brita got up.

  “You don’t have to teach skeet this morning?”

  “Nah. Lesson canceled yesterday. I finally got to sleep in on a Saturday. So, want to go shopping?”

  She’d been to the grocery store with them a few times already, which taxed her nerves, but got easier every time she did it. She also felt completely comfortable around Oscar and John. They reminded her in some ways of John her brother-in-law, and had made her feel like she was part of the family.

  Sachi’s father was a hoot. He’d come by for dinner one night, alone, warned by Sachi that their guest needed privacy. Having been through what they’d gone through when Sachi was a kid, he understood the need for secrecy to protect Brita’s identity.

  “We just went to the grocery store yesterday.”

  “Nah, farmer’s market, downtown.”

  “What passes for downtown in Brooksville,” Oscar added. “Near Many Blessings.”

  “It’s really cool,” Sachi said. “Fresh veggies and organic honey and all that shit.”

  Sensing Sachi really wanted her to get out, Brita agreed. “Okay. My pain levels aren’t too bad today.”

  “We can park at Many Blessings and it’s just one block over from there.”

  So she shared the backseat with Sachi a little later, Oscar driving.

  As they drove, Sachi chatted non-stop, but Brita realized she found it a comfort, not annoying. Before this, she never realized how lonely she’d been. Closed off.

  We need to get out with our friends more. Or have them over to our place.

  She felt somewhat guilty about that, too. Yes, she was fine with Ethan going out with friends without her. Sometimes, her pain levels were too much for her to go.

  But how many times had he opted to stay home with her even when he had the opportunity to go out? And not just kinky friends, but cop friends, and other friends.

  The farmer’s market was small, but eclectic, with a wide variety of vendors touting everything from homemade goods to veggies to kitschy baubles.

  At the far end were two picnic tents set up side-by-side, with nearly a dozen wire dog crates of various sizes.

  Sachi hooked her arm through Brita’s. “Ooh! Puppies!”

  With Oscar and John trailing behind them, Sachi led the way over. It was a local no-kill animal shelter, and not only did they have puppies, but adult dogs of various breeds, and even some cats.

  Sachi homed in on one smaller crate, toward the back and out of the way, separated from the others by some plastic storage tubs, lawn chairs, and a folding table. Inside, a small black and tan dog that looked like a Chihuahua mix, maybe ten pounds, if that, trembled in the back corner, warily eyeing everyone who moved.

  One of the volunteers walked over. “I see you’ve spotted Kilroy.”

  “Can we see him, please?” Sachi asked.

  “I’ll warn you, he’s very timid. He was a stray we rescued from Animal Services. He’s not aggressive, but he does growl at someone until he gets to know them. And I’ll warn you that he has a lot of energy. When he feels comfortable, he’ll run around like crazy, but he’s adorable. We think he’s about three years old.”

  “Yeah, yeah, please can she hold him?”

  Brita looked at Sachi. “Me?”

  “Yeah, you. Go on.”

  With Oscar and John’s help, Brita got down onto the ground next to the crate while the woman went to find the little harness they used for him. Brita held her hand up to the side of the crate. His huge brown eyes looked like he was scared of everything, yet he leaned in, his nose practically vibrating as he sniffed at her hand through the bars of the crate.

  “Wow. I’ve never seen him do that before,” the volunteer said when she returned. “He must really like you.”

  He drew back when the volunteer opened his crate, but let her put the soft chest harness on him. When she pulled him out, he jumped out of her hands and immediately ran to Brita’s lap.

  Where he promptly curled up and leaned back, pressing against Brita’s body as he silently dared the volunteer to come near him again.

  Her eyes widened. “Seriously, he must love you. I’ve never seen him do that with anyone before. Ever.”

  “She’ll take him,” Sachi said. “Let’s fill out the forms.”

  Brita tried to interject. “But—”

  “You know me,” Sachi told the woman. “I work for Mandaline, over at the coffeeshop.”

  “Oh! Yes, of course.” She laughed. “I knew you looked familiar.”

  Sachi grinned. “Double caramel non-fat latte.”

  “Oh my goodness, yes! Let’s get her a form.”

  “I can vouch for her, that she’ll give him a good home…”

  The two of them walked around to the other side of the tent where another table was set up.

  Oscar and John smiled down at her. “Welcome to our world,” Oscar said. “And congratulations.”

