“While you keep searching for Molly.”
“Yes.” She pointed. “Turn here.”
Max turned into Peter’s subdivision and followed her directions until she motioned to the one-story house on the corner. “It’s nice.”
Her lips quirked into a wry smile at his surprise. Junkies didn’t usually have nice places to sleep. “I pay for someone to do the yard each week. I don’t want the neighbors complaining.” She frowned. “I don’t recognize the car at the curb.”
Max had noticed the black Mustang, too.
“He may have company.” She hesitated. “Inside is pretty bad most of the time. Every once in a while I’ll come over to check on him and clean up some. It’s been a week since I’ve been here so no guarantees about what it looks like in there.”
He nodded. “I’ve seen worse, I’m sure.”
She knocked on the door and waited. Then knocked again.
*
Max was ready to concede Peter wasn’t home when the lock clicked. The door swung open and Peter stood there blinking in the sunlight, unshaven and offensive to Max’s nose.
Erica acted as though she didn’t notice. “May we come in?”
“Why?”
Impatience tightened her features. “Because we need to talk to you before the cops get here.”
That seemed to wake him up a bit. “Cops? Why’d you call them? I thought all that was straightened out last night. I just needed some cash.”
“For a hit.” Erica glared at him. “Looks like you found some.”
Pain flashed in his eyes for a brief moment then a silly smile crossed his dry, cracked lips. “Yeah. I did. Polo hooked me up. He’s got this friend named Sandy—”
Erica pushed her way inside. Peter stopped his explanation and didn’t protest, so Max kept his mouth shut and followed.
And wished he’d volunteered to wait outside.
Body odor and spoiled food assaulted his nose. Erica gagged and walked into the kitchen to the right. She shook her head and came back into the tiny foyer. “I’m not going to lecture.”
“Good. ’Cuz I’m not going to listen.”
Polo stumbled from the rear of the house. “Who is it?”
Peter sighed and rubbed his bleary eyes. “My sister and her friend. Let me take care of this.”
Polo eyed Erica. Then his gaze slid to Max. “She belong to you?”
“Yeah,” Max said before Erica could answer. He stared Polo down until the man gave a short nod.
“Bummer.” He looked at Peter. “Get ’em outta here. We got business.”
“Cops are on the way. You better vanish. Business can wait.”
With a glare at Erica and Max, Polo slipped out of the house. Within seconds, they heard the roar of the motor and the squeal of tires as he pulled away from the curb. Erica looked at Peter. “Were you at the corner of Henry and East Main earlier today? Like about an hour and a half ago?”
Peter squinted. “No, man. I was asleep. I haven’t left the house since I got home from Sandy’s.”
Knowing junkies sometimes got their facts skewed, Max asked, “What time was that?”
A shrug. “I don’t remember. Probably around eight o’clock this morning.”
“And you didn’t leave again?”
“I said no.”
“When did your friend show up?”
“About ten minutes before you did. He woke me up.”
“Where’s your car?”
He gave her a puzzled look. “In the garage where I always keep it when I’m not using it. What’s with the third degree?”
Max said, “Your car sideswiped us this morning.”
“What?” He laughed. “Not possible.” Peter shook his head and walked through the kitchen. He opened a door that probably led to the garage.
And gaped.
He spun. “It’s not there.” He paced to the sink and back to the door again. “Where’s my car?”
“That’s what we want to know,” said Max’s cop buddy from the front door where he stood next to his partner. “Peter Hayes?”
Peter held his hands up. “I wasn’t driving. I swear.”
“Can anyone give you an alibi?”
He swallowed hard. “I was asleep. I didn’t even know my car was missing.”
Chris and Steve exchanged a glance, then looked at Max. “What are you doing here?”
“The same thing you are.”
“We got the hit-and-run you called in.”
Max gestured to Erica. “She recognized the car.”
“But he wasn’t driving it?”
Erica shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I wasn’t!” Peter said. “I want to report a stolen car.” He ran a hand through his greasy hair. “I can’t believe someone stole my car.”
Max snorted as Peter muttered a few more dire threats on the head of the person responsible for the missing vehicle. He looked at Chris. “This the first time this has happened?”
“Yeah. I checked to see if he was a repeat, but he’s not.” Max was surprised. A missing car was a common call from drug addicts. They often loaned their vehicle to their addict friends and when the friend didn’t bring it back, they filed a stolen vehicle report.
Erica managed to calm her brother down enough to sit on the sagging couch.
Chris pulled out his notebook and said, “Tell me, in detail, where you were this morning and who would have taken your car?”
“I don’t know! That’s why you’re here, right? To find out?”
The man truly looked distressed. Max began to wonder if he wasn’t telling the truth.
Chris continued. “Who has the keys?”
“The keys were probably in it,” Peter mumbled.
“Uh-huh. And what crackhead did you loan it to?”
“I didn’t loan it to anyone.” Peter sighed and ran a dirty hand through his greasy hair. Max saw Erica wince and turn her face from the man’s odor.
