by Rose Pressey
“Likewise, Maggie.” He shook Jake’s hand.
“Dorothy, why don’t you and Morton have dinner on me,” Jake said. “I’m going to take Maggie home. She’s had a long day.”
Dorothy narrowed her eyes. I knew she would be suspicious of that comment. “Well, I suppose we are hungry.”
“Great.” Jake waved over the waiter. “Make sure they get everything they want.”
“Are you staying with Maggie? I don’t like her not having a phone. I worry about her.”
Jake exchanged a look with me. “Yes, I’ll stay with her.”
I wasn’t going to argue with Jake staying. I actually liked the idea. I didn’t want to be alone. More than anything I wanted to be wrapped in his arms.
“I’ll talk to you in the morning, Dorothy.”
“First thing in the morning,” she warned.
Jake and I left Dorothy and Morton.
“Morton and Dorothy seem pretty serious,” Jake said.
“I guess it was love at first sight,” I said.
Jake chuckled. “What? You don’t believe in love at first sight?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I believe in love at first sight because I’ve experienced it.”
My stomach dropped.
“Oh? Anyone I know?”
“I think you know her.” Jake said.
Was he getting really telling me he loved Abby?
“So who’s the person that you fell in love with on first sight?”
I couldn’t stand the suspense.
“She’s a fantastic private investigator.”
Was he talking about me? Heat rushed to my cheeks. I was afraid to ask if there was another private eye that he kept following around Miami.
Jake took me back to my tiny apartment.
I got my wish and spent the night wrapped in his arms. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I’d slept so well.
***
The next morning Jake took me for breakfast. Pancakes for me and French toast for Jake. After that we went to purchase a new phone for me. Jake was dropping me off back at my car afterward so that I could drive to my office. My phone was in order again and Dorothy had already sent a text. We were back at my car.
“Thank you for taking time out to do this for me.”
Jake squeezed my hand. “I’m just glad that your phone was the only thing hurt.”
Jake stood beside me at the car. “I had a great time last night.” He brushed his lips against my neck. The heat had already taken over and it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.
“I had a good time too.” My heart beat faster.
“Did you?” His breath whispered across my skin as he placed feathery kisses on my neck.
My legs went weak.
“The best time,” I whispered.
My phone sent an alert for a text and snapped me out of the trance. “I should get to the office before Dorothy comes looking for me.”
He chuckled. “I’ll call you later.”
I slipped behind the wheel of my car. Jake watched as I pulled away. Up ahead while stopped at the stop sign, I watched as Jake crossed the street and walked toward his car. Movement caught my attention. I thought for sure I saw a guy watching him. Was it one of the men who had tried to hit me? It looked a lot like Garrett Smith. Of course it was at a distance, so I couldn’t be sure. I made a turn so that I could loop back around. I hoped that I would catch the guy still there and find out who he was.
Jake probably wondered why I was making the turn. This wasn’t the way to the office. I hoped he hadn’t seen me. Since he didn’t text me I assumed that he hadn’t. I would text him and tell him that I thought someone might be back there, but I didn’t want to make him think that I was too paranoid.
I made a few more turns and ended up in front of my apartment building again. There was no one back there. I knew I’d seen someone. What if he’d followed Jake? I was having too many paranoid thoughts. I had to calm down. I would drive to the office and forget about this. What if something happened to Jake? Then I would feel terrible that I hadn’t told him about what I’d seen.
Just then my phone alerted me to a text. I assumed it was Dorothy. I stopped at a red light and checked the phone. It was Jake telling me again what a great time he’d had last night. Whew. Now I could relax. He was fine and no one was following him. I sent a message back that I couldn’t wait to see him again. I couldn’t believe that I was writing this. I was falling head over heels for Jake.
The light turned green and I took off. A few minutes later I arrived at the office. Of course Dorothy was already there. I’d told her she could come in late, since I knew I’d be late too. It wasn’t really Dorothy’s style to come in late.
“It’s about time you showed up,” she said when I walked through the door.
I headed straight to my desk and sat on the metal chair. I was on cloud nine and didn’t even notice how uncomfortable the thing was.
“Wait a minute. I know that look.” Dorothy waved her finger.
I couldn’t hold back the smile.
“That’s the look of love,” she said. “See, I knew it was a good suggestion that Jake should stay with you last night. You can thank me now.”
“Thank you, Dorothy,” I said.
“So tell me what happened to your phone.”
Oh, yeah, that. Now I was down from my cloud. “Someone pushed me off the pier and into the ocean.”
Dorothy jumped from her chair. I’d never seen her move so quickly. “Who did this? Tell me who it is and I’ll go after them.”
“Calm down, Dorothy.” I stood from the chair and took a mint from her desk. “Here, have a mint.”
She sat back down and popped the candy into her mouth.
“I don’t know who did it. I got a call telling me to meet the person there. They never showed up, but someone pushed me in the water. I didn’t see who it was because they came up from behind.”
“So it could have been the person who asked you to meet them there?” Dorothy asked.
