One minute Nate was watching Melissa plant the last listening device on the underside of the table, and in the next he saw her drop like a stone behind the coffee station, glancing around in fear as if something was wrong.
“Melissa? Everything okay?” he asked, feeling his pulse kick up a notch.
She shook her head and pointed behind her, toward the kitchen. What was wrong? Did she hear a noise? The listening devices were designed to pick up local sound, not something from another room.
He’d parked down the road behind the restaurant for two reasons: to stay far away in case there were cops patrolling the area and to make sure the equipment Melissa had planted would work from a distance.
Unfortunately, he was too far away to see the back door. Was it possible someone had slipped inside?
“Did you hear something?” Nate asked in a whisper.
Melissa nodded her head in an exaggerated motion making sure she was in direct view of the camera she’d hidden in the garland around the picture.
“Stay where you are. I’m going to get closer.” He glanced back to make sure Hailey was still asleep. She was, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable leaving the little girl alone in the car while he went in to investigate.
“Any chance you can get past without being seen?” he whispered. He put the car in gear and made a Y-turn to drive back to the restaurant.
It wasn’t easy watching the computer screen and at the same time scanning the area to see if there were other vehicles or people lurking around. But he saw Melissa shrug and then peer around the corner of the coffee station.
Nate pulled into the back of the parking lot, tightening his grip on the steering wheel and hating the fact that she was in danger.
He never should have agreed to let her plant the equipment. How had they been discovered? Were there other cameras inside that he hadn’t known about? Nothing else made sense. There was no other way for anyone to know Melissa was inside.
And if that was the case, their cameras and listening devices would be quickly disposed of.
But that didn’t matter now. He wanted her safely out of the restaurant. He closed his eyes for a moment, opening his heart to prayer.
Dear Lord, please keep Melissa safe in Your care. Amen.
When he finished, he felt calm. “Never mind trying to slip past whoever is in the kitchen. Maybe it’s better to get out through the front door,” he said in a low tone.
Melissa shook her head again but didn’t say anything, so he wasn’t sure what she was thinking.
Then she eased around the corner of the coffee station, disappearing from view.
He gently tapped the accelerator, bringing the vehicle closer to the back door without using the headlights, peering through the darkness to see if there was anyone around.
But he didn’t see anything out of place. No movement. Nothing.
Was it possible Melissa had imagined the noise?
As the thought formed in his head, the back door edged open, and a short dark figure eased out and ran toward the car. Nate made sure the locks were disengaged so that she could get into the passenger seat.
“Go,” she whispered, pulling the earpiece out and dropping it into the console between them.
He was already backing up, just as anxious as she was to get out of Dodge. Neither of them spoke until they were far away from the restaurant.
“What happened?” Nate finally asked, breaking the strained silence.
Melissa let out a heavy sigh. “I heard someone in the kitchen. You didn’t see anyone go inside?”
“No, I moved farther down the street,” he admitted. “I didn’t have a view of the back door. How did you get away?”
“You asked if I could get past them without being seen, so I crept into the kitchen in time to see a tall, dark figure go into the freezer. I took advantage of the moment to slip out.”
Nate was impressed with her bravery. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He reached over to take her hand in his. “But why would there be someone in the kitchen, anyway? Especially in the freezer?”
“I don’t know,” she said, holding on to him. “But I’m glad I closed and locked the door behind me when I went inside. At least there was no reason for him to be suspicious.”
“Excellent,” he said with admiration. “I’m not sure I would have thought of that.”
She smiled at him, and his heart squeezed in his chest. Melissa was different from the girl he remembered from high school.
How was it possible to be even more attracted to her now than he’d been back then? Had to be the adrenaline rush of facing danger, nothing more.
“I wonder if they’re using the restaurant for something else,” Melissa mused, interrupting his thoughts. “Like drugs?”
He lifted a brow, turning her idea over in his mind. “It could be that one of the workers just came back to pick up something they forgot.”
“Except most employees don’t have keys,” Melissa said in a grim tone. “Maybe I’m prejudiced against this place, but I think there’s something more going on here.”
“I guess it’s possible the person you saw was hiding drugs in the freezer.”
She grimaced. “Sounds pretty silly, huh?”
“Not silly at all,” he said, pressing on the brakes and executing a U-turn. “Maybe that’s the evidence we need.”
“We’re going back there?” Melissa asked incredulously. “Seriously?”
“I’m going in this time, to check out the freezer,” Nate said. “Don’t you see? Having hard evidence of a crime can only help us.”
“And if you don’t find anything illegal in there?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Then we’re right back where we started, right? We can listen in on their conversations and monitor them through the cameras, but you said yourself that they were always careful not to say too much in front of the servers. This is a chance we have to take.”
