Earlier that morning…
Felicity Pax increased her pace, pulling ahead of the rest of the group. Her sisters were reluctant runners, and she knew they’d be happy to slow to a shuffling jog that was barely faster than a walk once Felicity wasn’t there to prod them on. Weaving through the trees, she let her mind go blank, focusing only on the way her thighs burned and her heart raced and the crisp air filled her lungs.
Despite her trembling legs, straining lungs, and a rather ridiculous amount of sweat, Felicity smiled as she finally slowed to a walk. As masochistic as it might be, there was nothing like a trail run to settle her brain. The trees thinned as she reached her backyard, and Felicity was grateful for the gazillionth time that their family’s house sat right up against national forest land. Circling around to the front porch, she jogged up the steps and yanked open the squeaky screen door as she pulled out her key. When she turned it in the lock, however, the dead bolt was already disengaged.
Felicity went still for just a moment before sliding the key out and turning the knob. It was too late to be sneaky, since the screen door hinges had already announced her presence, but she still tried to be quiet as she pushed open the door and stepped cautiously inside.
Pulling out her phone, she quickly silenced it before tapping out a three-word text—front door unlocked—and sending it to her sisters.
The alarm didn’t give its usual warning beep to let her know she had to enter the code before it started blaring. Instead, the control panel sat blank and eerily silent. The living room appeared empty, the early-morning sunlight just starting to filter through the blinds on the east-facing window. She crept into the kitchen, relieved to see the family dog, Warrant, crouched—scared but safe—under the table. Soundlessly, she yanked open the door to the pantry, only to find it empty.
Upstairs then.
Felicity climbed the steps, knowing exactly where to place her feet to avoid the creaks from a lifetime of going up and down these stairs. As she reached the top, she heard the lightest of thuds to her left.
Mom’s bedroom.
It wasn’t really a surprise. That was the room the cops had focused on the hardest when they came with a search warrant looking for the priceless necklace Felicity’s mother had supposedly stolen before she skipped town and left her daughters to pick up the pieces. It made sense that any opportunistic thieves wanting to snatch the necklace would focus there as well.
Just another mess Jane Pax had left her five daughters to clean up.
Felicity moved down the hallway, trying to keep her steps as light as possible on the hardwood floor. She was grateful for her running shoes as she soundlessly approached the closed door of her mother’s bedroom. Carefully, keeping her body flat against the wall in case someone were to shoot at her through the doorway, she turned the knob and cracked open the door.
No one was visible through the tiny opening, so she took a deep breath and shoved open the door, rushing inside to keep the element of surprise.
Instead of jumping on the intruder, however, she stopped abruptly and stared at the person digging through the small closet. All those searches, all that research, all those nights away from home searching for her mother so she could drag her back home before they lost everything, and nothing…until now.
“Mom?”
Jane jumped and spun around, her elbow making the plastic hangers rattle together. “Oh! Felicity, you startled me.” Pressing a hand to her chest, she sent her daughter a chiding look. “Shouldn’t you be out training your sisters instead of here trying to give me a heart attack?”
Even after twenty-two years of experience dealing with her mother’s gaslighting, Felicity was still a little thrown by Jane’s casual attitude. After a silent moment, however, a thousand questions pressed forward, making it almost impossible to speak. Felicity finally managed to ask, “Mom, where’ve you been?”
Jane waved a hand, brushing away the question. “Oh, here and there. Figured it was time to see some old friends.” Tugging a phone from her back jeans pocket, she glanced at the screen and frowned at Felicity. “You usually train the other girls until seven. Have you been slacking off?”
Again, Felicity was struck speechless for a long moment at the sheer audacity of the woman in front of her. All the frustrating days on the road, all the sleepless nights in thin-walled motel rooms, all the dangerous and life-changing moments her sisters had experienced that she’d missed…all because of the selfishness and greed of the person who’d given birth to them.
Something snapped inside her, and the last strands of guilt for hunting her own mother like she was just another skip slipped away. She reached for Jane’s wrist, calm settling over her as she prepared to take the bail jumper in front of her down. Her mom was taller than she was, but Felicity was stronger, and she knew she could keep Jane contained until her sisters arrived to help.
Jane’s well-developed sense of self-preservation must’ve kicked in, since she took a step back and yanked her arm out of reach. “Don’t you dare put your hands on me, Felicity Florence Pax. I am your mother.”
