Deceit

A stunned silence played over the phone. “You got shot at?”

Melissa flapped a hand at me, warning me to shut up. I ignored her.

“Joanne. Who shot at you?”

“Somebody who apparently wants me dead.”

“Who? Someone you’re skip tracing?”

“No. It’s complicated.”

“Stop talking right now.” Melissa stepped toward me, her expression menacing.

“I’ll talk to him if I want to.”

“Who?” Perry cut in. “Are you talking to me?”

“No. To Miss Priss here.”

Melissa’s face twisted. She swept a hand toward the phone. I jerked away from her.

A portion of my mind cleared. With the clearing, all humor died away, replaced with one cogent thought.

I sat up, swung my legs to the floor, my back to Melissa. “Perry, hold on a minute.” I swiveled toward Melissa and thrust a finger at her. “Don’t do that again.”

She stood her ground, folded her arms, and glared at me.

I returned the phone to my ear. “Perry. You read detective novels all the time, right? I need to run a scenario by you.”

“Okay.”

“Say someone’s out in their car all day. Going here, going there. Sees no one following them. But then something happens that proves somebody was following. How could they do that without being spotted?”

“If the person’s good at tailing, he should be able to keep out of sight easily enough.”

“But…”

Frustration bounced around within me. My question sounded so naive. But it wouldn’t have been that easy for someone to keep out of sight when I was parked on Melissa’s street. I’d constantly checked for cars and hadn’t seen anyone lurking around. And when I was in the church parking lot Hooded Man had phoned me, demanding to know if I was looking for Melissa. If he’d been following me, wouldn’t he have known where I was?

“Of course he could also have put a GPS on the person’s car,” Perry added. “Then he could track without being close by.”

I stilled. A GPS system. Not the kind of equipment a law-abiding skip tracer would use. But that intruder last night, in my garage. Drops of rain leading to my car…

The missing puzzle piece my tired brain couldn’t find earlier.

How stupid of me. I should have guessed this. I should have known.

My body stiffened. Wait a minute. If a GPS was on my car, whoever Baxter had hired would know where we were right now. They could be at the motel any minute.

“Where would he put it, Perry?”

“Different places. Inside, maybe, like in the glove compartment. Or underneath the car, using a magnetized case. Why—”

“How big is it?”

“Pretty small.”

If it was underneath the car I’d never find it in the dark. I had no flashlight. And no way would I even go out to the parking lot.

Melissa came around the foot of the bed to watch my face.

“We have to get out of here.” I blurted the words into the phone, my eyes locked with Melissa’s.

Her eyes rounded. “What?”

“He thinks they put a GPS tracking system on my car.”

She shoved both hands into her hair, her face whitening. “Where do we go with no car?” Melissa’s voice pinched like a scared child’s. “And how do we leave the room if they’re out there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you’d better think of something!”

My eyes squeezed shut. How had this happened? I was a skip tracer; now I was on the run.

“Joanne!” Perry’s voice drilled into my ear. I punched on the speakerphone so Melissa could hear. “Who is with you? Tell me what’s happening.”

Briefly I did. Melissa paced at the end of the beds, palms together and pressed against her mouth. When I told Perry about the break-in at my house, she came to a stop and glared at me. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“You need to call the police,” Perry said.

“I—”

“No!” Melissa shook her head furiously. “She calls the police, and I’m out of here right now. The first thing they’ll do is take us down to the station and try to force me to tell what I know. And I’ll never do it. I’d be dead before they even tried to do a thing to Baxter.”

I knew she meant it. Melissa could run again at any time. How would I ever convince her to change her mind? “You hear her?” I spoke into the phone.

“I heard. No police.” He paused. “I’ll come get you.”

“But your store—”

“I’ll close early.”

Melissa thrust herself toward me. “He’s not coming with cops!”

“No, he’s—”

“Melissa!” Frustration coated Perry’s voice. I held the speakerphone toward her.

“You’re not bringing cops.” Fire blazed in her eyes.

“I hear you, already.”

“I swear if you show up with them, I’ll deny I ever said anything about Baxter.”

“Melissa, chill out. I’m coming by myself.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“And you’re welcome.”

She puffed out a martyr’s sigh.

“Nice companion you’ve got there, Joanne,” Perry said.

Melissa rolled her eyes and turned away.

“So tell me where you are.”

I told him.

“Okay, I’ll leave right now. Stay in your room.”

I calculated how long it would take Perry to make the drive.

“Thanks, Perry. Thank you so much.”

“Just one more day in my exciting life.” He hung up.

I threw the cell phone back into my purse and faced Melissa. “He’s trying to help, you know. He doesn’t have to do this.”

Her expression flattened. She licked her lips. “I know. It’s just…We almost got killed. And it’s all because of Baxter. I don’t want anything to do with his problems. For six years I’ve tried to forget what happened, but it never goes away. I just want to live my life.”

A new wave of tiredness hit. I just wanted to live my life too. Imagine what it must be like for someone as young as Melissa to carry such a burden.

“You will, Melissa. You will.”

She brushed aside my platitudes and headed for her purse. Pulled out her cell phone. “I have to call a friend. I was supposed to meet her tomorrow for breakfast.” Melissa’s hardened tone had returned—a reminder to me that I’d thoroughly messed up her life. “I’ll think of some excuse.” She walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I heard the dull whir of the fan come on.