“Aaron Manfred.” Reid pulled onto the road and set out after Aaron.
“Your father’s butler? Why is it a big deal that he’s going out somewhere?”
“It’s not, in and of itself. But this isn’t the first mysterious nighttime trip he’s made. He’s actually making it something of a habit lately.” He shot her a lopsided grin. “You up for a little spy work?”
“Spy work?” she wrinkled her nose. “What, are you going to follow him?”
“Damn right. I don’t have a problem with him leaving in the evenings, but the sneaky way he’s done it raises questions for me. He’s been having his wife tell us he can’t fill his duties in the evening because he doesn’t feel well. That he’s tiring easily these days. That little lie, his leaving without telling the family where he’s going, has me curious.”
Pen pivoted on the seat and checked on Nicholas. “He’s still asleep, so... I guess there’s no harm.”
She barely had the words out before she was lost to a jaw-cracking yawn.
Reid gave her a small grin. “Put the seat back and catch some z’s yourself. You don’t have to stay awake on my account.”
“You sure? I can help you spy if you want?”
Aaron turned at a crossroad, and keeping a manageable distance between them, Reid followed. “I’m good. If I need you, I’ll give you a nudge.”
She nodded, reaching below the seat to push the button that angled her seat back. She turned toward him, tucking a foot under her, and her eyes closed before she’d even settled her head. Reid couldn’t resist stroking a hand along her cheek, which looked especially pale and smooth in the bluish glow of his dash lights.
“G’night.” She gave a soft, sleepy hum as he tucked her hair behind her ear and gave her chin a final caress. The murmur of tired satisfaction rippled through him, a more potent intoxicant than a shot of the best whiskey he had at his lake house.
Giving his head a small shake, he gripped the steering wheel harder. Focus. He needed to keep Aaron in his sights without letting their butler know he was being followed. He doubted Aaron would recognize the Range Rover, especially at night, but he didn’t need to take the chance that the older man would realize someone was tailing him.
Pen drew a deep breath in her sleep that was just shy of a snore, and Reid smiled. She’d be horrified to think she’d snored in front of him. She may have rejected her father and his upper-class lifestyle, but she was still, at heart, the lady her mother had raised her to be.
Aaron entered the on-ramp of the interstate headed into Dallas, and Reid twisted his mouth. “Where are you going, old man?”
If Aaron were just out on a quick errand, he’d already passed any number of grocery stores, bank ATMs, all-night drug stores, fast-food restaurants and liquor stores.
He tailed the butler into downtown Dallas and off the interstate, onto the streets of a low-income part of town. He hung back a bit as Aaron took one turn after another until finally slowing to a stop in front of a multi-story older brick building in a low-rent neighborhood. He stopped a block back, but near enough to watch what transpired. “What the hell?”
Reid knew his family paid Aaron well. If he was renting a place in this neighborhood, it was not for lack of funds. A woman bundled up against the cold in a long coat and hat stepped out of the high-rise building where Aaron had stopped, and Reid goggled. Was the family’s trusted butler having an affair?
Reid squinted as the woman turned and tossed a bundle of what looked like laundry into the backseat of the Mercedes before climbing in the front seat. He caught a good view of her face and grunted his surprise. “Moira?”
Both Aaron and his wife were up to nighttime shenanigans? Both of them were sneaking off and making mystery trips away from the ranch? Clearly they were in cahoots, and covering for each other when either of them needed an alibi with the family. “At least he’s not cheating on her,” he groused, then gave a wry chuckle.
“What?” Pen whispered, her voice heavy with sleep. She sat up, adjusting her seat so she could look around. “Where are we? Who’s cheating?”
Moira closed the car door, and Aaron drove away from the curb. Checking for cross traffic from the side street, Reid continued his pursuit.
“No one is cheating. At least not on their spouse, but...” He aimed his finger toward the Mercedes. “I followed Aaron into downtown Dallas. He picked up his wife at this place,” Reid motioned toward the building as he slowly drove past. “You recognize it?”
She blinked tiredly at the front door and cocked her head to the side to look up at the facade. “Don’t know it. I don’t see any signs saying what the building is or any businesses inside. What street are we on?” He told her their location, and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the pads of her fingers. “Can’t say I’ve ever even been in this part of town before. What do you think she was doing?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Reid angled his head to study the front entrances of the stores and edifices as they cruised down the nearly empty city street. Many of the buildings were shuttered, signs declaring them for lease or condemned. He spotted a barbershop, a liquor store and a greasy-spoon diner. “Something seriously fishy is going on. Aaron and Moira would never—”
Penelope gasped and cried, “Reid, stop!”
Startled by her shout, he slammed on the brakes, and before he could stop her, she’d unfastened her seat belt and was shouldering open the passenger door. “There was a kitten in the road. I don’t think you hit it, but...”
“What? Wait, Pen...” He grabbed for her arm to stop her, but she was out of the car in a flash. He called to her, “Are you sure it wasn’t a rat?”