Dev found the proper number and came to a stop directly in front of the unit. He lifted the gearshift into park and cut the engine. Leaving the ball cap and jacket inside the cab, he focused on the locking system that secured the large cargo door in place.
There was no way the keys his mother gave him fit into that lock. He went to the door, fishing out the keys from his pocket, eyeing both closer. It wasn’t going to happen.
He stepped back, looking up and down the rows of storage units then took another step backward.
What was he missing?
Chapter 31
Dev dropped his head between his shoulder blades and closed his eyes. He never realized how much he hated puzzles.
“What the fuck, Mom?” he said to the sky.
He had to remind himself that he loved his mother. For his entire upbringing, she was his person. The only light in a dark, grim, shitty world. But right here, in this moment, he was loving her a little less than he did before.
The ache in his neck made him stretch, twist, and turn his head to loosen the tension. His shoulder muscles hurt too. He carried a low-level headache most of the time these days, and now he was standing in the middle of a storage complex, trying to understand how these keys opened that door.
Clearly, his mom gave him the wrong keys.
So how then did he break in?
Maybe his mother didn’t know as much as she thought she did.
Maybe his old man had lied to her.
How did she even know about the storage unit?
What was he gonna do with Dixie? He never liked that bitch one single minute.
His stomach grumbled, and he thought about the Dairy Queen on Main Street. He loved that old place. He’d get a double patty burger, no cheese, lots of mustard, pickles, and lettuce. Tomatoes were iffy. Crinkle cut french fries and a Coke. They used that small cubed ice that was good to crunch on once the drink was gone.
An extra-large Coke to help swallow the bullshit being fed to him right now.
He came up empty with any further ideas.
Cash probably knew he was missing by now.
Goddamn, he wasted a sneaking off moment. Now his pretty-boy agent was going to be pissed off for no reason. He’d have days of begging forgiveness. Diesel or Shanna would have to follow him everywhere he went again. He’d get all those fucking bad looks again. Trace and Mitch… Fucking Mitch was a damn dog with a bone. He had a way of yelling at a person without raising his voice while wearing those fucking T-shirts that made him look easygoing. Which he wasn’t in the least. What a skill…
His gaze landed on a standard side door—like a door, door—in the middle of the six-unit row. He headed that way. One of the keys looked like it fit a standard door lock. He shoved the key in and twisted. The lock released. He was able to twist the knob to open the door. It led down a darkened hallway.
He stood outside, just beyond the threshold, trying to see through all the black space.
It was too dark to understand what he was looking for.
Anything with such a basic locking system but still had his mother freaked the fuck out made no sense. Huh. Dev turned for a quick glance down the row of cargo style doors, trying to remind himself that he wasn’t afraid of anything.
He waved a hand through the doorway, looking for some sort of trap. Nothing triggered. Then he bravely felt around on the inside wall until he found a light switch. The overhead lights came on, showing an empty hallway with only a single door along the left wall, about halfway down.
All right. It seemed straightforward enough. He started for the other door, looking down at the keys in his hand. As he stood at the entrance, he tried the knob. It didn’t twist. He pushed the other key into the deadbolt. The lock released, the door opened a crack, and he innately knew whatever was on the other side mattered.
His heart picked up a beat as he pushed the door open. An overhead light switched on automatically. He stood there, watching row after row of fluorescent lighting initiate, one right after another, down the length of three storage units. There was pallet after pallet, stacked taller than Dev with cash bills. All bound together in clear plastic wrap.
Jesus. What had his old man done?
Dev struggled to do anything more than tilt his head to better count the pallets as he stayed rooted in his spot. Surely this much money wasn’t secured behind two flimsy locks.
Again, he needed to be reminded that he wasn’t afraid of anything before he took his first step inside fully expecting some type of booby trap to spring into action. He blew out a breath when nothing happened.