“I guess,” she said with a sigh. “But be careful, Nate.”
“I will.” Fifteen minutes later, he pulled onto the street where he’d parked while waiting for Melissa. “Stay here. I’ll be back shortly.”
“But I can’t see the back door from here,” she protested.
“I know, but since we don’t know for sure if the person in the freezer is still hanging around, it’s better that you and Hailey stay out of sight.” He paused, pulling out his lock-picking tools. “And if for some reason I’m not back within ten minutes, get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she said firmly.
He appreciated her support, but he caught her gaze in the moonlight. “I mean it, Melissa. If I don’t come back, get in touch with Jenna and Griff. They’re your best shot at being safe if something happens to me.”
Her lips thinned, but she didn’t say anything more as he slid out of the driver’s seat.
“Just remember you promised to be careful,” she said just before he closed the door.
He gave her a thumbs-up and moved into the shadows, making his way to the back door of the restaurant. Nate estimated that they’d been gone at least thirty minutes, certainly long enough for the intruder to have left.
The lock wasn’t too difficult to get open, and he silently opened the back door, straining to listen. But he didn’t hear a sound.
Still, he stepped carefully over the threshold, using a small penlight to show him the way. He wasn’t as familiar with the layout of the restaurant, and besides, he’d need light to see what was inside.
The kitchen appeared to be empty. He couldn’t be sure that the dining room wasn’t occupied, but if Melissa’s theory about drugs was correct, there’d be no reason for the guy to stick around.
He silently walked across the kitchen to the giant walk-in freezer, grateful that the overhead light came on automatically as he pried the door open. And just to be sure it didn’t close on him, he propped it open with a large box labeled Steaks.
Thankfully, the freezer wasn’t too full, but it would still take him time to go through the various containers.
Minutes later, having searched through several boxes of various food items, Nate came across a box labeled Shrimp. But when he looked, there wasn’t any seafood inside. Instead, the box was full of bags of white powder.
Cocaine? He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the box, then took one of the bags out before closing the box back up.
He wished there was a way to replace the bag with something like flour, but he’d already been in the freezer longer than he’d planned. Nate set the box labeled Shrimp back on the shelf, then left, hiding the bag of what he assumed was cocaine under his sweatshirt.
He held his breath until he was back outside, crossing the parking lot. Headlights pierced the darkness, and he ducked behind the Dumpster, plastering himself against its hard metal side.
Just then, a car pulled into the parking lot, and his instincts screamed at him to stay hidden. Granted, there was a possibility that Melissa was behind the wheel, but somehow he didn’t think so.
The vehicle rolled silently across the lot, and when it turned around, Nate could see by the rack with the lights on top that it was a police car.
Sent by the Brookmont chief of police? To protect their drug investment?
Nate went still, all too aware of the fact that he had what was very possibly a kilo of cocaine beneath his sweatshirt. If he was caught, he’d be arrested before he could blink.
He hunkered down, praying that Melissa had caught sight of the police car and had moved along before they had a chance to see her. The last thing they needed was for the officers to get the license plate number, tracing the car back to Jenna. After what had gone down at his house, his colleague was no doubt in enough trouble already.
The vehicle eventually moved on, rolling out of sight, but Nate stayed where he was for several long minutes. For all he knew, the cruiser was parked nearby. Cops working graveyard didn’t have nearly the level of activity as other shifts did, and it was entirely feasible that the officers were involved in whatever was going on.
The Dumpster sheltered him from the wind, but the air was still cold, settling deep into his bones. He forced himself to wait a full twenty minutes before edging out from behind the Dumpster.
He swept his gaze over the area, taking his time to make sure that the cruiser wasn’t anywhere in sight. He lightly ran to the road, but didn’t see Melissa. He was grateful she’d listened to his instructions to stay safe and left.
Although being stranded here alone wasn’t exactly a great option either. He tried to figure out which way to start walking, in hopes that Melissa would return to pick him up, when he noticed a car backing out of a driveway.
He held his breath but then relaxed. It wasn’t the police cruiser.
It was Jenna’s car with Melissa behind the wheel.
He couldn’t help but grin at her ingenuity for managing to hide in plain sight. He jogged out to meet her.
Once Nate was settled in the passenger seat, she drove off, heading in the direction of the interstate. “I take it you saw the police car?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes, just in the nick of time, too,” she said, glancing over at him. “I was more worried about you, though. I was afraid they’d catch you leaving the restaurant.”
“I was forced to hide behind the Dumpster,” Nate admitted. He pulled out the bag of white powder from beneath his sweatshirt. “And I found this in a box labeled Shrimp.”
Melissa gasped. “Is that cocaine?”
