"Does he?" I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if she knew about my tantrum of a text message when I spotted them together. Maddox grinned back, apparently unwilling to share and equally amused that I could possibly be wondering what he said.
"Mmm-hmm. What attracted you to private investigating?" Rebecca asked conversationally, her eyes fixed ahead. She didn’t seem one bit perturbed that I’d invited myself into their car, not to mention their investigation.
"Opportunity." I leaned forward to follow their gaze. "So, what's happening?"
"Nothing," said Maddox. "We've been here two hours already."
"Did you spook them?"
He turned insulted eyes on me. "No."
"Just asking. I spotted you a mile off."
"You know me," Maddox pointed out.
"True." Not wanting to dwell on that, I changed the subject. "This car is a piece of shit, you know. Where did you get it from?"
"The police lot. We have a parking lot full of souped-up beaters just begging to be taken on stakeouts."
"Lucky you. So, are you going to tell me why Detective This Week It’s Fraud and Detective Financial Crimes are watching 1067?"
Maddox and Rebecca exchanged a look that I didn't like, primarily because it excluded me. Also, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the house number. "No," he said.
"Fine. Enjoy your visit." I slid across the back seat and reached for the door handle.
"Hold up. Why are you here?"
"Social call? Just dropped by to say hi?"
"What have you got on 1067?
"Absolutely nothing. Not even watching the house," I said, which strictly speaking, wasn't a lie as of five minutes ago.
Maddox inhaled deeply, considered badgering me some more, but evidently, decided against it. "Bring food next time. We'll be here a while yet."
I snorted as I opened the door. One leg was out when Maddox turned again. This time, his face was softer, gentler. "I'll call you later, okay?" he said.
Detective Blake politely ignored him. I rudely ignored her.
"Sure," I said, striding off with a smile. It was mean, I know, but they would be in for a long wait. Flaherty saw the occupant hightail it out the back entrance ten minutes ago and was already trailing him. If they were waiting for whoever their suspect was to come out front so they could follow him, they'd be waiting a really long time. And that would leave Maddox in the company of the delightful Blake.
Damn it.
Hadn't thought of that.
On the plus side, wasting their time did give me some satisfaction.
I could feel Maddox watching me all the way back to the car. It was probably guilt that made me edgy, but I couldn't ignore the feeling either. With the engine idling, I called Flaherty. "Guess what?" I said.
"I don't wanna. Tell me."
"Spoilsport. Maddox and a detective from MPD's financial crimes squad are watching Frith Street too."
"Jackpot," said Flaherty. "If it’s Somper, then the good captain is everyone's favorite today.”
“Looks that way.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing. Might have forgotten to mention they were wasting their time, too.”
Flaherty laughed. “Ahh, shoot!” he spluttered.
"What?"
"I just lost the target."
"Um... oops?"
"Yeah, oops," snarled Flaherty. "I didn't get a good look at him from the front so I couldn't say for certain it was Somper, but I'll bet he was Army."
"In uniform?" I asked.
"No. Haircut and stance. I'll call in the plates to Lucas later."
"Cool." I decided to let Flaherty explain to Solomon how the suspect shook his tail.
"I'm close to the next address. Where are you?"
"Five minutes out, I guess. I'm still on Frith."
"Meet you there."
Chapter Seventeen
I pulled up in front of the rundown house on Brewster, the recipient of our mystery burn phone's call, a couple minutes after Flaherty. I parked halfway down the block. How Lucas managed to triangulate the call to this precise address, I didn’t know, but I forgot all about it as my radio crackled when my irate colleague checked in.
"What we got?" I asked.
"Looks abandoned," he replied. "Makes sense."
I watched him in my rear mirror as I asked, "Why's that?"
"I wouldn't run something criminal out of my house," came Flaherty's simple reply. "Let's sit tight. See if anything happens."
