Skip recognized the gleam in Baldorf’s eyes. He was on the verge of a techno-monologue about EM-whatevers, and that Skip didn’t need, nor would he understand it. “So how long would it take to do this?”
“I can start on it right now. Probably take two minutes tops since I’ve already entered the coordinates.”
“So you’ll guide me while I’m in the field?”
“For sure.”
“Sounds like we have a plan. I’ll go retrieve mine first, then find Roxy’s. With any luck at all, she left a note where she dropped the earpiece.”
Baldorf stared at Skip. “Serious, dude? You think she’d do that?”
Skip stood and gazed down at Baldorf. He saw worry and fear in his friend’s eyes, but right now he needed Baldorf at his best—and that meant no distractions. “Probably not,” he said. “But she’s surprised me more times than I can count. I won’t rule out the possibility. I should take your car again since it’s got the charging cradle for the drone.”
“Get to it, bro. We got people to find and bad guys to take down.”
Skip rested his hand on Baldorf’s shoulder and tried to sound reassuring. “We’ll get them back.”
Baldorf nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. As Skip walked back to the car, he found himself not only looking for surveillance on the ground, but overhead, too.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Roxy
I AWOKE TO the sounds of car doors slamming and the obnoxious revving of a motorcycle engine. We’d left the heat on all night and closed three windows to warm the place faster. Even with two windows open, the apartment was overly warm, almost stuffy. Despite the air temperature, the chill from last night still clung to my bones. The moment I moved, Lily started. She sat bolt upright and let out a whimper. I pulled her into a hug and her shoulders relaxed.
“I thought they…” She stopped, sniffled, and swiped at her cheek.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’ve been through an ordeal. I’m sorry you had to experience that.”
Lily sat up and leaned back on her palms. “It’s not your fault, Roxy. I never should’ve let that dude get me in his car. I got fooled. It’s all on me.”
I winced at the shooting pains in my hips and shifted position. “If they hadn’t gotten you at school, they would have found a different place. There’s nothing you could have done to prevent it. Sonny Panaman hired these guys to kidnap you so he could get back at me. I’m hoping he didn’t make it out of that house alive.” I closed my eyes and felt the rush of heat in my cheeks. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t hope for somebody to be dead, but…”
“He had it coming,” Lily said, a hard edge to her voice. “Dude totally deserved whatever he got.”
“What time is it?” I pulled out the burner phone from my purse. “Oh no, it’s almost seven”
Lily peered at me. “I gotta go to the bathroom. Think it would be okay?”
“Make it quick. We need to get out of this apartment before someone finds us.” While Lily was out of the room, I checked my purse to make sure the Taser and my Glock were ready in case we ran into…who? The list was getting too long to count.
Within fifteen minutes, we had the place back to the way it was when we arrived. We’d opened the windows, turned off the heat, and bundled up the bedspread so we wouldn’t look homeless. A neighbor in the next unit was closing up as we slipped out the front door. She eyed us suspiciously, so I slipped my arm around Lily’s shoulders and smiled. “My daughter and I were checking the place out. It seems like a nice, quiet neighborhood.”
The woman nodded and fingered her keys.
“Are there other children in the complex? It would be wonderful if there were others around Lily’s age.”
The woman selected a car key and smiled. “Thank goodness. For a moment, I thought…”
I laughed. “Oh, God no. I can see how you’d get that impression. We must look a sight. We flew into San Diego last night and the airlines lost our luggage.”
“How many kids live here?” Lily asked.
“A few. It’s a good location. Do you think you’ll rent?”
“We’ve got more places to check out,” I said.
She nodded, shrugged, and said, “You won’t find a better complex. They do a lot to keep the units in good condition.”
Lily and I both thanked her and headed for the stairs. The woman hung back behind us about ten feet. As we walked, I said, “So do you like it here? It’s a nice complex.”
“It’s good, but we shouldn’t decide until we see all our options.”
The woman behind us said, “That’s a very smart daughter you have.”
I looked back at her, smiled. “Yes, she is a very smart girl. I’m so proud of her.” I gave Lily a hug—partially for show and partially because I really was proud of her. We turned right where the woman went left, and we gave each other a high five when we were back on the street. “Bravo, sweetheart.”
“That was awesome, but I’m hungry.”
“Me, too.” The problem was, I only had twenty bucks on me. I hadn’t planned on having to vanish overnight, so had made no preparations. “Tell you what, I need to make a withdrawal at an ATM. After that, we can get breakfast and strategize. First thing, though, is to ditch this bedspread. Carrying it around—or wearing it—screams ‘homeless.’”
“The trash is on the other side of the complex. C’mon.”
We ditched the homeless label, found a bank ATM, and I withdrew my daily maximum of two hundred dollars. When I got the receipt, I stared at it morosely. I had forty-three dollars left in my account. Since I couldn’t go home, I needed to contact Lorena for help. And even with her assistance, getting cash from the trust without raising red flags would take a day or two.
“We can’t do anything extravagant,” I said. “Come on, I’ll explain it to you over breakfast.”
