Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,19

them,” she hissed under her breath.

She didn’t wait for him to scold her. JJ pivoted around and headed for room 104. Lucky for her, she’d learned a few things from her mischievous brother when she was a kid. One of those things happened to be how to pick a lock. It had become a game with them, always besting the other, trying to see who could get into a lock faster. They’d mastered a wide variety of locks that way. And it just so happened she had her little set with her. Then again, she almost always had it with her because Jeremy had bought it for her.

Glancing back, she saw Baz approaching the officers. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she didn’t need to. They divided their attention between Baz and the woman whose car was stolen.

Without wasting time, JJ pulled out her tools, stepped in close, and bent down, hoping Baz’s truck would hide what she was doing. It took about thirty seconds, which felt like four days, but she managed to get the door unlocked.

She stepped inside, closed it, and flipped on the light.

Sure enough, this was someone’s room. There was a towel flung over the wooden desk chair and an empty bag of Fritos on the nightstand. One of the twin beds was unmade and there was an open suitcase on the other.

Knowing she had little time to waste, she hurried to look through the suitcase. She found nothing that would help them figure out what Juliet’s next move might be, only a handful of clothes. On to the small bathroom, she glanced at the hygiene products—shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash. Aside from some DNA the police could use to identify Juliet, there was nothing of use to JJ.

She hurried back to the door, peeked out the window beside it. Baz was still talking to the officers, but now the woman was no longer out there.

Crap.

JJ turned back around, looked at the entire space, hoping to find something that would help. That was when she saw the computer charger plugged into the wall. There was no computer attached though.

“Fuck.”

If Juliet had the sense to take the computer, JJ knew there wouldn’t be anything useful left behind. She turned back, peeked through the curtains to confirm she wouldn’t be seen, then slipped out of the room and headed right for Baz’s truck.

When he returned a few minutes later, JJ tried not to sulk. She’d thought for sure there would be something in that room that would lead them to Juliet. Maybe Brantley was right. Maybe JJ did watch too many crime shows on TV.

“Anything?” she asked when he climbed in and pulled the door shut.

He shook his head. “The woman’s the day manager. Evidently, she leaves her car keys hangin’ in the front office. She said a woman matching Juliet’s description came in, took them off the hook. She didn’t realize what had happened until she saw her car leaving the parkin’ lot.”

“What about the Mustang?”

“They’re gonna have it processed, but based on what they said, it’s definitely been in an accident recently.”

“And it’s a ’65?”

“It is, yes.”

JJ sighed. “So it’s true. We had Juliet in our sights earlier?”

Baz didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need him to. They’d seen the blue Mustang, even waited for it to pull into a parking space. If they’d only…

JJ knew she could insert a ton of if onlys in that sentence, any one of which might’ve prevented Kylie Walker from being run down in the street.

Yet not a single one would change the outcome at this point.

Chapter Six

Gage was aware of sights, sounds, movement, but he was unable to move, barely able to breathe as he sat in the back of the ambulance, Kylie’s hand in his. The EMT was working, doing God only knew what as the other drove with obvious intent.

He answered questions when he was asked—What medications was Kylie taking? Any previous surgeries? Medical conditions?—not sure how he even knew the answers. His mind was fogged, his heart breaking as he leaned close to his wife, silently pleading for her to hang on. She hadn’t opened her eyes, hadn’t moved at all. He wasn’t even sure she was breathing on her own, but surely she was, right? They would’ve said something if she wasn’t.

The next thing Gage was aware of was pulling into the hospital, then people filing out, taking over, pushing the gurney while barking orders as the EMTs