Coffee & Crime

by Anita Rodgers

  Zelda brought me a pair of sweats and a tee shirt, so I wouldn't have to suffer the humiliation of a hospital gown. And she spent two hours helping me brush the mats out of my hair. She begged me not to take a shower, afraid I'd catch sight of my reflection and lapse into a coma, but I couldn't stand the stench. Like a true friend, she covered the mirror with a towel anyway.

  Ted made jokes about basic training and threatened to bring in MRE's if I didn't eat the hospital food. And I enjoyed listening to Zelda and Ted bicker about who was going to take care of me, once I left the hospital. I was exhausted and hurt like hell but grateful

  to have people in my life who loved me that much.

  <<>>

  The day before I left the hospital, Ted shooed everybody out of the room, closed the door and pulled his chair up to the bed. Serious eyes, set jaw — Ted's bad news face.

  "Okay Captain America, spit it out. What's the matter?" He took my hand and pressed it to his lips. I snatched my hand away. "You better not be breaking up with me. After everything I've been through, at least have the decency to wait until I look good again."

  He laughed. "Break up with you? What do you think I am, a lightweight? It'll take more than a melon face to make me walk away."

  I frowned and teared up. "Did you just call me a melon face. That's so mean."

  Ted cringed. "No, I was kidding." He took my hand. "Okay, okay, bad joke. I'm sorry, okay?"

  I frowned. "Then why the face? That is not a happy face."

  "Honey, I have to tell you something, so you've got to shut up." I sucked in my lips and nodded. "Somebody's here to talk to you, from law enforcement." He held up his hands. "And no, you aren't being arrested. It's an investigator from the U.S. Attorney's office." He hesitated and watched me for a second. "It's Nick Farmer."

  I bolted forward and then cried out from the pain of the sudden movement. "What?"

  He put his hand on my shoulder and eased me back against the pillows. "Yup, and that's what we were trying to avoid." He stroked my arm. "He's been waiting to talk to you for a couple of days. But you don't have to if you're not up to it. He knows you've been through a lot..."

  Oh, I wanted to talk him all right. "Bring him in."

  Ted cocked his head. "You sure?"

  I grunted. "Oh yeah."

  Ted frowned but went to the door and stuck his head out in the hallway. He called to Farmer, then came back to the bed and sat next to me.

  When Farmer strode through the door he was barely recognizable in a gray suit and red tie. He carried a soft-bodied leather briefcase and walked with purpose. Without the stubble, straggly hair, and crappy clothes, he was an attractive man with a nice smile. Crossing to the bed, he extended a hand. "At last we meet, the famous Scotti Fitzgerald."

  I kept my hands in my lap and squinted at him. "Who are you?"

  Farmer hesitated a moment, then nodded and took a card from his breast pocket. Laying the card on the tray table he said, "John Tanner, U.S. Attorney's office."

  I picked up the card and examined it — seemed legitimate. "What do you want?"

  Tanner's gray eyes flitted to Ted. I shook my head. "Anything you have to say to me, you say in front of him. So, I'll ask you again, what do you want?"

  In a soft, calm voice, Tanner explained that he worked in the White Collar Crime Unit of the U.S. Attorney's office. During the course of an investigation of a money laundering scheme, Jake Kannanack became a person of interest. George Manston was approached and agreed to be part of a sting to set up Jake. When George died suddenly, Tanner believed that Jake had discovered the set up and killed George.

  When Zelda and I broke into George's office a few days later, Tanner believed we were Jake's accomplices, looking to scrub the evidence. Zelda's paranoia about being watched was justified because Tanner had installed surveillance equipment in George's office that recorded our break-in.

  "So you were tailing us? Not the cops?" Tanner nodded. "Jake didn't sic the cops on us, you did?" Tanner nodded again. I bolted forward and didn't care how much it hurt. I wanted to slug the guy with the bedpan. "You had me arrested!"

  Tanner remained calm and patient. "You must understand Ms. Fitzgerald, you were an unknown quantity. We didn't know whether you had simply stumbled into the situation unaware or were helping Kannanack evade detection."

