Coffee & Crime

by Anita Rodgers

  I filled her in on our box fake out and Ted's mysterious work trouble.

  Zelda hunched a shoulder. "Maybe one of his employees went postal and tore up the shop or is suing him."

  I shrugged. "Whatever it is, he’s tense — like cardboard man. It’s bad. Really bad."

  She laughed and pointed finger at me. "But you can't nag him because that would make you a hypocrite? Insisting he tell you things he's doesn’t want to tell you?"

  I looked around the kitchen. "What did you do to this place?" I frowned. "Is

  that spaghetti on the ceiling?"

  She made a face at me. "Sorry Mom, we were having fun while you were gone. For once."

  I hopped off my stool and got cleaning supplies out of the cabinet below the sink.

  "Have you seen Marge around, lately? Boomer could use a play date with one of his own."

  Zelda hopped off the stool and helped with the cleaning supplies. "Haven't seen her, but we have the key to the gate. Go over and knock on the door — she's probably home."

  I left Zelda to start the cleaning and went out front. But I never made it to Marge’s because I heard Boomer yapping and growling. Following the sound I found him under my car. "What are you doing under there you little nut? Come on, come here." But he wouldn't budge — there was something stuck to the underside of my car that he wanted and was determined to have. I crouched to get a better look and saw him pawing at the undercarriage of the car. "Boomer. Come, boy." He ignored me and was far enough out of reach that I couldn't snatch him. Sighing, I shimmied on my back under the car to get to him. Once under the car I spotted what had him so fascinated — a little box with a pulsing light. I pulled it off the car, then shimmied back out. It looked like a small modem or router. It took five seconds for my brain to make the computation. "A tracker!"

  I wanted to call Ted to alert him, but he had work problems, and I hesitated. I brought it into the house where Zelda and I stared at it, sitting on the butcher-block between us, pulsing. "What do you think? Is Lily or the cops tracking my every move? Oh God, am I going to get arrested again? Or kidnapped? What should I do? Smash it? Throw it away? How long do you think it's been there? No wonder they always knew where we were." I smacked my head. "We better check the jeep and Joe's car too. They’re probably tracking all of us. But if we get rid of them, then they'll know we're on to them." I looked at Zelda who was being unusually quiet and not making fun of me for being a drama queen. "Come on, Zee, say something."

  Zelda looked at the tracker like it had teeth. "Yeah, let's toss it. Sure, that's what we should do."

  I reared back. "Why aren't you freaking out about this too? Or at least making fun of me?"

  Zelda reached for the tracker but I snatched it. "Uh-uh. You tell me what you know. And you tell me now."

  Zelda flinched like she expected me to slug her. "Don't freak out, okay?"

  My blood pressure rose. "Tell me."

  Zelda muttered obscenities to herself, then said, "Ted put it there."

  I jumped to my feet and knocked over the stool. "What? Ted? What?" I stormed out of the kitchen, grabbed my keys and headed for the door. "I can't believe you guys!"

  "Where are you going?"

  I pivoted back to her and stabbed a finger. "I'll deal with you later."

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Ted thought he was having a bad day already, but he was clueless about how much worse it was going to get. I was so furious when I stormed into his shop that people recoiled as I passed by them. The office manager cut me off. "You can't go in there, Mr. Jordan is very busy."

  She was a stout middle-aged woman with steely gray eyes, but she didn't phase me. "Oh he's busy all right. He's busy being a big, fat liar!" I reached for the knob, but the door opened, and Ted looked out at us with raised eyebrows.

  "Mr. Jordan, I'm sorry, this young woman insists on seeing you. I tried to explain..."

  Ted put his hand on the woman's shoulder. "It's okay, Kathy. This is my girlfriend, Scotti."

  I seethed. "Yes, his girlfriend, who needs to speak to him." I backed Ted into his office.

  "Now."

  Kathy was reluctant to leave Ted alone with his psycho girlfriend but did as he asked and closed the door behind her.

  Ted crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "This better be good, Scotti."

  I glared right back at him. "Oh, it's good honey. It's really good." Uncertainty flickered in his eyes and he retreated behind the desk. I slapped the tracker down in front of him. "Care to explain?"

  His eyes went wide for a second. "Shit, I forgot about that."

  He reached for the tracker, but I snatched it away and stuffed it in my pocket. "Oh no you don't. You aren't getting this back."

  He held out his hands. "Okay, okay. I get that you’re upset. You've got every right to be pissed."

  I glared at him. "Damn skippy I have."

  "I can explain."

  I cranked my hand impatiently. "Get to it then."

  He held up his hands in surrender. "I put it there the night you lost the diner. So I could keep an eye on you. But at a distance. You were already so tense over the cops and Lily that I didn't want to scare you. With the tracker I could watch out for you without having to be on your back bumper. And if you were being followed then I wanted to know who was following you."

  I smirked. "Besides you?"

  "I was trying to protect you. We were worried about you."

  I rolled my eyes. "So it was a great big pity party for little old me?" I fanned my face with my hand and in my best Scarlett O'Hara said, "Poor Scotti, what if she drives off a cliff or cooks herself into a stupor? We have to save her from herself."

