Lost time, p.19
Lost Time, page 19
I turn and look at the well-lighted apartment buildings, but there is no sound or movement. I decide to check on the other side of the parking garage, my heart racing now that I realize I may have lost her.
I stay in the shadows, keeping my back against the stucco structure, but moving quickly. I slip around the end of the building and plow into the woman I’ve been following.
She shrieks and falls back, stretching out her arm as if holding a gun.
I raise my hands. “Sorry!” Up close, she doesn’t even look that much like Isabel. “I thought you were someone el—”
And then my eyes are on fire, the burning agony spreading into my nose, mouth, and lungs. I collapse onto the muddy grass, struggling to draw a breath, my eyelids swollen shut and my whole body writhing in pain.
∞
Two hours later, I’m hunched over on a cracked plastic chair in the Taraval Police Station when Dave walks in. His hair is disheveled and he’s as pissed off as I’ve ever seen him.
Can’t say I blame him.
He takes one look at my muddy shirt and swollen face and softens his expression a bit. “Shit, Tego. What happened?”
I grab my jacket and stand up. “Ask me tomorrow.”
He glances over at the chubby police officer behind the counter. “He free to go?”
She puts down her pencil and crosses her arms, glaring at us over the top of her glasses. “Yes. The woman didn’t press charges. Seems the cabbie who dropped him off convinced her it was an honest mistake.” She looks pointedly at me. “But I suggest you stop following unfamiliar women home late at night, Mr. Nadales.”
I swallow hard and nod. “I think I got that part.”
She shrugs and goes back to her paperwork.
“Thanks for coming,” I say to Dave. “And sorry about, uh, interrupting.” I slip on my jacket and start coughing, hacking so hard my eyes water.
He shifts his weight and exhales. “If you’re looking for sympathy, you’ll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.”
I take a tentative breath. “I guess I deserved that.”
“For christsake, Tego, why’d you go and follow her home?”
I stride out after him into the misty night. “Because I’m a dumbshit.”
“You can say that again.” He puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me across the street to his Corvette.
“Sorry,” I say. “And thanks again for the ride.”
“Ah, no worries. You probably saved me from an ugly scene when I had to pick between the two of them in the morning.” He opens the passenger door and waits for me to get in. “And I fucking hate to kiss smokers.”
“Thanks.” I take a deep breath. “Shit, what a night.”
He gets in on the other side. “I can’t wait to meet that ex-girlfriend of yours.” The tires squeal as he whips a U-turn in front of the police station. “She must have been one damned good lay.”
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Also by D. L. Orton
What Readers are Saying
Dedication
Epigraph
Lost Time
Chapter 1 Diego: Out on a Limb
Chapter 2 Shannon: It’s a Miracle
Chapter 3 Diego: The Undead
Chapter 4 Lani: Lost and Found
Chapter 5 Diego: Angels and Demons
Chapter 6 Shannon: Finders, Keepers
Chapter 7 Lani: Playing With Dolls
Chapter 8 Diego: Range of Emotion
Chapter 9 Shannon: Ghost Busters
Chapter 10 Lani: The Quick and the Dead
Chapter 11 Diego: Shuffle the Cards
Chapter 12 Lani: Suit Yourself
Chapter 13 Diego: Over My Head
Chapter 14 Lani: Unchained Memory
Chapter 15 Diego: Naked Honesty
Chapter 16 Shannon: Up in Smoke
Chapter 17 Diego: Test Her Wings
Chapter 18 Lani: Pickup Lines
Chapter 19 Diego: Drowning in Hope
Chapter 20 Lani: Without a Flight
Chapter 21 Diego: Into Thin Air
Chapter 22 Shannon: Yellow Brick Road
Chapter 23 Diego: Walk on Water
Chapter 24 Shannon: The Supreme Sacrifice
Chapter 25 Diego: Lights Out
End Matter
Thank you for Reading!
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Note to Reader
About the Author
Copyright
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Given Time: Between Two Evils #4 (Preview)
Table of Contents
D. L. Orton, Lost Time
