Was she?
“N-no. And your other siblings? Did they go into the law, too?”
He snorted. “The other side of the law. I have two brothers and two sisters. One of my brothers is in prison. The other is an ex-con, an OG who still holds court in East LA.”
“Wow. And your sisters? I’m afraid to ask.” She took a bite of her food, her teeth crunching into the taco. She’d been trying to buy time, not realizing she’d get Rob’s dramatic life story.
“My oldest sister is married to a criminal, repeating my mother’s sad story, and my other sister is getting her doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin.”
“How did you and your sister escape the family legacy?”
“Sheer willpower and a little luck.”
She handed him his fork. “I didn’t mean to ruin your appetite.”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly my favorite lunchtime topic.” He attacked his food again.
Rob’s attention to his lunch gave her some time to think of how she was going to frame her story. What was to frame? She lost her memory in the crash, and those two men gave her reason to believe she was in danger. Rob could help her.
She finished her food, took a sip of tea and patted her mouth with her napkin. As she took a deep breath, Rob’s phone rang.
He glanced at it and held up one finger. “Excuse me. I gotta take this. It’s work.”
He tapped the phone. “Valdez.”
He listened for a second, a crease forming between his eyebrows. “Yeah, yeah. You think it’s El Gringo Viejo?”
Jane’s heart slammed against her chest. El Gringo Viejo? Where had she heard that before? As she gripped the edge of the table with her hands, the voice of one of the men from the crash site came back to her and a piercing pain lanced the side of her head.
El Gringo Viejo was the person who wanted her dead.
Chapter Five
Rob half listened to his coworker as Jane’s face turned white. He raised his eyebrows and pushed a glass of water toward her. Damn, she needed a doctor.
The voice on the phone repeated, “How many tunnels are left to check, Rob?”
“Maybe three. Hey, can we continue this when I get back to the station? I’m in the middle of something.”
He ended the call with the other agent and grabbed Jane’s hand. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to pass out or be sick or both.”
“Just got a little woozy. I’m okay.”
No matter how many times Jane said that to him, he didn’t believe her. Who crawled from an accident like that with a head injury, on the run from some violent ex-husband, and refused to go to the police or the hospital? Refused to even call family or go home?
“Have some water.”
Jane—whose last name must remain a mystery—had more secrets than a Vegas magician. But she was no criminal, at least not that he’d discovered, yet.
He’d run her prints and nothing had come back. That didn’t mean a whole helluva lot. She could be a lucky criminal who’d never been caught. At least she hadn’t tried to jack Rosita’s.
Jane came up for air after chugging a glass of water, a little more color in her cheeks. “Do you mind if I take a nap at your place while you’re at work? I think I just need some sleep.”
A stranger in his house alone? A stranger swimming in secrets, steeped in lies? He’d offered. Did he think she’d be there only the same time as he would?
“Oh, oh.” She covered her mouth with one hand. “You were just pretending before with Rosie, weren’t you? I’m sorry. Of course you’re not going to allow some random person to stay in your house while you’re gone.”
Heat suffused his chest and Rob took a deep breath, battling to keep it from washing into his face. He’d offered his home to her, and she’d taken him at his word. And he’d meant it...at the time. His fellow agents were always warning him that even though Paradiso was light-years from LA in danger, he shouldn’t treat the place like a friendly little town.
They were too close to the border for that. Hadn’t Las Moscas, the most active cartel in their area, left a couple of severed heads on a Border Patrol agent’s doorstep?
Didn’t stop him from feeling like a jerk.
“Look...” He held out his hand.
Shaking her head, she ignored the gesture. “No, really. I understand completely.”
“Let me finish.” He pushed away his plate. “I’ll get you a room for the afternoon so you can sleep and rest up. Then you can come over for dinner, and we’ll play it by ear. I’m not sure you should be alone anyway, whether at my place or at a motel.”
This time, she put out her hand for a shake. “I accept your kind offer. I can pay you back for the room once I get some wages from Rosie.”
He clasped her hand, feeling it tremble slightly in his. “Don’t worry about paying me back.”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Rosie appeared next to their table, clutching a wad of bills. “This is for you, Jane, for your work today. I pay you in cash. You can come tomorrow, too, same time?”
“Absolutely.” Jane jumped from her chair and hugged Rosie. “Thank you so much.”
Rosie tapped her finger against the bruise beneath Jane’s eye. “You take care of yourself, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Do you need clothes?”
“I’ll pick up a few things.” Jane held up the money Rosie had just given her.
“I have that covered, Rosie.”
Rosie winked. “You’re a good boy, mijo.”
As Rosie disappeared into the kitchen, Jane’s smile faded from her face. “Was that offer for Rosie’s benefit, too?”
Rob swallowed hard. “No. You look about the same size as my buddy’s wife. I was going to ask her for a few things—I swear.”
“I’m just kidding around.” Jane pressed a hand against her heart. “I do understand why you wouldn’t want a stranger in your house when you’re not there. This all could be an elaborate ruse, and I might have an accomplice waiting outside town with a truck, ready to clean you out.”
Rob tugged on his earlobe. “Wow. I didn’t even think of that one.”
