Page 67 of No Surrender
Vic and Ross had their hex bags with them. Vic also had the gris-gris bag and jack ball Miss Eppie had made for him. Some of those amulets worked their special magic with healing charms and “enhancers”—spells to heighten sight or hearing to catch wind of danger. One was supposed to deflect magic and make him “slippery”—harder to get in the cross-hairs for spells. At this point, he was willing to accept all the extra protection he could get. No one at the coffee place or restaurant had seen Judd in more than a week. Now, as Vic and Ross stood outside the cabin, Vic had to admit that the place appeared to be deserted.
“No car—and no recent tire marks, even though it’s rained a lot lately,” Vic pointed out. “I don’t think he’s here.”
Ross shrugged. “We’ve got a warrant to look for Judd or evidence of his occupancy. Might as well go inside and see what we can find.”
The small cabin had a man cave feel, and Vic wondered if it had belonged to an older relative. While the place was maintained, it showed no signs of recent occupancy.
“I’ll take the kitchen.” Vic stood with his hands on his hips as he did a slow turn to survey the main living area. “See if there’s anything in the bedrooms.”
The refrigerator was on but empty, and the lack of any garbage confirmed Vic’s sense that Judd either hadn’t been here or hadn’t stayed long. Vic spent his time going through the desk, looking for clues to where else Judd might have gone. He took photos of the restaurant business cards and sticky note with a storage company address and found an impression of a phone number left on a notepad after the top sheet had been removed.
“Anything?” he asked when Ross returned.
“Nope. I checked the bathroom too. It looks like it’s been a while since anyone was here.”
“Maybe not,” Vic mused. “I found an address for a storage unit. And the phone number I found on the notepad matches a campground not too far from here. He’s got to be somewhere.”
“He could be sleeping in his car,” Ross pointed out.
“True. But we’ve got everyone looking for his license plate, so that isn’t risk-free for him. On the other hand, hiding out at either a campground or a storage unit would make him harder to find.”
“This is your little day trip, so lead on,” Ross teased.
“Let’s go by the storage place and the campground,” Vic proposed. “We at least need to rule them out. My gut says Judd is close—he’s just gotten good at hiding in plain sight.”
The “Your Extra Attic” storage facility looked down on its luck. The chain-link fence was broken or bulging in places, rusted in others. The dented aluminum siding on the buildings and the weeds growing through the cracked asphalt of the parking area added to the overall impression of disrepair.
“God, I hope he’s not trying to live in one of those units,” Ross muttered. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. They’ve probably got rats the size of St. Bernards.”
The grimy handle on the dirty glass door made Vic decide to bathe in sanitizer when they got back to the car. A bored young man looked up from the computer, and Vic would have bet money the guy was watching porn instead of working.
“Police.” Vic flashed his badge. “We need access to a unit rented to Bert Judd. Can you tell us which one that is?”
The man blinked slowly and looked back at the computer. Vic thought he was going to completely ignore them or demand a warrant, which they should have pursued, but apparently having the police show up wasn’t unusual. Vic knew that without a warrant, he couldn’t use anything in the locker as evidence.
“Unit 241. He hasn’t paid the rent in three months, so you’re free and clear to check it out. The locker isn’t his any longer. We’ll auction off everything that’s left in it pretty soon.”
“Got bolt cutters?” Ross asked.
The desk clerk reached beneath the counter and pulled out a long-handled tool that looked like it had seen a lot of use. “Knock yourselves out—just bring them back.”
Vic and Ross took the cutters and cautiously made their way between the long buildings. Ross cut the cheap lock. Vic pulled up the rolling metal door while Ross watched his back, gun drawn.
Vic tensed, ready for trouble, and shone his flashlight into the dark interior. A crummy cot and stained bedding told them Judd had been living here not too long ago by the look of the garbage that littered the floor.
“Fuck. We missed him,” Ross muttered. Vic walked inside, kicking at the refuse to see what Judd left behind.
“Not by much.” Vic bent down to look more closely at a receipt clipped to a take-out bag from a fast-food restaurant. “This has last week’s date.”
“How did the office manager not realize Judd was living in the unit he quit paying for?”
Vic rolled his eyes. “Seriously? That guy never looks up from his porn. He’s not getting paid enough to care.”
“They’re not going to make anything back from an auction.” Ross shook his head as he looked around the barren, trash-filled unit.
“They don’t know that yet,” Vic replied. “Judd knew he hadn’t paid his bill and was living on borrowed time. Since the grace period was running out, he bailed.”
“If he couldn’t afford the rent on his unit, do you think he’d be able to pay for a campsite?”
