“They’re riding up with us.”
“Uh, why?”
“I’ll explain later, we’re running late,” Margot muttered before she looked at Stone and Radcliff and asked, “Anybody want to ride with Mal?”
“No,” they both said at once.
“His car has more legroom.”
“Still no,” Radcliff replied.
“Shotgun,” Stone said.
Radcliff laughed. “You were sitting upfront anyway. I don’t want you behind me.”
Stone shrugged and quipped, “More legroom for me.”
Chapter 6
Gale wasn’t kidding about how far out of the way Lori’s place was. They used the GPS to locate a lone gas station out among a sea of orange groves. The gas station was the closest thing the GPS would recognize. They found the station and then took a right on an unmarked and, as far as they could tell, unnamed road.
As they passed the station, Margot caught sight of a truck sitting in front of the garage attached to the small convenience store. It appeared that, aside from gas and snacks, there was a mechanic on duty. Two men were by the truck talking, one was wearing greasy coveralls and appeared to be the mechanic, the other was wearing a dress shirt and a tie.
The man in the tie watched them go up the road. He even stepped away from the truck so he could keep his eyes on the two-car convoy. Margot watched him watching her until the road turned enough they couldn’t see each other.
“You see that dude eyeballing us?” Stone asked.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Cartel?” Radcliff asked from the back seat.
“I don’t know, but I doubt it, he didn’t have the look. They could have contracted him out from somewhere, but how in the hell would they have somebody waiting for me here of all places?”
“The road,” Margot said. “He couldn’t have cared less until we turned here.”
“Why would he care?” Stone asked.
“He’s local,” Radcliff said, “he was talking to the mechanic like they knew each other. He might even live down here. They probably don’t get a lot of traffic. You might be the first Prius to go down this road ever.”
Stone nodded. “I haven’t met anybody that lives out the boondocks who wasn’t a little paranoid. The reason half these assholes live out in the middle of nowhere is because they’re afraid of other people. He’s wondering if you’re going to rob him.”
“That would explain the stare down,” Radcliff agreed.
“Or he’s Lori’s husband, which could mean trouble.”
“He’d be right about you stealing something,” Stone said.
“She’s a person, not a possession,” Margot told him.
“Okay, but I’d bet that’s not the way he’s going to see it.”
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“No, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
Margot couldn’t argue that point.
“He’s supposed to have a job in the city,” she told them. “He should be at work by now.”