Page 42 of True Valor
“Well, I might not be popular in that countyvery soon.”
“You don’t know the half of it,amigo.Our sheriff is a Distinguished Service Cross recipient and isconsidered the most eligible bachelor in those parts.Verycharming.”
“Not the guy I met.He’s a snake.”
“Well, on paper, he’s not.”
Chapter Fifteen
What the hell was he thinking?Now that hesat in the parking lot of Julie’s apartment complex, Nic couldn’teven fathom what kind of plan he had for when he got here.Yeah,like he’d just walk up to her door, try the knob, open it, andthere would sit her mail and...
What an idiot!
Nic banged his head against the steeringwheel.Julie’s keys, both to her apartment and to her mailbox werelikely sitting in her backpack on the floor of the bedroom in herparent’s house.Damn it.
Nic wasn’t a criminal, had never picked alock in his life.And he wasn’t a cop.He was a paramedic thatjumped out of perfectly good airplanes.
He needed Cruz.Cruz was a juvie in an adultbody.
Attempting to jimmy the lock in the complexhallway, or even taking off the doorknob, would attract all kindsof attention.But what kind of story could he use to get the superto open her door?“Excuse me, sir.I’m Julie Galloway’s boyfriendfrom Boston.Julie is in a coma in the hospital, and I came to gether favorite fuzzy slippers ...”
Great.
He found the right apartment on the secondfloor.Just for kicks, he tried the doorknob.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.Itwasunlocked.
Nic retreated enough to recheck the apartmentnumber.Affirmative.It was the one Cruz gave him.
Remembering the door to the cabin, he stoodwith his back to the wall, and ever so gently pushed until the doorstood all the way open.Then he peered around the corner into theapartment.
Completely trashed.The furniture was inplace but drawers lay helter skelter and there were papers strewnfrom one side of the room to the other.Nic walked slowly insideand pushed the door closed with his elbow.
Mental note: wipe off the outsidedoorknob.
The couch pillows tipped at interestingangles.Her books lay on the floor.Nic walked to the desk andturned the computer on.Dollars to donuts, there’d be nothingthere.Finding the mailbox key would be a major undertaking.
While the computer booted, he looked in herbedroom.The bedding had been stripped from the bed, and thedrawers emptied.Nic pushed certain thoughts from his mind as hepassed a pile of lacy underwear in assorted colors.So many colors.He brought his focus back to the task at hand, walking out of thebedroom.
A glance through Julie’s email confirmed hisexpectations.Nothing there.
He surveyed the disaster area before him.Where would Julie keep the key to the mailbox?With her car keys,which, no doubt were in her backpack.In a kitchen drawer?
As he looked for conspicuous places, hewandered through the living room, nudging things out of the waywith his foot.Catalogs, everything fromVictoria’sSecret—holy crap—he’d better not go there—toCabela’swere scattered on the floor.
That’s when he saw the key rack.Right thereby the door.The most logical place.Duh.Nic snagged the keys fromthe ring, stuck his head out the door to make sure the coast wasclear, and went in search of the mailboxes.
He found them at the end of the hallway justpast the stairs.If he’d seen them on the way to Julie’s apartment,they hadn’t registered in his brain.The stress of playing spy musthave stricken him blind.Again checking for unwanted company in thehallway, Nic stuck the key in and opened the door.So much mail wascrammed in the box there wasn’t any breathing room left.As if mailneeded breathing room.Nic shook his head at the thought while hetugged out the mail, spilling half of it on the floor.
He scooped it up and headed outside.He’d hadquite enough of this cloak and dagger stuff and just wanted to getthe hell out of there.As an afterthought, though, he did concedeto going back and locking Julie’s door, knowing without the key, helikely couldn’t get back in.The hardware store didn’t selllock-picking sets that he could remember.He walked back to thecar, his arms full of what was mostly junk mail.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” hemuttered thinking again of the catalog he’d seen upstairs.
Credit card applications and more catalogs,several supermarket ads and whatnot, but no letters from Julie’sdad.There was a card indicating there was more mail at the postoffice, but Nic was certain that they’d require ID to prove he wasJulie Galloway before allowing him to pick it up.
Nic looked at his watch and headed out of theparking lot.Eleven ten.Too early for lunch?Never too early toeat.He breathed a sigh of relief as city blocks clicked by with noflashing lights in his rear view mirror.He’d driven for fourfreakin’ hours to get here for nothing.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
