Free Absolutely, Positively by Heather Webber

suggest you stop looking for Rourke.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “He’s the prime suspect in an ongoing federal case.”
    Sean squared his shoulders. “Has there been a warrant issued?”
    Baldy said, “Not yet.”
    “What did he do?” I asked.
    “That’s need-to-know information.”
    “We’ll keep that in mind,” Sean said, unlocking the car.
    “Do us a favor, Ms. Valentine,” Agent Thomas added. “Go back to playing with the Staties. We’ll be watching to make sure you do.”
    They turned away, walked toward a black SUV parked two houses down.
    The Staties—slang for the state police. The parting comment stung, but their dismissal hit a nerve. I didn’t like being told what to do. “Charming,” I said to Sean as he held open my door.
    He stared after the men. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this case.”
    That made two of us. Instinct. Intuition. They weren’t feelings I pushed away easily. It was only the look on Meaghan Archibald’s face that fueled my desire to find Rourke.
    Well, that and the fact that the FBI had told me to stay out of it.
    As I nudged Thoreau aside to sit, my eye caught movement in the upstairs window in the house next door. A lacy white curtain swayed.
    The FBI weren’t the only ones who’d been watching us.

8
    The Porcupine was packed. I sidled up to the lunch counter, waited until someone left, and snagged a stool on the end. Raphael bustled back and forth, setting down orders, taking others, clearing plates.
    I checked my phone for messages. I was still waiting to hear from Aiden. He was supposed to have met with the investigator on Mac’s case first thing this morning, then gotten in touch with me. Curiosity was killing me. I wasn’t known for my patience.
    I had a voice mail—from Mum. “Oh, happy day, LucyD! My ring was right where you said it was. Thank you, thank you! Smooches!”
    Smiling, I rolled my eyes and dropped my phone back into my tote.
    “Good news?” Raphael asked. He gave me a quick kiss on my cheek. He motioned for another server to cover his station.
    “Mum. She found her engagement ring.”
    His dark eyes turned serious. “So she told you.”
    “About her and Dad? Not so much told as I figured it out.”
    How long would they have waited?
    “Are you staying for lunch, Uva?”
    “Not today. I just need some coffee and two turkey spinach wraps to go.”
    “Something for the pooch?” he asked, nodding to Thoreau, who was nestled in the crook of my arm. Sean was looking for a parking spot.
    I supposed Thoreau could have a little treat. “A plain turkey wrap.”
    “To go? You sure?” Raphael punched the order into a computer.
    “Definitely. This place is a nuthouse.” All the tables were full, and there was a line forming at the take-out counter.
    “It’s the Lone Ranger.”
    I whipped my head around to look out the glass storefront. “Where?”
    Raphael laughed. “Not literally, Uva. He’s caused the upswing in business. People are using the Porcupine as home base while they hope to get a look at him.”
    “More like take his money.”
    “More like use our restrooms.”
    I smiled, but my heart wasn’t in it. Too much going on in my mind.
    Raphael took a long look at me. “Is there something wrong?”
    He had been part of my life since I was three years old. If I were being completely honest, I’d admit he’d been more a father to me over the years than my own. But being completely honest made me feel slightly traitorous.
    He’d nicknamed me Uva, Spanish for “grape,” when I was a tiny thing, throwing a temper tantrum of such proportions I’d turned myself as purple as a grape. Not long after, I’d begun calling him Pasa, “raisin,” because one day I hoped to turn into someone as good, as nurturing, as wise, as him. Well, that and he’d looked like a raisin, his whole face squished, wrinkled, when he scolded me over the hissy fit.
    It didn’t surprise me he’d seen trouble in my eyes. I doubted there was anyone who