Page 23 of Big Daddy Sheriff

“Is she sentimental all the sudden?”

Hector snorted a little laugh. “Who knows? Maybe she wants to say goodbye to her first. Or maybe she’s just going to keep her stashed somewhere until she figures out what to do.”

“There’s only one thing to do,” Bruce said.

Bruce knew it sounded cold and heartless, but it was the truth. If you wanted to succeed in their business, ruthlessness was the order of the day. Sometimes people had to beeliminated. He wouldn’t go against Lana’s wishes, though. It wasn’t out of respect for her or anything. He didn’t give a damn about shit like that. It was a matter of practicality. Lana paid his salary. That salary paid the bills.

He would defer to Lana as long as the money kept flowing.

“Pull over here,” Hector said.

Bruce angled the car into the driveway of a repair shop. It was a cinderblock building. Nicely kept, but it had obviously been there a while. Probably since the Sixties or maybe even before that. Even still, from what he could see, it was one of the newest buildings in that tiny town.

“They’re closed,” Hector noted.

He’s a real genius,Bruce thought.

“It’s a little past six in the morning,” Bruce said. “Why are we even here?”

“That’s where the tracking app shows the girl is.”

“In the garage?”

“Yeah.” Hector held up his phone, showing the blue dot on a gridded map.

“That’s how Lana knows where she is? She’s tracking her?” Bruce said.

“Uh-huh. You know that car she sold her? She put a device in it.”

Bruce chuckled. “Smart. But the only problem is that tells us where the car is. Not wheresheis. She’s obviously not in the garage.”

Hector nodded, staring at the closed shop, as he thought it over. “Well, she can’t be too hard to find. Right? This is a tiny town.” He shifted in the seat, craning his neck to look around. “That little café across the street looks open. We go get breakfast, ask the locals, and we’ll find her.”

“Yeah,” Bruce said, backing out of the garage’s driveway and back into the street. “That car was a piece of shit. It probablybroke down and she’s just hanging out here until it’s fixed. If they have a motel, I bet she’s there.”

They decided to check after breakfast.

One way or another, they’d find their target.

They’d have Alyssa back in Little Rock before dark.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Alyssa awoke feeling refreshed.

Spending a night in a Daddy’s arms will do that to you,she mused silently with a smile.

She sat at the bar in the kitchen, coloring in one of the books Quinn had bought her the night before.

“What are you working on?” Quinn asked. He stirred the pancake batter, frowned, and added a bit more milk.

“It’s a picture of a princess in front of her castle,” she said, holding up the coloring book to reveal her progress. “It’s just for you.”

“For me?”

“Uh-huh. I’m going to leave it on your fridge so you’ll remember me when I leave.”

Alyssa didn’t like hearing her impending departure voiced aloud. Judging by the look that briefly settled over Quinn’s face, he didn’t like it either. But she couldn’t stay there forever. She came to see Grace. And eventually she’d have to return to Arkansas. There just wasn't any work around Big Cedar. Her funds were already low. They wouldn’t hold out forever.

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