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“Are you listening to me?” Jackson screeched into his speaker.
“Of course, I am. You just haven’t said anything that you need a response to. I believe you just called me to complain. You knew quite surely that I would not go help you break in somewhere.”
“I left a present for Creed a couple days ago, but he hasn’t been back to his motel room. Such a shame.”
“Leave Creed alone. He needs time to bond with his boy.”
“Bond?” Jackson snorted. “What is this, a bad vampire movie?”
“I don’t watch bad vampire movies,” Skinner pointed out. He didn’t watch movies at all. He didn’t even own a television. Frowning, he waited for Marco’s headlights to come on. What was taking so long? His boy should have started the vehicle already.
“Whatever. If I can’t mess with Creed or Lance, then that leaves you to distract me.”
“Why don’t you go test Mac’s security again? That was fun, wasn’t it?” Skinner started his SUV and eased from his spot. Marco pushed the driver’s door open and climbed out. What was going on?
“That’s just mean!” Jackson sounded outraged. “And Mac has no sense of humor at all. I don’t even know why we let him in the cool kids’ club.”
Skinner knew. Because Mac was just like them. Broken. “What about that club you invited me to? I thought you found someone to catch your interest there.”
“It’s complicated,” Jackson replied sullenly.
Curious. Jackson sounded weird about that, but Skinner couldn’t give Jackson his full attention. Now Marco had the hood of his car up. “I must go. I have something to take care of.”
“Fine! But if I end up in jail, I’m calling you to bail me out. That’ll serve you for right for leaving all on my own.”
Skinner hung up without another word. He circled around the back of the lot to turn onto the main road. Marco’s vehicle was parked to the back but right by the street. Easy view from someone driving by. Not that there were many people driving this late. Perfect.
He drove past Marco at first, just playing the innocent, before pulling to the side. It should look natural. Leaving his SUV running, he stepped out of the driver's side and walked around the back of his vehicle. A sidewalk and small patch of grass separated Marco in the lot and where Skinner idled on the main road.
“Marco?” Skinner called. “Is that you?”
Marco’s head popped up from where he bent looking under his hood. “Mr. Washington?”
Skinner nearly winced at his current fake name. Leaving the choice to Lance was never a great idea. Lance thought himself a comedian or he just liked messing with Skinner. Jogging over, Skinner closed the distance between him and the boy. “I was driving past. I thought that was you. Is everything okay?”
The boy was smart to park under one of the tall lights in the parking lot, but Skinner could still barely make out the boy’s features. “I’m fine. My car…not so much. I think the battery is dead or something. It was fine this morning.”
“Do you need help?” Skinner offered. “I don’t know anything about cars, but I can call someone. Or offer you a lift home?”
“If you wouldn’t mind giving me a ride home, that would be great. My uncle has a garage, and I can call him or my cousin in the morning to come look at it. I hate to wake them up this late though.”
“I’d be happy to drive you home. Why don’t you lock your car up. I probably shouldn’t leave my vehicle on the side of the road.”
“Sure! Just give me a minute.” Marco quickly gathered what he wanted from his vehicle before locking it and returning to Skinner’s side. “It sure is a good thing you were driving by. What are you doing out so late?”
Years of lying and being comfortable with deceit had Skinner smoothly answering, “Late meeting. I was just heading home when I saw the hood up. I knew it would have to be someone from the restaurant.” he replied.
“Well, lucky for me.” Marco followed Skinner to the SUV still idling on the side of the main road.
