Good. Everything was working.
“What have you got for me, Ironman?”
“Ramp camera’s clean. First level looks normal. Second level has a delivery van parked in a terrible spot that I hate. Third level is mostly empty. Fourth level has Carr’s Lexus and about twelve other vehicles. Northeast corner, like I said. Nose out. Driver’s side facing the center lane.”
Colin’s mouth flattened. “She parked to leave fast, and not with us.”
Maren looked toward the garage as they approached the entrance. “Wouldn’t you do that as a backup plan?”
“Yes.”
That was the problem. Carr wasn’t stupid. She was compromised, terrified, and probably carrying enough guilt to choke on, but she wasn’t stupid. If she had parked nose out, she expected trouble.
Or she had been told exactly where and how to park.
Colin turned into the garage. The light changed immediately. Outside was California sun and inside was dim concrete, oil stains, pillars, echoes, shadows. The SUV’s tires hummed over the ramp. Somewhere above them, a car door slammed, the sound bouncing strangely between levels.
Maren flinched and he wanted to take her hand but resisted. If Dekker was watching, let him see the asshole Kyle had supposedly sent.
“Ironman,” Colin said. “Talk to me.”
“She’s still in the car.”
“Alone?”
“As far as I can see.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” Elissa said. “It’s what I have.”
Maren looked at him. “You don’t like this.”
“That’s for damn sure.”
“That makes two of us.”
He drove past the first level without slowing. On the second level, the delivery van sat near the far wall, white, unmarked, rear doors facing the lane. Colin clocked it, hated it as much as Elissa did, and kept driving. No sag in the suspension that suggested it was heavily loaded. No visible driver. No movement in the mirrors.
Still hate it.
The third level was mostly empty. A black sedan near the elevators. A blue compact by the wall. A truck with a surfboard rack. Shadows in the west corner where the camera wouldn’t reach.
Colin drove through, not looking like he was looking.
Maren stayed silent and alert.
Fourth level. The Lexus was exactly where Elissa said it would be, nose out, driver inside staring straight ahead into the middle distance, both hands on the steering wheel.
Lynn Carr.
The woman who had given Ray to Voss, who had helped bury Mira. The woman they needed alive until she could make up for those sins.
Colin had seen the photo Elissa sent. Neat haircut, well-cut pantsuit, perfect makeup. She looked polished and in control, the kind of woman who probably knew how to ruin someone’s career with one email and then sleep just fine that night. Through the windshield, she looked pale and smaller than he expected.
Colin parked two rows away, angled badly on purpose, like he didn’t give a damn about lines or courtesy or anything exceptgetting this over with. He left the engine running and rolled down his window.
“Stay,” he snapped at Maren, loud enough to carry if anyone was listening.
