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Hayden seemed distracted as he nodded. “Yeah. But I still wish—dammit.” With a hiss, he shook his head. “We need to get back to that box. If the original will is anywhere, it’s in there.”
“Then let’s go back,” I said.
He glanced at me questionably.
“We can either give her another reason to leave her apartment, or you know…” I shrugged. “She doesn’t exactly strike me as the homebody type. I bet she goes out at some point this weekend. We can just stake out her place until she leaves on her own.”
Hayden nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he murmured, his nod growing more certain. “Yes, let’s do that.”
“Right on,” I whispered with an encouraging nod.
So we packed some stakeout goodies—mostly bottled water and granola bars—and I called home to let the guys know I wouldn’t be returning anytime soon—getting an earful of teasing from Miguel, who answered the phone—and then we were on our way.
It wasn’t until we were parked down the street with eyes on her car that I decided, “You know, this is actually a badass stakeout car.”
“Hmm?” Hayden glanced over at me from the driver’s side and furrowed his brow as if I’d lost my mind.
“I’m serious,” I said, shifting around in my seat. “The seats are comfortable as hell. There’s plenty of legroom, sweet amenities, and yet it’s the most boring-looking thing ever; people look right past it.”
“What can I say?” He winked at me. “I like things with hidden depths.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Such a flatterer,” I muttered. “If you think that’s going to win you a BJ on our stakeout, well then…” Biting my lip meaningfully, I glanced toward his lap. “You just keep up that kind of talk, big boy, and we’ll see what happens.”
His eyebrows lifted with interest. “Really? In that case, have I told you how—”
“Oh my God!” I yelped, catching sight of his mother down the block as she exited her building and slid on a pair of large shades. “There she is.”
“Dammit,” Hayden muttered on a moody scowl. “There went the makings of the best stakeout ever.”
I grinned at him and squeezed his thigh supportively, only to squint with curiosity when I saw Lana pause at that back door of a dark Tahoe with blacked-out windows. The door came open from the inside, and she climbed into the backseat.
“Um, what’s going on?” I asked.
“No idea.” Hayden shook his head slowly with the same confusion.
The Tahoe pulled away from the curb and cruised right past us.
Hayden turned to watch it go by, only to rasp, “Holy shit.” He whipped wide eyes back to me. “Did you see the license plate?”
“No.” I shook my head. “What’d it say?”
“Mad Man,” he answered, his look telling.
I gulped. “Mad Man?” My voice was small as I added, “Short for Mad Manny, you think?”
“Sounds logical to me.”
Lifting my hands in disbelief, I cried, “Jesus, who’s she putting a hit out on now?” Until it struck me. My gaze zipped to Hayden. “Unless you think it’s the lawyer guy. She told him on the phone he was going to regret trying to extort more money from her. And who better would you hire to take out a guy hiding out in Mexico than someone with ties to the Mexican Mafia?”
“Shit.” Hayden ran his hands through his hair. “I hope Gutierrez can get his authority friends to Finley before Lana gets Mad Manny’s people on him.”
Just as I nodded my agreement, he cursed again and flung open his car door. “Dammit. No!”
“What?” I blinked at him as he raced across the street, nearly getting hit by a car in his hurry. “Hayden! What the hell?”
I scrambled after him, held up by traffic before I could run fast enough to catch up. He was already yanking open the side door by the time I reached him.
“Mother of God, what is wrong with you?”
