| |
Craig grabbed a burger at the nearest fast-food drive-thru and hurried home. Once he arrived, he went straight to his study and logged into Rachel's email account, munching on his fries as he casually browsed through her inbox. Among the announcements about the latest sales at her favorite stores was a message from her sister. He unwrapped his burger and read the message. Alice and Donny's wedding and reception would be held at the La Corona Hotel in the nearby town of Oro Valley. Alice was confirming the day and time, along with all the other details. He plopped down his burger and printed out a copy of the email. Once it came out of the printer, he marked the message unread and resumed browsing through her inbox. He found a message from Pilar, wishing her luck with her dinner plans and she hoped Shane would like the lacy red underwear. Her words jolted him, so he tossed the remains of his burger aside. As he reread the message, his stomach twisted and his jaw clenched. So, Rachel had found herself another boyfriend. He leaned back in his chair, silently fuming as he recalled the scene in the parking lot the night before. He reread the email several more times more before finally marking it unread and logging out of her account. It was getting late, and he had to get ready for work.
The motel was in between night auditors, so Craig was filling in until they found a permanent replacement. Working the night shift gave him plenty of time to work on his human smuggling story, but being a day sleeper also meant less opportunity to keep watch on Rachel. Hopefully it wouldn't be much longer. He tossed what was left of his dinner into the trash and headed off to shower. Ten minutes later he was out the door, once again slowing his truck as he drove past Rachel's house. The blue sedan was still there. He hesitated for a moment, but he knew if he lingered too long he might be late for work. He clinched his teeth and drove away.
Twenty minutes later the motel came into view and his jaw dropped. Four police cruisers, with lights flashing, had gathered in the parking lot, and yellow crime-scene tape barricaded one of the ground-floor guestrooms. As he turned into the entrance one of the officers stopped him while another walked up to the driver's side door. Craig quickly rolled the window down.
"The motel is closed," said the officer, bluntly "You'll have to leave."
"I work here. I'm the night auditor."
The officer looked him up and down. "I need to see some ID."
Craig reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, carefully handing over his driver's license. The officer put it in front of his flashlight.
"So why do you have a California driver's license?"
"Because it's a temporary job," said Craig. "I'm staying with friends until I can find something permanent, but if it doesn't work out, I'm going back to Sacramento."
A pot-bellied man with a gray, stubbly beard approached the officer. "This man is one of my employees," he said, firmly.
The officer returned Craig's license and gave him a stern warning. "I don't care what your story is. You'd better get your driver's license and vehicle registration changed first thing Monday morning, because if I catch you with those out-of-state plates again, I'm pulling you over and giving you a ticket."
"Yes, sir."
The officer hurried away and the other man leaned into the truck window.
"So, what did you say to him?"
"Not much," said Craig. "He wanted to know why I didn't have an Arizona driver's license, so I told him I was only working a temporary job here, and that I might be going back to California."
"Really?" The man folded his arms across his chest and gave Craig a strong look. "So, is there anything I need to know about?"
"No, Eddie, there isn't. I simply have better things to do with my time than hanging out at the motor vehicle department."
"And I don't need any more unwanted attention from the cops, so I suggest you make the time if you want to continue working here. Anything else?"
"No, that was pretty much it. So what the hell happened?"
Eddie nodded toward the crime scene. "About an hour or so ago some guy got into it with his girlfriend, and she settled the argument with a forty-five."
"Really? So did she kill the guy?"
"He apparently died in route to the hospital, and she's been taken downtown. Then, just so my night would be complete, they found drugs inside the room, so now I've got the cops breathing down my neck. Meantime, I've shut the place down and refunded all of the other guests. At least it was a slow night. Most of them have already left, but as you can see, there're still one or two loading up their cars. We'll be closed until they complete their investigation, so you'll have to take tonight off. If all goes according to plan, we'll reopen at seven o'clock tomorrow morning, although room one-seventeen will be out of commission for a while, so I'll—Oh son of a bitch!"
A pair of headlights briefly illuminated the inside of Craig's truck. Seconds later a news van pulled up next to him. His boss stepped away and shouted at them to leave. Craig put his truck into gear and made a quick exit. He felt gleeful as he drove back across town. The opportunity for him to stake out Rachel's home would more than make up for the loss of a night's pay. He shut off the radio when he turned onto her street, but as he slowed down his joy turned into searing anger. Not only was the blue sedan still there, the house had gone completely dark. Obviously, Shane, this new boyfriend, was spending the night with her. The thought of him seeing her in the lacy red underwear and then having sex with her made his stomach turn. He shut down the engine and settled in for a long vigil. The sun came up a few hours later. It wouldn't be long before the summertime temperatures would rise to an uncomfortable level, and he didn't want to risk Rachel seeing him from her window and calling the cops. He fired up the engine and slowly drove away.