“You’re a thief and a skip,” Felicity stated grimly, moving to grab Jane again. “It’s my job to bring you in. Plus, it’s the only way to save our home.” Bitterness surged through her at the reminder of yet another terrible thing her mother had done—putting the house her children lived in, the house they had paid for with their own blood, sweat, and tears, up as collateral for her bail bond only to skip town immediately. If Felicity didn’t get her mother to her next court appearance, she and her sisters would soon have nowhere to live.
Her mom’s gaze flicked over Felicity’s shoulder. Stomach tightening with instinctual dread, she started to turn around when pain radiated from her temple and everything went black.
“Fifi! Open your eyes.”
The command sounded like it came from far away.
“We’re going to sit here eating Cheetos and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream until you wake up.” That was her sister Charlie’s voice.
Annoyance gave Felicity that extra push she needed to raise her weighted eyelids. The bright light felt like a laser cutting directly into her brain, and she squeezed her eyes closed again with a groan.
“I knew that would work.” Charlie’s voice was filled with satisfaction. “She’d come back from the dead to keep us from eating junk food.”
“Thank you, baby Jesus,” Molly said on a long exhale from directly above Felicity. “I’m really glad you didn’t die on us.”
Although Felicity agreed in theory that she was happy to be alive, her pounding head made her wish she’d at least stayed unconscious. She tried opening her eyes again, more slowly this time. The bright morning light still sent spikes through her brain, but the pain dulled as she adjusted. Once her head settled on a steady throb, she remembered the cause of her unconsciousness.
“Mom,” she gasped, sitting up abruptly.
“Wait… What?”
“Mom was here? Our mom?”
“Of course our mom. What other mom would she be talking about? What happened, Fifi?”
Before she could answer, John and Henry—Molly’s and Cara’s partners, respectively—crowded into the room. “Rest of the house is clear,” John said.
That meant her mom had slipped by them. “How long was I out?”
“Out?” Henry’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “You need medical?” He pulled his cell phone out as if he was preparing to call an ambulance.
“No!” By the way her timid sister Norah jumped, Felicity realized she’d gotten a little loud. “No ambulance. Thanks though.” When Henry, looking unconvinced, didn’t put away his phone, Felicity shoved to her feet, determined to show just how fine she was. Her head hurt, but it definitely wasn’t enough to warrant a 911 call, since that would just bring the wolf in detective clothes to their door.
As she stood, swaying slightly, Molly grabbed her arm to help her balance. “I’m not sure how long you were unconscious, although we just found you, and your text came through when we were about a mile away.”
“You would’ve been proud of our sprint time,” Charlie added.
Felicity offered her the best attempt at a smile she could dredge up at the moment. “You didn’t see Mom or anyone else leaving the house then?” Since four women and two oversize men blocked her exit, she waved everyone toward the door. “Let’s go. We need to search for her and at least one of her friends, since someone knocked me over the head before I could tackle Mom. There wasn’t a car out front—besides ours—which means they’re on foot for at least a couple blocks.”
As everyone moved out of the bedroom and toward the stairs, John asked, “What’s the plan, Pax?”
Molly didn’t even pause before she started rattling off orders.
Despite her tension and aching head, Felicity had to smile. Her oldest sister loved having a plan.
“Okay, Norah and Cara, you’re holding down the fort here. Henry, you stick with them. I’m not thrilled that everyone and their mother…” Molly gave a humorless snort before rephrasing. “Too many people have bypassed that security system for comfort.”
“Also,” Felicity chimed in as she crossed the living room, heading toward the front door, “Mom was searching for something in her closet when I walked in on her. If it’s important enough for her to risk coming here, she may wait for us to leave and then double back for it.”
“We’ll keep our guard up as we do a deep dive into Mom’s closet,” Cara said, stopping next to the couch.
Henry was silent, but he took a protective half step closer to her.
Norah, looking pale and tight around her eyes, gave a wordless nod.
Molly yanked open the door, looking at John over her shoulder. “Carmondy, you’re with me in my car, checking the roads. Charlie and Felicity, you take the forest.” She paused to give Felicity an assessing look over her shoulder. “You feeling up for this?”
“Yes.” She put all her resolve into her answer. There was no way she was missing out on this search. Her throbbing head just gave her extra motivation.
Molly frowned but gave a small dip of her chin. “Stick close to each other.” She and John headed toward the colorful Prius parked in the driveway.
“Let’s take my car,” John suggested, side-eyeing the painted pot leaves with Weed on Wheels in large pink bubble letters that decorated the passenger door. After Jane had taken the necklace, she’d had one of her shady friends steal the Prius and sell it for cash. Molly had gotten it back, but not before a marijuana delivery service had given it a new, distinctive paint job. “It’s less…conspicuous.”
