Free What She Doesn't See by Debra Webb Page A

guy Patton would never believe
her. “We really need to go to the cops.”
    He moved up close behind her seat again. “I
just wanted to warn you. I figured you deserved a chance to save
yourself since Hitch liked you so much.”
    Her chest tightened. “If we don’t go to the
police they won’t be able to find his killer.”
    “I have to stay dead.” Their gazes locked in
the rearview mirror once more. “It’s the only chance I’ve got of
staying alive.” He reached over the seat and placed a small plastic
sandwich bag on the console.
    She didn’t have to look to know it was the
lens she’d given to Hitch. “You had it on you when Hitch and the
killer arrived?”
    He nodded. “It was too important to leave
laying around.”
    Damn. This was even worse that she’d
suspected. What was she supposed to do with it?
    “Make the next right,” he instructed. “I have
to disappear for awhile.”
    Alex took the turn and found a place along
the street to park. “Do you have a car?” If walking was his plan
for disappearing, he needed to rethink his strategy.
    “I’m good,” he told her without telling her
anything at all. “Like I said, I would have disappeared already but
I needed to warn you and give you back the device. You may need it
and… I owed it to Hitch.”
    “I appreciate that.” What next? She wished
she could make him understand that going to the police was the only
reasonable option.
    “I don’t know what he might have gotten out
of Hitch before he killed him,” Timothy cautioned, “but I wouldn’t
take any chances. You should disappear, Alex. Or you could end up
dead, too.”
    Jesus, she hadn’t even thought of that. What
if Hitch told the guy that she’d seen the contact lens? No. She was
certain Hitch wouldn’t have done anything to endanger her. No way.
He would have died first.
    Emotion swelled in her throat. More of those
damned tears burned her eyes.
    “Timothy,” she countered with as much
determination as she could muster, “we have to talk to Hitch’s
partner.”
    “You don’t get it,” he snapped, “if they know
I’m still alive, if they figure out I’ve contacted you, we’re both
dead.” He reached for the door handle. “I’ve done all I can
do.”

Chapter 9
    “Alex, Alex, Alex. You have no idea what
you’re getting into.”
    Wyatt had been following her since she left
the cleanup job in Carol City. With the locator he’d placed on her
vehicle, finding her again had been easy. Apparently the passenger
had hidden in her SUV before Wyatt’s arrival. The instant he saw
the guy sit up in her backseat, he went on alert.
    Johnson’s interrogation had provided the
intel Wyatt needed. He now knew at least one of the other players
working with Crane, and he also knew the detective hadn’t had the
device in his possession when he was killed by Johnson. Detective
Hitchcock had left it with a hacker named Timothy O’Neill.
    As soon as the passenger bounced out of
Alex’s SUV, Wyatt recognized him as O’Neill. Wyatt exited his
vehicle and started after the kid. He’d catch up with Alex
later.
    O’Neill cut into an alley. Wyatt
followed.
    The kid spotted him and started to run.
    Wyatt sighed and broke into a sprint. “Give
it up, O’Neill.”
    O’Neill glanced back, then around before
bursting into a harder run.
    “Have it your way.”
    That was the thing about guys like O’Neill,
he might be young but he spent all his time hunkered over a gadget
or a computer. With one final push forward, Wyatt lunged for him.
They went down. Wyatt pinned him to the ground. The kid struggled,
but only for a moment.
    “Let me go!”
    “No can do,” Wyatt warned.
    O’Neill screamed. Wyatt clamped a hand over
his mouth. “Mr. O’Neill, we need to talk. Can I trust you to
cooperate?”
    His eyes wide with fear, his heart pounding
so hard Wyatt could feel it, the kid bobbed his chin.
    “I don’t want to hurt you.” Wyatt had no
desire to nail anyone else to the floor or to