Page 71 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
Mechanically, she extended her arm with the keys. “Knock yourself out.”
Hail moved Jeff and Trixie away from the vehicle as his partner donned a pair of latex gloves. She hadn’t locked the car yet, but he still pressed the unlock button on the remote. She felt like throwing up. What now? What if she feigned fainting to draw their attention?
The officer methodically looked through the driver and passenger front seats and then did the same in the back. He was looking for more than just Cayden, because there clearly wasn’t a man sitting in the body of the car. Her knees near gave out when he popped the trunk of her Firebird, hand on his holster, and she nearly fainted for real.
She needed to stop them. Needed to distract them. She had to give him a chance to get away…
To her shock and amazement, there wasn’t a shout or a struggle. Cayden hadn’t leaped out of the trunk the moment it was opened and made a run for it. She saw Sutton duck under the lid, rummage around a bit, and then close it.
Trixie blinked. What the fuck? Where was Cayden?
“It’s clear,” Sutton announced walking up to them. He handed Trixie her keys back. “We appreciate your assistance, Ms. Romero. There will be a car parked outside your residence if he shows up there. Hail and I will be around here today. You should be aware that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. Please inform your staff to notify us if they see him.”
Trixie took back her keys. Her entire body felt like it was weighed with lead. Where was Cayden?
“Thank you, officers,” she heard Jeff say through the ringing in her ears. “Please feel free to use our facility as needed, including this wonderful new Italian roast we have in the breakroom.”
The officers extended their hands to them both with gratitude. They walked off towards their cruiser, which was parked out at the edge of the parking lot.
“Get inside, Trixie.” She felt an arm pull her in the direction of the building. As soon as they were inside, Jeff rounded on her. “What the hell is going on? You expected those officers to find Cayden in your car, didn’t you?”
She flinched. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would Cayden have been in my car?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “But you suck at lying. Whatever it is that is going on, do not get Romero’s involved, Trixie. You’ve worked too hard to ruin everything now.”
Trixie’s back stiffened. His accusation stung. How dare he think she’d do anything to hurt herabuelo’s legacy? “Jeff, youare a friend and a valued employee, but if you ever suggest or insinuate that I wouldknowinglybring ruin to this place again, you’re fired.”
He didn’t blink at the threat. “All of the employees are in the breakroom with Joey. What do you want to tell them?”
“The truth,” she said. “They’ve earned it. Cayden broke parole and he’s on the run. If they see him, they are to call the police. Did you get those officer’s information so we can call them if needed? I have the card from the two who stopped by my house last night too.”
Jeff didn’t move. “That’s twice you’ve called Bobby’s place your house. Are you planning on moving back in there, Trixie?”
Not alone, she thought before banishing it. “I’ve been debating on it. I figured I’d fix it up. If I don’t want it at the end, it might be time to sell it.”Not our house, never our house.
Jeff nodded once. “I’m glad to see you’re finally doing something with it.”
“We need to get to the breakroom,” she reminded him.
Cayden watched Trixie and Jeff speak with the officers outside Romero’s. He’d suspected that the police would beat them to the shop. He’d bailed out of the Firebird at a traffic light stop. The woman in the car behind Trixie had gaped at him but he just gave her a smile, waved, and run off. The only thing that could have made that encounter more amusing would have been if his hands had been bound, maybe a stretch of duct tape across his mouth.
He wanted to chuckle at his wayward thought, but he concentrated on Trixie. He was putting her in a dangerousposition, making her lie to the police for him. Once again, he wished Lee had never involved her.
Her brother stepped up next to him on the sidewalk. Cayden hadn’t heard the man’s approach or seen a vehicle. Maybe having a stealthy ninja on his side would come in handy. The man escaped drowning, he assumed in the gulf, with a cinderblock attached to his feet.
Lee was perhaps an inch or two taller than Cayden and broader in the chest. Bathed, shaved, and in his own clothing, Lee looked slightly less menacing than he had the day before. Just slightly. Cayden got the feeling the man could be very deadly when he wanted to be.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Annoying,” was the curt answer. “How’smihermana?”
“Lying to the police.”
“Better lying to them today than dead tomorrow because someone suspects she knows too much.”
Cayden flinched at the man’s deadpanned rationality. The stealthy ninja really needed to take some heart lessons from the Grinch. “You’ve gotten her protection detail?”
“The officers you see there will be here today. They think they’re here for you, but they won’t turn their backs if anything else happens. Tomorrow an undercover will be parked down the street. They’ll rotate shifts between here and the house.”
