Chapter Six

“I’m sure," she said. "Thanks for everything, and I’ll see you tomorrow maybe.”

“Oh, for sure you will. I’ll be here at three o’clock.”

“OK, great. See you then.”

“Goodnight, Gabriela.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he finally turned. “You sleep well, alright?”

“I will. Goodnight.”

She locked the door behind him, and that was when her knees gave out. She sank to the bed, trembling, the night’s events finally starting to really hit her. It was like by being safe to fall apart, she just went ahead and did exactly that. She sat, her arms wrapped around herself, and rocked back and forth on the bed.

You’re safe, you’re OK. Chances are they have no idea you were even there, but if they do, they won’t find you here. You have some time to get your head together.

After ten minutes, her shaking stopped and she felt exhausted, all the way to her bones. It took all she had to get to her feet and scrub the shower, sink and toilet, but she did it. She had a hot shower and brushed her teeth before slipping into Aidan’s t-shirt. Immediately, her senses were overwhelmed by the smell: masculine, uncompromising, strong. All Aidan.

Soothed by his invisible presence, she climbed into bed now, the shirt pulled up over nose so she could breathe him in more deeply. The noise from the bar was distracting, but it was going on three o'clock now and she was done. She remembered to set her cell phone alarm for nine o’clock, then she closed her eyes, let sleep take her away from this whole awful day.

I’ll figure out what to do tomorrow. For now, I’ll sleep.

It’s all going to be fine.

****

Trigger MacGee stared at the list of staff names. He was damn sure that he was looking for a woman, judging by the size of the footprints, who had some reason to be at Parker’s Garage at midnight on a Friday. The list was short, he saw now.

Exactly two names long. That makes things fucking easy, huh?

“So who the fuck are Gabriela Torres and Juana Navarro?”

“The cleaning bitches,” explained Ace Cuddy. “They’re there three times a week, and they’re supposed to be out by eleven. But I guess one of them was there late tonight.”

“Fuck.” Trigger shook his head. “OK. These cunts legal or what?”

Ace checked some documentation. “Torres is for sure. Navarro – hard to say. No ID on file.”

“Nothing on Navarro at all?”

“Nope. They’re both paid in cash, but Torres has a passport number and a driver’s license. Nothing at all on the other one, though, so she may be an illegal.”

“So we start with her. If she disappears, I bet not many people will be rushing to the cops to report it, you get me?”

“That seems to be the way these fucking illegals work,” Ace agreed. “They avoid the cops like the plague, and they understand ‘wrong place, wrong time’ justice just fine.”

“Good.” Trigger’s cold blue eyes narrowed. “Addresses?”

“Nope, not here. But I’ll get them, don’t you worry. I’ll talk to Spicer as soon as I can track him down, find out what he knows about them.”

“You do that, man. Finding these bitches is priority number one.”

“You think they’re hiding?”

“I expect that they are, actually. But nobody’s ever been able to hide from me once I made up my mind to find them.”

Ace nodded. That was true and he knew it.

These women are dead fucking meat. I wonder if they have any idea who they’re screwing with?