We ducked into a bagel shop in the next block and settled into a booth in the back. While we ate, I gave Lily the details of our predicament. We didn’t know who was after us or watching us, needed clothes and food, and couldn’t return home. When I finished, she drank some of her juice and looked at me from across the table.
“I guess this means I’m not going back to school.”
I sucked in a breath and put my hand to my throat. “I’m sorry. I never considered how hard moving would be for you.”
“It’s okay,” she said, but quickly averted her gaze.
I reached out and took her hand. “We’ll get you into another school. I promise. I don’t know where yet. The good news is, I still have a burner phone left. It’s going to need a charge soon, but will work in an emergency.”
“Living on the streets ain’t so bad,” Lily said in between mouthfuls of bagel and juice. She reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “I’ll teach you how.”
My eyes teared up as I watched her. “How do you do it? Yesterday you didn’t know if you’d live or die and now you’re just…” I bit my lower lip and rubbed my cheeks. “Maybe we need to turn ourselves in and hope the law can protect us.”
“I don’t trust them. Do you?”
“No,” I confessed. “I’ve burned too many bridges and don’t really want to spend my life behind bars.” I sat up straight, took a deep breath. “So the question is, what do we do next? You’re the expert about the streets. Got any ideas?”
Lily frowned and stared toward the front of the store. She was putting on a good face, but her eyes flitted around almost constantly. I recognized fear. I’d seen it on her face the first time we’d met. But there was also a defiance in that gaze, one that told me she was a survivor.
“What about Skip?” Lily asked. “We can’t ask him for help?”
“If I contact him, he won’t let up until I tell him where we are. Either that or he could have Baldorf track my phone. Even though my attorney does work for Skip, she won’t talk.”
“That’s where the money’s gonna come from? Your attorney?”
I hesit
ated. “Yes.” That money was supposed to be for Lily. I never wanted to see her live the life her mother had, but without cash I didn’t see how we could survive. I drained the last of my coffee and lowered my gaze to the tabletop. It was time Lily learned what I’d done. I took a breath and looked up at her. “Lily, that money, it’s…money I stole from other people.”
Lily shrugged. “I know. You told me before.”
“What you might not realize is that…it’s a lot. It’s enough that someone might want to kill for it.”
“Like Sonny Panaman?”
“Actually, the money came from a man who died. I think Sonny just decided I was the one who’d sent him to prison, so he wanted revenge…” I stopped and looked at the little container of condiments—packets of sugar, jams, and those tiny tubs of half-and-half.
“Roxy, what’s up?”
“Everybody at that house last night was tied together somehow. Sonny kidnapped you so he could extort money from me. Jackie showed up, not because he was so angry about what they’d done to you, but because he wanted to eliminate Sonny before he became a competitor.” I paused, then added, “He intended to eliminate you, too.”
Lily wrinkled her nose and grimaced.
“I’m sorry. I know you think he’s your friend, but Jackie is a ruthless killer at heart. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. He’s the one who got my mom started on drugs. I wanted…”
“Wanted to think he liked you and was your friend?”
She nodded. Shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Jackie isn’t the kind of man who has friends, Lily. He has convenient relationships. It’s the way I was before you.”
“What about Skip?”
“My relationship with Skip is complicated. He’s the first one who ever truly believed in me.” I felt at my cheek, which was hot with tears. “The first man I loved.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Because Skip taught me how to trust, and you taught me how to love unconditionally. I can never repay those gifts from either of you, but I can do my best to never squander them.”
“But you said you loved Skip. How did I teach you love?”
“It’s a different kind, sweetheart. Anyway, in the interest of full disclosure, we also probably have Sonny’s dad looking for us. He blames me for Sonny’s failures, too.”
“So all we gotta do is stay away from all the bad guys and the good guys and we’re gonna be okay?”
I glanced out the window and nodded absently. “You’ve spent much of your life on the streets, and I’ve spent most of mine living a lie. It won’t be so bad, we’ll have each other.”
Lily sniffled and wadded her napkin up into a small ball. Her lower lip puckered as she gazed at me. “Then why are you still crying?”
“Because I feel like I’ve failed. I had a chance to turn my life around and blew it.” I stood, gathered up our trash, and gestured toward the door with a nod. “Come on, girlfriend. I’ll teach you how to become invisible.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Skip
SKIP PARKED TWO blocks away from the house where Lily had been held. Most of the neighbors were already on their way to work, so there were parking spots on the street. Large oak trees lined the block filled with an odd blend of mid-century modern interspersed with more traditional architecture. It was a quiet block, and, with a healthy dose of luck, he could retrieve his earpiece unseen.
“I’m here, Baldorf, where’s the drone?”
“Still on the utility pole, dude. I’ll be piloting, you handle the ground operation.”
Skip took a right at the corner and walked a block and a half. At the next alley, he took another right.
“Look up,” Baldorf said.
He spotted the drone flying overhead between the trees a few houses away. “I see you.”
“A little surprise, bro. Click the link in this text message.”
Skip’s phone pinged. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Showoff.” He opened the text message, tapped the link, and waited. “What’s this going to do?”
“It’s opening a page that will guide you directly to the earpiece.”