  I scoffed. "So you thought just asking me made less sense than smashing Joe over the head and bugging his place? And breaking Zelda's window seemed like a better idea than calling us? And when that didn't work, you figured ruining Ted's business would get you the answers you needed?" I smirked. "Sounds to me like you’d decided what kind of quantity I was from the beginning."

  Tanner held up his hands. "No, now for the record, I didn't attack Mr. Enders. We did liberate his files, hard drives and other items. And the listening devices were ours." He held up an index finger. "But Mr. Enders was enjoying pie and coffee during our document search." He shrugged. "We honestly don't know who attacked Mr. Enders. Perhaps Lily Bennett or a local thief. There were reports of break-ins in the neighborhood at the time of his attack."

  Tanner was obviously lying, but he'd never admit to attacking Joe and open up the Justice Department to a lawsuit. "Is that a fact? "Zelda's window? Ted's clients?"

  He nodded. "Regretfully, I made a few poor decisions. But I've provided Ms. Carter with the necessary information needed to receive compensation for her losses." He flicked a look at Ted. "Mr. Jordan's clients have reconsidered their decision to use another vendor." He smiled and flushed. "And as a courtesy to Mr. Enders, our agency has taken care of his medical bills and reimbursed him for the new security system."

  I smirked, if that wasn’t an admission of guilt, I didn’t know what was. With my eyes, I asked Ted what he thought. Ted shrugged and held my hand. It was my call. With no attempt to hide my sarcasm I said, "Okay, Mr. I-have-an-answer-for-everything tell me this: If we were so dangerous and such a threat to justice being served, why did you stop?"

  Tanner looked confused. "Pardon?"

  I rolled my eyes. "You were all over us, every move we made, and then you just stopped. Why?"

  Tanner twirled his index finger. "Ah, I see what you mean. Several factors came into play simultaneously. In reviewing the security tapes, we ascertained you were only interested in Mr. Manston's killer. Then you discovered our devices and disarmed them which obviously told us you were aware of the surveillance. From our vantage point it made more sense to let you draw your own conclusions on who had placed the devices." He shrugged. "But we had heard your theories by then and further verified that your goal was to solve George's murder and had nothing to do with our case. Shortly after that, the Pasadena District Attorney's office turned over the evidence you provided them. So obviously, it would've been a waste of resources to continue pursuing." He smiled at me. "The videos were illuminating, did you watch all of them?"

  I couldn't believe the nerve of the guy acting like the hell he rained down on us was no big deal. "No, it was hard enough accessing them." He twitched on that and another little piece dropped into place. "So, you were the mysterious IT guy?"

  He waved his hand to dismiss the question. "The point is, Ms. Fitzgerald, your evidence enabled us to rule you out of the investigation. In fact, you helped us quite a bit. We took Jake Kannanack into custody shortly after that."

  The guy was so full of crap it was unbelievable. I squinted at him and shook my head. "Ruled me out, huh? Then why did you follow me and Lily to Jake’s? Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't shoot me too."

  He stared at his expensive tasseled loafers then cleared his throat. "I'd like to take credit for stopping Lily Bennett from harming you. But it was purely coincident." He looked at me. "In truth, we were following Ms. Bennett. After reviewing the videos you turned over to ADA Pembroke, we established a connection between her and Kannanack. And pursued her in hopes of learning more to solidify our case."

  Ted had said nothing but had listened intently to Tanner, taki
ng mental notes. "Is that why you moved into Lily’s apartment building? So you could follow her?"

  Tanner was taken aback by Ted's question. Then he chuckled and nodded. "That’s right, Special Forces?"

  I sneered at him. "You’ve got a dossier on everybody, eh?"

  Tanner lost his grin and had the nerve to look insulted. "The Justice Department does important work. You may not like our methods but we have access the information we need in order to serve the greater good."

  I laughed so hard it hurt. "Greater good?" I looked at Ted. "Is this guy for real?"

  Tanner doubled down and wagged a finger at me. "Go ahead and laugh, Ms. Fitzgerald but we serve every U.S. citizen in our pursuit of justice."