“Most likely it was,” I said.
“How will you find this person?”
I sat back down at my desk. “I don’t know. The person was trying to disguise their voice.”
“Did you find out anything else?”
“I have the number, but it doesn’t work now.”
“Sounds like a setup to me,” she said.
Chapter 22
“I know what you need to do.” Dorothy worked the knitting needles feverishly.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You need to check out Abby.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “How do you mean?”
“Find out what she’s up to. If she knew the men who almost hit her it shouldn’t be too hard to figure it out,” Dorothy said.
I sighed. “I suppose that’s true. Where should I start?”
“The same place you always do when investigating someone. Snoop around on them.”
“I suppose I should do a stakeout. Although she is the police. She’s definitely not dumb. She would probably catch me.”
Dorothy snorted. “She doesn’t know who she’s messing with. You can outsmart her any day.”
Recently Dorothy had turned on Abby. At first she had liked her, but now that wasn’t the story. I wasn’t sure what had changed.
“Okay, that’s what I’ll do.”
Dorothy stood from the desk and shoved her needles into her bag. She gathered the various balls of yarn from her desk and shoved those in too. Next she shoved a handful of peppermints into the bag. She placed the bag on her shoulder and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“We have to go stake her out,” Dorothy said.
“Come back over here,” I said. “We have to make a plan first.”
She quirked an eyebrow and then came back over. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“We go where she is and watch her. Like I said, she is smart. I think she’ll recogni
ze my car.”
“I suppose that’s true. I know,” Dorothy said. “We can ask Morton to drive us.”
“Oh, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“Is it because of his driving?”
“Yes,” I said.
“What other choice do you have?” she asked.
I sighed. “I suppose none. When can he take us?”
“Right now. He’s not busy.”
I grabbed my bag. ”Okay, let’s go to Morton’s house.”
A short time later we pulled up in front of Morton’s large home. The beige stucco home was shaded by large palm trees. Sprinklers bathed the lush landscaping with water. The place was two stories and covered front porch and double doors.
“Wow, Morton has a large place here,” I said.
“He says it’s too much house for him. You know his wife died a number of years ago.”
Dorothy’s husband had passed away too. It was nice that they’d found each other.
“Is he going to move?” I asked.
“Maybe someday. I don’t push the issue. He’ll move when he’s ready,” she said. “You wait here and I’ll go tell him what’s up.”
I smiled. “I’ll be right here.”
While I waited for Dorothy Jake sent a text to let me know he was thinking of me. It was strange to get sentimental texts from him. I couldn’t help but have butterflies when I thought of him. The sentimental texts might change if he knew what I was up to.
A few seconds later Dorothy and Morton were walking toward the car. Dorothy waved for me to get out. I hopped out and hurried over to Morton’s car.
“Thank you for doing this, Morton,” I said.
“Think nothing of it, Maggie. I think this will be exciting. I enjoyed following the car the other day.”
I was glad he’d enjoyed it because I’d thought it was a little terrifying. If there was any other way I wouldn’t ride with him.
“So tell me where to go,” Morton said as he started the car.
I buckled up and gave him the address. After some swerving around cars, shifting of lanes without turn signals, and stopping at green lights, we made it to the building where Abby lived. I’d managed to get information from Jake that she would be leaving to meet him soon. I was lucky that I’d gotten that from him.
Morton pulled into the lot. “Where should I go now?”
“Park back here so that we can see her come out the doors.” I pointed.
I hoped that we didn’t have to wait long. Morton and Dorothy liked to chitchat. Morton was eating chips and Dorothy was knitting. It was a good thing I hadn’t relied on them to watch for Abby. She came out the door without either of them looking up. Oh, well, it was my job anyway. I just thought it was funny how they’d wanted to come on the stakeout, but ended up doing things they would do if they were sitting on the sofa.
I tapped on the backseat. “Hey, y’all. She just came out of the door.”
Morton and Dorothy snapped to attention.
“What do we do now?” Morton asked.
“Don’t panic,” I said. “Just wait until she gets in her car. We’ll follow her.”
Morton wrapped his hands around the steering wheel. “I’m ready.”
Abby looked around the parking lot. She probably sensed someone watching her. Luckily, I didn’t think she had noticed us. Not yet anyway. She got in her car, started it, and then backed out of the parking spot. I held my breath and she drove to the exit and pulled out onto the road.
“Okay, Morton, go after her.”
He punched the gas and we lunged forward. My head went forward and slammed back onto the seat.
“Easy does it, Morton,” I said.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Don’t get too close. We don’t want her to see us. Just do what you did last time,” I said.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Dorothy said. “Don’t you, Morton?”
“Sure thing, sweeties,” he said.
Morton merged into another lane. Thank goodness there were no other cars in that lane at the moment. It was almost like déjà vu, but it seemed like we were headed in the same direction as last time. I supposed that was just a coincidence.
At least Morton was doing a good job of staying a good distance behind so that Abby didn’t notice us. She was driving normally, so I really didn’t think she knew we were back there. If she saw me she would contact Jake right away and tattle on me.
