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A ndy ran back into the bedroom with Monica’s phone, his sexy male parts bouncing, and she smiled at his nakedness.

“No time to get dressed,” he said.

“I’m not complaining.” She glanced at the caller ID. It was an unknown caller. She answered. “Hello?” She put the call on speakerphone.

Andy climbed onto the bed and sat behind her, gently massaging her back. Oh, she had to give up her position in the FBI and come and live here with him. Let him support her. Until she had a job in town, she supposed.

“I…I heard you were on my sister’s case,” the woman said over the phone.

“Your sister?” Monica didn’t know who the woman was.

“Helen Wright’s sister. Ivory Redman.”

Monica was surprised to hear from a sister.

“Denny’s abusive toward her. She had a restraining order against him. She wouldn’t be in on any kidnapping scheme. She likes Pierre. He has been so good to her. He’s just perfect for her.”

And rich. “Yes, that could be true.” As far as Pierre went, Monica agreed, unless he was involved in the kidnapping scheme. “Helen and Denny appear to be back together again.”

Monica was certain from the display of passionate sex between them that Helen was enjoying the experience and not in the least forced into it. Her sister was either unaware that Helen had gone back with Denny over the kidnapping scheme, or Helen was willing to go with him.

“Your brother is Harvey Marquart?” Monica asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“And Wendell Marquart is your cousin?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, just making sure.”

“I tell you that Denny forced her to go with him. She never would have gone with him otherwise.”

Considering what had happened between Helen and Denny at the cabin, Monica didn’t feel it was her place to tell her sister what she had seen. “Do you have any idea where Denny might have taken Helen?”

“His grandparents’ cabin. But you must have already checked it out.”

“Yes.” The other agents would have. “But they weren’t there. They had been at a friend’s cabin when we located them.” She told her the other cabin owner’s name.

“That’s no one I know. At least Helen never told me she knew them.”

“Okay.” Which could be the truth. Denny and Helen could have broken into the cabin without the owners' knowledge.

“Denny is a master manipulator. A con man of the highest order. He has been stealing money from women whenever he can.”

“From Helen also?”

“Yeah, from the money she makes at the beauty parlor. She won’t admit it, but I know he’s always taking the lion’s portion of her earnings. Have you checked Denny’s grandparents’ home? They have gotten him out of trouble for years.”

“I’m sure the agents who took over for me have verified that with them. But I’ll investigate them, just in case. What about his parents? Or your parents?”

“Our parents despise him for the way he has treated Helen. I don’t know where else Helen and Denny would go unless he went to one of his friends' places.”

“Like the Marquarts?”

“Yeah.”

“They’ll check into the relatives and friends of everyone with him at the cabin.”

“What about his girlfriend, Eloise Mayfair?” Helen’s sister asked.

“Denny’s girlfriend?” The drunken woman in Wendell’s truck?

“Yeah, when Helen left him and took up with Pierre, you don’t think Denny would have just been moping around, do you? He always had a girlfriend, even when he was Helen’s boyfriend. The guy’s a grifter and a serial cheater.”

“Do you have any idea where Eloise might be?”

“At her place? She lives on the outskirts of White Bear. She had been living with Denny there. Helen knew they were and drove me past there. It’s on Fox Run Road.” She gave Monica the rest of the address.

“Thanks, we’ll check it out.”

“Just don’t hurt Helen. She has done nothing wrong.”

“Okay.” She was innocent until proven guilty, but Monica highly doubted it.

“Go save her.” Then Helen’s sister hung up on Monica.

Andy hurried to get dressed. Then he helped Monica dress much more slowly.

“Are you going to call for backup?” He pulled her parka on.

“You’re my backup. Unless we have some indication that she’s at her place or that any of the others are, there’s no sense in calling up the cavalry. Now, if we believe she or any others are holed up there when we arrive, then yes.”

He pulled on his boots and parka, then grabbed their hats and gloves, his gun, the handcuffs, and her gun. They both put on their body cams.

“Let’s go.” She was already headed for the garage door.

He joined her in the SUV, and they were on their way. “Eloise’s home is about twenty minutes from Pierre’s home.”

“So what do you think? Was Helen being forced to go along with this plan?” she asked.

“I don’t know. On the one hand, anything’s possible. On the other hand, you saw how Denny and Helen acted toward each other. Not like she was afraid of him and wasn’t trying to escape him.”

