Chapter 38

“I want to see my dad,” Alex said to Janice at breakfast.

Stretch had surgery the day before, and Alex had tried to get in to see him but had been stopped by sheriff’s deputies. They’d told Alex it was on orders from Sheriff Conly.

“Until your dad can be questioned, he can’t have guests,” Janice said patiently.

“Why not?”

Janice sighed.

“Because we don’t want anyone to influence what he says ... I mean ... the sheriff doesn’t want outside interference,” Janice said.

Alex stared at his foster mom while Lyric mumbled something, got up, and left the room.

“I’ve played by the rules to this point.”

Janice bit her bottom lip.

“I know you have, and I appreciate it, but please bear with us. My dad plans to question your dad today. As soon as that’s done, I’ll get you in.”

Alex gave her a look that he hoped conveyed his displeasure with her answer. If it didn’t happen that day, he would figure out how to make it happen regardless of what the sheriff and Janice wanted.

To a point, he understood Sheriff Conly’s point of view. The fallout from the heist attempt hadn’t painted the sheriff in the best light, considering almost everyone involved worked for his department. There were rumblings that he might not survive the next election.

Alex had told Grace where Steve had been hiding. She, in turn, told Sheriff Conly, who’d gotten a search warrant and raided the place. They’d found the train cars cleaned out. Alex’s best guess was that Alexei had something to do with it. He’d sent his enforcers to protect Alex the one time he’d talked to Steve there.

Alex had gone to his room to think when he received a message from a number he didn’t recognize. The message contained two addresses in Tulsa. He assumed the number was his dad’s.

Alex called Maddie.

“You up to visiting your sister in Tulsa?” Alex asked when she answered.

“My dad has plans for me today.”

“I’ll see if Dawn can give me a ride.”

“Hang on. Does this have anything to do with your dad?” Maddie asked.

“Could be,” Alex said cryptically.

Technically, he wasn’t sure the message really was from his dad.

“Can Dawn come with?” Maddie asked.

“We might find stuff that could get us in trouble,” Alex said to slow her down.

“Then Lyric will want to come, too.”

“Maybe not the whole crew,” Alex said.

“You’re right,” Maddie said to his relief. “It should only be the four of us. We’re the ones that have been in this from the beginning.”

Alex was afraid of who else she might include, but the saying about choosing your battles jumped to mind.

“Okay, but we have to leave soon.”

Maddie said she would arrange everything and hung up on him.

He wondered who was in charge.

When they arrived at his dad’s apartment, Alex was appalled at Stretch’s security. That told him there was nothing of value to be found there. So, after picking the lock, he went in and began to pack his dad’s belongings. The girls got organized and cleaned the apartment.

Lyric had been listening and rejected Dawn and Maddie’s suggestion of using bleach on all the surfaces.

“Bleach isn’t the best at removing DNA. Well, chlorine-based bleaches, to be specific, because they won’t completely remove DNA, just mess with it some. If we go the bleach route, we need the stuff used in the bleach bombs during the marijuana heist—oxygenated bleach. It will destroy any traces if left on a surface for two hours.”

“There has to be something better. I don’t think we want to wait around that long,” Maddie said.

“Plus, won’t bleach damage the carpet?” Dawn asked.

“That’s why we need to run to the store and get oxygenated detergent,” Lyric said, naming the brand.

“It’s more than that,” Alex said. “Crime scene cleanup is a three-step process. Clean, disinfect, and deodorize.”

“Do we want to ask why he knows that?” Dawn asked.

“No,” Lyric said, then turned to Alex. “Just give us a list of what we should buy ... and money.”

“Alex has money?” Maddie asked.

“He has loads,” Lyric shared.

’F–me,’ Alex thought as Dawn and Maddie smiled at each other.

Once Alex had all his dad’s stuff packed and loaded into the truck, he returned to help the girls. He took the time to show them where amateurs typically messed up. Alex pointed out the obvious places, like shower and sink drains, where stray hairs could be left behind. If he really wanted to ‘clean’ the apartment, he would’ve removed all the carpet, but what they’d done would have to do.

Their next stop took them to a garage. The only way in was via the garage door.

“Hang on. I have a hack to open it,” Lyric said.

She got out her laptop, plugged in some sort of card with a small antenna, and began typing away.

“I’ve never tried this before,” she warned as she finished and hit enter. “Finding the right code to get in will take a few minutes.”

Her laptop pinged.

“Let’s see if that worked,” Lyric said as she hit enter.

The sound of the garage door opening told them they’d been successful. That was until Dawn got a concerned look and pointed down the street. It appeared that every garage door within range of Lyric’s PC was going up.

There was room to pull the truck in, so Maddie drove them inside. Lyric hit the enter key again, and every garage door began to close.

“I might have to work on that,” Lyric admitted.

“Ya think?” Maddie asked with a little grin.

“Let’s get this place cleaned out as quickly as possible,” Alex said.

“What our fearless leader said,” Dawn said.

Numerous boxes were neatly stacked there. The girls were tasked with loading them into the back of the truck. In the corner sat a giant safe.

Alex checked it out and quickly realized it was too big and heavy to move. That meant he had to open it.

He thought for a while. If his dad hadn’t given him the combination, it had to be something that only the two of them would know. That ruled out things like his or his dad’s birthdates. Could it be his mom’s?

Alex tried it, but it didn’t work. He pulled out his phone, brought up the specs for this safe model, and discovered it used a four-number combination, so he tried using two numbers to represent the year, dropping the first two digits. He smiled when the safe clicked, telling him he was successful.

Alex pulled the door open and stared at the contents. His dad had been busy: there was cash and other valuables inside. Alex barked out a laugh, which had the girls standing behind him and peeking over his shoulders.

“Your dad is sneaky,” Lyric said.

“Why do you say that?” Maddie asked.

Inside was a lockbox from Corval Security with a number stenciled on the outside.

“That’s Saul Goodman’s lockbox. The man we were hired to protect,” Lyric said and then scowled.