He swept her up in his arms. “That’s funny. I have something hard for you.”
She halfheartedly pummeled his chest with her fists. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Jimmy’s dead. Adam’s safe.” He strode to her bedroom and kicked open the door. “What’s stopping us now?”
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, April packed up again and went from room to room to make sure she wasn’t leaving anything important behind.
As she cleared the bottles of water from the fridge, Clay entered the kitchen. “Are you going to leave those beers?”
“Might as well keep them here for Adam. It’ll be his payment for closing up my apartment if I decide to leave Albuquerque.” She shook out a plastic grocery bag and put a bottle of water inside. “Speaking of payments, I think I can find that guy’s house again—the one with the car. Maybe I could even leave him my car as payment.”
“I suppose you could do that if you’re not attached to your car. The one you got from him is a junker.”
“Mine is only slightly better, and I owe him for his trouble.”
Clay touched her waist. “When are you going to stop feeling so guilty about everything? And when are you going to start spending some of the money from your mom? Why are you driving an old car when you can afford a new one?”
She balled up a fist and pressed it against her midsection. “Would you be freely spending life insurance money you got from your mom’s murder?”
“Your mom had the policy and named you beneficiary. However she died, she wanted you to benefit from it. That’s how life insurance works. Look at my mother. After my dad died, she didn’t hesitate to use his life insurance money to enjoy her life. It’s what he would’ve wanted.”
“Your father wasn’t murdered.” She tossed another plastic bottle into the bag.
“A car accident isn’t much prettier.”
Rubbing Clay’s back, she said, “Your dad was a great guy. I miss him.”
“But not my mom.”
“Your mom never liked me, so it was hard for me to warm up to her.” She lifted the bag and swung it from her fingertips. “She must positively hate me now.”
“She’s on a cruise somewhere in the Caribbean. I don’t think she hates anyone right now.” He snatched the bag from her hand. “I’ll put a couple of these in the front for the trip, or one...you can take the other in your car when we pick it up from Kenzie’s place. You can follow me. I’ll keep you in my rearview.”
“You don’t have to worry anymore, Clay.”
“What are you going to say if Detective Espinoza finds out you were engaged to Jimmy and questions you?”
“Tell him the truth. I was engaged to Jimmy, didn’t know his line of business, left him when I had my suspicions.”
“And if he asks you about Gilbert? He showed us his picture when he was Jesus.”
She shrugged. “I never saw Gilbert or Jesus or Elena or any of them.”
“You’d be lying.”
“Sometimes you have to tell lies that don’t hurt anyone if those lies protect other people.” She grabbed her purse and hitched it over her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
As she locked the dead bolt from the outside, Clay clicked his tongue and said, “Keep telling yourself that, April.”
When they reached Kenzie’s block, April spotted her blue compact across the street from her apartment complex. “There’s my car. At least he followed through with something.”
“Does Adam have a car, or does he always use yours or Kenzie’s?” Clay glanced over his shoulder as he parallel-parked his truck three cars down from hers.
“He has a motorcycle.” She threw open the door of the truck and stepped onto the curb. “Now let’s see if he followed through with the keys.”
Clay slammed his door and locked the truck with a beep. “Are you gonna go up even if he did?”
“No. By leaving me the car keys, I think he made it clear he didn’t need to see me before I left town.”
April held her breath as she stalked up to the car. She pulled the door handle and released a sigh. “It’s open.”
She ducked into the car and flipped down the visor. Her key chain, with the big red A for the University of Arizona, slid down and she caught it.
Jingling the key chain at Clay, she said, “He actually followed through.”
“Give the guy a medal.” Clay smacked the top of the car. “Pop the trunk.”
She straightened up and folded her arms on top of the open car door. “You don’t need to put my bags in the trunk. I told you, I plan to leave this car with Ryan in exchange for the other one.”
“I know that. Adam said Jimmy loaded him in the trunk of this car after holding him and dropped him off in the desert.” He pounded a fist on the trunk. “Humor me.”
Cocking her head to one side, April pressed the button on the remote to open the trunk. It clicked and sprang up a few inches.
Clay pushed it up and bent forward, shoving his sunglasses on top of his head.
April joined him, bumping his hip with hers. “Find what you’re looking for?”
“I don’t know what I’m looking for.” He reached into the trunk and pulled out a hand towel, shaking it out.
April sucked in a breath and stepped away from the bloodstained towel. “Well, there you have it. Jimmy must’ve stuffed a bleeding Adam into the trunk. I even recognize the towel as one of Jimmy’s.”
Clay jerked the towel by one corner so that it danced in the air. “This is a towel from Jimmy’s house?”
Wrinkling her nose, April pointed to the edge of the towel. “It’s the same color as the towels in his guest bathroom downstairs and has the same raised pattern on the bottom.”
“All right.” Clay kept hold of the towel and shut the trunk.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“You can’t leave a bloody towel in the trunk of a car you plan to give away.”
“You
