Tracking Secrets

by Heather Woodhaven

Alexis leaned forward. Because of Jeff’s skydiving business, it made sense that he would know how to decipher coordinates. Nick leaned over her shoulder and pulled up a browser. He typed in the first two sets of numbers from the June time card.

  The first link that popped up said, “Barings, Idaho, Latitude and Longitude.”

  Nick leaned back and exhaled. “I think we might be getting somewhere. I would’ve never guessed that was anything other than a project number.”

  Her heart pounded. That was too big a coincidence to ignore. Jeff had to be on to something.

  “If you want to be sure,” Jeff added, “there are converters online that will turn it into standard DMS. Then you can plug that into Google Maps.”

  “So try that and let us know, okay? I’m getting ready to head out of town. Investigation in Portland,” Victoria said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any more help.”

  Alexis passed on her thankfulness as Nick rapidly found an online converter. Within seconds, he’d determined the location. An agricultural sales warehouse on the outskirts of town. She stared at it, slack-jawed. Agricultural sales had nothing to do with a medical practice. But maybe they were barking up the wrong tree. “We still don’t know what the third set of numbers could be.”

  “Let’s try the other two extra number sets before we attempt to figure that out. See if the GPS thing was a fluke.”

  He typed in and converted the first two sets of numbers for the July and August time cards. Each time, they pinpointed an exact business, unrelated to the medical practice. She leaned back, staring at the map.

  Nick tapped her monitor. “Okay, if we’re running with this theory, we have to figure out the third set of numbers.”

  She stared at the June time card. It hit her all at once. “A date and time?”

  Nick pointed at the numbers: 06240300. “June 24. Three in the morning if you’re using military time.”

  His eyes lit with hopefulness as their gazes connected. “Did we figure it out?” She scrolled to the next odd time card in July.

  “July 28 at six o’clock in the evening.” Nick tapped the table. “It’d still be light out. That would be bold.”

  “Maybe it would draw less attention. Look at the location. It’s the heating-and-air parts warehouse. Anyone there on a Saturday at that time wouldn’t look so out of place. However, technicians might still be in their trucks servicing clients, but I know for a fact they close up shop by three o’clock on Saturday no matter what. I got tasked with locking up once.”

  Her fingers shook as she pulled up the August time card. Nick entered the coordinates. “That would be—”

  She gasped as the location showed up on the browser. “Barings Furniture? I loved working there. Mr. Griggs is the nicest man. He can’t be part of a drug operation. There’s no way.”

  “We don’t know if he’s involved, Alexis. We’re not even sure what this is.”

  “It has to be connected to the drugs and the mayor.” She examined the rest of the numbers. “September 3, two o’clock in the afternoon.” Her gaze lifted to meet Nick’s. “That’s today. Whatever it is, it’s going down today.”

  He tilted his head back. Grabbing her hands, he pulled her to standing as if he wanted to jump up and down. “You did it. You figured it out.”

  “If we had more time cards from the past years, it would help confirm our theory. Gerald came into his newfound wealth a long time ago. So this must have been going on since then.” She started to pace around the room. “Theresa always gave me first chance to work at the practice ever since I moved back. It was one of the nicer jobs so I always took it. But if we’re right, the code had to be on other time cards of previous temps who worked there.”

  “So we don’t know exactly what it means yet.”

  “We know enough. These time cards would’ve gone from Theresa to Barry for bookkeeping. So someone at the practice had to be feeding Barry the time and place the deals were going down. It’s almost foolproof because it passes through several hands without any digital trace. It’s the real reason Barry insisted on going old school.” She held up a finger. “One of the part-time nurses at the practice hates her job. Said she’s tired of looking at rashes all day, but there aren’t many medical jobs in our town. She might be the contact supplying the numbers through all the temps.”

  “Do you think the other temps are in danger, then?”