“Does this road look familiar to you?” Dorothy asked.
“Actually, yes, it does.”
When Abby turned on the road up ahead I knew for sure that we had ended up at that swamp where we’d gone the other day. This was definitely not a coincidence.
“Do you think she’s going to that same house?” Dorothy asked.
“As far as I know it’s the only one out here, so I say it has to be the reason she’s here.”
Morton pulled up to the same spot as he had the last time. I was certain that Abby hadn’t seen us turn down this dirt road.
“Do you think that alligator is still here?” Dorothy asked, peering out the window.
“I think it has to be gone now.” I didn’t tell her that I thought it probably lived around here. If it wasn’t here then another one just like it had probably taken its place.
Morton shut off the car. “So are we waiting for her to come back out?”
“She will see us. We have to go down there and see what she’s doing.”
“No way,” Dorothy said. “The alligator will eat us this time.”
“You guys can stay here and I will go,” I said, opening the car door.
Dorothy sighed and opened her door too. “I can’t let you go alone.”
Morton got out too and hurried over to us. We inched down the sandy path toward the other turn-off. I scanned the swampy area for any sign of the alligator. So far I saw no sign of him. I just hoped that he didn’t pop out at us.
When we made it to the other path Dorothy let out a deep breath. “Thank goodness we got past there. I hope he doesn’t get us on the way back.”
When I looked down the other sandy path, I spotted the beach house nearby. It was three stories and on stilts. Most of the large windows allowed for sweeping views of the ocean. A parking area was below the house with a garage underneath. Extensive landscaping surrounded the home with tall palm trees lining the drive. Similar homes dotted the shore, but they were spaced out from each other.
“That place must cost a lot of money. How much you think? Ten million?”
“Probably fifteen.”
Morton whistled. “That’s a lot of cash. What if a hurricane comes?”
“Insurance,” I said.
“Do you think she went in there?” Morton asked.
We moved a little closer. “I’d say she did. She’s on the deck right now.”
“What is she doing?” Dorothy asked.
Abby disappeared around the corner and now we couldn’t see her.
“Wait. I see other people now,” I whispered as if they would hear me from all the way over there. There was no way they would hear us with the waves crashing against the shore. “It’s the same people from the other day,” I said.
“Do you think Abby knows them?” Dorothy asked.
“I guess she does, since she’s here. It looks like they are going to leave. We should get out of here,” I said.
We stood there watching them for a few more seconds. They were talking, but I still hadn’t seen Abby again. What was she up to?
When the men went toward the car Dorothy pulled on my arm. “We have to leave now.”
I still wanted to know what Abby was doing. Then I saw her headed down the stairs.
“She must be leaving with them,” I said.
“Where is her car?”
“That’s a good question,” I said, looking around. “There must be some other path that we missed where she parked.”
Dorothy pulled on my arm again. “Come on,
Maggie, I don’t want them to catch us.”
We hurried back down the path. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they were coming. Surely they would pass us before we go back to the car. I didn’t want them to see us walking. They would for sure recognize us.
“We have to hide from them,” I said.
“Where are we going to hide?” Dorothy asked.
“In the seagrass.” I pointed.
“So what? The alligator can get us?”
“There won’t be an alligator.” I tried to sound as if she was being ridiculous, but in reality I knew that we could be alligator bait if we hide back there. I’d have to take my chances though. It would be even worse if those guys saw us.
Morton led the way, bless his heart. We hunkered down behind the grasses. Tall blades hit me in the face. I hoped that nothing else was hiding there too. The sand was hard to walk in and it felt as if we were practically crawling.
“It’s okay ladies, keep coming this way.” Morton motioned for us to follow him.
I kept a watch behind us as Morton looked out in front. Dorothy was scanning the whole scene. A piece of the grass touched Dorothy’s arm and she jumped.
“It’s okay. Just the grass,” I said.
“How long do we have to wait here?” Dorothy asked.
“I guess until we hear the car go by.”
“Well, at least that shouldn’t take long,” she said.
She was on the lookout for the alligator. A few seconds passed and the roar of the car went by. Dorothy started to stand.
I grabbed her arm. “Wait a second. Let me look first.”
“Well, hurry up. I want to get out of here.”
I peeked up and looked around. “Okay, I don’t see them. We can go now.”
As soon as we stepped out from the grass I froze. The alligator was back. It was right there on the side of the road.
Dorothy gasped. “What do we do now?”
“Remain calm,” I said.
As if I wasn’t panicking on the inside. How would we get past the thing?
“Is there another way around?” Morton asked.
I scanned the area. “We can go over that way.”
We kept our eyes on the alligator as we moved toward the other way. He didn’t move, but I knew he was watching us. We slowly made our way over and now we were on the other side of the alligator. As soon as the car came into view we ran for it. We jumped into the car. Seashells and sand made it hard to run without slipping. That was why I tumbled forward and landed on my face. Dorothy screamed out for Morton.
