Worse than you did

“He…” Emma started to say before a mix of emotions flashed over her face.

“That rat fucking bastard” she said, anger being the emotion she finally landed on.

“I can’t believe that he… I mean he…ugghh that drives me insane” Emma tried to explain as she vented her anger, getting too caught up to have any coherent thought.

She sat there with her arms crossed but you could tell she wanted to put her anger somewhere that wasn’t possible while in the car, not even wanting to hit the seat in front of her while Grace was driving the car.

You were glad that she at least was able to show some emotion as at the moment you just felt tired at the situation and while the kid was a bit of a shock at first, there was an odd sense of relief that you felt as well, finally knowing for sure that your father was still just as bad as before. Even worse even.

You didn’t think Mary would figure him this time but if you got evidence of what you had found in just the first hour of your spying then that would already be the final nail in the coffin.

Still, a little extra digging couldn’t hurt and even just getting some pictures to show that he wasn’t even in the city he was supposed to be in was something worthy of capturing.

Emma was still cooling down as you kept glancing over at her but Grace was continuing to tail your father, while he drove further into the city. She always kept at least a few cars between him and us and even if he went out of sight, you were there with the tracker on the KDK to say which direction he went before he went outside of the mapping range.

The inside of the car was quiet except for the few and far between directions you gave and also the occasional mutterings from Emma but you all seemed to be dead set on not letting him get away. He didn’t make any turns that felt suspicious or anything that seemed to show that he knew he was being followed, just a direct route to wherever he was going without even being aware of his surroundings.

When he finally slowed down and seemed to be at the final stages of his journey, that was when you leaned back and whispered to Emma at the side of you.

“I know you’re mad right now and I’m grateful you can feel like that for me but I want to remind you before we get out. Your mom doesn’t know we can track him as a person, just his car. We can pretend to take a few lucky guesses if we lose track of him but let's try and actually keep track of him without ‘you know what’ first” you explained, trying not to sound patronising but also knowing she wasn’t in a clear state of mind.

The fact that you had said you were grateful to her seemed to loosen her expression almost immediately and your worries seemed to be for nothing as she nodded, still looking slightly pissed off but not to the level she was at before.

You saw that Grace was watching you in the rearview mirror but all she saw was you getting Emma to be a little less annoyed than before, giving you a nod for your efforts before her eyes returned to the road.

Your father’s car turned into a parking lot next to what seemed to be a strip mall and Grace didn’t make the same turn immediately, instead taking a lap around the place before entering as well.

You had seen which way his car had gone when he first turned into the lot so you directed Grace to a spot that was close enough to hopefully spy but not be easily caught if your father had multiple stores he ended up wanting to visit.

A quick scan of the cars in the distance let you see the right one just in time to see him lock his door, heading off away from the stores and towards another building on the street, a bar that you could tell had an expected dress code before entering.

The idea that he might be going to multiple places was quickly thrown out of the window and while your father wasn’t exactly the premium clientele to have in your opinion, the fact that he was wearing at least a minimum of casual business attire meant that he got through the door without a second glance from the staff at the door.

You on the other hand would stand no chance with your outfit and Grace seemed to notice the same.

“I could try and get in? It’s been a while since he has seen me so even if he spotted me a don’t think that completely means we have been caught” Grace suggested, the idea not sitting right with you.

“I’m sure you could get in there even if you were wearing just a burlap sack but no I’d rather not send you in there for this” you replied, not liking the idea of sending Grace in as bait.

“Maybe I could…” Emma started to say.

““No!”” you and Grace said immediately, quietening Emma before she could suggest going in herself.

“I don’t think anyone should be going in. Too much risk for a little payoff if we assume he’s just in there drinking” you explained, wanting Emma to know your reasoning wasn’t solely because she was a younger woman.

“...Or he could be in there flirting with someone new…” Grace replied, the thought not having crossed your mind but now that she had mentioned it, you were sure that that would be the only thing on your mind.

You got out the binoculars again and scanned the front of the bar to see if you could see anything from where the car was parked. The place did actually have floor-to-ceiling windows at the front and you could see people here and there throughout. You didn’t know if it was good or bad luck that you couldn’t see your father but even after a few minutes of scanning the place you couldn’t catch a glimpse of him from where you were.

After lowering the binoculars for your eyes you saw that Grace had been doing the same but given that she hadn’t pointed anything out you assumed she also hadn’t had any luck. To avoid Emma being left out again you shook your head to tell her you couldn’t see and handed her the binoculars so she could take a look herself while you tried to figure out what to do next.

Without being able to get in there without the risk, a few options ran through your head. If you wanted to stay you could ask Grace to move the car to somewhere a bit closer in hopes of spotting him but that had the risk of not just him spotting you but if anyone saw the 3 of you staring into the building you suspected that would cause even more issues. Another option was to just leave, do something else for a few hours, and then come back to see if he had moved on or if he was still just in there drinking.