Chapter 12 #4
Trixie’s back stiffened. His accusation stung. How dare he think she’d do anything to hurt her abuelo’s legacy? “Jeff, you are a friend and a valued employee, but if you ever suggest or insinuate that I would knowingly bring ruin to this place again, you’re fired.”
He didn’t blink at the threat. “All of the employees are in the breakroom with Joey. What do you want to tell them?”
“The truth,” she said. “They’ve earned it. Cayden broke parole and he’s on the run. If they see him, they are to call the police. Did you get those officer’s information so we can call them if needed? I have the card from the two who stopped by my house last night too.”
Jeff didn’t move. “That’s twice you’ve called Bobby’s place your house. Are you planning on moving back in there, Trixie?”
Not alone, she thought before banishing it. “I’ve been debating on it. I figured I’d fix it up. If I don’t want it at the end, it might be time to sell it.” Not our house, never our house.
Jeff nodded once. “I’m glad to see you’re finally doing something with it.”
“We need to get to the breakroom,” she reminded him.
Cayden watched Trixie and Jeff speak with the officers outside Romero’s.
He’d suspected that the police would beat them to the shop.
He’d bailed out of the Firebird at a traffic light stop.
The woman in the car behind Trixie had gaped at him but he just gave her a smile, waved, and run off.
The only thing that could have made that encounter more amusing would have been if his hands had been bound, maybe a stretch of duct tape across his mouth.
He wanted to chuckle at his wayward thought, but he concentrated on Trixie. He was putting her in a dangerous position, making her lie to the police for him. Once again, he wished Lee had never involved her.
Her brother stepped up next to him on the sidewalk. Cayden hadn’t heard the man’s approach or seen a vehicle. Maybe having a stealthy ninja on his side would come in handy. The man escaped drowning, he assumed in the gulf, with a cinderblock attached to his feet.
Lee was perhaps an inch or two taller than Cayden and broader in the chest. Bathed, shaved, and in his own clothing, Lee looked slightly less menacing than he had the day before. Just slightly. Cayden got the feeling the man could be very deadly when he wanted to be.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Annoying,” was the curt answer. “How’s mi hermana?”
“Lying to the police.”
“Better lying to them today than dead tomorrow because someone suspects she knows too much.”
Cayden flinched at the man’s deadpanned rationality. The stealthy ninja really needed to take some heart lessons from the Grinch. “You’ve gotten her protection detail?”
“The officers you see there will be here today. They think they’re here for you, but they won’t turn their backs if anything else happens. Tomorrow an undercover will be parked down the street. They’ll rotate shifts between here and the house.”
“She won’t return to the house.” Trixie hadn’t said anything, but she hadn’t had to. His gut told him she planned on staying at Romero’s until he returned to her.
“They’ll be wherever she is.”
Cayden nodded once. “Good.”
They watched in silence as the cops walked back to their cruiser while Jeff pulled Trixie inside the building. Cayden had never been happier to have convinced her to increase her security. At least he knew exactly what was keeping her safe.
“You broke parole last night instead of this morning.” Cayden didn’t bother to defend that decision. He wouldn’t have given up his night with Trixie for anything. “Wasn’t as public as I was hoping for to get back in with Carver, but I guess it’ll do.”
Cayden snorted. “No wonder Massey thought you were a cop.”
Lee was silent for a second. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re methodical, man.” Cayden turned towards Trixie’s brother.
He had his long black hair combed straight back and tied off at the nape of his neck.
His mocha skin was slightly darker than Trixie’s, though that was likely from time in the sun.
“You think like a cop, a soldier. All action and no flair.” The man’s dark eyes narrowed.
Cayden rolled his in return, facing Romero’s again.
“I broke parole last night to spend more time with your sister. I’m stealing a car to get back in with the MC. ”
“What car?” There was a bit of curiosity lacing the ninja’s voice.
Cayden’s grin was malicious. “One he couldn’t refuse even if he wanted to.”
Their morning staff meeting took much longer than normal.
By the time Trixie dismissed her employees from the meeting, she felt gutted and flayed.
Their reactions to Cayden’s rabbiting ranged from anger and shock at Cayden to accusatory glares at Trixie herself.
She had been too nauseous during the entire meeting to even take a sip of coffee.
Throwing up was still an option for the morning.
It was the employees’ shouts that drew her attention on her way to her office.
She really just wanted some alone time to sulk, but she couldn’t ignore their yells of panic.
Trixie ran down to the showroom, along with every other employee who had heard the sales team.
Fear gripped her that someone had spotted Cayden.
She didn’t even know if he was here or if he had already met up with Lee and they were on their way to wherever it was they were going.
She had a feeling she would be jumping at shadows until he returned to her.
Trixie squeezed her way to the front of the gathered crowd of her employees and felt her stomach sink.
The lime green Porsche Spyder 918 that had sat in the center of her showroom was gone.
Her eyes went to the large garage doors on the left wall. They were the only way to get a vehicle in and out of the showroom. They sat firm and closed, just like always. Her alarms hadn’t gone off nor had she received a notification on the app on her phone that the doors were opening.
“Don’t touch anything!” she shouted when an employee went to reach for something lying on the floor where the Spyder had been. “Where the hell are those cops?”
Sutton and Hail came rushing into the showroom then. They had their weapons drawn but lowered. “What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”
“No, we are not okay!” Trixie shouted. What the hell was going on? “My fucking car has been stolen!”
“The green one? We saw it drive out.” Sutton holstered his gun.
“Why didn’t you go after it?” she demanded to know. “That’s an eight hundred and forty-five thousand dollar vehicle!”
The officers exchanged a sheepish look between themselves. Sutton cleared his throat, “Our cruiser was disabled. We couldn’t pursue.”
“We called it in,” Hail defended. “We have backup on the way.”
“We need all of your employees out of this area please,” Sutton informed her. His voice was deeper now, like he was trying to make up for their mistake by his current authoritative attitude. “This is an active crime scene.”
Cayden, what have you done?
“Officers.” Trixie and the cops turned towards Adam, who was standing the closest to where the Spyder had been. “You should see this.”
Trixie informed Jeff to get everyone out of the showroom and then followed the officers over to where Adam stood. He was the one who’d been reaching for something on the floor before Trixie had scolded him for nearly touching.
Her eyes narrowed. It was one of their service tickets. It was tented to stand up, the carbon copy on top. Hail quickly snapped a picture with his phone.
Sutton put on a pair of gloves, kneeling down in front of it. He picked up the note, only to find a small clear packaging underneath it. Hail put away his phone and then put on his own gloves to grab the plastic container.
Trixie knew what had been in the package before Hail said it. “Sparkplugs.”
She felt herself let out a long sigh. Of course, it was. And likely from her own stock in the motor pool too. Damn it, Cayden.
Sutton opened the note, his brows furrowing. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Trixie leaned forward to see writing she easily recognized and read out loud:
Thanks for the ride, baby girl.