“I believe so, but we’ll need to get it tested for sure. I also took a picture of the other bags in the box.” He stuck the bag beneath his sweatshirt again, just because having drugs out in the open wasn’t smart on the off chance that they were pulled over.
“So we have evidence that the restaurant is a hub for drug trafficking,” Melissa murmured. “Do you think that’s enough for your boss to believe us?”
Good question. “Maybe, but I think we should check to see if there is any way to directly implicate the people we suspect are involved.”
“And what if they don’t go to the restaurant tomorrow?” Melissa asked. “How long do we wait?”
Nate wasn’t sure how to answer that. He knew that having the drug evidence along with Melissa’s eyewitness testimony should be enough to convince Griff to give Melissa the benefit of doubt. “I’d like to wait until I talk to Jenna, to see what happened at my house after I managed to escape.”
“All right, but if we don’t hear from her soon, and if we don’t pick up anything useful from the listening devices, then we go to your boss, agreed?”
“Agreed.” Nate found it difficult to tear his gaze away from her profile. She deserved so much better than this, slinking through the night, hiding from the police. Deep down he trusted Griff, would be willing to put his life, his career on the line to turn himself in to his boss.
But putting Melissa’s life in jeopardy was an entirely different matter. He couldn’t bring himself to do that.
Not without finding a way to protect her and her daughter if the situation went south.
Their lives were far more important than his.
* * *
An hour and a half later, Melissa pulled into the driveway of the lake cabin with an overwhelming sense of relief. It was almost four in the morning, but she was still wide awake.
They’d made it!
There had been so many times when she’d thought for sure they’d be caught, like when that police car arrived. She’d been so afraid, especially for Nate.
“I can carry Hailey inside for you,” he offered when she pushed open her driver’s side door.
It was crazy, but she absolutely didn’t want to touch that bag of white powder. “I’ll get her. You have the computer and other stuff to bring in.”
He must have understood her apprehension because he didn’t argue. He held the door for her, and within minutes she had her daughter tucked into bed.
Nate was in the kitchen, staring down at the bag of cocaine. “I’m not sure where to put this,” he said grimly. “I don’t really want it in here, yet we need to keep it as evidence.”
“What about putting it in a bag and hiding it in a snowbank?” she suggested. “I’d really rather not have that in the house, either.”
“All right.”
Melissa huddled near the doorway while Nate wrapped the package up in a couple of plastic grocery bags and took it outside. She noticed he’d buried it to the left of the doorway. Then he returned, closing the door behind him. “We should probably get some sleep. I suspect Hailey will be up bright and early.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Melissa went over and dropped into a kitchen chair. Despite the exhaustion that weighed her down, the night’s adventure would no doubt keep her awake for hours yet. “I know I suggested it, but I never really expected to find drugs,” she said in a low voice.
Nate dropped into the chair beside her. “It was a shock to me, too.”
“I can’t help thinking that the person in the freezer must be an employee at the restaurant,” she continued. “Otherwise it’s odd that he or she would have a key to get in.”
“That’s a good point. I wonder who owns it?” Nate asked as he booted up the computer.
Melissa frowned and tried to think back to the time she worked there. She must have known who the owner was, but in her teenage ignorance, she probably hadn’t paid much attention.
She leaned over Nate’s shoulder, inhaling the woodsy scent of his aftershave, as he searched Brookmont city records for the proprietor. She’d had no idea these types of websites existed, but then again, her job was all about designing them, not searching for data. In her opinion, Nate was trying to find a needle in a haystack.
“Come on, come on,” Nate muttered under his breath. He was scrolling through the various screens so fast she began to get dizzy.
Leaving him to his search, she rose to her feet and helped herself to a bottle of water, bringing one over for Nate, as well. All that nervous energy made her feel as if she’d run a marathon.
“Here we go,” Nate said with satisfaction. He took the bottle of water from her, his expression full of gratitude, before he gestured to the name on the screen. “Ralph G. Carter is the owner.”
“The name doesn’t sound familiar,” she said with a frown. “But I wonder what he looks like?”
Nate was already one step ahead of her. He’d typed the guy’s name into the search engine, and soon there was a photograph of Ralph George Carter on the screen.
Melissa gasped. “That’s him!”
“Who?” Nate demanded.
“One of the men who was at the restaurant that night.” She stared at the picture as realization dawned. “They’re all in this together.”
“So it would appear,” Nate agreed grimly. “The pieces of the puzzle are sliding into place.”
Melissa hoped Nate was right. The sooner they had the big picture, the sooner she and Hailey could get on with their lives.
Although she couldn’t deny that leaving Nate would be difficult. Despite her best efforts, she was becoming emotionally attached to him.
The big question was, did he feel the same way?