“True,” she replied, and went back to watching the house.
We fell into a comfortable silence as we sat and waited. I wasn’t expecting much from this. Just wanted to get a lay of the land. See which neighbors paid attention and who to avoid when we eventually came back. Carrick had a building down in the same area he ran his empire, the guys were checking that out today. That would be where we’d likely hit him at, but just in case, I wanted eyes on his home, too.
And this was the exact reason why. I groaned to myself. “Heads up.”
Rue dropped the binos down to the floor boards and pasted a smile on her face as a woman shuffled up to my open window.
“Who are you?”
I lifted an eyebrow at the old woman. “Name’s Ralph.” I could feel Rue giving me a considering look.
“What’re you doing here, Ralph?”
“Waiting to meet with our realtor, Karen.”
“My name is Betty.”
“Of course it is,” I said with a grin.
She huffed out an offended breath, her eyes roving over my tattoos before settling on Rue. “We don’t like people to just be sitting in our neighborhood.”
“Good thing this is America,” I told her, voice still easy. Old biddies like her lived to cause drama and it took a lot to get under my skin.
“It’s private property,” she said with a sniff.
“Pretty sure the state owns the road, which is where I’m parked.”
She didn’t like my responses. “You’re rude.”
“You’re nosy,” I countered, grinning. I was beginning to enjoy this.
She huffed and put her hands on her plump hips. “This neighborhood doesn’t need riff raff hanging around. Move on,” she snapped as she started walking away.
A laugh made me glance over. Rue was shaking her head. “How are they all the same?”
“Karens?”
She nodded. “They take one look at you and assume the worst.”
“She took one look at me and assumed. I’m surprised she didn’t try to save you from the big bad biker,” I teased.
Her eyes roamed over me. “Guess I like riff raff.”
My smile spread over my face. “Want to go engage in some shady behavior?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I’m not having sex with you out here.”
I chuckled. “As much as I like that suggestion, I had something else in mind.”
We waited about fifteen more minutes, then crept around Carrick’s house after the coast was clear.
“What about cameras?” Rue asked in a low voice as we circled to the backyard.
Our backs were to the stucco of the house and I reached up, grabbing the camera stuck to the side of the house. It crunched under my boot. It was obvious that no one had ever given Carrick any push back. If they had, he’d have known his security system was shit. We made our way to the back door of the house and I pulled out my knife and flipped it open. Jamming the tip into the lock on the door, I started twisting it.
I worked in silence for a few moments until Rue’s voice made me freeze.
“OD.”