“All right, give me the description of the vehicle, the tag number, make and model, color and all that.”
As Peter provided the information, Erica massaged her sore shoulder, and Max said, “Come on. We can’t do anything else here. Let’s get you some Ibuprofen then we can head to my house and I’ll show you Lydia’s room.”
They left Peter to fill out his stolen car report and to retell his story to the officers. Max wondered if they’d believe him, but as of right now, they didn’t have any proof to refute the story. Max knew Chris and Steve would continue to investigate the accident. He just hoped for Erica’s sake that her brother wasn’t lying.
Erica looked at the modest brick two-story from Max’s driveway. “Very nice.”
“I bought this house about four years ago.” Pride echoed in his words. “I’d never owned anything in my life. I lived mostly in apartments while trying to go to school and just keep my head above water financially, but when I decided to get custody of Lydia, I wanted someplace special to bring her.”
Together they walked toward his front door. Erica couldn’t help a glance over her shoulder, wondering at her feeling of being watched. She forced herself to brush it aside. Once inside the house, her uneasiness disappeared and she gasped in delight. “It’s beautiful. Did you decorate this yourself?”
A flush crept up into Max’s cheeks. “Well, I did the woodwork, the molding and the painting. A friend of mine helped me out with the decorating aspect.”
A friend? Erica couldn’t help wondering if that friend was more than just a “friend.” A little dart of jealousy shot through her and she stood still, shocked by the feeling. Not wanting to dwell on it, she turned back to admiring his home. Shiny hardwood floors made her pause. “Should I take off my shoes?”
He laughed. “No. You’re fine.”
A simple, classy chandelier hung overhead. Stainless steel appliances and granite graced the kitchen to the right. “It’s truly lovely.”
He motioned toward the steps. “Lydia’s room is up
stairs.”
Erica followed him up the steps, her fingers trailing over the banister. At the top, he turned left and entered the first room on the right. Erica stepped inside and was once again impressed. “I can’t believe she didn’t want to stay here. It’s charming, but simple enough she could put her own stamp on it if she wanted to.”
Max gave her a warm yet sad smile. “Yeah, well, I’m still not her favorite person so—” He shrugged, and she could tell his heart was heavy.
She laid a hand on his arm. “Maybe she’ll come around soon.”
“Maybe.”
Even though she felt sorry for Max and the angst his sister was putting him through, she still couldn’t get past the fact that the evidence pointed to Lydia’s guilt. She removed her hand.
“What if she’s staying away because she’s guilty and she’s afraid you’ll turn her in to the cops?”
He sighed and dropped his head. “It’s more likely that she’s staying away because she believes that I think she’s guilty. That’s one of the reasons I have to find her. I have to convince her that I believe in her.”
“Do you have to convince her? Or yourself?”
Max stared at her. “You’ve already got her tried and convicted.”
“And you’ve bypassed the evidence and are letting your emotions get in the way.”
Max held up a hand. “We’ve agreed to disagree. Can we please not argue about it?”
Erica sighed and looked at the closet. “May I?”
“Sure.”
She opened the door and saw a few outfits and several shoe boxes lined up on the shelf. She went through them, hoping to find anything that might lead her to Lydia. Disappointment spiked when she only found shoes that would appeal to a young woman. “Did you buy this stuff for her?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got good taste.”
He gave a short laugh and pulled open the top drawer of the dresser. “I’ve searched her room each time she’s stayed and never found anything.” He rummaged through the next drawer. “I think she figured I’d search and just didn’t bother bringing anything here.”
Erica planted her hands on her hips. “You could have told me that.”
His sad smile speared her. “You needed to see for yourself.”
He was right. She gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, and they finished the search together in silence.
They came up empty.
Erica ran a weary hand over her face. “Well, it was worth a try. Thanks for letting me look.” She thought for a moment then said, “Do you have time to go to Bea Harrison’s house?”
He glanced at his watch. “I can call her and see if she’s home.”
“That would be great.”
As Max called, Erica stepped outside in the chilly afternoon air.
From the corner of her eye, Erica noticed a green car rolling down the street. “Max, I think that’s my brother’s—”
A gunshot cracked and wood from the porch roof rained down on them.
SIX
Erica screamed and ducked. Max grabbed her against him, shielding her with his body as he fell back inside his house and kicked the door shut. “Get behind the sofa and crouch down.”
He peered out the window. The vehicle sat in the middle of the street in front of his house. His blood pounded through his veins as he saw the barrel of a rifle appear in the open passenger window.
He ducked back down. Another burst of gunfire erupted. Windows shattered as he hunkered beside the front door. Max winced as flying glass grazed his face. Heart thudding, he waited.
He could hear Erica on the phone with a 911 operator, giving a status report in a shaky voice.
Tires squealed on the street out front and Max peered through the broken window. The green car shot down the street and the sudden quiet echoed in his ears.
