No Safe Place by Sherri Shackelford

Author:Sherri Shackelford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-10T14:56:35+00:00

* * *

The dealership Corbin had discovered online didn’t appear entirely reputable.

Beth wrinkled her nose. “Are you certain about this?”

The lot sat on a corner between a Mexican restaurant and an abandoned gas station. Thirty or so vehicles in various stages of rusty, dented disrepair were neatly parked in diagonal slots. Most of them featured enormous balloons attached to the hoods, and several sported signs declaring the slogans: Runs Great! Low Miles! Automatic Transmission!

Corbin tented his hand and peered through a windshield. “I wanted someone who doesn’t mind dealing in cash, and who doesn’t feel the need to ask a lot of probing questions.”

“Someone who advertises an automatic transmission?” Beth tugged on a balloon string. She pictured Sam Cross’s smiling face, his son in his arms, and her smile faded. “They must be using the advertising signs from the eighties.”

“I guess there was nothing else good to say.”

“Now I’m worried.” She let go of the string, and the balloon bobbed back into place. “That was nice what you did, for the clerk back there.”

The hotel clerk’s quick thinking had saved them a lot of time and trouble. Corbin’s superior had run the car plates through the system. The security camera from the train station and the parking garage had revealed the same sedan.

Same plates. Same car. Same men.

The police had found the car almost immediately, though not the two men. They were on alert, but confident they’d be captured soon. Discovering the abandoned car had narrowed the search parameters. Either way, the loss of the car was bound to slow down the men. With the threat mitigated, they’d decided to purchase transportation. Corbin had chosen to keep their names off the radar. While she appreciated his caution, all the extra safeguards felt redundant.

“Nothing nice about it,” Corbin said. He felt beneath the fender of the nearest car and retracted his hand. Rust flakes coated his fingertips. “The kid has good instincts. He was reading a spy novel while I was doing the crossword puzzle this morning. Figured he was wasted in the hotel business.”

“It’s freezing.” Beth blew a puff of warm air into her cupped hands. “I should have waited for the California Zephyr and gone south.”

“We’ll buy you a new coat as soon as I finish here.” He crouched and touched the dented fender of a Runs Great! Ford Eclipse. “Why’d you change your mind about going south in the first place?”

“The parking garage. After those men found me, I decided to change course.”

He stood and dusted his hands. “Thought it was me.”

“That, too.”

Corbin’s expression grew intense. He was studying her, as though trying to divine her thoughts. He needn’t have bothered. Her thoughts were simple. She wanted this over. She wanted to go back to work at another company where nobody remembered her name.

Her heart sank. No. That wasn’t true, either. She was tired of being anonymous. She wanted to feel as though she was a part of something bigger. While she enjoyed her work, moving from company to company had left her feeling empty.

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