How did he finesse the answer to that question? My girlfriend is a con artist and this was all about settling an old score? “You know, Officer Union, I think I’d better not say anything else until I speak to an attorney.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Roxy
LILY AND I stuck to the alleyways to stay off the main streets. The quiet route suited our purposes perfectly—until a dog lunged at us from behind a chain-link fence. His deep bark sent us scurrying in the opposite direction, and I instinctively reached for my gun as he clawed at the fence, standing nearly as tall as a man when he was on his hind legs. The clanging of the metal links continued along with a menacing growl as we hurried away.
“Nice neighborhood,” I muttered when the threat was over.
Lily glanced nervously over her shoulder. “Man, that dog needs to chill.”
“Baldorf, is Skip okay?” I asked.
“Not sure, dude. His earpiece is dead.”
I stopped and listened to the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. No…he couldn’t be. Not Skip. “What do you mean, Baldorf?”
“We’ve lost communications. That’s all, dude. Nothing more.”
I breathed again. It was classic Skip. And, I suppose, me. We both had this lone-wolf trait that caused us to shut out others when we needed them most. Skip had closed off communications to protect Baldorf, and I needed to do the same. “You saved our lives tonight, Baldorf. But it’s time to give you a break. In case we never get to talk again, you’re a helluva friend.”
“What are you doing, dude?”
I pulled the earpiece and set it next to a wooden fence bordering the alley.
Lily looked at me as I stood. “Roxy? What’s up?”
“We’re on our own, sweetheart.” I forced myself to smile and held her gaze. “Skip is fine.”
Whether she accepted the lie as truth, I didn’t know, but she nodded and continued walking. My legs were going numb from the cold, but deep down, my heart was numb with fear for the man I loved and for Lily. I hated lying to her, but if we went returned to help Skip, his sacrifice would have been in vain.
“We need to find shelter, Lily. Another jacket won’t be enough. It’s way too cold out here.”
“I’m like working on it.”
I laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay. We’ll find a place.”
We continued on for another block, but at the next block Lily stopped to read the street sign on the corner. “I got an idea.” She shivered and seemed to shrink down deeper into Skip’s jacket. “We can get a free room for the night up ahead.”
“You have a friend around here? I wonder if that’s safe.” Chills ran the length of my spine. It was all I could do to keep my teeth from chattering.
“It ain’t a friend. Come on.”
Lily turned to walk away. I followed, so cold I was almost willing to walk into a police station and ask for asylum. The mist wasn’t as heavy in this neighborhood. It appeared we were actually walking out of the pocket of fog that had served us well for concealment. At one point she stopped and turned to face me.
“We can’t like talk to anybody. Can we?”
“No, we can’t.”
Lily nodded solemnly and grimaced. “And we can’t go back to your place?”
“We don’t know who’s looking for us. We’re completely under the radar.”
Lily seemed to think for a minute, then sighed. “Okay. This is our one shot. There’s a big apartment complex a few blocks away and they always have vacant units. All we gotta do is find one that’s empty.” She turned and walked away.
“Excuse me?” I stood, staring after her until I realized she wasn’t stopping. I rushed to catch up and when I was walking next to her grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eye. “Are you saying you want to break into someone’s apartment?”
“It ain’t breaking in because nobody lives there. It’s borrowing from a big company. We ain’t gonna steal nothing.” She shrugged and turned. “Come on. It’s this way.”
I was still sputtering my objections as I again hurried after her. “Have you ever done this before? I mean, did you do this when you were living on the streets?”
“Nah. But I heard about it from somebody who said they stayed there one night when they got super desperate. And you can pick the lock, right?”
“Well, yes, but…this is illegal, Lily.”
Lily stared at me. “Duh. So is kidnapping. And this is totally a super big emergency.”
Another chill ran through me, and I clutched the soggy blanket closer. The thing felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. “Okay, but only for tonight.”
“No worries. I can do better tomorrow because I got resources I can go to.”
“Where’s…this complex?” Even my tongue felt numb. My words were barely coming out and my fingers trembled with the cold.
“Next block,” Lily said as she started to remove Skip’s jacket.
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll be fine.”
In the next block, we came to a complex with a large illuminated monument in front. “Is this the place?”
“Yeah.” Lily nodded. She cocked her head to the side. “This way.”
We walked past the monument. About halfway down the block, I asked, “What are we looking for?”
“An empty place,” Lily said absently.
We were partway down the next block when she pointed at a unit with lights on and no drapes on the second floor.
Lily did a little fist pump and said, “Score!”
“How do you know it’s empty?”
“They always leave the lights on when they paint.”
“Why?” I asked.
She stared at me for a moment. “How should I know? You’re totally shivering, Roxy. Come on, let’s go.”
We walked back to the corner and found the entrance. As we climbed the stairs to the second floor, I wondered if my fingers would stop shaking long enough for me to pick a lock. It wasn’t until we arrived at the unit and I was looking at the doorknob and deadbolt that I realized the fatal flaw in the plan.