“You’re right. If we didn’t consider the way they had been having sex, just the way she was acting, so lovey-dovey on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, while he went to get firewood, sure made it appear she was with him on the whole deal.”

Twenty minutes later, they closed in on Eloise’s house.

“Okay, there’s the house number, the pale yellow, one-story home.” He drove by and then parked out of view of the house. “I didn’t see any sign of anyone there.”

“Me either. There were no lights on, and no vehicle is out front.”

Before they could make their plans, they saw a pizza delivery van pull up. "Real pizza delivery?" Andy asked.

"Well, there's only one way to know for sure. They just provided our cover for the next few minutes."

"At least we know for sure that someone is home."

"Let's just hope it's Eloise and not someone we're not interested in."

They hurried out of the vehicle and headed for the pizza delivery van, quickly moving out of sight of the house when they ended up at the driver's door.

The pizza delivery guy had blond curly hair, his head shaking to the loud music blaring in the van.

He was on his phone when he realized Monica and Andy were at his door, his blue eyes widening.

He rolled down his window. "Are you here for Eloise's order?"

"We'll make the delivery." Andy flashed his badge.

"Oh, oh, okay."

"We want you to keep your van here for appearance's sake until we deliver the pizza," Monica said.

"There are six large pizzas here," the delivery guy said.

Andy glanced at Monica. "All right. Hold on." He called Roger and said, "If you're still in the area, we need some backup."

"I am. What have you got going down now?"

Andy gave him the address. "Eloise is one of the people involved in the kidnapping scheme. We don't know her involvement, but she ordered six large pizzas, so we don't know if some other suspects, or just family or other friends, are there."

"All right. Give us time to get there while I gather some of the guys I can reach."

They really couldn't wait. Not when they worried someone might see that the pizza van was here and the guy wasn't delivering the pizzas or leaving the area.

"Here, let me borrow your hat," Andy told the guy.

"You got to give it back."

"Yeah, sure, it's just for this mission." Then Andy took hold of the pizzas.

"I'm going around the house to the back to wait there in case anyone tries to leave," Monica said.

He didn't want her behind the house, out of view, but they had no choice. He wished they had backup this minute, but he couldn't have gathered a full-scale takedown of the perps without knowing that anyone was even there they might need to detain.

"Hey, man, I don't want my van shot up."

"We'll have you move it after I deliver the pizzas."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. One of the other officers who’s coming will tell you to move it. Are the pizzas paid for?"

"Yeah, online."

"Okay." Andy assumed they would be, but he had to make sure. He didn't want the pizza delivery guy to pay for them.

Monica made a wide sweep around Eloise's house. He hoped the neighbors surrounding the home weren't her friends and would alert Eloise that a woman was sneaking around the back or that no one saw Monica moving that way.

"I've got another six deliveries to make," the delivery guy said.

"Just think. You can tell all your friends that you helped to take down possible suspects in a major federal crime."

"Can I tell them now?"

"No. Wait until we can deal with this, hopefully without hurting anyone." Andy got a text from Monica. She was hiding behind tall snow-covered shrubs with eyes on the back door.

He texted her back: I'm headed for the door before they wonder what's happening.

She texted: Has backup arrived yet?

No.

Same old thing. Okay, go for it.

Wearing the delivery guy's hat, Andy carried the hot pizzas up the sidewalk as slowly as possible, hoping Roger and some others would be there soon. Though they would probably all get some grief over this operation. It wasn't something they were assigned to do.

The sidewalk wasn't clear, so he had trouble reaching the doorway, just like when they were trekking through the woods to the cabin.

He realized he should have told Roger not to run lights or sirens to alert the house occupants. It was too late to warn him, but hopefully, he would realize the danger to him and Monica if he did so.

Thankfully, the house had no security cameras, and he didn't see a doorbell camera either. He finally reached the snow-covered porch and rang the doorbell. He couldn't hear it ring, so he thought it might not work. He knocked on the door. Again, no answer.

He hoped that didn't mean that Eloise had looked out the window, recognized him, and was rapidly getting her friends together to escape. But then she finally said through the door, "I paid for the pizza! Just leave it on the doorstep like usual."

He swore she sounded like she'd been drinking. This wasn't exactly what he had planned to happen. He set the pizzas on the snow. He didn't want to return to the van. He wanted to grab her and take her into custody as soon as she opened the door.