Page 116

“I forgot about this.” Mitch scrubbed a hand over his face and looked around. “We can’t sit here. My brothers are waiting.”
A row of one-story Creole cottages bellied up to the narrow sidewalk outside her window. None had a driveway in which they could turn around. A concrete wall rose on the other side of the street to seal off wharves.
“We’re stuck in the middle of the block.” She turned around and gestured to the driver behind them.
Mitch yanked his cell from the cup holder and punched in a number. “Mitch here. We’re stopped where the parade is forming.” He listened, holding her gaze. “You didn’t run into any blocked streets on that route?”
Her own phone pinged. She dug into the small backpack she carried today. Now what?
A message flashed across her brightened screen. She clenched the phone case tighter and showed Mitch. The best-laid plans and all that.
“Hold on, Hal. Cath just got a text.” The cars behind him had backed up to the last street. Mitch reversed, turned at the same corner, and pulled to the curb. “Give me the gist, Cathy.”
“Paul wants to change the meetup location.”
Mitch hit the wheel with a fist. “Everyone’s already in place. Tell DiMartino we’re almost there.”
“We’re not.”
“How’s he going to know?”
“We’ll take too long to get there. When he realizes we lied, he won’t show himself.”
Mitch held her gaze.
“Okay, okay.” She keyed in the message and hit the send icon.
A station wagon carrying a stepladder with a child’s seat on top drove past. Then a car with a family in costume. Both headed for the parade.
They didn’t have time for Paul to change his mind. She and Mitch had to be finished with their role in capturing Paul before they could leave to meet her brother. The way Les had sounded, he might start getting scared if he had to wait too long for her.
Her screen flashed again. “Paul says he can’t. What should I tell him?”
“Ask him why. He might not be able to get to the church in time.”
She sent another text, and her phone eventually pinged a third time. “He’s not explaining himself. Just insisting I change the location. The place Kurt chose is perfect. Safer for us.”
Mitch glanced at his phone. “You want to abort the mission, Cathy?”
She picked at a fingernail. “We can’t now.”
“Yes, we can, but it’s your decision.” His serious gaze rested on her.
“Like you’re not putting your life on the line, too?”
“I take risks every time I go out on a job. You’ll have to be alone until he sees you and approaches. There will be five of us, counting the police detectives, watching your back. Six. We’ve got Hal in a pinch.” Mitch squeezed her arm. “But I’m a little on edge too.”
“Proves you’re human.” She laid her hand on top of his.
“You told me I was human the other night at the camp.” Fire flashed in his brown eyes.
She squirmed under the heat radiating her way. “Human” could be a new word for “hot.” At least as concerned one Mitch Guidry.
Her cell pinged with a new message. Cath read Paul’s new text. “Darn it.”
Mitch heaved a deep breath. “Where’s he want to meet instead?”
She told him the location. “It’s behind us. Back toward downtown.”