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"Not tonight, Nick. I’m tired. I got a lot on my mind and I wouldn’t be good company. Will you come see me tomorrow?" she asked, as she got to the door and unlocked it.
"Sure." I was disappointed for more than the obvious reason.
"Then I’ll see you in the morning." Felicia kissed me on the cheek and went inside. I had just turned to walk away when I heard the door opened.
"Nick."
"Yes, Felicia," I said excitedly.
"Here are your guns." She handed them to me, one at a time. "Good night, Nick." And once again the door closed. I walked away thinking of my bad luck. I had just spent the day, a great day, with a woman I was really interested in, who seemed to be interested in me. The problem is she may be involved in a murder, not to mention that I lived six thousand miles away.
* * *
Chapter Fifteen
Saturday July 18: 10:59 AM
The following morning I picked up Felicia around eleven. A bright red sundress and pumps was her attire for the day. "Not that I’m complaining or anything, but its kind of hard to hide your gun isn’t it?" Felicia rolled her eyes at me, and without hesitation, pulled up her dress. Just enough to show me that she had a .25 strapped to each thigh.
"So, Ms Hardy, tell me what’s going on."
"Well, since you’re leaving in the morning, I was hoping we could spend the rest of the day together."
"That wasn’t what I was asking and you know this."
"I know that, Nick. But trust me."
"Okay."
I didn’t really want to leave her and I didn’t want to leave without hearing her story. What else could I do? I put on my seatbelt and relaxed. We did a long lunch at a place called Killer Shrimp, on Colfax Ave and Ventura Boulevard. After lunch, Felicia drove around for a while before driving out of LA on the 101 for a little over an hour until we got to the Town Center Drive exit. "Where are we going?"
"Back to LA," she said, and got on California State Route 1. "I wanted to share one of my favorite places with you."
"Where is that?"
"Shhh. You just trust me. I trusted you. You’re not afraid, are you?"
"No," I said louder than I needed to. "I just like to know where I’m goin’ that’s all." My sixth sense was kicking in. For all I knew, she could be taking me some place secluded so she could kill me. Wasn’t like she couldn’t do it. After all, she was an ex-cop on the run. But on the run from what?
"I’ve never taken anybody here before." She smiled a very soft and satisfied smile. It caused my apprehension to subside, but just a little. Apprehension. The rush. Something else we shared.
We had driven a short while when Felicia said, "This is part of what I wanted to show you."
I looked and saw what was probably one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. The Pacific Ocean on one side of the highway, and the mountains on the other. Felicia tapped me on my thigh. "How do you like it?" she asked me, as she drove down the curvy stretch of highway.
"It’s breathtaking." I replied, thinking that she either needed to slow down or drive with two hands.
"No, breathtaking comes a little later."
"Well are we in a hurry to get there?"
"Kinda, well yeah, we are in a hurry. Why, you a nervous passenger? I mean you’re not scared or anything?"
"No. I just want to enjoy the view. You did want me to see this, didn’t you?"
"Yes. But there’s more. You just gotta trust me."
"That’s funny coming from the woman who had me in handcuffs first thing yesterday morning."