“We’d better get going if I’m checking into a motel.” Jane shoved away from the table and collected their dirty dishes. She carried them to the kitchen and said goodbye to the staff.
Rob waved on the way out of the restaurant. As he helped Jane into his truck, he said, “We’ll make a quick stop at the store for a few things.”
The few things turned into a basket filled with ibuprofen, vitamins, bottled water, juice, a couple of T-shirts, snacks and other things to assuage his guilt.
He booked her into the Paradiso Motel and stashed her new belongings, her only belongings, in the room. He snapped the key cards on the credenza next to the TV.
“Should I take one of those, just in case?”
Her whiskey-colored eyes widened. “In case I pass out or die in the room?”
Fear tingled at the back of his neck, and he clapped his hand over it. “Don’t say that. Just in case you need some help. Do you mind?
“I mean, I’m just as much a stranger to you as you are to me. You probably shouldn’t give your motel key to a strange man.”
“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, as a man wearing a baseball cap and walking toward her seemed to slow his gait and flash her some kind of sign with his hand. Jane’s step never even faltered, and Rob eased out a sigh.
He waited until she turned the corner, most likely on her way back to the motel, but even that seemed doubtful now. He wheeled onto the library’s side street and scrambled out of the truck. He poked his head around the edge of the building to make sure Jane wasn’t making a repeat appearance, and then strode to the entrance.
He eyed the three computers available for public use. A senior citizen was parked at one, playing a game of solitaire. The other two monitors glared at him.
She had to have been here using the computers. What else? She didn’t walk out with any books under her arm. Standing between the two machines, he tapped the keyboards—one with each hand.
Password screens popped up, and the old man seated at the other computer pointed to a slip of paper attached to the top of the monitor, his crooked finger waving in the air. “Passwords are right there.”
“Thank you, sir.” Rob pulled one keyboard toward him and entered the password. The monitor woke up and displayed a desktop with several available applications.
Rob ran the mouse across the application icons, hovering over a web browser. “Did you see a woman using one of these computers while you were here? She just left.”
The man removed his glasses, and his faded blue eyes assessed Rob from head to toe. He leaned forward and cupped his mouth with his hand. “Official business?”
“Yes, yes, it is. Official business.” Rob cleared his throat.
“She was here.” The old man raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Pretty little thing with hair the color of caramel candy.”
Rob’s hand jerked. He supposed Jane did have hair the color of caramel. “That’s her. Which computer was she using and...uh, did you notice what she was doing?”
“She was using the one on the end, but I could still smell her.” The man’s prominent nose twitched with the memory.
Rob raised one eyebrow. “Her smell?”
“Lemons—fresh and tart—just like my Lois.” The man closed his eyes, lost in the memory of his Lois.
Rob coughed as he sidled in front of the computer Jane had been using. “Did you notice what she was doing?”
The man opened one eye. “Surfing the internet. Why don’t you ask Julie, if this is official business? She can log you in to the young woman’s session.”
“I was just going to do that.” Rob squared his shoulders and marched to the reference desk. The old guy obviously knew more about how the public computers worked than he did.
Julie looked up at his approach. “Hi, Rob. Do you need something?”
“A woman was in here using one of the computers, and I’d like to find out what she looked up.”
“I can do that.” Julie came from b
ehind the reference desk and patted his arm. “All work and no play.”
Rob ducked his head. Julie had a daughter somewhere in Phoenix she wanted him to meet, but he hated setups and he hated blind dates. “We’re always busy.”
Julie dropped her voice to a whisper. “Is this woman a drug dealer? A mule?”
“Nothing that serious.” He put his finger to his lips and jerked his thumb at the man still playing solitaire.
Julie laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Beating your own records, Frank?”
“I’m workin’ on it, Julie.”
Julie perched on the chair in front of the computer Jane had vacated recently and tapped on the keyboard. She logged out and then logged back in. A few clicks later and she pushed back from the table.
“There you go. We’re back in her session. You can look at her browsing history to see what she’s been up to.” Julie traced the tip of her finger across the seam of her closed mouth. “And I won’t tell a soul.”
“Thanks, Julie.”
“Anytime you get a break, I’ll give you my daughter’s cell phone number.”
“I’ll remember that.” Julie’s poor daughter would probably be mortified to discover her mother was playing matchmaker for her.
Rob scooted closer to the monitor and brought up the history of Jane’s browsing session.
As he scrolled through the searches on drugs and drug cartels, his heart began to pound in his chest. When he got to the bottom and read the first search she’d entered, the blood pounded in his temples.
Jane had been searching for information on El Gringo Viejo—one of the most notorious drug suppliers in Mexico.
Chapter Six
The knock on the motel door made her jump. Wiping her sweaty palms on her pants, she stalked toward the door and leaned forward to peek through the peephole.
Rob took a step back so she could see his whole body. Several bags hung at his sides.
She puffed a breath from her lips, closed the knife and shoved it into her front pocket. She’d had a scare on the street earlier when a stranger wearing a cap had stared at her, and then flashed her a peace sign. She’d been afraid he’d followed her here.
Unraveling Jane Doe (Holding The Line Book 3) Page 5