Page 30

Ethan sure wished he could confide in Renault. He didn t want Renault to go off half-cocked and get himself killed because he was determined to do this on his own, yet Ethan understood how he felt. Ethan certainly felt the same way about catching these bastards.

On the other hand, Ethan didn t want to expose Noah and his mission to Renault who still could be the mole. They needed to look into his financial background and see if he was getting money that couldn t be accounted for. Or buying expensive items he couldn t afford.

I shouldn t involve you in all this since you re no longer with the force, but you always gave me good advice, saved my butt a few times when I arrived in Portland, and I just thought if anyone had any sound words of wisdom it would be you.

Thanks. The department will get whoever the mole or moles are. I don t like that you re doing this on your own and putting yourself at unnecessary risk without Grainger s approval.

I second that, Charlene said, then began eating the rest of her chicken thigh.

You know it could be someone in the police bureau, not even in our department, Renault said, serving up some more green beans on his plate. The meal is delicious, by the way.

Charlene said, I agree. Thanks for lunch, Ethan.

My pleasure. On the business of someone in the police bureau being involved, Grainger has talked to the bureau chief who is having someone look into that.

Oh, good. I was going to see if your good friends Adam or Tori might be able to check into it quietly. I was going to drop by your house to talk to you about all this, but I don t have your address.

That was going to be tough to explain since Ethan couldn t give out that address to anyone in the department.

Ethan is staying with me. Charlene smiled brilliantly at Renault. So if you re looking for him, he ll be here if he s not running errands.

Renault s jaw dropped. Then he smiled. Well, hell, who would have thought it would progress that quickly?

Renault had no idea. Yeah, I was going to rent a furnished place to make sure I liked it out here before I actually bought a home, but then Charlene told me to come stay with her and save on the rent.

So my own household goods are still in storage in Portland.

Staying with Charlene has worked like a charm.

He only mentioned the storage situation in case Renault had been checking him out!

Yeah, we ve been having a great time, Charlene said. Ethan has been the best company.

I m glad. You deserve someone who is good for you, Renault said.

Thanks. Noah and I will remain friends, Charlene said. He just needs to find the right woman for him.

That s good to hear. You won t be living that close to each other, but when you come into Portland, I hope we can all get together sometimes, Renault said.

Sure, that would be great. But you know, I agree with Ethan about you trying to do this undercover work alone without your boss even backing you.

You could be murdered by these guys, and no one would ever know what had happened to you, Charlene said.

I have experience with this stuff as a homicide detective, so I know what I m talking about.

Yeah, I know you do. Renault sighed. I really felt Ethan and I were a team, watching each other s backs, until he retired.

Ethan was surprised Renault had felt that way.

Renault really hadn t been a very open person with him or anyone else on the team since he had joined them, but Ethan had figured it had to do with his background or maybe his personality.

He d been a good agent, serious, contemplative, thorough on his investigations, an expert sharpshooter who had even saved Ethan s life once.

Ethan had liked his work ethic and was grateful to him for taking down a perp who could have killed him.

Ethan truly hoped he hadn t gone to the dark side.

Renault ran his hands through his dark hair.

Okay, listen, the truth is someone has been tailing me.

That s…that s another reason I had to speak with you, Ethan.

I–I really don t know who else to turn to.

I ve gotten to the point that I don t trust anyone in the department and not in the police bureau either.

But you and Noah, of course. I don t know who is following me, but as wary as we are and as long as we ve been in this business, you know when you ve got a tail.

Ethan believed him.

It s a black Mercedes.

Instantly, Ethan thought it might be the same car belonging to Clara Snyder that they had seen at Oakley s house. Did you get the license plate number? He hoped they could confirm it was the same one.

No. So I don t know who it belongs to or what they re up to.

Maybe Grainger is having me followed to see if I m the mole and will lead him to these guys.

Maybe it s one of them or their henchmen.

I just don t know where to turn. I mean, I thought of asking Grainger, but if he believes I m the mole, he wouldn t tell me the truth anyway.

Maybe you should take a vacation and get out of Oregon for a while, Ethan said, wanting Renault out of harm s way. He thought that might be the best way to get him out of this situation if he wasn t the mole.

Renault shook his head. I ve got to do this. I ve got to find these guys and take them down, if not for my own sanity, to do what s right by your parents and for you.

Ethan knew how he felt. He wanted resolution in this case in the worst way.

Then Tori called Ethan and he said to Renault and Charlene, I m going to take this outside. I ll be right back.

Sure, Charlene said and then she engaged Renault further. When you went to Oakley s house, did you see any sign of drugs?

Hey, Ethan said to Tori, closing the back door and heading down the stairs to the beach so that he could make sure his call was private. We have unexpected company. Renault arrived to talk to us. He explained to Tori what that was all about.

Talk about putting you on the spot. From what we could gather about the murdered victim, he was trying to take over Kroner s territory as soon as he saw he was arrested.

He didn t care that Kroner was released.

We guess he figured if the DEA could take Kroner down once, they would have him back in cuffs again before long.

Fatal mistake on his part. The victim has been wanted in several felony crimes also but get this.

We ran the license plates on one of the cars in Kroner s garage and it also belongs to Clara Snyder.

Hell, is she just that culpable or is she at the heart of all this? Ethan asked.

