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Gray shot him the finger.
Dylan snorted.
Luke, meanwhile, was plotting. “Andy said she worked with Aldon at the ManCave on Delta Boulevard. If he was only recently fired, the store might still have employee records on him.”
Gray whipped out his phone and swiped over the screen a few times. “I’ve got the number. How do we wanna play this?”
Dylan snatched the phone from his hand with a smirk. “Watch and learn, Flannels.” He tapped the phone, then hit the speakerphone icon.
It rang a few times, then, “ManCave Outfitters. Pablo speaking. How may I help you today?”
“Morning, Pablo,” Dylan said, channeling his inner white boy. “This is Bob from payroll. We seem to have had a snafu processing a former employee’s last check. It appears we may have an outdated address on file for an Aldon Wickers. Do you have anyone on staff who could assist me with cross-referencing our records against those available at the store?”
“Of course,” Pablo said. “I was promoted to store manager recently, and I do have access to the files you need.”
“Great.”
“Just give me a moment to run back to the office and check.”
“No problem, my friend,” Dylan said, laying it on thick enough to have Gray’s eyes rolling.
A minute later, Pablo was back on the line. “Okay, the address listed for Aldon is 8103 Sunny Vale Lane.”
“Ah, there’s the error. We had 8703. Thanks so much for clearing that up, brah.”
“No problem…. uh, Bob?”
Bobhung up the phone with a smirk. “You two ready to go beat the stew out of somebody?”
“Yeah,” Luke said darkly. “I was ready the minute I walked into this apartment.”
Chapter thirty-one
Severalhourslater,Lukesat shotgun in Gray’s Ford F-150 as they staked out Aldon’s place. Gray had parked the truck across the street in the shade of an old jacaranda tree a few houses down. The neighborhood reminded Luke of the suburb he’d grown up in. A mix of neutral-colored single- and two-story residences. Front yards too small for anything more than a palm tree or jacaranda or two.
Aldon’s was one of the bigger homes on the block. Not surprising since the guy struck Luke as having a huge ego. One Luke was about to put painfully in check.
Scowling at the empty driveway of the terra-cotta-trimmed two-story they’d been surveilling for most of the day, Luke grabbed Gray’s cell from the console between them. Unfortunately, Luke and Dylan had left their phones back in the Jeep, so they were having to rely on his. “It’s pushing seven,” Luke said, tossing the device back down for the dozenth time. “Where the hell is this guy?”
Gray frowned, eyes trained on the house which was as still and quiet as it was when they’d first rolled up. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Want me to doorbell ditch it?” Dylan chimed in from the back seat.
“Nah.” Peering through the binoculars he’d borrowed from Andy’s room, Luke still didn’t see any movement through the crack in the blinds of the front window. Aldon simply wasn’t home, and it was frustrating as hell to have to wait to punch the fucker’s face in.
“Maybe we should just bust in a window and search the place for Kory’s necklace,” Dylan suggested before chomping down on a sandwich he’d picked up from a sub shop in walking distance.
“Dude, he probably has a security alarm. And it could take hours to search a house that big for one necklace.” Gray tossed a glare over his shoulder. “And, seriously, must you chew so loud?”
Dylan grinned around a mouthful of lunch meat. “Someone’s hangry.”
“Nah, man. My girlfriend’s home was broken into. I’m just plain angry.”
Luke understood Gray’s simmering animosity. He felt it too. The rage he could barely control. It wasn’t just that Aldon had devastated Andy by vindictively killing her pet, but he’d also putherlife in jeopardy.
What if Andy hadn’t detected the fumes? What if she’d tried to sleep off her period cramps? What if she’d passed out with poisonous gas leaking into her bedroom? Jaw clenching at all the what-ifs, Luke slammed the binoculars back down on the center console.
Dylan thrust a parchment-wrapped sandwich his way. “Bro, eat this. You need it.”
