Blink of an Eye (Kendra Michaels #8) - Roy Johansen Page 0,31
to the case I was working. We never got an ID on that thing. I did find the ammo cartridge I was looking for, though. It helped break the case.”
“Did I see that on the wall of your living room?”
“Yes. Probably looks better than the hand would’ve.”
“I’m sure it smells better.”
“Most likely.”
Jessie pulled onto National Boulevard and two minutes later turned into the 7-Eleven parking lot. They parked in front of a brown cylindrical trash receptacle at the far end of the store’s front sidewalk. Kendra saw with relief that the huge can was still practically overflowing with trash. “Pickup must be every other day.”
“Yep.” Jessie reached into her center console and pulled out latex evidence gloves. She threw a pair to Kendra. “You’ll want to use these. Watch out for diapers and needles.”
Kendra made a face as she pulled on the gloves. “Great. Let’s get this over with.”
They pulled out the trash can and dumped it on the pavement. Receipt time stamps told them it hadn’t been emptied since at least early the previous day. As Jessie warned, there were indeed used diapers and hypodermic needles amid numerous coffee cups, snack wrappers, and discarded lottery tickets. But soon Kendra spotted the distinctive pink-and-white packaging of the prepaid mobile phones carried by the store.
She picked up the torn cardboard packaging and held it up to show Jessie. Affixed to the carton with sticky blue Slurpee juice was a store receipt.
Jessie cocked her head to read the receipt. “Paid in cash. Five sixteen A.M.”
“Promising…”
“And he also bought a large coffee.”
Kendra smiled. “It has to be him.”
Jessie pulled out her phone and snapped a shot of the carton’s underside. She inspected the photo on her screen. “Perfect. We have a serial number and the bar code.”
“Shall we call Kelland?”
“We could. But then we’d have to wait for a warrant, then wait for the carrier to send along tower data.”
“Got a better idea?”
“Yeah. I know a guy.”
“Naturally.”
“It’ll be faster.” Jessie was already tapping a text into her phone. “He’ll give me a full readout first thing in the morning. Maybe even earlier.”
“Good.”
A shadow fell over the pile of garbage in front of them, and Kendra and Jessie looked up to see a pimply-faced counter clerk dressed in his polo-style 7-Eleven shirt. He was staring at the mess they’d made on the sidewalk.
Kendra gave the kid a sheepish look and shrugged. “Lost earring.”
* * *
“Rimrock!”
Kendra sat bolt upright on the living room sofa, startled awake by Jessie’s yell. It was still dark outside, and she felt as though she had just drifted off. She checked her watch. Five fifteen A.M.
Jessie held her phone in front of her. “I heard back from my friend. That burner phone has been connecting to a cell tower out in the desert. It hasn’t moved since yesterday afternoon.”
Kendra sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Where?”
“I told you. Rimrock.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Me neither, until I just looked it up. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, near Joshua Tree. According to Google Maps, the town doesn’t even have a traffic light.”
Kendra thought for a moment. “If he’s still in that RV, he shouldn’t be too hard to track down there.” She stood up from the couch. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER
5
Burns Canyon Road
Rimrock, California
Kendra and Jessie slowed as they rolled into downtown Rimrock, which was even smaller and dustier than it had appeared on the satellite image. The town mostly consisted of a mile-long stretch of homes and small ranches, with street names that included Tumbleweed Trail and Apache Pass.
“There isn’t much place to hide an RV around here,” Jessie said. “Maybe in one of those barns or behind a house.”
They reached the end of the town in less than two minutes. “Maybe he’s already left,” Kendra said.
“My friend said he’d call if his phone started connecting to a different tower.”
“There’s another possibility.” Kendra looked around. “It wasn’t Adrian who bought that phone after all.”
“I’m not prepared to admit that possibility.”
“Me neither. But if we don’t find him here, then…” Kendra’s gaze locked on something ahead. “Wait a minute. Drive forward a little bit.”
“What do you see?”
“Just go.”
Jessie drove until they were alongside a shallow ridge that rose a few feet over the roadway. Large tire tracks curved from the shoulder and over the ridge.
“I’d say someone may have gone off-roading,” Kendra said. “But those don’t look like jeep treads to me.”
“Gotcha.” Jessie pulled over and killed the engine. “Let’s take a look.”