Nick and Parker were given a coffee shop that was close to the station. Parker made no mention of tracking down Durkavic’s whereabouts, and everyone walked out to the parking garage together, dispersing into unmarked sedans.
Avila pulled up next to Nick’s car. “Be careful.”
Nick nodded at her. “You, too.”
As he rolled up the window, he turned the keys in the ignition. “Okay. Where are we going really?”
“You said we were assigned the coffee shop.” Parker looked at him, all innocence, a small smile pulling at the side of his lips.
“But you think we need to be focusing on Durkavic, not Gile. So, where are we going?” Nick raised both eyebrows. “You can play cute and innocent—you’re very good at it—but I know you, Parker.”
“I’m notthatpredictable,” Parker grumbled.
“Trust me, I could set a metronome by how often you do things the SAPD has explicitly asked you not to,” Nick said.
“In this case, we weren’t toldexplicitlynot to check out Durkavic.” Parker grinned in what Nick assumed he thought was a charming way.
“No, but we were told to check out the coffee shop.” Nick pulled onto the street, using his GPS to find the place.
“And we definitely should check it out,” Parker said. “And on our way back, maybe we make a few other stops.”
“Where?” Nick narrowed his eyes, turning to glance at Parker before returning his gaze to the street. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“I mean, that depends on how much you like the smell of stale beer and urine this early in the morning.” Parker smiled charmingly.
“A bar?” Nick asked.
“Even better. The Quarter.” Parker pulled a notepad out of his satchel, flipping to the last page he’d written on. “Durkavic’s last day was pretty busy. So if we’re going to make it back to the station in time that no one gets suspicious, we’re going to have to move quickly.”
Nick groaned. “Parker, the Quarter is all the way on the other side of town.”
“Yeah.” Parker checked his phone. “And you drive like a grandma, so they’re definitely going to wonder where we are.”
He glanced at Nick, and Nick knew he was being goaded, knew that Parker was pressing some of his buttons on purpose. Still, he shook his head.
“Grab me the light out of the back seat.” When Parker handed the temporary police light to him, Nick slapped it on the roof of the car, turning it on along with the siren. “You’d better be right about this, Parker.”
Parker’s head was turned away from him, watching the city streets as Nick flew through them, cars getting out of his way.
“In this case? I really hope I’m not,” he murmured.
Frowning, Nick drove faster.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nick was alwaysglad he hadn’t had to work the Quarter since his first two Halloweens on the SAPD. The Quarter reminded him of everything that could go wrong with building code violations, health code violations, and overly confident young adults who were trying to go viral.
Parker directed him to a large, open building with a narrow parking lot out front. The parked cars all had bumper stickers with clever slogans likeBreatheandPeace is a Practice. The window was covered with flowing red curtains. A silhouette of a dog doing downward dog was printed on the shingle.
“Yoga?” Nick asked.
“Seven o’clock, Durkavic left Harriet Stacey’s house, came here for thirty-seven minutes, went to the university and fed the squirrels for fifteen, because he was a total sociopath and doesn’t care that those animals areferal, went to the bank, and then the smoke shop.” Parker frowned at the building.
“And that’s assuming he caught the parasite the day he was killed,” Nick said. “We might have to go back days.”
“No, I’m pretty sure he caught it here—the yoga studio has a back door.” Parker squinted up, but their proximity to thebuilding made it difficult to see beyond it, whatever was on the other side was invisible.
“Thirty-seven minutescouldbe a yoga class.” Nick got out of the car. “What makes you think he went through the back door?”
