Page 31 of Last Chance Christmas
He answered before the second ring. “Please tell me I can leave.”
“Ha. You stay put. You were shot.”
“I’m bored.”
“Then run this license plate. Tell me who the truck is registered to.” She went to the front of the vehicle and read off the numbers and letters. “Although, if they abandoned it, then we can almost guarantee it won’t lead to them. Otherwise, we’d have never found it.”
“You think they got washed down from the highway and ran off?”
Olivia said, “I spoke with a witness who said the truck came from up the hill and washed down with the mud. So I think they abandoned it on the side of the highway and tucked it up in the trees. When the mudslide happened, it got washed across the highway and down with the other cars.”
“Maybe they didn’t plan for anyone to find it. They thought they’d hidden it well, and they took off in street clothes to who knows…Okay, the search result populated. That truck belongs to Richard Wallace.”
“Any relation of Damien Wallace?”
Junior was quiet for a second. “His brother. The guy is a plumber, uses the truck for work. I’m gonna call Detective Ridgeman. She’ll want to interview him again. Find out if he knows where we can find Richard.”
“Get me an address. I’ll go talk to him.” She looked at her watch. “If I can get that done, I’ll make my date with Izan.”
“A date? With Izan?”
“Oh shush.”
“Are you kidding?” Junior said. “This is huge. It’s epic.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m out here in the pouring rain. Can we be done with this ridiculous conversation so I can get back to work before I’m soaked through to my bones, please?”
“Since you asked so nicely.”
Olivia sighed. “It’s just a first date.” Where she was going to meet his parents—which she would not be explaining to Junior. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
She hung up on Junior so she could have time to take a shower. Curl her hair.
Okay, fine.
It was a big deal.
But so was getting this done and finding those escaped prisoners. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the time off as much as she would if the world was a little safer.
So Olivia got back to work, trying not to think about kisses.
Fourteen
Izan had been on a roll after the best dinner ever. In fact, he’d have said he was on a roll…until he pulled into the parking lot.
Olivia stopped in the middle of talking about her afternoon after he’d left the scene. She said, “What is it?”
“Looks like they’re all here.” He pulled into a space.
“There’s only a handful of cars here.”
He winced. “And most of them belong to my siblings and my parents.” He spotted another couple of cars—the pastor and the church custodian. Why had he thought this was a good idea? Things had seemed great earlier, chatting with Olivia in the rain. Now his stomach flipped over.
“We can do something else. Or you could drop me at the station and come back by yourself.”
And everyone would know he’d chickened out. “No way.” He wasn’t going to be a coward. Ainsley had probably told them all he was bringing Olivia tonight, and they’d shown up so they could see her. Worst idea ever. He said, “Besides, I want to know if you found that guy. The convict’s brother.”
She unbuckled her seat belt. Rain on the windshield quickly blinded the view. Without the wipers on to clear it, they were suddenly cocooned in a world of their own. Almost like no one else existed. It seemed for a moment as if it was just the two of them.
