39
Parker followed Avery down the narrow sidewalk leading to the alley by the rear of her Fed Hill townhome. There’d been no front street parking, so they’d had to go around the rear and then cut through the alley connecting the townhomes. As Avery unlocked her back door, Parker spotted a shift of movement in the shadows.
His muscles coiled.
“Here.” He handed Avery his gun and whispered in her ear. “Get inside.”
“What?”
The shadow moved and a man raced down the alley.
“Go!” Parker shouted. He heard her door slam shut as he rounded the corner after the man. Without his weapon, he’d need to tackle the perpetrator.
The brick alley was dark, cool. It only went through the row of townhomes connected to Avery’s before ending at a ten-foot-high fence on the east side.
Sprinting, he made ground on the intruder, reaching out and tackling him just as he started up the fence.
Pulling his knife from its sheath, Parker held it to the man’s neck, not risking any chance that he might be armed.
The light from the streetlamp outside the fence hit the man’s face as Parker hauled him to his feet.
Parker hitched slightly. “Gary?”
“Gary?” Avery said as she opened her front door, stepping back and passing the gun off to Parker as they moved inside.
Parker slipped his knife back into its sheath and aimed his gun at Gary. He’d patted him down in the alley but found only a pocketknife. If Gary had come to threaten Avery, he’d come sorely under-armed. A pocketknife would hardly faze her.
“Take a seat on the couch,” Parker indicated with a wave of his gun.
“What are you doing here?” Avery asked, pacing, arms linked across her chest.
“Looking for you.”
That was backward. He was looking for them? “Why?”
“Because I want to know why you and those men were searching Crystal’s place.”
“You saw us?”
“I came around the back side of the park and spotted a parked car I didn’t recognize and then saw you guys coming out of Crystal’s place. What were you looking for?”
“What she took from Skylar’s safe deposit box,” Avery said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really? What about this?” She showed him the photo of Crystal pretending to be Skylar at the bank.
Gary swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“What were you after?” Avery pressed.
“What Sky had in that box.”
“Which was?”
“Crystal is looking at federal charges for bank fraud. You’re her accomplice. Now, we can put in a good word for you or say you didn’t cooperate. It’s up to you.”
“What? I ain’t no accomplice.”
“No? You made her the fake ID she used to commit fraud.”
“I didn’t know she was going to commit fraud with it.”
“What’d you think she was going to do? She’s over twenty-one. It’s not like the old days when we wanted to get into the bars underage.”
“I . . . I didn’t know what she was going to do with it.”
“Sure you didn’t. I bet Crystal will say otherwise.”
“She’s not going to talk to you.”
“After how you just rolled on her?” Avery said, pacing in front of him, hands fixed on her hips. “Please, she’ll be blabbing off everything you’ve ever done.”
“Like Avery said, we can put in a good word for you,” Parker offered. “Sounds like you could use somebody helpful on your side.”
Gary huffed and swiped his baseball hat off. “Fine.”
Avery took a seat.
“It was some test.”
Avery glanced at Parker and then at Gary. “Test?”
“Yeah, Crystal looked it up. It’s the one you take when you want to get into medical school.”
“An MCAT?” Parker said.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
This was all over some stupid test?
“Was there anything else in the box?” Avery asked.
“Yeah, another form. A rental agreement. Had the same guy’s signature on it, but the signatures were different.”
Someone cheated on their MCATs, and Skylar had proof. “What was the name on the MCAT?” Parker asked, adrenaline coursing, wondering if it was who they suspected.
“Some guy named Kyle Eason.”
He strode to Avery Tate’s front window. Now there were two men in her home. Two? He’d have to wait another day to grab her.
He raked a hand through his hair, the gel sticking to his fingers. This was taking too long. He had art to create. Longings to fulfill. If this went on much longer, he’d use the gun he bought and just take her—no matter who got in his way.