Folding my arms over my chest, I watch as his mouth moves like a fish gasping for air, but he can’t seem to come up with a rebuttal.Finally, he retrieves his wallet from his pocket and snatches out a credit card he holds out to me.
“You do accept credit cards, don’t you?Or are you only able to handle cash?”he snipes.
I don’t react and slip the card from his fingers.
“This’ll work just fine.”
Tessa
Well,that was another waste of my time.
I spent the morning driving around the county, checking out a couple of abandoned warehouses and the shut-down manufacturing plant I just explored from one end to the other.Rowan Harlow, the real estate agent who assisted me in finding my house, was able to help me identify empty buildings large enough to house what I would imagine a vehicle trafficking operation would require.
First thing this morning, I mapped out a route, filled my travel mug with Brenda’s sludge, and hit the road, hoping I’d get lucky.
Nothing.
These weren’t all the locations on the list Rowan made me, but they’re the ones I could do in one trip.The few others that are left are more spread out.
Things are moving so slowly on this case; I’m starting to worry leads and theories to explore may dry up.Rick Althof was going to touch base with neighboring counties to see if they’ve had any trouble with high-end vehicle thefts, or seen any unusual traffic.I’m doubtful much will come of that, but you never know.We’re looking for crumbs.
When I get behind the wheel, I grab my phone to see if I had any missed calls.I was hoping to hear from Steve Haynes, who said he’d drop in at Ryan’s school yesterday afternoon to talk to a few people.Maybe he’s come away with something useful.
Trying to solve a murder when you have three different jurisdictions involved is a challenge.
Cell reception is iffy once you get away from town, the signal tends to weave in and out, and where I am now I have none.Propping my phone in the cupholder, I back away from the empty plant and hit the road back to town.
Barely two minutes later, my phone pings with an incoming text.
Instead of parkingin my regular spot, I drive clear across the parking lot and pull right up to the firehouse.
I’m getting out of my cruiser when a familiar figure comes stalking out of the open bay door and heads for a shiny Mercedes parked a few spots away.The man doesn’t even look my way, gets in, and peels away from the building.
“What’s up with our mayor?”I ask Clem, who is standing right inside, watching the Mercedes speed off.
He turns his eyes to me and smiles, stirring up a rusty flock of butterflies in my stomach.
Holy shitballs.
I knew the man had a nice smile, but after that kiss we shared last night, it feels like it holds a whole new meaning.I’ve got tingling happening in parts of my body which I thought for a long time were numb.
“He didn’t think he’d be required to pay, so he wasn’t happy.”
His response snaps me from my moment of silent sexual awakening.
“I haven’t had any direct dealings with the man yet, but I hear plenty of less-than-favorable things about him,” I volunteer, pulling my jacket closed against the cold breeze that started picking up.
“Cold?”he asks, noticing.“Step inside out of the wind.”
I do as he suggests and am immediately hit with a blast of warm air blowing down from an overhead heater.Guess that’s how they manage to still work with the bay door open, although I imagine once winter hits in earnest, they won’t be doing that anymore.
“You got my message,” he says, his gray eyes still smiling, even if his mouth isn’t.
“Yes, I’m sorry, I saw it coming in when I was driving, so instead of stopping to respond, I drove straight here.”I glance over his shoulder toward the stairs.“Is Remi upstairs?”
Clem shakes his head and points to the back of the shop at an old, beat-up pickup truck.I recognize my kid’s skinny bottom half hanging out of the engine compartment, with one of Clem’s mechanics hanging on to his legs to prevent him from toppling in.
“Oh boy,” I mumble under my breath.
