I’m not sure how, but that one night became a one-week stand. We were together every day and night of my leave. And when I had to go back to Virginia, neither one of us wanted it to end. Despite only being together a week, we made a long-distance relationship work until I was able to return just over six months later.
But that was when everything went wrong. Fortunately, my phone rings because that’s not part of our story I like to think about.
I answer the call, and Trip’s voice comes through the speakers.
“Hey, Duke used his credit card at a motel in Henderson.”
Henderson? “Do you think they’re headed for Vegas?”
“Not sure, but figured if he’s there for the night, you can catch up to them. How far are you from there now?”
“At least two hours away.”
“Okay, I’ll send you the motel details so you can pull up the address when you get closer. Also, the car registered to the room matches Duke’s. What I don’t know is how many people are in that room.”
That’s the problem. I don’t know if anyone else is with them, forcing them to drive. I’m also curious how Trip was able to tap into the motel’s records, but I don’t ask him for details. When Reed hired me, he made it clear Trip can find just about anything you need, but never ask him how he does it. He won’t tell you anyway.
“Thank you. I really appreciate this.”
“Anytime. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do.”
I end the call and settle in. Hopefully, in a couple more hours, I’ll find them, and then Brian can put them in protective custody. Although the idea of Duke going along with that seems unlikely.
CHAPTER10
Delaney
Duke opensthe car door and leans in. “I got us a room. Let’s go.”
We step inside, and I want to step back out. But unfortunately, we are stuck here.
There are two beds, thankfully, but the covers are orange, and the carpet is a shade of brown that I’d bet is from the eighties. There is a faint smell of cigarette smoke mixed with mildew and bleach.
“It’s just for the night.”
“Did this use up all your cash?” I ask sarcastically. While I know he grabbed whatever was in the safe, I have no idea how much that was. But based on what I saw, it was a lot.
When he went to rent the room, I counted what I had on me, and it’s only twenty dollars. I’m not used to carrying much cash.
“No, I used the credit card.” He walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.
The credit card? What the hell? “Duke!” I yell to him. “You tossed our phones because they can be traced, but you used a credit card here?”
He pops out of the bathroom. “Nelson’s family can trace our phones. They don’t have a way to trace credit cards.”
My brother is not this naïve, is he? I glance out the window. At least his car isn’t near this room.
He comes out of the bathroom and flops onto one of the beds. I turn to face him. “Nelson might have paid off a cop to run a search on your credit card.”
Duke smiles. “He might, but he won’t get the results for a few days. Trust me. I know how it works.”
I don’t trust him, but I don’t have much of a choice right now. Considering we have no clothes other than what we are wearing and no toothbrush, I get as ready as I can for bed.
When I crawl into bed, I notice the bleach aroma is stronger. Fortunately, I’m too tired to care.
“I set the alarm to wake us in exactly five hours, so try to get some sleep,” he says.