  Brita stroked the little dog’s head, noticing how he leaned into her touch. He stared up at Oscar and John as if daring them to try to take him from her.

  “Kilroy, huh?” she asked.

  He looked up at her and sniffed, his tail wagging. Then she realized the leash attac
hed to the halter was just lying there, and grabbed it.

  Yet he’d made no attempt to run.

  When she stroked under his chin, his mouth opened, tongue lolling almost as if smiling.

  Something inside her rolled sideways, and she knew, yes, she had to have him.

  That it would break her heart not to have him.

  He licked her hand and went back to leaning against her.

  * * * *

  On the way back to Sachi’s, they stopped at a pet superstore so Brita could get him everything he’d need, including a small crate. The shelter suspected he was housebroken, but they didn’t know for sure. Fortunately, Sachi’s backyard was fenced in. Once they got home and John and Oscar unloaded everything for her into her room, Brita took Kilroy out to the backyard to explore.

  Sachi sat with the biggest Cheshire grin Brita had ever seen. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  “What?”

  She waggled her fingers at her and then the dog, who was sniffing the fence’s perimeter. “Both of you. I don’t usually see animal auras very well, but he’s in love with you. He was terrified. And you’re starting to heal a little, now, too.”

  “Is that what this is about?”

  “He was like a friggin’ lighthouse beacon, sitting there. Soon as I saw him, and you, I knew you were meant to be his human. Soon as he was in your lap, his aura calmed and just faded.” She nodded. “Yep. Score another one for the witch.” She buffed her nails against her shirt.

  Brita wasn’t sure she believed in woo-woo, but she wouldn’t deny Sachi had a way about her.

  And she wasn’t going to complain. She’d be lying if she denied something about the little dog pulled at her.

  “You going to keep his name?” Sachi asked.

  One of their older volunteers had named him that when they’d taken him in, and the little dog already responded to it.

  “It seems to fit him. Kilroy.”

  He froze and turned, staring at her, tail wagging.

  Sachi laughed. “Yep. Puppy love.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Two weeks after Brita left, the arsonist hacker still wasn’t in custody and Ethan was growing frustrated with the investigation’s pace…or lack thereof.

  “We need a new plan,” Ethan told the detectives working the case.

  Tom and Gary stared at him. “We’re all ears. You know how hard it is to track these people down? Have you worked cybercrimes before?”

  “This guy was local. He torched Brita’s car. That means we can find him.”

  Gary leaned back. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I have Brita’s login info for all her accounts. I reactivate her Facebook, bait him, and draw him in.”

  The two detectives exchanged a look. “You still don’t know where she is yet?” Gary asked. “We could issue a material witness warrant for her.”

  “I’m working on finding her. And no, I don’t want you to do that. I told you, I don’t think she’s in danger. Well?”

  “What kind of bait were you thinking?” Tom asked.

  “My own car. I have keys to her condo and permission to be there. I take a picture of my car and post it on Facebook like it’s hers, and see what happens.”

  “What if the guy knows your car?” Tom asked.

  “He hasn’t contacted me at all. I don’t think this guy knows about my relationship with her. If he did see my car at her place, he’d likely assume I was another resident and probably hadn’t been paying any attention to it.”

  The detectives stared at each other for a moment. “You know,” Gary said, “It’s not a bad idea.”

  “How soon can you do it?” Tom asked.

  “I brought my personal laptop with me.”

  “Go get it,” the men said.

  Five minutes later, the three of them were huddled around the computer and Ethan reactivated her Facebook account. Ethan took a picture of his car that he already had, one he’d taken when it was brand new, blacked out the license plate, and posted it to her profile, the picture and accompanying caption set to public.

  Finally got my new car. New car, new me. Leaving early tomorrow morning for long-overdue road trip vacation with my bestie. Done hiding from the crazies and ready to live again. Cowards won’t keep me down. #bestpresentever #lifeisgood #burnthisbitches

  “You don’t think that’s overkill?” Tom asked when Ethan posted it.

  “Nope. If anything, it’s not enough. I want to really gig that fucker. Make him mad.”

  Gary straightened. “How are we going to handle the stakeout?”

  “I have to go home and get my car moved to Brita’s. We’ll do it later this afternoon. I’ll pick up Dave’s wife, Peggy. She’s about Brita’s height and build. She can use my key to go into Brita’s and leave through the back door so she’s not seen. We can park at both ends of that stretch of parking lot in the condo complex, and box them in.”