“We have a problem,” I whispered. “I don’t have my lock picks. We’re screwed.”
“Maybe not.” She pointed at the kitchen window, which was wide open and fronted to the walkway.
“Awesome.” I dropped the blanket and pressed my fingers against the top frame of the screen. While keeping pressure on the top, I told Lily to pull on the bottom. A few seconds later, her section pulled out, and we removed the whole thing. I bent down and clasped my hands to give Lily a boost. “In you go. You can let me in.”
“It’s freezing in here,” she said when she opened the door. “We gotta turn on the heat.”
“Right.” I closed the kitchen window, then checked the others. Sure enough, everything was open and the odor of paint hung in the air. “We’ll have to deal with the paint smell.”
Lily found a wall heater and cranked it up. “Let’s turn off the lights,” she said.
“No. That would be too obvious. If we stay against this wall, nobody can see us.”
She nodded, removed Skip’s jacket, and we huddled together like a pair of spoons with the jacket over us as we soaked up the heat until the room was stifling.
Lily sat up and looked around. “It stinks in here.”
“The heat is making the paint smell worse. I guess that’s why they left the place wide open. Pretty smart find, though.”
We exchanged a high five; I put my arm around her shoulders, and we laid back down. Eventually, her breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm. My eyes burned. I squeezed them shut, but didn’t bother wiping away the tear trickling down the side of my face because I knew more would follow.
The carpet had almost no cushion, but I was thankful for a warm place to spend the night. Lily was here, but Skip was not. I kept one arm wrapped around her and cried myself to sleep.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Skip
“So what did you do to Detective Grimes?” she asked. “He’s always hard-nosed, but he was in rare form this morning.”
“Long story,” Skip said as they walked toward the exit.
When they were outside, Lorena gestured to her right. Skip walked beside her and told her about his past interactions with Grimes. “The fact is, I’ve known Grimes since I was in the police academy. We never got along for some reason—maybe we’re too much alike. Anyway, thanks for getting me out so fast. To be honest, I’m surprised he cut me loose. In fact, given the hour, I was sure he’d let me sit here for the rest of the day.”
“He didn’t want to release you, but when I pushed hard, he admitted he didn’t have enough to hold you.” Lorena sipped from the paper cup in her hand and winced. “My coffee’s gone cold. Anyway, I asked him what kind of personal vendetta he had that he would hold the man who had given him a way to put Mateo Carli away, and he got all red in the face. He tried making excuses about red tape, but the bottom line is he doesn’t like you.”
“Guilt by association. He doesn’t like me because of my relationship with Roxy.”
“Exactly. So I reminded Grimes he had nothing on either of you except his attitude, at which point he decided to go big on the magnanimous scale. I’m a little worried about the whole shift, actually. It was too easy.”
“Grimes is like a dog with a bone,” Skip said. “I wish he’d get tired of badgering us.”
“He might if you stopped showing up on his radar.”
Skip nodded and held Lorena’s gaze. “Point taken. We’ll work on that.”
“Grimes has you on the firearms charge, Skip. He can easily prove you discharged your weapon last night, so don’t do anything stupid. Is there anything about last night you want to tell me?”
Skip crossed around the car to the passenger’s door of Lorena’s BMW and sighed. “Let’s say there are things you don’t want to know. That’s all I can tell you. I understand he can charge me, but I think we can fight it. Everything I did last night was justified. I was only defending myself and those in immediate danger.”
“I’ll accept that for now, but we will have to get into the details. I’m sure Grimes won’t let up, so if you want me to blunt his attempts to ruin your life, you’d better tell me everything. And soon.”
“This will be over by the end of the day. There will be no more incidents after that.”
Lorena rolled her eyes, then opened her door. When she was sitting next to Skip she said, “You and Roxy. It’s always something. How is she…wait…was she there last night? Is that who you were protecting?”
Skip licked his lips and turned sideways to face her. “Sonny Panaman kidnapped Lily, and we were doing an extraction.”
Lorena closed her eyes and muttered, “Oh, dear God. How are they?”
“I don’t know. I fired my weapon to provide cover so they could escape.”
There was a long pause, then Lorena said, “Did you fire any other weapons?”
“You mean did I kill Sonny Panaman? No. Neither of us had anything to do with his death. Look, Roxy and Lily got away last night. But I suspect Roxy’s going underground to protect Lily. She may be planning to disappear for good.” Skip paused, continued to watch Lorena’s face, and decided to gamble. “She’ll need to tap the trust you created for her.”
Lorena frowned and cocked her head to the side. “She told you about that?”
“Honestly, no. But I suspected she’d asked you for help.”
“I can’t talk about it, Skip. It’s privileged information—and you’ve overstepped.”
“I don’t care what she’s done, Lorena. I don’t care about the trust or any money she might have. I am happy she’s got it—just in case they need it. But I want to find her before she disappears. Please, let me deal with finding them, and when I’m sure they’re safe, I’ll tell you everything.”
