Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses (A Tara Holloway Novel Book 8) by Kelly Diane

Author:Kelly, Diane [Kelly, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781466849136
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2015-03-02T23:00:00+00:00

chapter nineteen

Mistakeout

On my drive home from the gallery, I decided to swing by the apartment complex near Town East Mall where Terrence Motley had gone after picking up the backpack from the Waffle House. Maybe he’d show up again tonight. If I could figure out which unit Motley went into, I could pass that information along to Nick. After all, the more information I could gather, the quicker the DEA could resolve the cartel case, right? And if there was anything I wanted, it was a quick resolution. With my nerves on edge and my mind constantly consumed with worry, it felt as if Nick had been gone forever, the seconds passing like centuries. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

I waited at the curb fifty yards from the entrance until a car turned into the complex. Hurriedly, I started my engine and drove up behind the other car, staying close on its tail as it went through the open gate. I hoped my behavior wouldn’t seem suspicious. When Alicia and I had lived at a gated apartment complex after college, people regularly followed other cars through the gate and nobody thought twice about it. As big as the complex was, this kind of thing probably happened all the time.

Having made it through, I circled the parking lot, looking for the pickup but not spotting it, before I settled on a parking space near the exit. From that vantage point, I could keep an eye on the entire lot, plus execute a quick getaway if needed. Throwing my gearshift into reverse, I backed into the space and cut my engine.

I’d been sitting in the dimly lit lot for an hour, keeping a lookout for Motley’s truck and watching a romantic comedy on my phone, when my eyelids and head began to feel heavy. Between working virtually nonstop on my cases and not getting enough good sleep, I was beyond tired. Still, I couldn’t afford to take the power nap I craved. If I sat out here and missed Motley, my efforts would be for naught, and Nick and Christina would have to spend even more time undercover with the cartel.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I wouldn’t let that happen.

I blinked, performed a dozen seated jumping jacks to get my blood moving, and slapped my own face for good measure. Ow! That ought to keep me awake for a while. But just in case things went awry, I set the timer on my phone to go off in fifteen minutes.

Things went awry.

Despite my efforts to stay awake, a thick mental fog rolled in. My head nodded forward, snapped back, and nodded forward again.

Rap-rap-rap.

I jerked awake. What the heck?

Glancing frantically around me, I spotted a man in lounge pants and a T-shirt standing next to my car window. When our eyes met, he made a motion for me to roll the window down.

“I’m the onsite property manager,” he said. “I got a report that someone was sleeping in the lot.”

Looked like I was that someone.

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