  “What if they didn’t drive?” Gary asked. “What if they walked in?”

  “Then we’re chasing on foot.”

  Tom didn’t look convinced. “You don’t even know if it’ll happen tonight.”

  “You said yourself the account received an e-mail this morning from the guy.”

  “And it pinged out overseas, too. Impossible to track. He could literally be anywhere in the world, and it’ll take us a while to track him down.”

  “Hence why the tight timeline of the update. He’ll think she’s leaving town tomorrow morning. If they’re keeping an eye out for her, this will force their hand after two weeks of her going off the grid. I’m telling you, I think this will work. If it doesn’t, all we’re out is a few hours’ sleep. Best-case? We catch the guy tonight.”

  Tom and Gary exchanged a look before they shrugged. “Can’t hurt, I guess,” Gary said. “Not like we’ve made great progress with the forensics. If this does force his hand, it could save us weeks or months of work.”

  “Exactly.”

  * * * *

  Late that evening, Brita sat in Sachi’s backyard with Kilroy. She’d spent the afternoon reloading and had to admit Sachi was right.

  It was a pretty Zen experience.

  The entire time, Kilroy had lain curled up in the comfy chair in the spare bedroom where Sachi had her reloader set up, watching her. Peacefully content.

  He was pretty Zen, too.

  It boggled her mind that the terrified little dog she’d seen at the adoption fair was apparently also the most peaceful, calm being on the face of the planet. As if preternaturally attuned to her and her needs.

  Sachi was right.

  Again.

  Brita still didn’t believe in woo-woo, but she’d be an idiot to deny that whatever insight Sachi possessed was accurate to a fault.

  She was also desperately glad she’d let Sachi talk her into staying with them. The worst of her initial panic had abated to a functional level where she was now able to put some metaphorical distance and perspective between herself and what had happened. All of it, not just the shooting.

  Contacting Ethan would have to happen soon. She suspected he and her family were worried about her despite the note she’d left.

  And she missed them all terribly.

  While she couldn’t exactly check in with her former coworkers about the investigation, she had kept watching the websites for the Sarasota newspapers and the TV station.

  Nothing yet. No further updates, no arrests.

  She’d almost expected Ethan to have them swear out a material witness warrant on her, but nothing about that was mentioned in the news, either.

  Sachi insisted no one had contacted her about Brita’s whereabouts, and Brita was inclined to believe her.

  For now, she existed in a limbo of her own creation. A Purgatory.

  Two more weeks.

  If nothing broke in two more weeks, she would contact Ethan. The thought of being gone that long plucked deep, mournful notes through her heart and soul, but it couldn’t be helped. r />
  Once the hacker was caught—if the hacker was caught—Brita could relax somewhat.

  More than enough guilt already burdened her soul. She didn’t need the extra load of ruining Jordan’s future, or being the reason Ethan was outed, piled on top of that.

  She worried those might totally finish burying her for good.

  * * * *

  They had three cameras set up, one in the front window of Brita’s condo, and two at different angles in the parking lot, coming and going, to catch license plates in case they somehow lost the guy.

  Gary and Tom each sat parked in cars at either end of the section of parking lot where Brita’s condo was located, while Ethan stood watch inside at the front window. He’d set up timers in the spare bedroom and in the living room to randomly switch off lights, plus he’d left the TV on in the master bedroom, to give the illusion of someone being there.

  As the night wore on, he switched everything off and waited in the dark, watching.

  Dave had also volunteered to help out, returning after taking Peggy home earlier and sitting in his personal car near the complex’s main entrance, armed with a radio.

  Once midnight hit and traffic entering and leaving the complex slowed to practically nothing, they became more alert.

  At four a.m., Dave’s voice broke the silence. “Small Acura two-door, light, silver or cream. Single occupant. Florida plate. Turned toward Brita’s and just switched its lights off.”

  Ethan unlocked the front door and waited, his hand on the doorknob, eye pressed to the viewfinder.

  They spotted the car rounding the corner and slowly cruising down toward Brita’s condo. The driver stopped, leaving the car running, three doors down. The dome light didn’t come on when he ducked out, dressed all in black and a hood covering his face as he ran toward Ethan’s car.

  Ethan quietly opened the door and drew his sidearm, crouching low as he headed down the walk, at first obscured from the guy’s view by neighbors’ cars and bushes.

  “Sheriff’s Department! Hands in the air and get down on the ground! Now!”