Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Joe, Monday

Lauren called Rachel while they were on the road. She answered. "Hey, girl." She listened for a moment, then said, "We're on the move too, now. Yeah, Joe and I are." She listened some more, then, "Al's home with the kids. He'll be fine." 

Joe looked askance at Rachel as he drove the Highlander, remembering the last time they'd been alone together in a car, heading off to what they'd thought had been a poorly planned attempt at extortion but in reality had been an ambush. He hoped tonight's excursion wouldn't end in either of them getting injured, but there was no guarantee of that. At least there would be police where they were heading, at one end, anyway. 

"What was that?" she asked. "Where? How? What are you going to do? Okay, but be careful. We might be heading to the same place you are. Okay, call when you have another update."

She hung up and put her phone away. "Lauren called with an interesting development."

"Are they still following the car?"

"Yes. And apparently so is another car." 

"What?!"

"Well, Lauren's not sure, but she says there's another car that's been heading in the same direction as they are, staying back and to the right of them, and it might be a tail. Joanie seems to agree."

He looked over at her briefly before turning back to the road. "What are we thinking here? Is the car following them, or also following the car they're following?"

"Well, if the car is following them, then the person driving it belongs to the same crew that has Logan. If it's following the other car, then it might be a member of the rival organization."

"That could be bad. That rival organization might have been sitting on Lookeeloo even longer than Lauren and Joanie have. If they see them following the guy they're supposed to be following, what will they think?"

"Jesus, Lauren and Joanie could be in trouble," Rachel breathed.

"They need to stop following the car and get out of there," Joe said. "If it belongs to the same organization, they could be tailing Lauren and Joanie for reasons that are also bad."

"Lauren said they have it under control. They're going to pull back and see what the other car does. They don't anticipate a high speed car chase."

He shook his head. "I don't like it."

"I know, but remember, Joanie's still in contact with her people. I bet they'd have cruisers intercept anyone giving them trouble."

He sighed and kept driving. It seemed both women... check that, all three women in his life... were destined to put their necks on the line tonight.

"So... you and Lauren were on the phone a long time, back at the house," Rachel ventured. "You didn't even eat any pizza."

"It's okay, I wasn't hungry. I snacked at Johnny's."

"Did those snacks contain barley?"

"I'm not drunk."

"You better not be. So... did the two of you come to any understanding?"

What could he tell her of the conversation he'd had with his wife? It was the longest he'd had with her in a while, and yet they seemed to have gotten nowhere.

"I asked her straight out if she had sex with Al," he said. 

"You what?!" Rachel squawked. "What did she say?"

"She said yes, but I already knew that. I asked her what it was about Al that made her want to have sex with him. She said I wouldn't understand."

"Jesus," Rachel breathed. "I can't believe she admitted it."