We have a financial team looking into her finances. If nothing else, the IRS will get her on tax evasion because she s been collecting all this money to buy cars and not reporting it as income.

Ethan wondered if there wasn t more to Clara than met the eye. What if Clara isn t who she says she is? Being a retired high school teacher could be just a cover.

We re looking into it. So far, it appears she is who she says she is. Maybe she has just been bamboozled into doing this. You know how it is. People from all walks of life can easily be scammed, Tori said. How are things going with you and Noah?

Surprisingly well. I think he might be setting his sights on another she-wolf and he has given up on Charlene.

Oh? That s a quick change of heart. Who is the new she-wolf?

You.

Tori laughed. Noah would definitely get more than he bargained for with me.

Ethan smiled. That s what I figured. Let us know if you get anything more on Clara and hear anything about where Kroner might have gotten off to.

I will. I ll talk to you later.

Thanks for the update. Ethan climbed back up the steps and found Renault getting ready to leave.

Hey, thanks for having me over for lunch, Renault said.

I m serious about you taking a vacation. Psychologically, it s not good to feel everyone could be a threat, and if Kroner or one of his cohorts is following you, that s not good, Ethan said. Especially since you don t feel you can trust anyone to be there for you if they come for you.

Thanks.

Then Ethan frowned. Did the Mercedes that s been tailing you follow you here? All they needed was for Kroner or his criminal friends to learn Ethan was staying here and then Charlene could be more at risk.

I don t believe so. It followed me to Shelby Bay and then I lost it when I left there.

So the Mercedes followed you all the way from Portland to Shelby Bay?

Yeah. There aren t a lot of ways to reach Shelby Bay, and though I tried to ditch him, he kept finding me.

That s why I knew I had a tail. I m sorry.

I didn t think of what that might mean for Charlene, but I don t believe anyone followed me here.

I was really taking all kinds of detours and backtracking to get here, Renault said, sounding sincere.

Still, that worries me.

I can handle myself, Charlene said, sounding annoyed that they would treat her like some defenseless heroine.

I have an idea though. Ethan thought if he could catch the bastard who had been following Renault, it would be worth it.

Especially if it meant stopping him from going after Charlene, if he knew Renault had been to her house.

Oceanside Grocery is five miles from here.

Go there and I ll meet you. I m driving a dark-green sedan, Honda Accord.

I ll go in, grab a couple of things from the store, get some gas in case it takes a while to ensure you re not being followed, and then leave.

You ll do something similar and then drive back to Portland.

I ll follow you halfway there and see if anyone s trailing you.

If you pick up a tail, I ll nail his ass.

If nothing happens in the one and a half hours I m following you, I ll return to Oyster Bay.

Renault looked relieved. Ethan was glad he had come up with the plan to protect his back.

But he didn t want to leave Charlene alone.

Calling on Noah to come there and watch over her probably wouldn t go over that big with Charlene.

Still, he had to talk to her about it. He was sure Noah would be all for it.

Okay, I ll meet you at the store then, Ethan said.

Thanks, Ethan. I really, really owe you for this, Renault said.

No trouble at all. Maybe we can catch this guy and end his stalking. And put an end to the stalker coming after Charlene if that was next on his agenda.

But you re no longer with the force, Renault suddenly said, as if remembering that fact.

We ll figure it out one way or another, but I ll watch your back.

Okay, I m off. Renault left the house then.

Ethan gave Charlene a hug. Are you all right with all of this?

Yeah. You be safe though.

What if Noah stays with you while I m gone?

Charlene smiled. No. I m fine. If I feel like I m in trouble, I ll call Noah and he can be here in a couple of minutes, as close as the DEA house is to ours.

All right. Ethan kissed Charlene, hoping she d be fine on her own. He wanted to make Noah aware of what was going on, but he didn t want to upset Charlene. He called Noah on Bluetooth as he headed for the grocery store. Hey, we have a development.

Is Renault the mole?

He said he was looking into this himself without Grainger s approval.

Hell, he s going to get himself killed.

Yeah, but also from what he says, the car that we spotted at Oakley s house has been following him.

The black Mercedes. I m meeting up with Renault at the grocery store and then following him halfway to Portland.

If I see the Mercedes, I m going to try to catch the driver and see what s going on, Ethan said.

So someone s been following Renault and he went straight to Charlene s house.

Yeah, but Charlene said she ll be fine.

I ll make sure of it.

Keep out of sight. I m glad you re going to be there for her if she needs you, but I don t want Charlene pissed off at me if she thinks I sent you to protect her.

All right, but if someone is out to get her, I ll be there and all over him. If I can, I ll do it without her ever knowing about it. I m taking a backpack, my gun and badge, and I ll run over there. I don t want to drive over to her place, or she ll hear my vehicle, Noah said to Ethan.

Okay, sounds good. I ll call you later to let you know what s going on.

I ll put my phone on vibrate. Out, here.

Ethan smiled. He really liked having Noah as a partner.

It made him feel like he could really accomplish the mission with him by his side.

Ethan soon arrived at the grocery store and saw Renault s car there.

There was no sign of the black Mercedes.

He hoped that Renault wasn t imagining all of this, but on the other hand, if it really was the same vehicle he and Noah had seen at Oakley s house, he believed Renault was right in being worried about the driver s intentions.