Molly barely hesitated before switching directions. “Fine. I really need to get that repainted. Be careful, you two.”
Already focused on the hunt, Felicity gave her sister a distracted wave as she picked up a jog toward the trees.
“Ready, Fifi?” Charlie gave her a grin filled with anticipation.
“Beyond ready.” Felicity didn’t even complain about the hated nickname. All she cared about at the moment was finding Jane and finally finishing this endless search.
Before they reached the tree line, the hum of a garage door opener caught her attention. She stopped and turned to see her neighbor across the street, Mr. Villaneau, slowly back his white Cadillac SUV down their driveway and into the road. He paused just to shoot a glare out his window at them before rolling forward. For some reason, this struck Felicity as amusing, and she gave a huff of laughter as she entered the forest.
“Why do all our neighbors hate us?” Charlie asked whimsically. “We’re all extremely likeable—well, except for Jane, I guess.”
The reminder killed Felicity’s amusement, and her smile fell away. “At least we’re not invited to any of the neighborhood barbecues, so we don’t have to come up with excuses to explain why we never go.”
“True.”
They’d both dropped their voices as they started moving through the trees, and Felicity barely heard Charlie’s response. The only sound was the occasional soft scuff of their trail-running shoes against the rocky path. Even the birds and small animals were quiet, as if everything in the forest was holding its breath.
It was too early in the fall for the trees to have dropped their leaves, and the underbrush was still heavy, which made it hard to see very far in any direction. Felicity kept her head swiveling, her gaze scanning the forest for any colors or movement that didn’t belong. Her phone vibrated almost silently against her thigh, startling her. Still keeping her gaze up, she slid her phone from the pocket of her running pants and saw a text from Charlie.
Taking the trail fork toward Bear Creek.
Felicity turned toward her sister and frowned, but Charlie was already mostly hidden by greenery. Felicity hated that they weren’t in view of each other, but the fork was a narrow one, and the paths ran almost parallel for over a mile. The trees would block the visual, but they’d at least be able to hear each other if they yelled loud enough. Plus, they did have their phones. Instead of protesting, she just responded OK and returned her cell to her pocket.
The woods felt different without her sister right next to her. Every rustle and snapping twig was ominous now. Her feet wanted to slow, but she made herself up her pace, forcing down her apprehension. This was probably pointless anyway, she figured, since her mom could be anywhere by now, and an entire national forest made a pretty big haystack to find that needle in.
A flash of orange up ahead and to the left caught her eye. She left the path and headed in that direction. Off the trail, she was forced to slow down so she didn’t crash through the underbrush and tree branches like an elephant. Slipping around a scrawny aspen, she saw the orange again, bobbing along fifty feet in front of her.
Her adrenaline surged, making it hard to keep each step quiet and deliberate. She fished her phone out again and paused for a few seconds to tap out a message to Charlie.
Spotted someone, no ID yet, following
The orange patch was farther ahead now, and she upped her speed, giving up some of her stealth in order to narrow the gap between them. Closer now, she could see that the orange was actually a tuft of hair escaping a beanie. Although Jane was a redhead, it was too light to belong to her. Also, the person she was following was taller and thicker than Jane, and the way they walked was different, more lumbering than Jane’s usual graceful stroll.
Mentally running through Jane’s cohorts for a ginger, she winced as the obvious culprit came to mind. She quickly texted the name to Charlie.
Zach Fridley
Although he normally kept his carrot-red hair shaved close to his scalp, the shade of it matched, as did his body type. Of course it was Zach. He’d been up to his eyeballs in Jane’s mess since the night she stole the necklace. It wasn’t a surprise that he’d been involved in her latest break-in. In fact, he’d probably been the one to knock Felicity over the head. Leave it to Zach freaking Fridley to attack her from behind like the cowardly man-slug he was.
Ignoring the multiple vibrations coming from her phone, which she assumed was Charlie demanding more details, Felicity put her cell away. With her gaze locked on Fridley’s back, she unzipped the pocket on the inner part of her waistband and fished out her folded knife. Keeping it tucked in the top of her leggings for easy access, she upped her speed.
