Captured Lies
Page 22
Rising from his crouched position beside a house a few doors down from Bailey's, Payme saw the guy he'd run into, finally climb in his SUV and drive away. He stood up and moved along the shadows of the building. Since the girl had left and he'd already looked through her place and couldn't find anything, he might as well see if he could get his other career back on track. He walked around the house and up onto the deck, to look in the patio windows. The house was spotless and on the table he could clearly see a note. There was something about the personal touch of the handwritten letter that had him thinking twice about what he was going to do. But he needed to find alternative methods to bring in money again. Mr. L would be cutting him loose soon, especially when he found out that the girl had gotten away from him.
He snuck down off the deck and grabbed a rock out of the flowered rock garden and within minutes he'd broken the glass and had climbed in. The note let him know that he had plenty of time. The people were out of town for a few days and the message was for their neighbor. Crumpling it, he chucked it in the garbage before heading upstairs to the bedrooms. They were always the best places to start. Snooping through the house, he'd forgotten how much pleasure he got from peeking into the lives of others, of taking from the lives of others. He found jewels, old coin collections, cash, credit cards - all that he was looking for and more. Since time wasn't a factor he spent a good half hour searching through everything.
After he had his pockets and a nice leather duffle bag full, he headed out the patio door. Slithering over to the dark shadows along the fence, he waited several more minutes before making his move. He jumped over the fence and scampered through the yard to the next one. The back alley had proven once too often the place where he'd been caught. Instead, he chose to leap over fences and brush, dashing through yards, able to hide whenever the early morning partiers drove by.
His phone rang.
He immediately dropped to the ground, scrambling to grab the damn cell before it went off again. Since he wasn't used to carrying one, he hadn't thought about it. As he answered it, he fleetingly realized that Mr. Lund would want it back.
"She just left. Follow her. Make sure she leaves the city. Once she's gone, call me."
Payme didn't bother to tell Lund that he was across town and not on her tail, as he was being paid to be.
"That's it. What about them pictures?" Payme scratched his prickly, stubble.
"All that's been taken care of. You'll get a nice bonus for the work you've done. Call me when you're out of town. Make sure she leaves." Click.
The man stared at the cell phone in his hand. Something didn't feel right. He was to get her out of town. And then what? Was he being hustled? Was Mr. L playing him? He could be identified. The man he'd run into may or may not have seen his face. But the woman definitely had. It was time to get rid of her, no matter what he'd been told to do.
He'd called the girl earlier to scare her. With her gone, he knew he could look freely.
He'd wanted to get that picture. It might have been his retirement ticket. But she'd run to Lund and now he had the damn picture.
Payme slugged back several gulps of the cheap whisky he'd swiped. He shuddered as it hit his empty stomach. He pulled out his cigarette package and holding it below his nose, he took a long whiff. It had been a while since he'd had a fresh pack of smokes. Thankfully, bumming and smoking butts would now be on hold for a while. He reached into his shirt pocket to get his matches but they weren't there. He patted down all his pockets, nothing. Swearing, he looked around. He'd left his car a few blocks away. Trudging down the alley, he decided he'd get to his vehicle, smoke a few cigarettes, sleep a bit and then he'd give Mr. L a call and give him the information he wanted to hear.
Then he'd get Bailey when she came back to the house. Once he had her, he and Lund would renegotiate their agreement... after he'd had a bit of fun with her. Lund seemed a little too eager to keep tabs on her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN