by R A Wallace
***
Callie sat in her car about a half a block away from the newspaper office trying not to go crazy with boredom. She had been waiting much longer than usual for Krista, the restaurant reviewer, to emerge from the building. The rest of the staff had already trickled out of the newspaper office for the day. Callie wondered what was keeping Krista.
It wasn’t so much that she minded what she was doing. It was part of the job and she was used to it. The problem was, her mind kept returning to the last time she’d seen Greyson. The single red rose delivered to her office hadn’t helped. She still had no idea what that was all about. A movement near the door of the newspaper office caught her eye. Finally, Krista was on the move.
Callie waited until Krista’s car drove away from the parking garage. This time, Krista passed Callie’s car. With the sunglasses Callie was wearing, she knew that Krista couldn’t tell that Callie was watching her. In fact, Krista never even looked her way. Callie executed the turn into the other lane of traffic and began following her again.
This time, Callie recognized the restaurant as one she had been to recently while on another case. The Cove was situated within view of the water but wasn’t right on it. She knew from her previous visit that it was a very nice restaurant. She waited several minutes before entering. Because it was a little later than the previous times she had tailed Krista, the crowd at the restaurant was already impressive in size. Callie waited for several more minutes at the front of the restaurant for her turn to be seated.
The man who greeted her recognized her from the previous time she was there. She smiled politely when Alec acknowledged her with a brief nod. Although he narrowed his eyes when he recognized her, he did not ask any questions. She followed him to her seat, happy that she hadn’t revealed her vocation to him the previous time she’d been there.
She wasn’t as lucky with her seating this time around. Because of the crowd, she’d asked for a seat at the bar. The relief on Alec’s face at her request was obvious. He hadn’t wanted to lose an entire table to one on such a busy night. She had a view of Krista, but only if she made an effort to lean to one side to look. It would have to do.
Of course, there were no qualms about giving Krista a table for one. It was obvious that the staff at The Cove were very familiar with the reviewer. Several stopped to speak with her. Alec made comments to her several times as he passed by her table after seating more patrons.
The sampler plate that Callie had requested was delivered to her just as the head chef emerged from the kitchen and made a beeline for Krista. He was delivering her plate personally. Callie watched as the two of them talked and laughed for several moments before the chef returned to the kitchen.
She was jostled in her seat as more people pushed toward the bar. From where she was sitting, she couldn’t see any empty tables. There was a crowd waiting at the door. She wouldn’t be surprised to see even more waiting outside. Several people were trying to order drinks at the bar while they waited, holding the buzzers passed out to them at the front door.
It was a great crowd. Callie wondered how many more would be there in the near future after reading Krista’s blurb the following morning. The vibration from the purse she had tucked next to her leg in the stool nearly made her jump.
It was her phone. After pulling it from her purse, she opened the text to read it. It was from Ginny.
“Any luck?” Ginny wrote.
Callie quickly texted back. “Working on it.”
“Please hurry. Dead here. Can’t keep up like this much longer.”
Callie read the text from her friend then looked around The Cove. She knew from experience that The Regal Pomelo was accustomed to the same kind of business that The Cove was enjoying now. It was hard to fathom that Ginny could go from all of this to no customers because of a single, deceptive review.
Chapter Eight
Her first appointment of the morning was with a frustrated woman named Shana Smith. Callie walked up to the front door of the house and made note of the care that had been taken to maintain the yard. It wasn’t a large house and it wasn’t in the most expensive area of town, but the houses in the neighborhood, some of them historic, all had the same well-kept look. The lawns were all green, testament to a regular routine of watering. The shrubs, such as the hibiscus, croton, and plumbago, added splashes of color.
The wrap-around porch of the Smith home had potted plants, several of them in full bloom. The neighborhood sported many massive live oaks in both the yards and along the street. The sidewalks often had odd angles in them to direct pedestrians around the ancient trees. There were also a variety of palm and citrus trees everywhere.
The doorbell of the single-level home was answered by a woman Callie guessed to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her brown hair was pulled back in a tail. She was wearing casual shorts and a tee.
“Shana Smith?” Callie removed her sunglasses.
“Yes. Are you with Indigo and Divine?” Shana looked over Callie’s shoulder as though expecting to see Greyson.
Callie bit back her response that Greyson wasn’t her partner. She supposed she should have been happy that Indigo had been given top billing.
“Yes, I’m Callie Indigo.”
She followed Shana into a living room that looked lived in. There was evidence of children here and there including temporarily discarded electronics waiting for the owner to return to their favorite spot in the room at the end of the school day. She took a seat on the couch. There was a large coffee table in front of it with lots of cubicles on the sides to store things. Callie saw more electronic devices in them.
Shana waved to a pile of papers on the coffee table. “That’s why I asked you here.”
Callie didn’t have to pick the pages up to know that they were overdue bills. Before her new-found fame with Greyson, she’d had quite a few of those herself.
“I don’t really handle overdue bills,” Callie began to explain.
“You don’t understand.” Shana picked the top one up and handed it to Callie. “Look at the name.”
Callie skimmed the document. It said Emily Smith had a very large credit card bill. Callie looked up at Shana with understanding in her eyes.
“Emily is my daughter. She’s ten years old.” Shana looked two parts frustrated, one part mad, and more than a little frightened because someone had done something bad involving her child.
“Identity theft, even with children, is all too common now,” Callie said sympathetically.
“How can that even happen? She’s ten. Ten! No one should be able to open a credit card in her name.” Shana brought her hand up to cover her mouth.
“I know. It’s frustrating.” Callie reached for the pile of bills. “May I?”
At Shana’s nod, Callie lifted the pile. What she saw gave her hope. Many of the charges had been made at local establishments.
“Have you done anything yet?” Callie asked.
Shana looked confused. “I don’t know what to do. I never expected this to happen.”
“I understand,” Callie said gently. “I have brochures and other materials that tell you where you can look for help and some of the things you might consider. If you give me your email address, I’ll send them to you.”
Shana nodded and rattled off the address.
“In the meantime, I’d like to follow up on some of these.” Callie raised the pile in the air to emphasize her point.
“Those are copies, you can take them.” Shana wiped at her eyes.
Callie left Shana with the promise to send her an email soon. She drove to the center of town and parked on one of the side streets. After dropping some coins in the meter, she crossed the street and entered one of the clothing shops that was listed on one of the credit card bills. She continued working her way through the shops, speaking with any employee willing to take the time.
After several stops, she was beginning to wonder if she was on the wrong trail. She entered another shop and
approached the cash register. The woman standing next to it looked to be around her mother’s age. Like her mother, this woman also kept her hair red. The clothes she wore looked trendy, but age appropriate. On her way to the cash register, Callie could tell that many of the clothes for sale were geared toward a younger audience.
“Can I help you?” Her name tag said Linda.
“Yes, I was wondering if I could ask you about a recent charge.” Callie put the bill on the counter between the two of them. She pointed to the most recent charge on the bill. It was made the previous week.
Linda leaned over and pulled her reading glasses up from the braided band around her neck.
“What about it?” Linda asked as she straightened.
“The name on the bill belongs to a ten-year-old child,” Callie explained.
A look of dismay crossed Linda’s face.
“I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do about that.” She shook her head. “That’s just sad.”
Callie picked the bill up. “You’re saying you didn’t make a sale to a ten-year-old last week?”
“No, and there haven’t been any unsupervised children in here either.”
Callie looked around at the clothes. “What does your clientele typically look like?”
“Young people, but not that young.” She motioned toward the bill. “And I ask for ID with every sale made with plastic.”
Callie was afraid of that. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it as she’d visited the shops. She watched Linda frown.
“What?” Callie prompted.
“I did notice something odd on one of the IDs. I was busy at the time, though. I didn’t start wondering until after the girl was gone.”
“Odd, how?”
Linda shook her head slowly, her eyes focused over Callie’s shoulder for a moment before snapping back.
“It was the stripe on the one side. It shouldn’t have been there. I figured it was just something that happened in her purse, you know?”
Callie asked several more questions but didn’t get much more information. She left when another customer entered the store. She spent the rest of the day working at her office. By the end of the work day, she was once again parked near the newspaper office. This time, Krista emerged at the same time as many other employees left for the day.
Callie followed her to The Pomelo Wharf but continued driving around for several minutes. After stopping at a red light, she checked her rearview mirror and saw a familiar face. She told herself it wasn’t right to be so happy to see him. When the light turned green, she pressed the gas pedal a little harder than she needed to. Greyson didn’t have any trouble catching up with her. They arrived at the restaurant at the same time.
She exited her car before Greyson had a chance to open the driver’s side door for her. He gestured with his hand to let her walk before him into the restaurant. She pulled the door open and let it go. He caught it easily and shook his head as he followed her in. They were immediately greeted by a hostess who focused her attention on Greyson.
“Two this evening,” Greyson said smoothly.
Callie glanced around the restaurant as she followed the hostess to their table. Greyson nodded to her once the hostess left.
“Still no luck with this one?”
Callie smiled at the waiter that appeared and asked for a glass of wine. After taking Greyson’s drink order, he left quickly. Callie tracked the waiter as he passed by Krista’s table and stopped to speak with her.
“Maybe tonight will give me the answer I need,” Callie said quietly. She gave a slight tilt of her head toward the other side of the room.
Greyson shifted his eyes to watch a man come out of the kitchen. He went directly toward the woman Callie had been following. The way he kissed her made it obvious that they were more than passing friends.
“Does that answer your question?” Greyson shifted his focus back to Callie.
“It does, indeed.”
“You sound pretty confident.” Greyson lifted his menu and opened it.
Callie lifted her menu also. “I am. That is Mario Federici, Ginny’s former boyfriend.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, it might hurt a little.” Callie’s eyes briefly returned to the couple on the other side of the room. “Then again, maybe it will be easier.”
Greyson looked up from his menu. “How so?”
“At least he’s an enemy she knows,” Callie pointed out.
“True.” Greyson smiled as their drinks were place in front of them. They both ordered quickly.
“Speaking of which, what brings you here tonight?” Callie asked as she settled back in her seat with her drink in both hands.
“I just wanted to check in on our cases,” Greyson said.
Callie laughed. “We don’t have any cases. I have cases.”
“Ah, but we’re partners, remember?”
She smiled as she shook her head. “No, we’re not. I work alone.”
“Everyone else believes that we are,” he reminded her. “Even your mother.”
“You’ve spoken to my mother again?” Callie asked. She told herself she shouldn’t be surprised. She knew that the two of them had become friendly when they’d worked on a play together.
“She seems excited about her role with the upcoming car show,” he said.
“She is,” Callie agreed. “She’s good for Elliot when it comes to things like that. She enjoys the organizing and everything else involved with pulling something like that off.”
“She mentioned your name. What’s your role with it?” he asked.
“Me? Oh, I’m just going along to watch her enjoy herself.” Callie set her glass down. “What have you been up to?”
“Me? Oh, I’m just watching my partner enjoy herself,” he said with a grin.
Chapter Nine
Saturday morning greeted Callie with a bright sun. She spent the morning catching up on laundry. What couldn’t be washed at home, she gathered together and carried it out to her car to drop off at the cleaners.
“Laundry day again already? Where does the time go?” Ramona said to her from within the sunroom on the front of her modular home.
Callie closed the back door of her car and stepped over to Ramona’s yard.
“I know my week seemed to fly by,” Callie agreed. “Are you working later today?”
“I am. You need to do some shopping?” Ramona looked at her neighbor with a practiced eye.
“I need something fancy for a big to-do.” Callie shaded her eyes with her hand.
“Sounds like something your mother got you into,” Ramona guessed.
Callie chuckled. “You would be right about that.”
“I think I have just the thing. You want to stop by and try it on?”
Callie thought about her schedule. “Yeah. Maybe my sister can come with me today.”
“I have to warn you. It might be expensive.”
Callie made a face. “I figured. I’ll have my card with me.”
“What would we do without plastic?”
“Speaking of which, can you do me a favor?” Callie asked. “It’s a long shot, but it might be worth the effort.”
“How so?”
“Can you keep a watch out for a credit card with the name Emily Smith on it?”
Ramona nodded. “Can do. She in trouble?”
“She’s ten.”
“Ah. Gotcha.” Ramona shook her head.
Callie thought about the prospect of shopping with Ariana on the way to her father’s house after a quick stop at the cleaners. She found most of the Indigo family in the kitchen. Her twenty-one-year-old brother, Blake, was already out spending the day with friends.
“I was hoping you’d stop by.” Leslie was standing at the work island in the middle of her kitchen. “We haven’t seen you all week. Can you stay for lunch?”
“I can, thanks. Is Ariana here?”
“Right behind you.” Ariana walked into the room and went directly
to the fridge. She pulled out a pitcher of sweet iced tea and set it on the counter.
“That looks good. Me too,” Callie said.
Ariana took two glasses from the cupboard and filled them.
“Can I help with anything?” Callie asked.
“I don’t think so, thanks. I have a layered salad and some fruit. Your dad is out grilling.”
Callie took her glass to the table and helped Ariana with the place settings.
“How was your week?” she asked her stepmother.
“It was different, that’s for sure. I’m glad it’s over.” Leslie carried the salad to the table.
Callie shared a look with Ariana. Her sister shrugged.
“Why’s that?” Callie didn’t often hear Leslie complain about her work as a manager at a local bank branch.
“We’re having computer problems.” Leslie went back to the island for the fruit.
“What kind?” Ariana asked as she took a seat.
“I have no idea, that’s the problem. The IT people haven’t quite figured it out yet.” Leslie returned with the fruit and set it on the table. “I have my fingers crossed that it’s fixed before I go back on Monday.”
“What kind of computer problems?” Callie was glad she didn’t work in IT.
Leslie shook her head slowly as she poured out two glasses of tea.
“It’s actually the ATMs. When people try to use them, they’re crashing.”
“That definitely sounds like a problem.” Callie could imagine the frustrated customers.
“Actually, it’s the host workstations that control the ATMs, but the end result is the same.” Leslie set the tea down on the table and took a seat. “Either way, I’m hoping they have it fixed soon.”
Wade entered carrying a plate of food from the grill. He was dressed for the weekend in a pair of shorts and an old tee shirt with the Indigo Roofing and Aluminum logo on the back.
“Here we go. Hey, Callie.” He kissed the top of her head before taking his seat next to Leslie. “Thanks for the tea.” He took a long drink.
