Page 54 of Hell Hath No Fury

“I was working customer service. She came out of the beer and wine department and went straight out the doors.”

“Did you see where she went after she left?”

“No. I can’t see outside from the service desk.”

Emma’s shoulders sagged. She thanked Betsy and turned away.

“Hey,” Betsy called after her. “Is there something wrong?”

“I hope not,” Emma said over her shoulder.

Matthias walked at her side as she exited the store and stopped on the sidewalk, looking around as if hoping Nell might still be there.

She wasn’t.

Matthias noticed a gangly teen collecting shopping carts from the corral in the parking lot. “I have an idea.”

He hurried toward the kid and waved. “Excuse me.”

The teen stopped and looked at him warily. “Hey man, if you got a ding in your car, it wasn’t me. I’m real careful about moving these buggies around.”

“It’s nothing like that.” Matthias gave him a smile. “We’re trying to find someone who was here a couple hours ago and thought you might have seen her leaving the store.” He held his palm out to Emma, who placed her phone, queued up to Nell’s photo, on it. Matthias showed the picture to the young man.

He studied the image and fingered his shaggy brown hair. “Yeah. I think that’s her.”

“Why do you say it like that? Did she do something to get your attention?”

“Kinda. You don’t see many people bumming rides these days.”

Emma stepped forward. “She was hitchhiking?”

“Not really. She was wandering around the lot, stopping people who were loading their groceries in their cars. I was close enough to overhear her asking a woman if she could give her a ride. The lady told her no.”

Before Emma could say more, Matthias stopped her with a hand on her arm. To the teen, he asked, “Did you happen to hear where she was asking to be taken?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact. Highland Avenue.”

Matthias tightened his grip on Emma, thanked the kid, and steered her toward his Jeep.

“Highland Avenue,” she said in a ragged voice.

“I know,” he replied.

The street on which the Highlander Club was located.

ChapterSixteen

“You said they made you.”

The drive from the grocery store to the Highlander Club only took a few minutes, with Emma arguing with Matthias the entire way.

“They’re not gonna tell us anything if they know you’re a cop.”

“I don’t care.” He sounded like a rebellious child—his voice an obstinate tenor rather than his usual ground-glass baritone. “You aren’t going in there alone.”

“They’ll see me as non-threatening. Harmless.”

“Youareharmless.Theyaren’t.”