The door knock didn’t surprise Retta. She’d been expecting it. Two very scary-looking dudes who did not belong in this neighborhood were at her door.

“Hey. We’re looking for your next door neighbor, Leslie Detweiler.” The two flashed badges. She knew damn well they were bullshit.

“Yeah? Well, you missed her.” Retta knew just what to say. She wasn’t going to let these fuckers mess with Leslie or that gorgeous hunk of man Lincoln McCall.

“Do you know where she went?”

“Hold on. You two better stop fighting over that game system right now or I’m gonna flush it down the toilet!

“Sorry, my boys need an extra controller. They only got one and it’s a huge pain in my ass, you know?” Retta was having fun playing with these two.

“Uh, yes ma’am. Where’s Leslie Detweiler?”

“She’s done what every pretty blonde in the history of pretty blondes does. She’s headed to Hollywood?”

“And you know that how?”

“I’m in charge of her cat and bird. See?” Retta pointed to a cage just behind her in the kitchen.

“So she told you that? She was headed to L.A.?”

“Yep, seemed in a hurry but yep, Cal-a-forn-I-ay.” Retta said slowly and drew it out.

“Was she with a large bodyguard, shaved head guy?”

“Oh, Lincoln? No, they got into a fight a while back. I haven’t seen him for a while. Too bad, too. He was fine looking!”

“Let us know if you hear from her alright?” One of the men handed her a card with a phone number on it, no government seal or mailing address, just a phone number. No kind of police, that’s for sure.

“Okay, um, if you find her tell her I’m letting this cat go out into the neighborhood inside of one week if she don’t make arrangements. The bird I’ll keep, but the cat… I hate cats.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They turned and left. Retta knew damn well Leslie Detweiler was no Marilyn Monroe, not an actress at all, but she figured she could get an academy award her own self for that little performance.

“They gone.” Leslie and Lincoln walked into the kitchen and Lincoln double checked to be sure the goons were out of sight.

“Thank you, Retta.”

“You’re welcome. And don’t worry, I won’t throw the cat out.” Retta hugged Leslie.

“Now it’s your turn.” The big woman wrapped her arms around Lincoln and squeezed him for all she was worth.

“Drive safe.”

“Will do.”

They walked out the back door of Retta’s side of the duplex and kept going. They’d parked Lincoln’s truck several blocks away. Seemed like a bad idea to drive that truck. But hell, it was a nice truck.

***

I didn’t think it was going to last long, the little head start I had on Maldonado’s goons. I supposed whatever head start I had I owed to Lorenz. Sorting it out would, at least, take a little bit of time. Barchek would tell Dom it was me that killed Franco soon enough. Lorenz knew it was Marilyn, Leslie; either way Antonio Maldonado and his henchmen and son Dom would be wanting both of us dead.

So that’s how we started our little road trip, Marilyn and me.

I was gonna have to remind myself to call her Leslie. As soon as we got to my truck, she started worrying about her animals and her dad.

Her first call was to the lawyer; she was wiring money to him, he’d be getting her daddy out any day now. She then passed along contact information on the doctors she’d lined up.

I listened as she instructed the attorney and damn it if she didn’t sound more like Petra than Marilyn or even Leslie.

“Your fee is contingent on each of these steps being executed. You’ve got payment for the legal work. The medical work I’ll be checking on. I have a job overseas and cannot handle things personally as I’d wanted to do. But I can oversee you. Do you understand?” Damn.

Then it was on to the cat and the bird. She’d given Retta more money than I would estimate cat food would cost.

“Nothing but the best for my babies,” she’d explained as Retta hid the ten-grand.

And then it was an open road. We were going to drive. The end game was my ranch. Maps were spread out in the backseat. We would be living in the truck for now.

No hotel clerks to sell us out. And the route, the route would be north by northeast. It was going to take a while and hopefully, our trail would go cold. I had serious doubts about that.

She’d fallen asleep. That’s where I started this story isn’t? Her asleep while I drove? Yeah. Well, that’s how we got here.

I kept driving as she settled into a deep sleep with her pretty head on my lap. I was worried about the bullshit following us, don’t get me wrong, but I’d never been happier in my life. Even if we didn’t get to my ranch together, I could pretend we would. I took a deep breath and inhaled her sweet smell. With the warmth of her head on my leg, I’d pretty much died and gone to heaven. Yep. I was that fucking gone on her and I didn’t want to fight it. She needed me and I needed her and that was a fact.

My little love-struck moment was short lived.

I looked behind me. Two headlights appeared. It had been pretty deserted on the road, and then there were two headlights. Was it paranoia? Or had Maldonado caught up with us?

Time to find out. I pulled off at the next highway exit. So did the headlights.

I turned left on a country road. So did the lights.

They’d found us already. I kept one hand on the wheel and the other on my weapon. I nudged Leslie awake by shaking my thigh a bit, her pillow, such as it was. She moved to sit up.

“Stay down Leslie. But hold on.”

Time to get rid of our first set of goons. They wouldn’t be the last…