Every Precious Thing

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Ready?” Logan asked as they neared the motel.

Dev grabbed the door handle. “Ready.”

Logan checked the rearview mirror again. The other car was still a full block behind them.

“Don’t worry about trying to catch up right away,” Logan told him. “Call me once you get going and I’ll tell you where we are.”

Just beyond Desert Inn was a small intersecting street that was mostly blocked from view by one wing of the motel. Keeping their pace steady, Logan flipped on his turn signal so as not to alarm the other driver with any sudden movements.

“Here we go.” He slowed through the turn. As soon as the building was between them and the sedan, he slammed on the brakes and shouted, “Now!”

Dev shoved the door open and hopped out in record time. The second he was clear, Logan took off again, accelerating until he matched the speed he’d been traveling at earlier. In the mirror, he could see Dev race across the sidewalk and crouch behind a car parked at the curb. He’d barely ducked down when the sedan appeared around the corner.

“Stay with me. Stay with me,” Logan muttered under his breath.

As the sedan came abreast of Dev’s position, Logan watched to see if the others looked over, but both remained focused on him the whole time.

Two minutes later, Dev called.

“I’m south of the motel,” Logan said, using the speakerphone. “You remember seeing that Sonic Burger on Center Street?”

“I remember it.”

“I’ll drive by that in three or four minutes.”

“Which way?”

“Away from the freeway.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Five minutes later, Dev called again. “I’m on you.”

Logan had been keeping an eye on his rearview mirror, but had seen no sign of the El Camino. When he looked this time, he caught a glimpse of blue in the distance.

It was time for part two of the plan.

“There’s a diner coming up in a couple blocks. I’ll use that.” If it was like before, their unwanted shadow would drive by, but this time Dev would be tailing them to see where they went.

Rosemary’s Eats sat in the middle of a lot, surrounded on all four sides by parking. Logan pulled in and grabbed an empty spot along the side, then turned and acted like he was talking to someone reclined in the chair. He kept a casual eye on the road as the sedan slowly passed. As soon as it was out of sight, he grabbed the photocopies of Diana’s rental file and went into the restaurant.

He sat at a booth in the back corner near the restrooms, out of view of the front windows.

“Something to drink?” his waitress asked as soon as he was settled.

“Water’s fine.” She set a menu in front of him, but before she could leave, he said, “Do you have a BLT?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll take that.” He handed back the menu.

“Fries?”

“Yeah. That’s fine.”

As soon as she was gone, he pulled out his phone and reconnected with Dev.

“What’s happening?”

“They doubled back after a couple of blocks, then parked on a side street just across from you.”

“What about you?”

“I’m in a strip mall a block away.”

“You can see them?”

“Absolutely.”

“That means they can see you, too.”

“Doubtful.”

Given Dev’s track record, Logan was willing to buy that. “Call me if something changes.”

“You got it.”

Logan set the photocopies in front of him. The first was the rental agreement, listing Diana Stockley as the tenant, and Hackbarth Holdings as the landlord. It was boilerplate stuff, skewed heavily in favor of the landlord. There were the terms, the rent, the security deposit, and, at the end, signatures-Diana’s, tight and clear, and Mark Hackbarth’s, large and important.

“Here you go,” the waitress said, setting his sandwich and fries in front of him. “Can I get you anything else?”

“No, this will be great. Thanks.”

Logan started in on his BLT as he moved on to the next document-the application. This one was more interesting. Under employment history, Diana had listed The Hideaway as her current employer, and someplace called Harkin Services as her most recent job prior to that, but had given no address or phone number for the latter. Next was a listing of previous addresses. There were slots on the form for four, but Diana listed only two. One was another address in Braden that corresponded to her first year in town. The other was a place in a town called El Portal, California. The name sounded familiar to Logan, but he couldn’t recall where it was. The dates she’d lived there, though, were the same dates she’d put down for Harkin Services.

But all that information paled when compared to the nine-digit number in a box near the top-her Social Security number.

Logan grabbed his phone, intending to email Callie the number, but before he could, he was greeted with a message saying he’d missed a call. Right, he remembered. His phone had rung when they’d been talking to Tessie. Turned out the caller was Harp.

Before calling him back, Logan accessed his email, composed the message for Callie, but stopped himself before hitting SEND. He quickly looked through the rest of the photocopies to make sure there wasn’t anything else that could be useful, and was glad he did. The last page was a copy of Diana’s driver’s license. Not only was there the license number, but also her middle name and date of birth. If that didn’t help Callie dig something up, nothing would. He added all this to the message, and sent it on its way.

That done, he called his dad.

“Logan. Oh, good.” Harp sounded agitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I…” He paused.

“Dad, are you okay?”

Still nothing.

“Dad?”

“Logan. I…I can’t find the letter.”

“What?”

“The letter Len left me. I can’t find it. It was in the book, but I checked a little while ago and it’s not there. I need you to come back, and take me to the motel. It’s got to be in the room, don’t you think?”

“Whoa, Dad. Relax.”

“How can I relax? I can’t lose it.”

“You didn’t lose it. It’s in my car.”

