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  Even the employees at the Grand Hotel were suspects, but he doubted any of them knew something that they hadn’t already told the police.

  Dane and Annie were driving between Montgomery and Birmingham when Dane asked her about lunch. “Are you hungry? We can stop in Birmingham, if you are.”

  “I’m not hungry. But I am a little thirsty.” Annie gazed out the side window of the beige sedan.

  Dane wanted an excuse to stop soon—an excuse that wouldn’t upset Annie. He’d noticed that a black car had been behind them ever since they went through Spanish Fort, hours ago. Either the two men were coincidentally taking the same route as he and Annie or they were following them. If that were the case, the driver knew how to keep a discreet distance, often allowing one or two cars to come between them. And Dane hadn’t made any sudden moves to test their followers, because he didn’t want to let them know he was aware of their presence.

  “How about stopping for a milk shake?” Dane suggested. I think I saw a sign about a Dairy Dip a few miles up the road.”

  “Chocolate.” Annie sighed.

  “Two chocolate milk shakes. I knew we had to have something in common, other than our love for the sea.”

  Dane took the next exit and within minutes pulled up in front of the Dairy Dip. The black car exited, but drove past the Dairy Dip and parked at the Mini-Mart across the street.

  “Do you think it’s safe to get out?” Annie asked.

  “What?”

  “Do you suppose those two men in the black car are going to whip out an Uzi and blow us away?”

  Dane chuckled. “You already knew, didn’t you, that they’ve been behind us ever since—”

  “Spanish Fort.”

  “Smarty-pants.”

  “So, do you think they’re following us…following me?”

  “Maybe,” Dane said. “Maybe not. I thought we could pull off for something to drink or eat without arousing their suspicions that I—pardon me—that we were on to them.”

  “What if they hadn’t exited off of I-65?”

  “Then we wouldn’t have anything to worry about, would we?”

  “But we have something to worry about now, don’t we?” Annie glanced across the street at the dark car that seemed to be waiting. But waiting for what?

  Chapter 7

  “So what are we going to do?” Annie asked.

  “I’m going to get us a couple of chocolate milk shakes,” Dane said as he opened the door. “I can keep an eye on you from the walk-up window.”

  “I meant, what are we going to do about the men who are following us?” Annie tilted her head so she could see Dane’s face when he got out of the car.

  Dane stooped over, stuck his head back into the car and smiled. “We aren’t going to do anything. I am going to wait until we finish our milk-shakes and see what those guys do. If they’re still just sitting over there at the Mini-Mart, then I’m going to call Lieutenant McCullough and have him run a check on their license plate number.”

  “Don’t you dare start out this relationship by being condescending to me, Dane Carmichael!” Annie stuck her index finger in his face. “Whatever happens in this case, you and I are in it together. So when I say we, I mean we. Not you!”

  Grinning, Dane closed the door and walked away. Annie’s initial reaction was to get out of the car, follow him and blast him with a few more well-chosen words. But on second thought, she just crossed her arms over her chest and sat there fuming.

  A few minutes later Dane tapped on the window. He held up two large plastic cups. Annie slid across the seat, opened the door and reached up for her drink.

  “Our friends haven’t budged,” Dane told her as he slid into the seat and closed the door behind him. “One of them got out and went into the Mini-Mart. But they’re still sitting over there.”

  “Waiting for us.”

  “Probably.”

  Dane started the motor and turned on the radio. After switching through several stations, he stopped on an Oldies station that was playing the best of Roy Orbison.

  Annie enjoyed the milk shake. But then, she’d had a love affair with chocolate since tasting her first chocolate Easter Bunny when she was a child. When she finished the shake, she handed the empty cup to Dane, who had already drunk his and was looking into the rearview mirror.

  “Are they still there?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He glanced at her, grinned, then reached over and wiped the corner of her mouth with the paper napkin he held.

  Warmth spread from her stomach through her body when he touched her. Involuntarily, she smiled at him. The rat-a-tat-tat of her heart drummed in her ears.

  Dane broke eye contact and she wondered if he’d been as ridiculously affected by that slight gesture—by that brush of his fingers against her mouth—as she had been.

  He jerked the cell phone from his jacket pocket, whipped out a white business card, scanned it quickly and then dialed a number.

  She listened, waiting patiently for Dane to complete his conversation with Lieutenant McCullough. Hearing only Dane’s questions and comments, Annie wasn’t able to deduce much, and that irritated her. Suddenly Dane chuckled. Annie eyed him quizzically, wanting him to tell her what was going on. He laughed again, this time longer and more light-heartedly. She punched his arm and glared at him.

  She mouthed the words, “What’s going on?”

  Dane shook his head, cautioning her not to interrupt, then he said into the phone, “Yeah, well, thanks, but you could have saved me some worry if you’d told me.” He flipped the phone lid closed and returned it to his pocket, then turned to Annie. “Buckle up. It’s safe to head out now.”

  Dane buckled his seat belt, then started the engine. Annie grabbed his arm and shook him.

  “Tell me, dammit!”

  He grinned at her. “It seems McCullough’s feeling real guilty for not taking you seriously when you first went to him with the story about Halley being murdered.”

  “So?”

  “So, he called in a few favors and got a couple of off-duty Mobile policemen to follow us to Birmingham, where a couple more cops will take over and go all the way to Florence with us.”

  “That numbskull! Why didn’t he just tell us that he had arranged—”

  “He didn’t think we’d spot our escort.” Dane reached over, pulled her safety belt into place and then put the car in reverse.

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” Annie snorted. “He didn’t think a private security agent, a former FBI agent, would notice. Even I noticed!”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go home first?” Dane asked, as they drove through Florence several hours later.

  “No. I told Mother, when I called her, that we were going to Halley’s apartment first.” Keeping watch on the traffic on Florence Boulevard, Annie pointed to the left side of the road at the red light. “Turn here. Halley’s apartment is about half a mile down the road.”

  “Just what do you think we’ll find at Halley’s?” Dane took a left when the light turned green.

  “I have no idea. Maybe a clue of some kind. She has a computer there, so maybe she left some notes on it. Or maybe she sent the package she mailed from Foley to her house, intending to give it to me later.”

  “If she didn’t unearth this story until she arrived in Point Clear and opened the package, then she probably didn’t leave anything in her apartment that would point us in the right direction.”

  “The night Halley called me, not much she said made sense.” Annie closed her eyes momentarily as memories of her protégée’s pretty, young, smiling face flashed through her mind. “She had just started to explain things when the line went dead.”

  “Exactly what else did she say to you, other than she had come across the story of a lifetime?”

  “Before she mentioned that, she said something about if she’d known what was in the package, she’d have opened it before she’d left home.”

  “We’re back to that package again.”