Page 88 of Jack
Conrad glanced at Stein, who lifted a shoulder. “Were you able to salvage anything?”
Jack shook his head. “It’s all gone. But you know, it’s just stuff.” Still, his mouth pinched at the edges.
Right.
He’d kept walking and now opened the market door and headed right up to the clerk. “Hey, Anna. Is Gordo here?”
Anna nodded, her attention casting over to Stein and Conrad, then to Harper, back to Jack. “In back.”
Jack headed behind the checkout counter, knocked on the doorframe, and a man, early forties, a little extra padding, a full head of gray hair, got up from his desk.
“Jack. So sorry. Do the police have any leads?”
Jack had reached out to shake the man’s hand and now stepped back. “No. But I was wondering if I could take a look at that footage.”
“I was just looking at it.” Gordo returned to his desk and moved the computer around. A camera had stopped on a white sedan with an orange door, graffiti on the body. “Seems I’ve seen that car before, but?—”
“I have too,” Harper said. “At Echoes Vinyl Café.”
Jack nodded, looked at her. “Yes. That’s where. I knew I’d seen it, but I couldn’t . . . You’re brilliant, Harper.”
She just stared at him. He’d called herbrilliant?
Jack turned back to Gordo. “Can you text me that picture?”
“I don’t want to get in trouble with the police.”
“I’m just helping out. I’ll call them if I can track down the car.”
Gordo nodded, and Jack pulled out his phone, rattling off his number. A moment later, it pinged with the text.
Jack held out his hand again. “Sorry for the mess. I’m just glad it didn’t affect the shop. I’ll get a wrecker in here to tow Aggie away after forensics have their turn.”
Outside, the sky had begun to clear, the day crisp. He turned to Stein and Conrad. “Thanks for coming, guys, but really, I’m okay.”
“Yeah, we know,” Conrad said. “So, to Echoes then?”
Jack spiked an eyebrow, and Harper hid a smile. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. Tossed them to Conrad. “Try to be nice to her. I’m riding with Jack.”
Conrad nodded.
“I’m a better driver,” Stein said. “Have you seen him?”
She got into the Geo; Jack got in the other side. Put both hands on the wheel.
She touched his shoulder. “You okay, really?”
He drew in a long breath. Swallowed. Then cast her a glance. “Good thing I wasn’t sleeping in her.”
“That’s not remotely funny.”
“But true.” He turned over the engine. “It’s not the first time someone has tried to hunt me down. She once took a bullet near the door.”
“What?”
“I camped in the wrong place for the night. Private land.”
“You need a safer life.”