  Ted shot around the desk and took me by the shoulders. "It wasn't like that. Damn Scotti, give me some credit."

  I held the back of my hand to my forehead. "Oh save me, Ted. I'm plumb tuckered out by all the agitation in my life. What shall I do?"

  He cracked up and held up his hands. "Okay, it was a stupid move. And I should've told you. And I'm sorry." He ran a gentle finger down my arm. "But I'm not going to apologize for caring about you."

  I dropped my head against his chest. "What am I going to do with you?"

  He pulled me into a bear hug. "You're right, I've been a very naughty boy and should be disciplined." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Severely."

  I stayed in the comfort of his arms for a few seconds, then pulled back. "Please tell me that there's nothing else. You didn't wire my panties or have cameras installed in my bathroom?" His eyes flitted away. I groaned. "Ted, what did you do?"

  He held up a hand. "First — your underwear is safe. But, in the spirit of full disclosure you should know that trackers are how we’ve been keeping tabs on Lily. And..." he cringed and stole a look at me, "you wouldn't have awakened alone yesterday morning if I'd only gone out and gotten breakfast. But I detoured to Lily's to put a tracker on VW guy's heap too. He wasn't there. I waited for an hour before I gave up. So, I was late getting back to the motel."

  I slugged him in the arm. "And you didn’t tell me? You let me think you ditched me?"

  "Ouch."

  "That didn't hurt." I sighed and slumped into the visitor chair. "You're a lot of work, mister."

  He knelt next to me. "You forgive me?"

  I stared at him for a long moment. "You're a big fan of trust right? You believe that a relationship can't survive without it?"

  He nodded cautiously. "Uh-huh."

  I patted his cheek a little too hard. "So in the interest of strengthening our relationship, are you going to tell me why you're so stressed?"

  His jaw worked back and forth. "It's nothing to do with us."

  "Funny, I remember saying the same thing on the night we broke up." He didn't smile at my sarcasm. Instead, he lay his head down on my arm and sighed. I ran my hand through his shiny dark hair then rubbed his neck. "Honey, if we're both committed to making this work, then you have to tell me your troubles too. It can't be a one-way
thing. Can't you lean on me, a little?"

  <<>>

  Ted avoided the topic as long as he could. We ordered lunch, watched a few videos while we ate and had a few laughs. "You've stalled long enough."

  He burrowed into the cushions, put his feet up on the coffee table and blew out a sigh. "This morning we lost our two biggest clients."

  "That's it?" I perked up because I had feared something much worse. Ted, however, was not happy. "I know it's not good. But I was afraid you were being sued or indicted."

  He gave me an unhappy smile. "Yeah, that would've been worse. Bad enough though. These two clients represent thirty percent of my revenue." He pursed his lips and stared at a framed picture of his crew on the wall behind his desk. "I might have to let a few people go."

  "Ouch. How can two clients be worth that much?"

  He pulled his feet off the coffee table and put them squarely on the floor. "They're big law firms. Had a lot of people in and out of town. Lots of trips to the airport, hotels, red carpet service for VIP clients. It adds up." He ran an impatient hand through his hair. "We can't find out why they dropped us. We've never had one complaint. They've sent us plenty of referrals. Now they won't take my calls. I don't get it."

  Alarm bells clanged in my head. "Law firms?" I snorted. "It’s obviously that son of a bitch Jake. He’s behind this."

  Ted twisted his lips. "Jake doesn't know I exist."

  "Don’t be so sure of that. Lily could've told him. That night in the diner she kept looking at you. I thought she was checking you out for herself. But she was overly interested in our connection too."

  Ted seemed alarmed. "Did you tell her who I was?"

  I shook my head. "No. But she could've seen your SUV and written down the plate number. Jake has access to private detectives who could get your name and probably anything else he wanted to know."

  Ted chewed on that for a while. "Maybe, but so what if we have a connection? Is Jake going to run down everybody in your address book?"

  "Only the people who are important to me. It makes sense. He sabotages my boyfriend so I'll get worried and walk away. It's a distraction." I wiggled my hand. "Look over here while I'm doing something over there."

  He nodded but still looked worried. "Okay, it might explain a few things. Maybe we can discreetly look into that." He sighed. "But if this guy has the kind of juice you think he has, it might only be the beginning." And that got his jaw grinding again. "Shit."

  I lay my head on his shoulder. "I’m sorry, babe. It's probably my fault." I frowned at him. "Maybe you should break up with me until this is over. I don’t want to be responsible for screwing up your business."

  He put his arm around me. "Negative recruit, we never leave anyone behind." He kissed me, then wiggled his eyebrows. On more positive front, I think somebody took our bait."

  I sat up. "Really?" He grabbed his tablet from the coffee table and pulled up grainy image on the screen. I leaned in to look. "What's that?"

  "Security footage. Stills. The camera takes an image every two seconds."

  I squinted at the screen but only saw a blur of black and white moving herky-jerky across the screen. "What am I looking at?"