People peered from behind pulled curtains. Doors opened and curious neighbors with stunned expressions stepped out onto their porches once they realized the threat was gone.
“Erica,” Max called, “are you all right?” He rushed into the den to find her still on the floor behind the couch, phone pressed to her ear.
Pale and shaken, she looked up and nodded. “Are you?”
“Yeah.”
“The cops are on the way.”
He helped her up and felt her pulse jumping under his fingers. “That was pretty close.”
She swallowed hard. “Too close.” She searched his face. “So is someone after me? Or you?”
He lifted a brow and pursed his lips. “That’s a really good question.”
“You have some enemies you need to tell me about?”
He smirked. “The list is endless.”
“I’ve made a few people mad in my line of work, too.”
He shook his head. “I really can’t think of a way to narrow the list, but I’ll call Chris and see if he’ll look into it. I can think of four or five characters I’ve arrested who’ve made threats to get even. We’ll see what they’re doing now.”
“And I’ll get Jordan or Brandon to look into the same thing on my end.” She chewed her lip. “Although I have to say I really think this is somehow related to this search for your sister.”
He wanted to protest, but he didn’t have any proof that she was wrong, so he didn’t argue. And he couldn’t say the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.
Sirens sounded as law enforcement descended. Chris bolted from his cruiser as Max stepped outside. Chris shook his head. “I recognized your address over the radio. You okay?”
“Yeah. Just a drive-by with lousy aim, fortunately.”
Chris eyed him with a frown. “Man, I’ve seen you more in the past twenty-four hours than I ever did when we actually worked in the same precinct. What have you got going on? Someone tries to take you out in a hit-and-run this morning, then this?”
“I know.” Max knew the two incidents were related. There was no doubt it was the same car, thanks to the scrape alongside the passenger-side door. “I’m looking for Lydia. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Someone doesn’t want you to find her?”
“Lydia doesn’t want me to find her, but I don’t think she’d shoot at me.”
“And I don’t believe Peter would try to run us off the road,” Erica said.
Max looked doubtful and asked Chris, “Do we have a location on Peter while this shooting was going on?”
Chris shook his head. “We left soon after you did. We’re not ruling him out. He’s still a suspect and it’s very possible he’s hiding the car, but right now there’s no evidence. Although the plate I got this morning was definitely registered to Peter. We’re going to keep looking into this and keep an eye on him.”
“Great.” He glanced at Erica. “Because the car that was involved in the drive-by was the same one from this morning.”
“What? Peter’s?”
“Yeah.” Max drew in a deep breath. “Looks like we need to ask him some more questions.”
Max watched the officers question neighbors and put up the crime scene tape. The crime scene unit started looking for the bullets.
An hour later when they’d talked to everyone they could find that might have seen something, the officers left.
Erica gave him a weary smile and glanced at her watch. “I need to get going.”
“I’ll drive you. Where to?”
“I volunteer at the community church on Main Street serving meals to the homeless.”
Max gave her a hard look. “The homeless? Why would you want to be around people like that?”
She blinked. “People like that?”
“A lot of them are criminals. They’ll take advantage of you the moment your back is turned. Or kill you.”
Shock made her blanch, then her face turned red. “Really? That’s what you think about the homeless? How sad.” She shot him a look full of anger mixed with pity. “Forget the ride. I’ll get someone else to drive me.”
Max watched her stomp off and winced. He’d obviously offended her, but she was just such an innocent when it came to watching out for herself. Someone had to do it. Right?
Possibly, but he could have phrased his concerns better. Been less blunt. Just because his experience with the homeless hadn’t been ideal didn’t mean he could push his feelings on Erica.
He’d have to apologize and explain his strong reaction. She still had her stiff back toward him. That is, he’d explain if she gave him a chance.
*
Erica sat at her desk and stared out the window. Twice today her life had been in danger. And twice today, she’d been involved in giving statements to the police.
Of course Max could say the same. She thought about his negative reaction to her charity work and tightened her jaw. She had to forget about that for now and focus.
She wanted to find Lydia.
Max had called to say that Bea Harrison hadn’t answered her phone but that he’d keep trying, and let Erica know when he reached her. His words had been stilted, but not rude. She’d kept her attitude chilly but polite. She supposed she should apologize.
She grimaced.
But there was another issue that wouldn’t leave her alone. Max thought the homeless people who came to be served a free meal at the church were dangerous criminals. That said a lot about his character.
She suddenly found herself on the verge of tears. What was going on?
If she really thought about it, Erica had to admit that she found Max…attractive. In a way that she hadn’t found anyone attractive in a very long time. Maybe she’d been hoping that at some point, after this was all over—if it was ever all over—there might be something between them.
But that wasn’t going to happen. Not after that comment.
It had been all she could do to hold her tongue when he’d said that.
“What’s going on with you?” Brandon demanded as he entered her office.
Erica jumped, startled. “What do you mean?”
He leaned over the desk opposite her, his green eyes fiery with concern. “First the car wreck, then getting shot at?”
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