Once she was fifty feet behind him, she dropped any attempt at keeping her footfalls quiet and started to sprint. Zach twisted around to look at her, his cold blue eyes annoyed, before bolting away. She gave chase, the thrill of the potential capture buzzing in her veins. Maybe she would’ve preferred finding her mom, but Zach Fridley had been a huge, felonious pain in their collective asses for as long as Felicity could remember. Bringing him in would be sweet, even more so because he was guaranteed to have several arrest warrants out on him. There might even be a bounty, a financial bonus to the bone-deep satisfaction she’d feel.
Despite his long legs, Felicity was gaining on him. She ran in this forest every day while Zach was drinking at Dutch’s, the local bar, or committing crimes. There was no way he could escape her now. His back was thirty feet away, then twenty-five, twenty… She dug for more speed, needing to close the gap between them before she’d be able to leap on him and tackle him to the ground.
As she rounded an evergreen in a full-out sprint, her toe caught on the edge of a rock, sending her flying. She immediately tucked her chin and transformed her fall into a graceful dive roll. Using the momentum of her fall, she rocketed to her feet, feeling just a tiny bit smug that her fall wouldn’t cost her any time. Zach Fridley was still within her grasp.
Then a huge shape loomed right in front of her.
Going too fast to change course, she hit hard, bringing whatever it was down with her as she fell. Somewhere in the shocking blur of motion, she realized that the large thing she’d run into was a person. Muscle memory from thousands of training sessions kicked in, and she rolled clear of his grip once they hit the ground. Her freedom didn’t last long though. Before she could push up to her feet—or even sit up—he was straddling her hips, holding her down.
Ready to send him flying, she forced herself to pause and take stock. Ever since this person stepped into her path, she’d been reacting blindly, and she hated doing that. She gave Molly a hard time about loving her plans, but Felicity was almost as bad. She didn’t like winging it. That was when people got hurt.
She looked—really looked—at the person straddling her hips for the first time, even as she palmed the knife she’d tucked into her waistband earlier. The guy was huge and objectively hot. His rough-hewn features, shaggy black mop of hair, and liquid dark eyes somehow merged together into a whole look that was obnoxiously perfect in a messed-up way. She also knew that he was a total stranger. If she’d ever gotten a glimpse of him before, she would’ve remembered. There was no forgetting that face. Her fairly reliable instincts told her he wasn’t a threat—at least not to her life. Her dignity was another matter.
He was staring back at her, his expression baffled, as if he hadn’t been the one to bring her down and then sit on her. The reminder shifted her from information-gathering mode back to full annoyance.
“What the heck?” It wasn’t the most productive question she could’ve started with, but she still felt the shock of the sudden end to her foot chase. Her gaze snapped up, but of course there was no sign of Zach Fridley. The guy was nothing if not an opportunist, and he’d happily taken the opportunity to get far away from her. The knowledge that he’d slipped through her fingers again made her glare even harder at the guy who was still sitting on her. “What are you doing? Get off me!”
The stranger glanced down as if surprised to see that he was, in fact, sitting on her. He stood and reached down to help her to her feet. Ignoring his outstretched hand, Felicity stood under her own power, brushing dirt and bits of twigs and other forest debris from her backside and legs.
She quickly gave up trying to get clean and turned to the still-silent giant in front of her. “What was…that?” She gestured toward the general direction that Zach was running in, indignation building as the shock abated a bit.
Instead of answering, the guy blinked at her, making her notice that his eyelashes were ridiculously long. Irritated with herself for focusing on such a random and definitely not-important detail, she made an impatient gesture with the hand not holding her knife. Taking a breath, she concentrated on asking a simple, clear question.
“Why did you stop me?” Suspicion crowded in, making her narrow her eyes at him. “Are you working with Zach?” She almost added and my mom, but she swallowed the words before they made it out. No sense in giving the guy information that he might not know yet.
“Who’s Zach?” The words rumbled out of his deep chest, the smooth bass of his voice twanging a muscle in her chest, kind of like when she walked into a club with the music turned up so loud she could feel it internally. Shaking off her strange reaction, she focused on his actual question.
She had to give it to him. The man had a good poker face. “Zach Fridley? The guy who got away, thanks to you?”
He was back to just frowning at her silently.
“If you don’t know who Zach is, then why did you stop me from chasing him?” She held on to her patience with extreme effort as she looked him up and down. “And then sit on me?”
That got a reaction—just a slight twitch of discomfort, but at least he wasn’t just watching her, stone-faced and silent. “You fell.”
“Yes, and I got back up again.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How was knocking me down again supposed to help me?”
“I didn’t mean to…” Trailing off, he switched gears abruptly. “I need to talk to you.”
