Agent Ren Bryce Thriller Series Books 1-3: Blood Runs Cold, Time of Death, Blood Loss

Not very well, obviously.

‘Your father sounds like a good man.’

‘He was. He was. A champion skier, a 10th Mountain veteran, a developer, a humanitarian.’

A hard act to follow.

Chapter 39 (#u8bb60e53-87b4-54e1-a600-62c12d8c99b9)

Ren drove to Main Street and parked across the street from the Gold Pan. She arrived just as Salem Swade was getting up to leave.

‘Hey, Salem,’ said Ren.

‘Hello,’ said Salem.

‘How do you think Misty would feel about me taking her for a little walk?’ said Ren.

Salem glanced down at Misty. ‘It might be how I feel about you taking Misty for a walk. I doubt she’d have much of a problem. Isn’t that right, girl?’

Misty gave him a lazy, loving look. He rubbed her head.

‘OK, then,’ he said to Ren. ‘Where are you going to take her?’

‘Well, how about I drop you off at the Filly. I’ll take her from there and drop her back to you.’

‘You have to take very good care of her. That’s all.’

‘I can promise you that,’ said Ren.

* * *

Ren left Salem at the Brockton Filly. Misty sat on the back seat of the Jeep as Ren drove a short distance down the road. She pulled into a rest-stop and parked. When she opened the back door, Misty threw herself at her.

‘Hey,’ said Ren, ‘you can’t fool me. I know this is not your first time going for a walk.’ She laughed. She secured Misty’s leash and they walked for twenty minutes and back again along a winding cycle path that ran in and out of the trees alongside the highway. Few cars and no people passed them by. They got on well. But Salem was very happy to have Misty back.

As Ren was walking, she thought about Caroline Quaintance, Jean Transom’s friend from the animal shelter. There was something about her she couldn’t put her finger on. Tonight, she decided to put herself through some torture to find out more.

Ren could never get the balance right between the clothes she wore, the outside temperature and the heating in the car. Sub-zero surveillance: compared to the same temperature the evening before, the roads would feel icier, the snow heavier, the seats of the car, harder. And there was something about it all that felt pointless. It is harder to blend into the darkness when your exhaust is pumping white fumes into the air. But at least she had heating; half-way down the block behind her, Todd Austerval was sitting in a car with none. He was dressed in a massive black Puffa jacket that made it look as if his airbag had blown.

Ren circled the block, saw nothing and pulled back into her original position. She radioed Todd.

‘Hey – let’s swap cars.’

Silence.

‘I’m serious,’ said Ren. ‘This isn’t fair – you freezing your butt off.’

‘Are you for real?’ said Todd.

‘Yes. I’ll walk back to you now.’

‘No way,’ said Todd. ‘I can’t let you do that.’

‘Is it because I’m such a lady?’ said Ren.

Todd snorted.

‘Laughing a little too hard,’ said Ren. ‘Come on, just let me do this.’

‘Look,’ said Todd, ‘we’ve been here three hours and seen nothing. Stay where you are; another ten minutes and we’ll both go.’

‘OK. Then we can go track down your mechanic and kick the crap out of him.’

Todd snorted again. ‘Sure, if you want to. But I’m going home to bed.’

You are so straight. ‘Yeah, I wasn’t actually serious?’ said Ren.

‘It’s hard to tell with you,’ said Todd.

But Ren had drifted out of Todd’s bland world and was watching headlights approach in her rearview mirror. She sank lower in her seat and sat in silence watching the familiar car as it passed. It circled the block three times.

Todd radioed her. ‘Hey, did you see that?’

‘That car circling?’ said Ren. ‘Yeah, I was right up close. He had a map, he was just lost … this place has a lot of streets and avenues with similar names.’

‘OK – you got a better view.’

‘Yep,’ said Ren. A perfect view.

But was Billy Waites tailing me or Caroline Quaintance?

The Brockton Filly was almost closed, the crowd was thin. Ren had given Billy Waites two hours to get back. She came in, smiled at him across the room and sat up at the bar.

‘Hey,’ she said.

‘Hey,’ he said, smiling wide. ‘I didn’t think you’d ever be coming back to see me.’

She laughed as her heart pounded. ‘As if I wouldn’t …’

‘Well, you weren’t too keen on my company this morning. And Salem said you did a drive-by to drop him off.’

‘Did you get through all that breakfast?’

‘I did not,’ said Billy. ‘You should have seen it – there was enough for ten people. I am not exaggerating. I wrapped it all up in some napkins and brought it back for Salem.’

‘Did you check out OK?’

Billy nodded. ‘I wasn’t thinking about that when I took the food. In fact, I dropped some of my stash.’