Silence. “Your car?”

“I saw it in the glove compartment.”

“I didn’t put it there,” Harp said. Logan could hear the phone move around, and his father’s voice became more distant. “Logan says it’s in the glove compartment of his truck.”

Even farther in the distance, Barney responded, though Logan couldn’t make out what he said.

Harp again. “You’re kidding me, right? When?” A pause. “I swear to God, Barney, if I was forty years younger, I’d kill you right now…no, I would. Don’t talk to me right now.” Harp’s voice got louder again. “Barney put it there. He…forgot. If you get a chance, drive by a drugstore and pick up some ginkgo!”

Trying to ease his father’s tension, Logan said, “The important thing is it’s not lost.”

“I want you to bring it to me. Can you do that?”

“Not right now, but later.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a little busy at the moment.”

He could hear his father take a deep breath. “As soon as you can, okay?”

“Sure, Dad.” Logan’s phone beeped; Dev on the other line. “I’ve got another call. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Thanks, Logan. Barney, I cannot believe that you-” The line went dead.

Logan switched calls.

“He’s on the move,” Dev said. “The woman was on the phone, and as soon as she hung up, they took off.”

“Which way?”

“South.”

“In a hurry?”

“No. Normal speed.”

“You’re still following them?”

“Roger that.”

“Sounds like this is a good time for me to sneak away while they’re not looking.”

“Definitely.”

Harp jumped up when Logan entered Pep’s hospital room. “Thought you said you couldn’t come right away.”

“I didn’t bring the envelope with me,” Logan said.

“Why not?”

“It’s still in the El Camino.”

“And?”

“I was in the Jeep. Dev’s got my truck.”

Harp looked past Logan at the door. “Is he on his way?”

“Dad, relax. It’s safe, all right? We’ll get it later.”

Harp frowned. “I wish you had brought it with you.”

Logan touched his dad’s shoulder. “It won’t be long. I promise.”

“So where is Dev?” Barney asked.

“Doing something for me,” Logan said.

“You found something out?”

“Working on a few things.” Logan paused. “How’s Pep?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Pep said from the bed.

Logan walked over. The bruises on Pep’s face had darkened, making him look worse, but the swelling had gone down around his eyes.

“Another couple weeks and you’ll be as good as new,” Logan told him.

“I’m fine now. I just want to get out of here and help you guys.”

“We’re okay at the moment. Just take your time and get better.”

“What will really make me better is a conversation with the guy who put me in here.”

Logan nodded sympathetically. “You didn’t tell me that you went to The Hideaway because the bartender at the Sunshine Room sent you there.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Pep said. “I barely remember that you were here at all.”

“The guy told me he sent you to see the bartender.”

“Yeah. Her name’s…um…uh…”

“Diana,” Logan said.

“Right. Diana. I tried to talk to her when I got there, showed her Sara’s picture, but she acted like she’d never seen her then walked off. I started to think maybe the other guy was just giving me a line to get a few extra bucks out of me.”

“You paid him?”

“I slipped him a twenty.”

“How long did you stay at The Hideaway?” Logan asked.

“I don’t know, another thirty minutes or so. She was my best lead by far, but she was always busy so I couldn’t get any time with her. I showed the pictures to some of the customers but wasn’t having any luck, so I decided to get some sleep and come back earlier the next night when the place wouldn’t be so busy.”

“And after you left?”

“When I reached my car, someone called out from between some buildings, gave me the impression he had information about Sara.” Pep’s lips pressed together in a tight line. “It was stupid. I wasn’t thinking danger. I was thinking I’d found something that was going to help.” He frowned. “If I were a little younger, he wouldn’t have gotten me like that.”

“He may have tried something else,” Harp suggested. “Like a knife or a gun.”

“You saying my age saved me, old man?” Pep asked.

“It’s possible.”

Pep cracked a smile. “Maybe. Anyway, as soon as I was far enough away from the street, he whacked me in the head.”

Logan hesitated, then said, “Diana’s gone.”

“What?” Pep and Harp said almost in sync. Barney, though silent, looked just as surprised.

“I did the same thing you did, just in reverse,” Logan explained. “The Hideaway, then the Sunshine Room. So when I talked to Diana, I had no idea about any connection to Sara. Unfortunately, when I finally found out and tracked her to her house, she’d left town.”

“When did you do all this?” Harp asked.

“Last night.”

“Last night? Well, maybe she just wasn’t home.”

“No. She was gone.”

“You’re sure?”

“Trust me, Dad. I’m sure.”

“Of course I trust you.”

Logan’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Dev again.

He stepped away from the bed to answer it. “What’s going on?”

“You’re not going to believe this,” Dev said.

“What?”

“They went to our friend Mark Hackbarth’s office.”

“Really?”

“Stayed inside for about ten minutes. After that they went back by the diner, but didn’t stay. My guess is that when they didn’t see the Cherokee, they had no reason to hang around.”

“Did you lose them?”

A grunted laugh. “No, I didn’t lose them. They’re at a motel near the highway. A place called The Happy Traveler. You want the room number?”

“You can tell me when I get there.”