It was her turn to stare, thrown by how easily he’d dodged her accusation. “You need to talk to me.”
His chin dipped slightly in the smallest of nods.
“You need to talk to me.” Her voice went up to a higher pitch, but she couldn’t stop it from happening. She’d almost had Zach Fridley literally in her grip, but this random guy decided to plant his mountain of a body in front of her because he wanted to talk to her. “If you need to talk to me, you come to my house or call my cell or even follow me into the grocery store, but you don’t tackle me in the middle of a chase!” Her voice grew louder toward the end, and she sucked in a breath, trying to regain her calm—or at least the outward appearance of calm.
Before he could respond, Charlie popped into view as she ducked under a hanging branch. “Where’s Zach? Did you get him?”
“No.” A fresh wave of aggravation rolled over Felicity at the reminder. “I was really close, but then this rando sat on me.”
Charlie looked at the stranger and then back at Felicity. “What?”
“Yeah, he couldn’t just stalk me like a normal person.” With a final, longing glance in the direction Zach Fridley had run, Felicity huffed a frustrated sigh and forced herself to let go of her disappointment. “We might as well head back. Hopefully Molly and John had better luck finding…um, better luck.” She almost mentioned their mom but remembered at the last minute that letting this stranger know their mom was in the area—and that they were trying to hunt her down—was a bad idea. The fewer people who knew she had basically jumped bail, the better.
Chasing Zach had taken her off the trail, but Felicity had a general idea of where she was. Turning around, she started tromping back toward the house, taking a sour satisfaction in making all sorts of noise as she walked now that she didn’t have to be stealthy.
“Wait,” the stranger protested. “I still need to talk to you.”
“Nope.” Felicity didn’t pause or even glance behind her, even though she felt Charlie’s curious gaze on the back of her neck. “I don’t talk to treasure hunters who ruin my takedowns and sit on me.”
“I’m not a treasure hunter.” From the closeness of his voice, the guy was following her.
“I don’t talk to cops who skip-block me either.”
“Not a cop.” A hint of frustration leaked into his even tone, which lifted Felicity’s spirits somewhat. At least she wasn’t the only one annoyed. “I’m a private investigator.”
Although she really wanted to continue ignoring him, that piqued her interest. She glanced at Charlie, who was being unusually quiet. Her sister was looking positively gleeful as her gaze bounced between the stranger and Felicity. Charlie always did love drama.
When the stranger didn’t elaborate, Felicity couldn’t stop herself from asking, “A PI? Who hired you?”
“Maxwell Insurance. They insured Simone Pichet’s necklace.”
Felicity’s head dropped back as she groaned at the sky. “Great. Yet another person lurking and getting in our way.”
Charlie finally broke her silence. “You’re so feisty right now, Fifi. I love it.”
“I won’t get in the way,” the stranger said, sticking close to their heels. “Don’t you want help proving your mom’s innocence?”
Felicity met Charlie’s incredulous gaze and almost laughed. “Why would we do that? She’s guilty as sin.”
“Fifi,” Charlie muttered warningly, and Felicity rolled her lips between her teeth, regretting her words. In her defense, it had been a really rough day for her so far.
The PI seemed to roll with it though. “Don’t you want help finding the necklace then?”
What she could really use help with was finding her mom, but she couldn’t say that. After all, they were pretending that Jane hadn’t skipped bail so they could hold on to their house for as long as possible. All they needed to do was make sure Jane made her first hearing in a few weeks. Unfortunately, that was proving to be harder than they’d first thought.
Realizing she hadn’t answered him, she twisted her shoulders in an uncomfortable shrug. Finding the necklace would just bring the hordes of treasure hunters and cops down on their heads. They’d already had a slew of break-ins, despite their new security system. If there was even a hint that the necklace was in their possession, things would get a thousand times worse.
With a slight shudder, Felicity narrowed her eyes at the PI. “How about you do your investigation, and we’ll stick to ours. If we find anything of interest to you, we’ll text.”
She broke through the tree line and strode across the yard, but the PI dogged her steps all the way to the porch. “Here.” He thrust a card at her. “Let me know what you find out.”
Knowing he’d probably camp out on the porch swing if she didn’t at least play along, she accepted the card and then went inside, Charlie close behind. As the screen door slammed after them, Felicity glanced back through the wire mesh to see the PI still standing at the base of the steps, eyeing her thoughtfully.
Flustered for some reason, she tore her gaze away and closed the inner door a little too firmly.