  “I hope not. There was high turnover. There are only a few temps who have worked for Theresa the past few months, and they’re much older ladies. I doubt any of them felt the need to keep digital records like I did.”

  “So how is the bookkeeper involved?”

  “Gerald and Barry are brothers. Gerald must have been using Barry’s so-called investment service to launder the drug money.”

  He nodded. “Makes sense to me. We’ll give this to the police, and they should be able to catch them red-handed.”

  Her cheeks hurt from how wide she grinned.

  He pulled her into his arms for a hug. She closed her eyes for the briefest of moments, wanting to savor the moment. Because no matter how much she wanted to pursue a relationship with him, she’d come to terms with the fact she never could.

  He released her, but only just enough that he could see into her eyes. “I’m glad you got some sleep...with the help of Raven.”

  She tilted her head. “Raven?”

  Laughter shone from his eyes. “You two were pretty cozy on the bed. I think you’ve made a new friend.”

  She frowned. He had to be crazy. “I did no such thing. I would never allow a dog to sleep on the bed.” Although, come to think of it, she did dream about wrapping herself in a fuzzy blanket.

  “If you say so.” He smiled. “Alexis, after we both get some real rest, I’d like to take you out for dinner.”

  Her heart plummeted. “I can’t.”

  He released her and stepped back, confusion and hurt written on his face. “Why?”

  “The problem with lawyers is they talk too much.”

  His forehead creased. “Why do I feel like you’re leading the witness?”

  “I made it pretty obvious I liked you, but without a gun pointed—”

  His jaw dropped. “Oh, you can stop there.” He shook his head as if trying to erase the conversation. “I see where this is going. If you need a gun pointed at you to want—”

  “No, you don’t know where I was going.” Her words rushed out. “After we prove Gerald is guilty, this town will need a mayor. And in a couple years, this state will need a senat—” She let her sentence drop because it hurt to think she couldn’t be alongside him. “I can’t stand in the way of you changing the world for the better. I won’t do that to another good man.”

  “There’s a verse. I might butcher it, but basically it says if I understood all mysteries, all knowledge, had all faith so that I could move mountains yet have not love, then I am nothing.”

  Her heart stopped for a moment, savoring the words. She knew the passage. “I think that verse is about loving all mankind,” she said softly.

  He nodded as if he knew, as well. He squinted as he looked up at the ceiling. “There’s something in Ecclesiastes. If one man falls, the other will lift him up. But woe to him that has no one—”

  She grinned, appreciating his quick thinking. A lot of people couldn’t keep up with her, but Nick practically outpaced her. “You’re really reaching now, aren’t you?” She laughed. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

  “Okay. Well, this comes straight from the book of me, myself and I. I’m working at trusting God more so I’m not upset by decisions people make that I don’t agree with. But please hear me when I say that if the town doesn’t choose me as their leader because I want a beautiful, kind woman with a servant’s heart, who I think loves this town more than I do, to be by my si
de, then that’s their bad decision. And I could accept that.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. It was so tempting. He had no idea. But she couldn’t do that to him. Not in the long run. He said he could accept it, but what about five years from now? “I can’t,” she whispered.

  THIRTEEN

  They crunched on cereal and sipped coffee in silence on separate sides of the room. It sounded like a symphony composed of awkward. Even if everything between them had been peaches and roses, the reminder that Joe wouldn’t be returning to finish the milk before it went bad hung over Nick’s head.

  “If they ever find his next of kin, we should make a donation,” Alexis said, as if thinking the same thing. “Can I use your phone?”

  “Why?”

  “Given my last conversations with Jeremy and Chief Spencer, I’m not sure they’ll answer my call.”

  He doubted that was true but handed over the phone.

  She pointed it at the monitor, snapped photos of the time cards and emailed them to the same address the officer at Theresa’s office had supplied. Here goes. She dialed and pressed the speakerphone function.