Lorena frowned again and took Skip’s hand. “Speaking as a friend, what can I do to help?”
“I don’t think there’s anything. Lily knows the streets and Roxy is—well, resourceful. I’m working with Baldorf, but we only have a few hours.”
Lorena started the car and pulled away from the curb. As she drove, she tried to get Skip to talk more, but he’d already said more than he’d intended. He’d liked Lorena ever since Roxy had introduced them, but for the time being, the less she knew, the better.
“Where am I dropping you?” Lorena asked.
“Scene of the crime.” Skip winced. “It’s not my fault. It’s where my car is.”
“Do not go near that house, Skip.”
“Scout’s honor,” he said. He had no intention of going inside, but he did need to visit the backyard.
When Lorena stopped by Baldorf’s car, she looked over at the house. “That’s the forensics team at work.” She turned and pointed at the car. “That’s your car. You sit your butt behind the wheel and drive away. Are we clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Skip got out, but as he went to Baldorf’s car, he watched the team’s actions. They were gearing up to do a grid search on the backyard. The last thing he needed was to have the police uncover his earpiece. That one piece of hardware could open them all up to some sort of conspiracy charge. He waved goodbye to Lorena, got in Baldorf’s car, and drove to within three blocks of Baldorf’s house, constantly checking for a tail.
Satisfied he hadn’t been followed, he parked, but sat in the car for a full five minutes watching for suspicious vehicles. At the five-minute mark, he exited the car and walked along a circuitous route he felt would reveal any kind of tail. When he walked in the door, Baldorf jumped up and greeted him with a hug.
“Thank goodness, dude. I thought you were dead or something.”
“Or something. My old friend Detective Grimes and I had a chat at four this morning. You remember how cranky he gets when he’s called out in the middle of the night.”
“How deep are you in, bro?”
“I’m not sure. Mateo tried to pin Sonny Panaman’s killing on me, but not even Grimes believed that tall tale. Lorena’s on it, Baldorf. Let’s not worry about Grimes for now; have you heard from Roxy?”
“No. She ditched her earpiece in an alley about three blocks from the house.”
“But she and Lily were both alive?”
“For sure.”
Baldorf frowned, and Skip was sure there was more to the story. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“All the kid had was that quilt you grabbed for her. It got super cold last night, bro. And I heard a lot of teeth-chattering going on before she signed off. I’m worried.”
“And judging by the look on your face, I’d say it’s not just for the hardware.”
“We can replace hardware, dude. But the people in our lives? When they’re gone, they leave a giant hole.”
Skip peered at Baldorf and shook his head. “You amaze me, buddy. I didn’t think you cared about people.”
Baldorf’s cheeks colored slightly, and he bit his lower lip. A few seconds later, he winced and said, “Care? Totally. Understand? Not so much.”
“I never took you for the sentimental type, Baldorf. My apologies. The only way we can prevent that loss is to find them. Before we can do that, we need to clean up the mess we’ve got. It looked like the police hadn’t started their search of Sonny’s rental house yet. Is my earpiece still where I left it?”
“Hasn’t moved.”
“The place is still crawling with cops, so I can’t just waltz in and grab it. Do you have another one?”
“Absolutely.” Baldorf sat at his desk and opened the top drawer. He pulled out a three-by-five white box and opened it. “Her
e you go, but it’s my last one. Try not to lose it.”
Skip inserted the earpiece, tapped it, and nodded when he heard his voice coming over the speakers on the desk.
“I didn’t lose the other one, Baldorf, I threw it away to protect you. There’s no way I want them figuring out your involvement. If they press charges for something serious and they find out you were directing me, they might decide you and I were conspiring. At a minimum, you could be an accessory. I cannot let that happen.”
“Thanks for the nice thoughts, dude, but the cops are already setting up their grid search.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the drone is perched on a utility pole and is watching everything.”
Skip snickered. “You’re a genius, buddy.”
“Duh, IQ of 216.”
“So you keep telling me. I need to go back and retrieve the earpiece sooner rather than later.”
“I have the coordinates of its last location—along with video footage.”
Skip gazed off at the corner. If he could sneak in and out quickly… “Show me.”
“Absolutely.” Baldorf turned to a different keyboard and typed.
The screen lit up with the video of the rental house’s backyard.” Slowly, the image zoomed in on a section of bushes bordering the back alley. “Should be there.”
“Well, as long as the forensic team doesn’t scan the area with a metal detector or step on it while they’re traipsing around, I should be able to retrieve the earpiece without being detected. Is the signal still active?”
“No, man, battery died this morning at four-thirty.”
“So you‘re not absolutely positive it’s still there.”
“No. But it hadn’t been discovered as of then, and they didn’t set up for the search until about an hour ago.”
“Even with those coordinates it could be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“Not so, dude. Thanks to the electromagnetic properties of the hardware components, I can use the active EMI sensors on the drone to pinpoint the location and overlay an exact location on a map.”
Shadows from the Past Page 19