On Skip’s phone, a map opened up. On the map was a red pin and a pulsing blue dot. “I assume I’m the blue dot?”
“Roger that. Walk toward the red pin and ye shall find what ye seek.” Baldorf chuckled, but when Skip didn’t respond, he added, “That was a joke, dude.”
“Unfortunately, it hits a little too close to home right now. Can you see what’s going on at the house?”
“Totally. They’ve started the grid search.”
Skip stopped and stared straight ahead. “And I’m supposed to just stroll in and pick up a piece of evidence from under their noses while they’re watching? That’s not going to work.”
“No worries. Got you covered. I’ll provide you with a little distraction. You should have approximately thirty seconds to find the earpiece and make your getaway.”
“You are asking a lot. And how are you going to distract them?”
“By doing a little aerial visitation.”
“You sound like a kid at Christmas.”
Baldorf laughed. “This is going to be awesome. In fact, I dare say it will be epic. There are three techs in the backyard right now and they’re all doing their thing. None of them is really watching the alley, so you should be able to walk by without getting hassled. Give me a heads up when you have your bearings and can see the location.”
Skip walked, but the closer he got to the house, the less confident he felt. “Do you have any idea what Grimes will do to me if he finds out I was here?”
“That’s why we can’t let him find out.”
“Wow. You actually sound serious, Baldorf. Okay, I’m walking directly by the spot where it should be.”
“Dude, I’m kicking in a little AR algorithm. The red dot is now a virtual overlay of the earpiece. Zoom in on your screen and point the phone. It should be super easy to lock on.”
“Screen zoomed. Oh my God, there it is. You’d better start that distraction, Baldorf.”
“Patience, patience.”
One of the forensics techs looked in Skip’s direction, but his attention suddenly turned skyward. He said something to his two partners and pointed. A moment later, the drone swooped down and passed the techs. They all turned to watch as the drone stopped and hovered in the air.
“Stop gawking and move, dude!”
Skip whispered a quick apology and went straight to the spot on the ground where the earpiece lay. He reached down, picked it up, and pocketed it.
Just as he turned to walk back to the alley, an authoritative voice snapped, “Excuse me! You can’t be here. This is a crime scene.”
Without turning around, Skip waved his hand in the air and called back, “Sorry, I didn’t know.” Recalling what Maxie had told him the night before, Skip walked deliberately, but slowly. It wasn’t until he was at the car that he let himself believe the plan had worked. “That was good, Baldorf. In fact, you’re right. It was epic. Where’s the drone?”
“Coming in for a landing. Low on power.”
The drone landed a few feet away. Skip put it in the cradle, closed the trunk, then said, “What’s next?”
“Other earpiece is in an alley three blocks away. Follow the map.”
It took only about ten minutes to get to where Roxy had left her earpiece. When Skip found it, his spirits fell. She’d left no clue about where they were headed.
“Other than the earpiece, there’s nothing here. This is a dead end,” Skip said.
“How about going old school? You think she’ll be checking her messages?”
“As in voicemail? But she doesn’t have her phone.”
“Seriously, bro? You don’t need the physical device to check voicemail. It won’t be ideal, but it could open communications.”
“I don’t hold high hopes.” Skip dialed Roxy’s cell and listened all the way through her greeting just to hea
r the sound of her voice. When the beep came, he said, “Roxy, this is Skip. Someone killed Sonny Panaman last night. He’s no longer looking for you and Lily. I’m going to see Bruno to tell him the news. Somehow, I’ll get him to agree to a truce. Look…um…I love you. I hope you’ll call so we can get everything straightened out.”
When he hung up, Skip rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. “That was hard,” he whispered.
Baldorf’s voice came quietly in Skip’s ear. “I know.”
“Damn, I wish you’d quit doing that.”
“Then you need to turn off the earpiece.”
“Right. I need to keep busy, buddy. The first thing I should do is get Bruno to back off.”
“You sure that’s wise, dude?”
“Probably not, but I want to get out in front of this thing, and since he already knows I’m capable of coming after him maybe I can convince him it’s in his best interests to leave all of us alone.”
“Good luck on that. None of these guys seem like the type to live and let live. You know?”
“Agreed.” Skip got in the car and started the engine. The drive to Bruno Panaman’s house took about twenty minutes and when he parked, he still wasn’t sure this was the right thing to do. He stepped out of his car, determined to keep the promise he’d made.
His phone rang with a call from Lorena as he contemplated the front of the house.
“What’s up, Lorena?”
“I just got off the phone with a source of mine over at Carlsbad PD. Sonny Panaman was not inside the house when he died.”
“Where was he?”
“The side alley. What’s even more interesting is that someone shot him three times—and the calibers don’t match on the bullets. The working theory is he was trying to escape when someone inside the house shot him in the back, but it was the shooter outside who put one in his chest and another in the back of the head.”
“So there might have been two shooters? And he was executed?” Skip leaned against the car and stared off at the distant view of the ocean between two homes. Suddenly, he knew why Lorena was calling. “Let me guess. Carli was right and my prints are the only ones on the murder weapon.”
Shadows from the Past Page 20