  He flipped through the pics until he found the one he wanted and stopped the frame. "Look familiar?"

  The image wasn't great but good enough to make out a man in a hoodie and jeans prying at the door with a tool. "Looks like we weren't the only ones breaking and entering. Did he get anything?"

  Ted shook his head. "Never got through the door. Set off the alarm and then took off." He slid through a few more frames and stopped at the image he wanted. The camera caught the burglar full face. "Look familiar?"

  I jumped to my feet. "I don't believe it!"

  Ted grinned and nodded. "I know, VW guy, right?"

  I shook my head and pointed at the tablet. "No, that's Nick Farmer!" Then I groaned and stared at Ted. "And it's VW guy. Nick Farmer and VW Guy are the same?"

  Ted cocked his head. "Isn't Nick Farmer the witness who got you arrested?"

  "Yeah!" I frowned at Ted. "Who told you that?"

  Ted shrugged. "Zelda?"

  My head spun. "So the guy who I allegedly paid to deliver the brownies to George, is the same guy who stole our stuff, attacked Joe and smashed Zelda’s window?" I looked at Ted. "Who is this guy?"

  Ted shrugged. "He’s living in Lily's building. He’s got to be her accomplice."

  I fell back onto the sofa. "Then it must be them. Lily and Nick Farmer killed George."

  Ted pulled me into his arms. "Okay then, Maggie and Jake are off the suspect list."

  I shook my head. "No, no, no. It can’t be." Ted looked at me blankly. "How could Lily get the cops to detain us? And screw with your clients? She might be clever, but she doesn’t have that kind of pull."

  Ted pursed his lips. "Nick Farmer might."

  I sighed. "If he had that kind of pull he wouldn't waste time pretending to be a witness." I looked at Ted. "He’s just a little creep in a hoodie and an old VW Bug." I shook my head. "No, somebody else is pulling the strings. Jake has to be part of it." I looked in his eyes for agreement, instead I got a wary look. "We need to do some damage control."

  We spent the next hour arguing. "But why won't you let me call Joe?"

  Ted rubbed his face with both hands. "Drop it, Scotti."

  I paced the floor in front of Ted's desk. "He'll be discreet. He'll just ask Dan if Jake has the clout to convince those clients to drop you." Ted rolled his eyes. "But Dan knows Jake. Oh, and so does Peggy." I reached for my bag to dig out my phone. "I could call her..." Ted threw up his hands and groaned. I stopped mid-dig and looked at him. "What?"

  He took my bag away and set it on the desk behind him. "Honey, you know I love you, but you don't have to fix my problems. In fact, I don't want you to fix my problems."

  "You love me?"

  He laughed despite his mood. "Yes, of course. But that's not the point. I can handle this. You don't need to fix it."

  I leaned across his desk and scolded him with a look. "I vaguely remember saying the same thing to you. And you respected my wishes by scheming with Zelda behind my back, and then stalking me." I cocked an eyebrow and he had no comeback for that. "I just want to make a couple of calls to gather intel and I have to back off? Hardly seems fair."

  Ted held up his hands. "Okay, okay. I'm a hypocrite, I admit it." He cupped my chin. "But I don't need you to make the calls. I have my own people for that. If it is Jake, then I'll sue his pansy ass. See how he likes being the defendant for a change."

  I didn’t like other people solving my problems so I could hardly insist that Ted let me solve his. "Okay. But if you change your mind…"

  "I’ll call Joe myself.” He waved his hand. "Besides, I'm more interested in Farmer. It’s great that he took the bait, but he should’ve been more careful. What does he think we have to act that recklessly?"

  I shrugged and sat back in my chair. "He wasn’t careful when he broke into Joe’s or when he smashed Zelda’s window. Maybe he’s not very bright. What time was the break-in?"

  "Last night about eleven."

  "So while we were eating pizza, he was trying to pry open your door?" I frowned. "Don’t you have a dispatcher here at night? Isn’t the place open?"

  Ted gave me a naughty grin. "We were probably writhing around on the floor by then, but yeah, about that time. During the week, we close earlier. If a driver has a late run, he has a key to the garage, so he can leave the car."

  The image of Ted and I writhing threw me for a few seconds and I lost my train of thought. "Nice visual, thanks for that." I shook my head. "Why didn't the security company call you or text you?"

  "I turned my phone off because I wanted to spend the evening with my girlfriend." He shrugged. "Irrelevant, they called Steve instead."

  "Who's Steve, your security guard?"

  "My brother and my partner," Ted said casually. "He came down and sorted it out. Farmer didn't get in. Some damag
e to the door, but nothing else."

  Until then, I'd thought of Ted as an orphan, like me. And discovering actually had a family disturbed and disappointed me. "You have a brother?"

  He flapped a hand. "There'll be plenty of time to meet the family, honey. We need to focus.

  Family – not just a brother – but a family? I cringed. "Do you have a big family?"

  He raised his eyebrows. "Meanwhile back to the problem at hand."

  "Right." I put the mysterious Jordan family out of my mind and thought about Farmer for a minutes. "Did your driver see a tail? Did he spot a VW following him?"