Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(37)

Zach nodded, not really sure. He'd never been drunk off his face before. He had no idea how much alcohol it took to down somebody.

"What about chloroform?"

His eyes bulged. "Where did that idea come from?"

Lucy chuckled. "I don't know. Isn't that what they do in the movies? Put a rag over the victim's face to knock them out?"

"Could work, but again, where would we get it?"

She shrugged.

"I think we need to chat with Uncle Al. He has a bunch of connections in this town. He can probably get us whatever we need." Zach pulled out his phone and brought up the number.

"Do you think you can handle this?" Lucy squeezed his wrist. "The party, I mean? I could go alone if you need me to."

Leaning over the table, Zach made sure he spoke slow and clear. "You are not going to that party without me. Like hell I'm throwing you into that lion's den alone."

Her eyes glistened as she smiled.

Zach's thumb hovered over the call button. "You don't have to do this, you know?"

Her eyes were skittish, but her voice was steady. "Yes I do, Zach. It's probably our only chance to get into the house. We've got one shot and we don't have the luxury of time. We have to make this work."

"We will." He nodded, not feeling the confidence he should. Pressing the button, he lifted the phone to his ear and waited two rings. "Hey, it's me...Yep, I think we've got a plan."





Chapter 20





LUCY





"So he's not in town?" We weren't even in the door and Alex was standing on the front steps peppering us with questions about Tenner. "When does he get back? Do you think you can get into his office? What's the kid like?"

Zach put up his hand to stem the flow of questions. "Let's go upstairs and nut it out. Lucy's pretty sure she can get Billy to take her up to Tenner's office."

"Oh, yeah? How'd you work your magic?"

Alex nudged me gently with his elbow, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Basically she acted like a slut." Zach slumped onto the couch. I didn't miss his derogatory tone and wanted to crawl under the floorboards and die.

He must have noticed my expression, because his eyes suddenly rounded. "I didn't mean...you were a nice slut. I mean, you were really good at it. I mean..." He cringed.

Speechless, I kept my glare dark and stalked towards the kitchen.

"I'd stop now, if I were you." Alex slapped Zach on the back of the head and I was almost grateful for it.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean it that way." His brown gaze was wracked with regret.

I shook my head, forgiving him with a forced smile. It sure felt like he meant it, though. The words and tone didn't suit my usually sensitive boyfriend. They stung like nettles, making me loathe what I already hated about myself. I flung open the cupboard in search of a glass.

This was a bad idea. I should never have just thrown myself into a con like this. We didn't even research the kid. I just threw on my flirt moves and rushed headlong at a ticking time bomb. Alex's questions were bugging me. When did Tenner get back?

What if he sprung early and arrived halfway through the party unannounced? If he caught us in his office with his son knocked out, we had no way to predict his behavior. This was all kinds of stupid.

"I love the idea." Alex clapped his hands together as Zach wrapped up our master plan.

I shoved my glass under the faucet and filled it with water. My hands were trembling as I gulped down the liquid.

"You know I have a friend at the university who can probably help me out on the chloroform thing. He's doing post grad studies in Chemistry. A total science nerd." He grabbed his phone and started texting.

I caught Zach's eyes on me as I plonked the glass on the counter.

"Sorry," he mouthed with a pained expression.

I flicked my hand, too edgy to stay mad with him over his comments. I didn't have the energy for irritation, my mind and stomach were already filled with a hornet's nest of doubts. I was struggling to think straight. I should be running in the opposite direction, making myself disappear, but no - I was planning on going into the home of my parents' killer and making moves on his son.

Bile crept up my throat. I clenched my jaw and forced it back down.

"Sweet. He's there now. I'm gonna head over and see if he can help me. I'll be back in an hour tops. You guys start making a list of everything you need for tonight." Alex grabbed his keys, shoving his wallet and phone into his back pocket as he descended the stairs.

And then there were three. Elliot had come back to the house with Alex and stuck around until we got back. I glanced between Zach and him, then rubbed my temples. "Okay, Elliot can you at least look up some info on chloroform. We want to use it right. We need it to knock him out long enough for us to do our thing and get out of there, but we don't want to hurt him."

Elliot tapped a few keys, his eyes scanning the screen before he made a face and hissed.

"What?"

"I don't know, this stuff looks kind of risky."

"Isn't this whole thing kind of risky?" I scoffed, placing my hands on the counter with a sigh.