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Not something you wanted to hear from a cop.Ever.
Chapter 5
I staredin disbelief a moment before getting my bearings. I grabbed for the door trying to get it open. If he was there, that damn Agent Larkin wouldn’t be far behind. Turned out Hansen was quicker than me. He leaned over me, not a long stretch on his part, really, and pulled the door firmly shut, before leaning back, glancing at the steering wheel a moment. He looked like he wondered why his head hadn’t been smashed into it. What can I say? Sometimes I’m just that nice. At least when someone can arrest me. I looked around in worry at the thought. The guy who’d actually put a gun to my head was nowhere to be seen. The street was empty save for an old couple walking their dog.
“Who’re you looking for?” Hansen asked, seeing my unease.
“Where’s your new partner?” I asked, realizing I had dropped the key. I struggled to get hold of it between my feet.
“Who?” Confusion held his words.
I closed my fingers around the car key and felt an urgency in getting away before the man got there. “Agent Larkin,” I said as I straightened up, key triumphantly in my hand.
“What?”
“Spare me,” I said as I turned the engine on, “you were both trying to arrest me yesterday at the auto shop.”
“That was Larkin?” he exclaimed. “I thought it was one of the kidnappers.”
Something in his voice made me turn to look at him, and I saw his unease at this. He thought I was reading him. I let him think that a little longer. Not my most honest moment, but I was allowed to watch out for myself, too.
“You’re not working with Agent Larkin?” I asked.
“No,” he said, brows creasing. “Can’t you tell that with your…” he made a rolling gesture with his index finger next to his temple before pointing between our heads a few times.
I rolled my eyes. That was how long that assumption would last.
“No,” I said and hit the gas, only lucky no one came driving by at that time.
“Okay, so we’re driving,” he said, fumbling for the handle under his seat to push it back. He was sitting with his knees pressed into the glove compartment.
I glanced into the rearview mirror, seeing his gray car parked further up the street. He must have followed me to Mona’s house. Since he thought I’d been reading his mind, I believed he was telling the truth about not working with Agent Larkin. But that didn’t mean the suit wasn’t following him.
“How did you find me?” I asked, making a hard left turn that pushed him into the door. I smiled a little at that and felt better. Childish? Yes. Did I care? Not in the least.
“Don’t you know?” he asked as he fastened his seatbelt. Smart choice.
“No, I don’t,” I said. “Didn’t you hear me? I’m not listening in.”
Eyes on the road, I could still see him looking at me. I couldn’t see what kind of look, though. Probably his usual suspicious one, narrowed eyes and all.
“You’re not?” he asked again, clearly not trusting me.
“No. Now tell me…how did you find me?” I’d been keeping my head low for two days. It could pay to know where I had screwed up.
“Easy,” he said and sat back. “You didn’t have a car when we needed you for the Hensley case. I figured it was in the shop. If you were still looking for Andrea, you’d need it.”
“Of course I’m still looking for Andrea,” I mumbled.
“Anyway,” he continued. “Gary’s Auto Shop was the only place where a mechanic didn’t have to think for a second on whether he knew you or not.”
Damn it. That would have been Alan, Gary’s assistant. Not the best at lying. After that, it had only been a matter of staking out the place. Hansen was right. It had been easy. Stupid me.
“Then I suspect you saw me entering the place again?” I asked.
“Yeah, if you mean breaking in. Saw someone moving around inside the fence, too.”
“I wouldn’t be so smug about calling other people out on breaking into places. That lock didn’t pick itself,” I said and was instantly ignored. I did, however, see how he had found me again today. He’d known what car I was driving.