  I studied John Tanner from the safety of my hospital bed. What a piece of work. He had an answer for everything and not one shred of regret for all the crap he'd put us through. "Fine. Justify it any way you like. But you still haven't told me what you want."

  Tanner put on his idea of a friendly expression. "What makes you think I want anything from you?"

  I snorted. "In my experience the government never comes to you unless they want something. And they never answer your questions either, so this must be good. Spit it out, Mr. Tanner, what do you want?"

  He opened his briefcase and withdrew a sheath of documents. "We may need to depose you and possibly have you testify."

  I shook my head. "Not on your life."

  "No?" Tanner held the documents up as though not knowing what to do with them. "Surely, you understand how serious this case is. You could help us put two dangerous criminals behind bars. For a very long time." He put the documents on the bed table. "I realize you've made sacrifices but…"

  I rolled the bed table away from me and toward him. "Not my problem, Mr. Tanner."

  He finally whipped out his smarmy lawyer smile. "But you agreed to testify in Mr. Manston's murder trial."

  I leaned forward and scowled at him. "George was my friend. I owed him that much. You, I owe nothing. In fact, I may ask my lawyer to look into suing you. Harassment, unlawful imprisonment, stalking, personal injury. I think we might have a pretty strong case."

  Tanner reared back in surprise. "But I saved your life."

  I shrugged. "Like you said, just a coincidence."

  Tanner put his game face on. "I could compel you to testify. Get a federal subpoena."

  I waved a fist at him. "You could also go fuck yourself." Ted stifled a laugh. "Do what you have to, Mr. Tanner. But for now, get the hell out of my room."

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Two weeks later I lay on a beach in Cancun with Ted; both of us proudly displaying our scars. My ribs still ached, but most of the bruises were gone, and the cuts had healed. Lily's bullet left a scar, but Ted insisted battle wounds were sexy, and he called it the little recruit.

  Lily had gotten her wish and lived. Although given the charges against her, she wouldn't be living the life of the rich and famous anymore. According to Dan, Lily's lawyer was already negotiating a deal with the D.A. A pleasant surprise because none of us

  wanted to spend the next three years going to court because of Lily Bennett.

  Jake made a deal with the U.S. Attorney's office and the Pasadena D.A.'s office, and rolled over on Lily and his money-laundering cohorts. I wondered how he'd enjoy the witness protection program. If it was anything like foster care, he was in for a bumpy ride.

  Zelda agreed to research food trucks and private investigator licensing while I was away. She promised she'd have a few solid leads by the time I returned.

  Manny sent two dozen yellow roses every day to my hotel room. How he discovered where we were staying was a mystery. The roses were lovely, and I kept them, but tore up the cards without reading them.

  Joe and Eric set up interviews and media deals with the press. Not for my benefit but because we all agreed it would help Joe's firm and give him some street cred among his peers and the public.

  And thankfully, I never heard from John Tanner or the Justice Department again.

  Ted rolled over and kissed me. "What are you thinking about?"

  I opened my eyes and looked into his handsome face. Then I smiled and stroked his cheek. "You and me."

  He brushed my lips with his and pressed against me. "So it really is just about you and me now?"

  I pulled him closer and nibbled his ear. "You betcha."

  The End.

  About the Author

  Anita Rodgers has always loved a good mystery – starting with her dad’s collection of Mickey Spillane novels. And she learned early on that her love of solving puzzles and making stuff up was a perfect skill set for mystery writing. The Scotti Fitzgerald Mystery series was inspired by her many years of slinging burgers and waiting tables in a wide array of eating establishments – from fine dining to greasy spoons.

  She is also the author of the mystery, False Witness, which is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers. Anita resides in Southern California, where she enjoys hiking, gardening, and of course reading. Her blog can be found at: http://www.writerchick.wordpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @WCAnnie, and Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AnitaRodgersMysteryWriter

  Thank You

  I thank you sincerely for reading my work and hope you have enjoyed it. I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d take a few minutes to write an honest review of this book on the site where you purchased it. Next to a pen, reader’s feedback is the most valuable thing in the world to a writer. And I look forward to yours.