“Yep, that’s it.” I nodded and smiled, happy to meet a customer-by-proxy.

Ally was busy scribbling my name and numbers on a piece a paper she found in her purse and when she was done, she handed him the paper. “Maybe you could give us a call if you see Rosie or Tim. Would you do that?”

“Of course. I’m an employer, only my wife works for me but I understand how important it is to trust your hired help. I will call you.”

“Thanks.”

We went out and sat in my car and stared at Tim’s house while we thought about what to do next. We both were new at this. Neither of us had tracked down a stoner-on-the-run before. We’d stalked plenty of guys, but we’d known where to find them.

We both ate a cupcake to get the brain juices flowing.

“That was a nice guy,” I said through yellow cake and cream.

“Yep,” Ally replied, her mouth equally full.

Someone tapped on Ally’s window and we both jumped and swiveled our heads to the side.

I nearly spewed better-living-through-chemistry cream on my windshield at what I saw.

It was Grizzly Adams, but the serial killer version. He was enormous, had lots of wild, blond hair, a thick, seriously overlong (we’re talking ZZ Top here) russet beard and was wearing a flannel shirt even though it had to be nearly ninety degrees.

He was also carrying a shotgun and had some kind of freaky-ass goggle apparatus on the top of his head.

“You want somethin’?” he growled.

“We’re looking for Tim Shubert,” Ally replied calmly.

“He’s not here,” Grizzly said, “move along.”

“Yep, yep. Going!” I shouted and started the car, put it into gear and took off.

“Where are we going?” Ally asked.

“Hell if I know.”

“We should have asked him some questions,” Ally said, completely at ease

“Right. No. We’re trying to avoid me getting dead. Definitely you getting dead. I don’t talk to people who carry shotguns around in broad daylight.”

“He looked interesting,” Ally said contemplatively.

Shit.

* * * * *

It was just after four.

After our introduction to Grizzly, we’d swung back by Fortnum’s to help out Jane for awhile and ask if she’d heard from Duke (answer: no).

Now, Ally and I were in my dark blue VW Beetle, windows down, sunroof back, sitting outside Rosie’s house sipping leftover water and waiting.

My Beetle wasn’t exactly a rock ‘n’ roll-mobile but it was cute. It had cream leather seats that were great in the winter because they heated up. Now that it was summer, the seats stuck to your legs and every time you got out, it felt like three layers of skin tore off (another reason to wear jeans).

Denver had killer weather, as in nearly perfect. Summers were hot but usually at night it cooled off enough to sleep under a cover. Spring and Fall were volatile and allowed for variety in wardrobe. Winter was never too cold because there was no moisture in the air. The occasional blizzard was a bummer and sometimes there were snowstorms in July but nearly every day was sunny and the blue skies of Denver could not be beat.

We’d already called Duke, like, a gazillion times. Duke and Dolores were visiting Dolores’s parents in Pagosa Springs and they were supposed to be home in the morning but had still not arrived. I didn’t know Dolores’s parents’ number or her maiden name. We were stuck on that score.

I found Duke’s disappearance curious and a little scary. Though Duke had been known to go walkabout, except it was walkabout on a Harley.

Duke didn’t do cell phones and I was loath to go to Evergreen. Although Rosie would likely be there or go there, at least eventually as that was where the diamonds were, so might Lee and I had decided I was definitely back to avoiding Lee.

I had not come to terms with this abrupt about-face and needed time to process it.

Who was I kidding?

There was no processing going on.

Lee and I were not gonna happen.

I hated to break Ally and Kitty Sue’s hearts but I’d seen Lee tear through a variety of women’s lives and I wasn’t going to be one of them.

These days, he was never home.

I had no idea what he did for a living but I was pretty sure it was dangerous.

And he was way too damn cocky.

Ally and I were both staring at Rosie’s house and I was trying to pluck up the courage to drive to Evergreen and maybe have a scary faceoff with Lee that I had to have the cojones to win when someone tapped on the back passenger window.

“Shit!” I jumped and shouted.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

In Ally’s window was a nice-looking man, though a wee-bit steroid ridden and overdeveloped in the chest area but he had a good haircut, shirt, tie, slacks.

“We’re a bit jumpy. We’ve had kind of a rough day,” Ally explained, smiling her flirty smile.

Conversely, although Ally could head bang with the best, she was a White Hat type of gal. She liked the good boys. She liked preppies and corporate types and definitely men in uniform. She understood a good guitar riff but she liked her men clean-cut and ties and uniforms drove her wild.

“You lookin’ for Rosie?” the man asked.

I blinked.

Were we that obvious?

“Uh, yeah,” I replied.

He nodded. “I live over there.”

He pointed in the vague direction of “over there” and both Ally and I followed his finger, not sure precisely which house “over there” was his then looked back to him.

“Is Rosie in trouble?” the guy asked.

“Does Rosie get in trouble, do you know?” I asked in return.

The guy shook his head. “Not that I know of. Quiet guy. Killer coffee.”

We all nodded.

“I’m Gary,” he said.

Ally extended her hand. “Ally,” she said and then she pointed to me, “and this is India.”

Upon hearing my name, he turned and looked over his shoulder and gave a nod.

Ally and I turned and looked over our shoulders too.

Too late.

Before I could react to the two men running toward our car, my door was wrenched open, I was dragged out and I let out a howl when the backs of my legs were ripped from the hot leather seats.

I stopped my howl midway with an “oof” because I hadn’t taken my seat belt off and when the guy yanked me out, my belt jerked me back.