  The moment the chief answered, the words flew off her tongue, enough to rival any fast-talking auctioneer. She told him how to read the numbers and relayed her guess that it was probably a wholesale drug shipment of some sort to be picked up by drug dealers throughout town.

  “That’s in a few hours,” he said. “I don’t have time to get cooperation from agencies in other towns. We don’t have a resident DEA or SWAT team, and frankly, you don’t have enough evidence in these time cards for me to justify using one even if I wanted to.”

  Alexis slumped onto the couch. “Please. You know I’m innocent, Chief. I had access to a vehicle. If I were guilty, wouldn’t I have fled town? You know in your gut someone killed Theresa and that scout and Joe. They weren’t your typical overdoses. Their deaths have to be connected.”

  He harrumphed. “The hospital footage showed that Theresa entered Joe’s room the night of his death.”

  Alexis’s face paled. “You’re not suggesting she—”

  “It’s possible she saw something. The images are grainy, but she argued with a doctor in the hallway who kept his face turned away from security cameras. The Boise Police have yet to find the doctor matching his description.”

  “Does he by chance look like Gerald?” Nick asked.

  “Gerald is bald,” the chief responded. “This man is not.”

  “His brother, Barry, has a full head of hair,” Alexis added. “It makes perfect sense. He runs the bookkeeping service. Has the mayor talked yet? He was with Theresa. He has to know something.”

  An uncomfortable silence settled over the line. “We had to let him go.”

  “Then you need to follow up on this tip. Something is going to happen today at that furniture store. And what about all those shootouts? Chief, that has to be enough.”

  He growled something under his breath. “Barry had an alibi. I know how to do my job. Come to the station.”

  She hung up on him and turned to Nick. “If he’s not going to be at the drop-off, we can’t prove our innocence. A drug test might prove we weren’t taking drugs but not that we weren’t in possession with the intent to distribute.”

  Nick pointed at his phone. “So maybe we film it happening.”

  “Yes. Now you’re talking.”

  He shook his head. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, there’s no way I’m letting you get within a hundred feet of that furniture shop.”

  She eyed him and gave him a smile that he was beginning to regard as dangerous. “You said you wanted to help stop drug trafficking in this town.”

  It was, in fact, exactly what he wanted to do, but he’d never intended to be so hands-on about it, and he still wasn’t sure it was the wisest option. He racked his brain for other ideas and came up with squat. “What we need is a good vantage point, and a promise from you that if this doesn’t work, you’ll accompany me to the safety of the police station. No matter what.”

  She pulled up the map on her own phone. “Help me find the perfect spot.”

  * * *

  “Could you stop checking your phone? You’re making me nervous.” He peered out the window. “Unless it’s to tell me the police are on the way.”

  She clicked off the screen as Nick resumed his pacing in front of the windows. “Sorry. I’m just checking the time again. Maybe we got it wrong. They’re late.” She’d never thought that her odd jobs for the temp agency would’ve been good for more than a low hourly wage. But the office space for lease above an insurance office made for the perfect spot to see the back of the furniture store.

  All it had taken was one call to Jessica, a real-estate agent who Alexis had helped set up showings for a couple of times. Jessica was more than happy to supply the code to the lockbox so she could take a peek at the office space. “It’s about time you set up your lawyer digs in town,” Jessica had said.

  Alexis had tried to lightheartedly shut down the lawyer practice idea, but Jessica had merely laughed. “It’ll be our little secret. Check it out and let me know what you think.”

  Raven paced in front of the folding chair. Alexis reached down and rubbed her soft ears.

  “She’s growing on you,” Nick said.

  Alexis shrugged. “She’s not bad, I guess. For a dog.” Tears threatened to overcome her out of nowhere. How could an animal show such undying devotion to someone it’d only recently met? It moved her. “I wonder who will get her.”

  Raven wagged her tail as if she understood. The hair near the dog’s neck spiked as she stiffened. Alexis pulled her hand back, at first wondering if she’d touched Raven’s stitches. But she’d been nowhere near the spot. She looked around but saw nothing. The rev of a motor sounded.