Feeling a little obvious, I zipped up my jacket and hunkered down. I felt slightly smug that at least we were one pace ahead of Maddox, which reminded me I hadn't told Flaherty what we talked about. I picked up the radio and he snorted when I told him how I left them there.
"They say why they were sitting on the house?" he asked. “Apart from the obvious?”
"No."
"Gotta work your contacts better, honey."
"Maddox isn't my contact, he's my..." I paused. What was he? Boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Friend? None of those worked for where we were in my head. "I'll ask around," I finished. "You got any contacts at MPD to tap?"
"Sure, but something about this says red flag to me."
"MPD came to the base already," I told him, quickly filling him in on the details. He didn't seem surprised when I added, "Chester PD, too. Solomon thinks we have some case overlap."
"So long as we don't get in their way, we're fine," decided Flaherty. "No law against sitting in a vehicle or driving around."
By the time an hour passed, my butt was getting numb. I filled in the time by calling everyone I knew. My mother wanted to know if I'd tried out the knife yet. On what, she wasn’t clear. My father wanted to know if he could get a job with Solomon.
"Why do you want to do that, Dad?" I grimaced. My father is wonderful, but I'm fairly certain I didn't want to work with him anymore than I wanted to go on wilderness survival with my mother.
"I'm bored," he told me. "Thirty years on the force isn't enough training for bridge with your mother."
"I'll ask."
Lily saved a bombshell for me that put a serious damper on my day. "So I told my parents about the baby and getting married," she told me, her voice suddenly somber while I examined my cuticles. "And they want to sell the building."
"The building?" I frowned, my eyes widening as realization dawned on me. "Our building? My apartment?" I squawked.
"Uh, yeah. They want to buy us a house and they need the capital. The apartment is too small for us and a baby, so we were going to have to move anyway."
"When?"
"Not for months. It won't even go on the market until I'm much further along," Lily reassured me. "There's plenty of time. You could even come stay with Jord and me."
And listen to them humping along with a wailing baby? No thanks. Besides, Lily's parents had been generous with my rent for years. I couldn't expect their kindness to last forever without impregnating Lily myself. "Don't worry. I'll find something," I assured her. "It's no problem."
"I feel really bad about this."
"It's an apartment, not a forever home. Like you say, you're going to have to move anyway. It wouldn't be the same without you."
"But I'm practically evicting you!"
"No. Your parents are." I pulled a face. That came out harsher than I intended. "I'll work something out. There's loads of time. Just don't go into premature labor, okay? Honestly, it’s not a problem. Oh, gotta go," I said, as the radio clicked twice. I looked up at Flaherty's warning and spotted a car turning into the street and cruising past Flaherty's SUV.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Staking out an abandoned house."
"Cool," said Lily wistfully. "I'm going to stake out the gym. Gotta keep the bump looking good."
I clicked off and watched the car as it cruised past me, giving me a good look at the passenger. An elderly lady sat behind the wheel, her face hidden behind thick glasses. I wondered if it was legal to
drive with lenses the size of hers.
“False alarm,” crackled Flaherty’s voice.
Resting back against the seat, I wondered how my week could get any worse. Man trouble. Apartment trouble. And in a parked car on Frith Street, Maddox was sitting with the horrible, pretty, Detective Blake. Roxanne was missing and we seemed no closer to finding her. Meanwhile, back on base was Solomon, with the promise of wicked things.
"Argh!" I screamed.
The radio crackled. "What was that?" came Flaherty's voice.
"Nothing."
"You looked like a wasp just flew into your mouth."
At noon, we hit a lucky break as a car pulled into the front driveway of the dilapidated house. The garage door slid up and the car disappeared inside. The door shut automatically before the driver exited, leaving me without a good look. All I caught was a blond buzz cut, then the flash of another person before the blinds dropped in what, I assumed, was the family room. I was fairly certain the second person was a white male, but other than that, I didn't see much else.
"That's the car from the house on Frith Street," said Flaherty through the crackle, his voice jubilant. Probably because now he wouldn't have to confess to Solomon that he lost him in the first place. "Looks like he picked up a passenger. Did you see if it was Somper?"
