Chapter 21
Hector Garcia watched as Sloane jogged from the side of the bar to the other side of the street.
He hadn’t been sure it was her at first, with the different hair and glasses, but the woman had arrived in her faded Corolla.
No way two people in the area had that same vehicle with the little plane sticker on the back.
Now he had no doubt it was her, given the way she moved. It looked like she was running away. Alarm speared through him, but then she popped open her trunk.
A moment later, she sprinted back across the street, a bat in her hand.
Well, shit. He didn’t know what was going on—he hadn’t followed her here, but Ethan Alexander instead. Then she’d shown up and had been inside the last half hour.
Worried about her, he slid from his vehicle, sticking to the shadows as he headed around the opposite side of the sports bar.
He knew who owned this place and what allegedly went on inside.
Orson Hall might be cleaning up his life and businesses, but Hector knew what he’d been involved in over the past couple decades.
Long before he himself had been a detective.
And he also knew where the security cameras were, so he was cautious as he approached from the direction of a pet grooming place next door. It closed at six, so no chance of anyone inside now.
He approached from the back and crept up on the privacy fence set up between the two businesses. He could hear Sloane’s voice now, and hoisted himself up on the fence even as he cursed himself for not just following directly after her.
He hadn’t wanted her to see him, on the chance she was involved with Ethan Alexander and had helped him cover up Cara’s murder. Because Alexander was in deep shit, according to what Hector had found. But in his gut he knew Sloane wasn’t involved in her sister’s murder.
The grief he’d witnessed on Sloane’s face was so raw, so real, and he believed that she was trying to solve Cara’s murder—but she was also keeping stuff from him. Of that he had no doubt.
Right as he pushed up over the top of the fence, he spotted Sloane swinging her bat down on Vincento the Tank’s back. Hard.
Hector’s hand went to his weapon in case she needed assistance, but she moved fast, slamming her weapon into Vincento’s knee as she shouted at Ethan.
“Get up!”
The other man stumbled to his feet as… Oh, shit. Sloane aimed at the Tank’s face and sprayed what had to be pepper or bear spray right at the guy.
He yelled, falling onto his knees as she helped Ethan hobble away and out of sight.
Hector landed on the ground and withdrew his weapon as two men with pistols raced out of the back door. It ricocheted against the wall with force.
“Police, drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!”
Both men froze, but then, to his surprise, dropped both their pistols and kicked them away as they stared at him.
The Tank was clawing at his eyes on the ground as he growled out obscenities. There was no way Hector could run after Sloane and Ethan now, but he’d be following up soon.
After he took care of this mess.