The top carton of eggs slid to the side of Lainey's stack as I hit the pothole coming into Pelican Bay. Lainey repositioned them and adjusted her knees so they no longer resembled a leaning tower of Eggsa.

"Be careful. Those are expensive," I said, slowing to make the turn onto Main Street.

Thankfully, eggs didn't have an odor or my car would reek of them for weeks. As long as we didn't experience any spills, Rachel was safe.

The sun was setting over the ocean as I drove toward it to our destination. I'd picked Lainey up after making a quick stop at the cheaper grocery store on her side of town.

"Why do we need eight cartons of eggs?" she asked as we passed the high school. The light blue egg cartons looked cute against her black leggings and matching black shirt. She'd have to take off the bright yellow coat before we got out of the car.

"I wanted an even ten but didn't have enough cash on hand. We don't want this purchase on a card."

Lainey tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and steadied the stack of eggs. "Your answers are not helping my anxiety about this."

I slowed and nudged her to hold on as I turned into the bed-and-breakfast parking lot. "Don't worry. This is my best plan yet."

Even Broadrick would be proud.

I parked close to the building and helped Lainey by grabbing half her stack of egg cartons so she had room to remove her coat. She followed me into the side door of the old hotel at the end of Main Street. With my back against the wall trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, I walked with purpose until we hit the little cutout cove area in the middle of the downstairs hallway.

The area used to be a place for courting individuals to meet for a moment of privacy. Now we used it to stay off Ridge's cameras. It was one of the few places in the building-and town-not covered by the overprotective former SEAL. I still hadn't processed that Broadrick worked for him. Or would once he actually left the military? If he ever did. I still wanted proof before I fully believed he'd gotten out.

Something like the president sending him a farewell card... in person. With me there to take a picture on my phone would suffice.

The small cutout in the hallway didn't give us much space, so Lainey and I had to force ourselves against the one side to make room for our third party. Katy waited for us in the shadows, and she tipped her head at the multiple egg cartons.

"He's out," she said rather than comment on my recent shopping venture. She'd been working on maintaining her plausible deniability lately.

Katy, now the manager of the bed-and-breakfast, spent the last year restoring the old building to her former beauty, but the current hallway still had the old blue wallpaper and a horribly corporate-looking blue carpet. The old owners really had a theme going on. Pierce promised he wouldn't paint the outside a different color than its current blue shade, but I hoped Katy talked him into different colors on the inside.

"How long do you think we have?" I asked, leaning in to whisper. I didn't have to lean far.

She shook her head. "No idea. Probably ran to the diner for dinner, so it depends on the wait. You know the rules?"

"You can't be involved. I know." Hence our random meeting spot.

Lainey adjusted her stack of eggs in her small section of the cutout, and Katy tapped the top one back into place.

"Good job on the black clothing," she said to my accomplice.

Lainey hesitated. "Um... thanks."

"I'll be your lookout," Katy said, giving her attention back to me. "You'll hear a bird sound when its time to run."

"Which one?" Lainey asked, her voice raising an octave.

"Whatever one caws." Katy reached over and shook my hand, using the time to slip a flat credit-card-sized room key in my hand. "Good luck."

I sniffed at the new stink in the hallway... old cheese or something stale. I couldn't decide and just hoped we hadn't cracked an egg too soon. If we spilled egg on Katy's old disgusting carpet, she'd have a heart attack.

"We're going up," I said to Lainey as we left the hallway with Katy still hidden away. She'd leave in a minute so no one saw us on the cameras together.

The two of us turned back the way we came, and I held open the stairwell with my foot for her to go first. When initiating someone into a life of crime, it was important to remember your manners. At the second floor, I rebalanced my eggs and held the other door open, leading her to the same floor where there'd been a murder a few days earlier.

Yellow caution tape still covered the doorway, and Lainey's eyes widened as we walked past it. The room we needed was almost in view of the main, very public, and wide-open stairwell leading up from the lobby. That might be a problem. It wouldn't give us much time to get out if Lainey's stalker returned.

But we couldn't turn back now. I'd already bought the eggs. I had no way to explain eight cartons of eggs to Broadrick, and he'd definitely ask. He got nosy about those types of things.

Lainey stopped behind me when I reached the door and swiped the card in front of the reader. I used an elbow to push on the door handle and then toed open the door with my left foot.

The hotel room resembled all the others on this floor. It had a king sized dark wooden bed with matching dresser. No one made the bed, meaning Tyler Hill hadn't let in anyone in to clean the space. That would help us.

I sat my containers of eggs on the nightstand and Lainey moved them to the side to make room for hers.

A large suitcase sat open on the floor and an assortment of coins and a pen with the bed-and-breakfast logo on it were scattered around the top of the dresser. I grabbed a plastic package with pockets for square white pieces of gum and tapped it against my hand as we looked around.

It wasn't often I got to be in a crime scene and not on a deadline.

Oh wait.

"Shit, we have to get busy," I said to Lainey as she stood off to the side of the room looking concerned.

Everyone got nervous on their first rodeo.

I grabbed an armful of clothing from the suitcase and tapped the far window with my elbow to grab her attention. "Open this."

"It's February," she said but yanked on the lower brace of the window to open it.

A rush of cold New England air hit me square in the face, but I tossed the clothing out to the parking lot below. "Grab some clothes and toss before we freeze our tits."

Lainey ran over to the suitcase and slowly grabbed a few pieces. I shoved my nail into the gum package and yanked out a white square of gum, tossing the package on the bedspread.

"No, you have to grab as many as you can. Don't pick through them," I said and popped the gum in my mouth.

"Are you sure?" she came over with half a load and carefully dropped them through the window.

I chomped down on the piece of gum and gagged. "Absolutely."

My tongue tried to die, as I used it to free the gum from my teeth. What in the hell? Who bought gum in this flavor? It tasted like a horse stepped in a pile of cow poop and someone tried to mix in spearmint. I chewed faster, hoping I had to get the gum really going before the good flavor showed up.

It didn't help. "What the hell is this?" I asked as Lainey brought over another load of clothing and chucked them out the window. She'd gotten most of them, so I closed it once her hands were free.

I gagged, holding my tongue out to give it a reprieve from the taste.

Lainey grabbed the gum package from the bedspread and flipped it over. "Nicorette."

The gum to help people stop smoking? "They still make that?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

I grabbed the package from her as she handed it over and tossed it on top of the dresser from where I'd stolen it. "You'd think they'd flavor it better." The room had a trash can next to the dresser, and I held my mouth open over it, letting the offensive gum roll off my tongue into the bin.

"Wait, a second." I reached into the trashcan and pulled out a picture. One of the old-school ones where someone had actually taken the photo from their phone and had it printed on actual photo paper. "Is this you?"