Baz swung into a spot and hit the brakes, forcing JJ to put her hand on the dash to avoid a head-on collision. She glared at him as she unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her wallet. She hopped out and strolled to the machine, listening as best she could to see if she could pick up anything.
“She came right in the office and stole my keys,” the woman was complaining. “That’s her beat-up piece of crap behind the building.”
“Was she staying here?” one of the officers asked.
“Room one-oh-four.”
JJ looked over at the door beside her. One-oh-four.
She peered back at Baz, then to the officers. It took a second, but she bought a Coke, then took it to the driver’s side of Baz’s truck. He was frowning at her as he lowered the window.
“Juliet Prince was stayin’ in that room,” she muttered, nodding in the direction of the door.
“She’s not in there,” he said quickly.
“Well, duh.” JJ hadn’t figured she was. “But what if she left her stuff behind?”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she just ran over a woman and was runnin’ from the police. She did steal that woman’s car.”
Baz leaned toward her. “JJ, we don’t know that this was Juliet Prince.”
Again, she glared at him. “Don’t be an idiot, Baz. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this shit out. But I’m startin’ to worry about your detective skills. I think they’re a little rusty.”
That was enough to get a rise out of him.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked, his voice grumbly with his irritation.
“Distract the cops.”
His eyebrows shot skyward. “Distract them? And how do you propose I do that?”
“Well, you were a cop once. Figure it out.”
He opened the door, stepped out. “And while I do that, what’re you gonna do?”
She nodded toward the room. “I’m gonna see if she left anything behind.”
Baz shook his head. “No, ma’am, you’re gonna get—”
JJ got closer, went up on her toes so they were almost eye to eye. “Distract them,” she hissed under her breath.
She didn’t wait for him to scold her. JJ pivoted around and headed for room 104. Lucky for her, she’d learned a few things from her mischievous brother when she was a kid. One of those things happened to be how to pick a lock. It had become a game with them, always besting the other, trying to see who could get into a lock faster. They’d mastered a wide variety of locks that way. And it just so happened she had her little set with her. Then again, she almost always had it with her because Jeremy had bought it for her.
Glancing back, she saw Baz approaching the officers. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she didn’t need to. They divided their attention between Baz and the woman whose car was stolen.
Without wasting time, JJ pulled out her tools, stepped in close, and bent down, hoping Baz’s truck would hide what she was doing. It took about thirty seconds, which felt like four days, but she managed to get the door unlocked.
She stepped inside, closed it, and flipped on the light.
Sure enough, this was someone’s room. There was a towel flung over the wooden desk chair and an empty bag of Fritos on the nightstand. One of the twin beds was unmade and there was an open suitcase on the other.
Knowing she had little time to waste, she hurried to look through the suitcase. She found nothing that would help them figure out what Juliet’s next move might be, only a handful of clothes. On to the small bathroom, she glanced at the hygiene products—shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash. Aside from some DNA the police could use to identify Juliet, there was nothing of use to JJ.
She hurried back to the door, peeked out the window beside it. Baz was still talking to the officers, but now the woman was no longer out there.
Crap.