"No, sorry. What do we do now?"
"Sit tight."
I was afraid he was going to say that. My right leg started to drift to sleep.
"You get a good look at the passenger?" crackled Flaherty's voice again.
"Nope. White male. Can't verify him as Somper either. One of them was blond." I wriggled in my seat, trying to wake up my butt, then rooted around the glove compartment. There was a fresh packet of mints so I nibbled on them, my mouth parched. I didn't dare take a drink from my water bottle because I just knew the minute something interesting happened would be the same minute my bladder jumped to attention.
Instead, I thought about the buttercup yellow bungalow that had long been my favorite house in all of Montgomery. When I drove past it a couple weeks ago, it had a “For Sale” sign posted outside it. I parked and stared at the sign for a while, wondering if I'd ever be able to afford a place like it, and if it were even in my price range. Then I drove home to my average, rent-controlled apartment and forgot all about it. With its neat, little yard and cheery exterior, it would be perfect for me. I was sure of it. And the forthcoming eviction got me thinking.
I called Serena while I peered at the house. "How'd it go with Antonio?" I asked.
"He's such a gentleman. We're going to see a movie next week. I love the movies. Ted hated them unless they were in French so he could brag about his year in Paris."
"You know they threw him out of Paris, right? It was that je ne sais quoi."
"No, I think it's because he's such a pompous ass."
I laughed. "I'm glad Antonio is being nice to you."
"He's better than nice. He even came around this morning just to make sure the alarm system was okay."
"Delgado does not need to check the alarm system. He installed it. It’s perfect. He came over to flirt."
Serena paused. "Guess that explains the flowers."
"Duh! Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you know anything about mortgages."
"Sure. Fire away."
"As my accountant, do you think I could afford to buy somewhere?"
"What brought this on?"
"Lily's parents are selling the building so they can buy Jord and her a house when the baby comes."
"That’s nice. Can’t you stay on as a tenant? Maybe they’ll sell the apartment to you."
"Maybe. I don’t know. I don't think I want it. Maybe I should try something different?"
"In that case, from memory, your accounts are good. You've always been good with savings and you're not frivolous. You'd probably have to use up most of your savings as a deposit; and a mortgage would probably be higher than your rent, but I think you could do it. My friend, Consuela, is a mortgage broker. I can put you in touch with her?"
"Please."
"I'll send her number to your cell phone."
The radio clicked twice.
"I gotta go. Thanks, Serena, I appreciate it. Enjoy your date."
"I absolutely will. Okay, talk soon." Serena hung up.
I grabbed the radio. "What's up, big guy?"
"Garage door is opening."
I looked over at it. The garage door hadn't moved one bit. "No, it isn't." As I released the talk button, the doors began to move. I pressed the button again. "How did you know that?"
"Me and that garage door are like one. Take the first tail, follow it two blocks, then take a turn and I'll follow while you circle around behind me. We'll alternate."
"Gotcha."
The car backed out of the driveway, and shot off before the garage doors were even closed. I pulled out after them. Thirty seconds later, Flaherty was on my tail. I counted two heads, the same two men as before. The driver had a Red Sox hat pulled down low over his eyes, and I didn't recognize the passenger. We alternated tails until Flaherty called to say they parked in the lot of a building supplies store. I pulled in, circled the lot, and parked at the far end.
The radio crackled again. "This is fun," said Flaherty. "Aren't you glad this is your career now?"
"It's either this or become a supermodel; and you know how much I hate fancy clothes and champagne."
"Yeah," agreed Flaherty, cheerfully. "This is a ton better."
"Want to flip for stalking our suspects in the paint aisle?"
"Sure."
I waited while Flaherty jogged over and slid into my passenger seat. "Heads you go, tails I go," he said, holding up a coin.
"Flip it."
Flaherty placed the coin between his fingers and tossed it in the air, letting it fall into his open palm, then slapping it onto the back of his other hand. He grinned. “Heads.”