  “Here we go,” Nick whispered, as if the vehicle could hear them. He ducked and lifted his phone to the corner of the window and pressed Record. Alexis leaned forward, keeping her head low but still high enough that she could see through the window as the furniture truck rounded the corner and headed for the back of the store.

  “Do you see the police?” She tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but if they couldn’t see Gerald or any criminal activity from the window, then they would still be without evidence. Her heart plummeted as the steel door to the store’s loading dock rolled up and the truck backed into it. “I didn’t see the driver or whoever opened the door. Did you? I really thought the chief would come around, and the cops would be here.”

  Nick’s head dropped, and he stopped recording. “We tried, Alexis. I think it’s time to give up.”

  Raven released a growl that sent chills up Alexis’s spine. It sounded more like a mama bear than a dog. She spun around.

  “I agree with him.” Barry stood at the top of the stairway, pointing a gun at them. With bushy eyebrows hanging low over his blue eyes, a constant five-o’clock shadow, and dark, thick, wavy hair, he would’ve more aptly been named Harry. “It is time for you to give up, Alexis.”

  Her insides twisted. “I genuinely didn’t think it was you.” She shook her head, but her indignation that this man would pose as a friend to Theresa rose past the fear. “Why would you kill Theresa?”

  He reared back as if he’d been slapped. “I didn’t do that. I would never do that.”

  “Yeah, and I’m sure you didn’t kill Joe, either, or set us up.”

  His eyes widened. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “Yeah, so the police told me.” She huffed. “Your so-called alibi. Someone in your drug ring lied for you, huh?”

  He waved the gun wildly. Raven made a sound between a bark and a whine. Alexis’s breath caught. Maybe she’d gone too far, but if they were going to admit defeat and die anyway, she at least wanted to know the whole truth. Nick t
ook a step forward and twisted his body as if to block her from any bullets. The gesture was enough to make her words run dry.

  “Leave Jessica out of this,” Barry spat.

  It was a good thing she’d been too stunned to speak. So that was how Barry knew where they were. Jessica, the real estate agent, and Barry were an item. Another unlikely pairing, but she felt sure that, like Theresa, Jessica had no idea what kind of man she’d become involved with.

  Barry’s face turned red. “And she’s not part of any drug ring, either. I’m just here to escort you. So shut your smart mouth and do what I say. I don’t want to hurt you.” He looked at Nick, eyes imploring. “I never wanted anyone to get hurt.” His voice shook with emotion.

  Alexis turned to Nick, whose face mirrored her own confusion. Barry had the appearance of someone helpless and in sorrow, just as Gerald had.

  “What are you and your brother mixed up in?” Nick asked. “Maybe we can help.”

  “Mind your own business and get moving.”

  “The police will be here any minute. We told them all about this.”

  Barry raised an eyebrow. “So you were the reason for the unplanned traffic stop. Well, nice try. All they saw was furniture inside the truck.” He gave a pointed look at the dog. “Without a sniffer, they wouldn’t find the drugs stashed inside. They gave the men the green light and moved on, which is what you need to do right now.”

  Her heart sank. No one would be coming to the rescue.

  Barry took a side step and waved them out of the office space. Instead of going down the stairs, he pointed them into the hallway to the fire escape. Raven automatically walked on Alexis’s left side, on the opposite side of Barry, as they passed him. Any hope Alexis had that the dog had a hero’s instinct faded away.

  Once outside, she desperately looked for someone, anyone, who could call for help. Barry pulled his gun closer into his side, but no one was on the sidewalk, on the street or in the alley between the buildings. From this vantage point, she could see a small space between the loading dock and the furniture truck, but there was no sign of anyone. Her eyes filled with tears. Why would God give her a desire to advocate for the less fortunate, yet when she needed a defender, leave her helpless?