“Strange man? I spent the night in your house last night, and you got me a job today.” Her lush lips twisted. “I feel like I’ve known you all my life.”
He grunted. “You’re very funny.”
“Take the key.” She wedged a hand on her hip. “I’m going to ask for something in return, though.”
“The knife.”
“Read my mind. If I’m going to be alone in this room with an extra key floating around out there, I’d prefer to have a little protection.” She widened her stance, as if digging her heels into the carpet. “I know it’s in your truck, Rob.”
“You’re probably right.” He grabbed a bottle of water from the minifridge. “Wait here and I’ll get it for you.”
The door to her room slammed behind him as he stepped outside. He’d get her the knife for kicking her out of his house. She must think her ex, or whoever, was headed this way.
He chewed on his bottom lip. She’d been about to open up to him over lunch, but they’d gotten off track. What had she said? The truth was probably worse than a violent, vindictive ex?
He ducked into his truck and felt under the driver’s seat. His fingers wrapped around the knife and he pulled it out.
Cupping it in his hand, he examined the intricate metalwork in silver. The knife had been crafted in Mexico, like her clothing. Like her Spanish?
He’d get to the bottom of things tonight.
ROB SPENT MOST of the rest of the afternoon at the station doing follow-up work on the cartel’s tunnels under the border. The Border Patrol had hit the mother lode when one of the agents, Clay Archer, had come into possession of a map detailing the tunnels Las Moscas had painstakingly created for their drug trade.
As Rob stretched at his desk and thought about Jane back at the motel, Clay plopped down behind his own desk and fired a pen at him. “Daydreaming, Valdez?”
“Yeah, daydreaming about getting out of here.” Rob rolled the pen toward him with the toe of his boot and bent over to pick it up. Keeping his head beneath the desk, Rob asked, “Is April home right now? I have a favor to ask her.”
“She’s home. Do you want me to pass it along to her?”
Rob popped up from beneath the desk, holding the pen between two fingers. “I’ll just drop by and see her. I know you’re working late, and my request doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Mysterious.” Clay held up a finger as the phone on his desk rang.
As Clay flipped through a file, Rob grabbed the opportunity to get out before Clay started asking probing questions. He shoved his laptop and some files into his shoulder bag and, on his way out the door, held up his hand at Clay still on the phone.
April would tell her husband everything, anyway. After the start those two had, they kept no secrets between them. But Rob didn’t have to give Clay a head start on the ribbing.
He drove out to Clay and April’s place and parked on the street in front. As promised, April was home. Her work as an accountant allowed her to work from the house.
Clay must’ve given her a heads-up because she came out to the porch to wait for him as he approached the front door.
She gave him a hug. “Clay told me you were on the way with a mysterious favor to ask.”
“Clay’s paranoid. It’s not all that mysterious.” He took off his hat as he stepped over the threshold, and their dog immediately bounded at him. He scratched Denali behind the ear. “Hey, boy.”
“What do you need?” She picked up a glass of lemonade from the coffee table where she’d been working and raised it. “Can I get you something to drink? It’s still hot as blazes and I heard we have a monsoon on the way.”
“Yeah, the wettest winter I ever spent was a summer in Tucson, or something like that.” He shook his head. “I don’t need anything but your clothes.”
April grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and wiggled her hips. “Ooh, no wonder you didn’t tell my husband.”
Rob laughed. “Not those clothes. I have a friend who’s in kind of a...situation, and she needs some clothes—nothing fancy, just a few pairs of shorts, a couple of T-shirts, maybe some jeans. She’s about your size, maybe shorter, so I thought you might have something she could borrow.”
April tilted her head and wrapped a lock of blond hair around one finger. “I have some stuff. Is this a particular friend?”
He kind of knew he wasn’t going to escape April’s matchmaking efforts. The woman had a caretaking streak a mile long and figured everyone needed to be as happy as she and Clay were.
“No, just a friend in need.”
“Well, you know those are my favorite kind.” She crooked a finger at him. “This way, Agent Valdez. I’ll throw a few things together for your...friend.”
Thirty minutes later, Rob staggered from the house, bags hanging from his fingertips that included enough clothes to outfit a sorority. With a wave out the window of his truck, he pulled away from the curb and made his way back to town.
He might as well pick up some dinner before he collected Jane from the motel. She could go through April’s clothes at his place.
As he rolled up to the stop sign to turn onto the main street, his foot hit the brake hard and his truck lurched. He squinted through his sunglasses and watched as Jane tripped down the steps of the library.
What happened to her nap? Had she decided to get a Pima County library card while she hid out from her ex?
A car rattled past her, and she jumped, craning her head over her shoulder. She continued to glance behind her as she made her way down the street, never noticing him.
A breath hitched in his throat,