"I can't wait," I said. "This is like all my Christmases at once."
He lifted his hand and we peered at the coin. "Heads," he said. "Have fun. Don't die."
"Thanks!"
We exited the car together, then Flaherty walked over to his SUV. I thrust my hands into my jacket pocket, keeping one hand on the radio, now silent, and plodded into Home and Tool. Moving past the checkouts, I turned right and walked past the aisles, glancing down each one. No sign of my two suspects. On the final aisle, I turned on my heel and nearly slapped into a heavyset man. He wore a striped shirt with a name tag that read “Clyde” and what looked suspiciously like a toupee. Though, on second look, it could just have been really, really bad hair.
"Hi!" he beamed at me, sidestepping to block my path as I tried to move past him. "Would you like to sign up for our newsletter and get a ten percent discount?"
"No." I sidestepped again and Clyde moved with me. Just for fun, I did it again. The fun went away.
"This is fun," he said. "It's like dancing." He shimmied his hips and I got the unpleasant flash of an overstretched nylon crotch. "Do you like dancing?"
"No, I hate it."
His face fell. "Oh, you should try it. I go to salsa classes."
"Great." I darted a look over his shoulder as I decided to never take up salsa. "Listen, I need to go..."
"Would you like to hear about our new range of paint colors?" Clyde produced a swatch card from his pants pocket and pressed it into my hand. It was hot. I tried to not think about why.
"Not really."
"Great! Our new range is quick drying with no harmful odors..."
"Sounds amazing." I stepped forward and Clyde didn't move at all. Instead, his eyes widened hopefully. I looked over my shoulder at the wall behind me—trapped—then over his shoulder, where I saw my target rounding the corner of an aisle and starting up the next one. "Listen," I said to the immovable object with as much contempt as I could muster. "What do I need to do to get past you?"
Clyde thrust the clipboard at me. "Sign up for the store's email newslett
er. I have to get fifty sign-ups by the end of today."
"Yeah? How many you got?"
"Two. Including you."
I took the pen, signed Maddox up and zipped around Clyde, trotting off at top speed. When I reached the aisle, the two men were nowhere to be seen. I jogged faster, panicking that I'd lost them, my head darting a glance into each aisle as I passed by. Amongst the towering shelves of wallpaper, lumber, paint and who knew what else, where couples and singles lurked, but not my two... "Oof!" I splatted against a hard body. Pressing a hand against my ribs, I stepped back and started to apologize as I looked up. "Oh, hey!" I exclaimed.
Captain Somper stared down at me and frowned. "I know you," he said.
"Yeah! You work with my husband." I gave my ribs a last rub and straightened up. "I'm looking for the paint aisle," I said.
"You passed it two aisles back." His eyes narrowed.
I looked behind me. A big sign with “Paint” hung a few feet away. "Riii-ght! Silly me."
"What are you doing here?"
"Buying... paint," I said, slowly. "And Spackle. Yeah. Spackle. You?"
"Nothing," he said. Behind him, a man stepped around, holding a large portable heater. He paused at whatever he was about to say and looked from Somper to me. He looked vaguely familiar, and I wondered if he was a member of the gym. He was darker than Somper, with brown eyes and a tow head.
"Who's this?" he asked, staring down at me.
"No one," said Somper. "Some wife of one of the guys."
"Yeah?" The man loomed closer.
"Well, great to see you," I said, backing up. "Best get that Spackle. Spackle waits for no man. Woman. Later!" I spun around, dodged the store clerk and headed to the paint aisle, breathing hard. Behind me, I heard Clyde hassling Somper and his friend for their email addresses. I walked to the end of the paint aisle, and slid around a pyramid of paint cans before I tried the radio.
"It's Somper," I told Flaherty. "I'm going to hang back. He's suspicious of me."
"What did you do?"
"Ran into him. He recognized me."
Command Indecision (Lexi Graves Mysteries) Page 20
