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Hailey entered another room where banks of metal lockers hugged the walls. Some of the lockers had keys hanging from them.
Joe flicked one of the familiar keys with his finger. “How much to rent one?”
“I think it’s still a quarter.” She placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the room. “There’s no number on this key chain, so I have no idea which one it belongs to.”
“I’m wondering how these guys remember which lockers are theirs, especially if they come in here drunk or drugged out.”
“They’re not allowed in here when they’re high.”
“Let’s face it. Some of them are just high on life, if you know what I mean—they’re in a permanently altered state without any substances to help them along.”
“I’m sure Patrick and the rest of the staff help them out.”
“We don’t have that luxury right now.” He banged his fist on the first locker to the right. “You ready to try your luck?”
“At least we can rule out the ones that already have keys.” She stepped forward and tried to insert Marten’s key in the first locked locker. “Nope.”
Hailey tried the lockers on the top row, with no results, and crouched down to start on the bottom row.
A transient with a hat pulled halfway over his face shuffled into the room, and Joe nodded at him.
The transient tipped his head and then stuffed his hands into the pockets of his bulky overcoat, mumbling to himself.
“None of these.” Hailey popped up, bumping Joe’s arm with the top of her head, noticing the homeless guy in the corner for the first time. She zeroed in on him and said, “Do you need help finding something?”
Joe tapped the side of her boot with his toe.
She scowled at him, reserving her smile for the transient. “Can we help you?”
“No!”
Hailey jumped back at the shout and put a hand to her throat. “All righty then.”
“Keep moving, Hailey.” Joe tapped the next locked locker.
She inserted the key, and it clicked. “This is it.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Joe detected a flash of movement. He reached for his gun, but the fake homeless guy beat him to the punch.
By the time Joe spun around with his weapon in hand, the transient had his arm around Hailey’s neck and a gun to her head.
Chapter Twelve
Hailey twisted her head to the side and tried to sink her teeth into the arm that held her, but the man tightened his grip and she choked.
Joe stood in front of them, blocking Marten’s locker, his gun pointed at the man who held her.
The man, who didn’t smell homeless at all, shoved the cold metal of his gun against her temple. “Don’t even think about it, or I drop her right here. Place your gun on the floor and kick it toward me.”
“Don’t do it, Joe. He’s going to kill me anyway. You know what happened at the house.”
Joe waved his gun at the man. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
The man chuckled, his hot breath blasting her ear. “I’m holding all the cards here. Why would I tell you anything? Now step aside so I can get whatever it is de Becker left there for Hailey.”
Hailey blinked rapidly at Joe and mouthed the word move.
Without releasing his gun, Joe took a few shuffling steps to his right.
The man spit out, “More.”
Hailey gave Joe a wink, and he moved farther from the locker but still kept his gun trained on Hailey’s captor.
The man descended on the open locker, dragging Hailey with him and keeping one eye on Joe.
He probably didn’t want to shoot her here because of the men in the other room playing cards. A gunshot in a homeless shelter would be a very big deal. Of course, once he took her out of here, all bets were off...if he did take her out of here.
Still facing Joe, the man made a half turn toward the locker and plunged his hand inside the small space, the sound of his fingernails scrabbling across the metal echoing in the room. “What the hell?”
He made another sweep of the empty locker and ended it with a thump of his fist. “What did you do with it?”
“There was nothing in there.”
“Liar.” He pushed Hailey back, and her head banged against the bank of lockers.
