Jammed

by Deany Ray

  I’d have to let Brad know. No excuses not to get up off that well-used couch and get himself a job.

  Then I thought of something. My arm paused in midair with a French fry in my hand. “Wait a minute. Do you think that maybe…?”

  Alex grinned. “I don’t think. I know. This morning I arrested one Mr. Donald Binder. He was one of Snow’s main guys who worked the distribution from inside the factory. And there were others too. They’d make sure the empty jars were placed close to the door. That way, the guys who came to move them could get in and out as quickly as they could.”

  “Donald Binder. Oh, crap. I was on a date with that guy!”

  “He confessed to the whole thing. Sometimes they even stored some cocaine at the plant. As you so keenly spotted with that pair of dreamy eyes.”

  I blushed and hoped he didn’t see it. Donald Binder really was my mother’s worst pick ever as a potential Mr. Right. As sad as my dating life had been, I had never resorted to flirting over brunch with a guy who was a felon. A felon who told bad jokes and dribbled gravy on his chin. Thank you, Mom. Great pick.

  Alex stuffed four fries into his mouth at once. “You know, I have to tell you. Your love life kind of sucks. I might have to follow you to Boston. With the kind of guys that you go out with, you might need rescuing again.”

  “I wasn’t really going out with stupid Donald Binder.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me as he lifted his burger from his plate. “Well, I saw some touching. I saw some goo-goo eyes.” He laughed. “Kissy, kissy, kissy.”

  Just ewww. “I never kissed the guy!”

  He slowly chewed his burger while he thought about that fact. “Poor dude. No kiss from Miss Charlie, then his ass gets thrown in jail. I think that you’re back on the dating market. Because your boyfriend will be serving time for quite a little while.”

  “No way is he my boyfriend.” The very thought was humiliating. Because I really cared what Alex thought. I really cared a lot. Damn it.

  “I was only with him so I could get the card. We had to get his access card to get into the place.”

  Alex reached across the table to feed me a fry. “You need to eat some, girl. Build up your energy. You had quite a night.” He leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I saw that in the notes. I saw you’d used his card. That was real smart, Cooper. You did real good work.” He nodded in approval. I hoped he couldn’t see me blush again. Even if technically it was Marge’s idea to get his card.

  “And all those threatening notes I got? They all came from Snow?”

  “They did. Every single one.”

  “Do you know how much he scared me? I hate your stupid boss.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling. I’m not his greatest fan either.”

  “What was he like to work with?”

  “He was kind of closed off. Not a guy you got to know real well. And he had a temper. Sometimes he’d let it fly. But nothing to raise a flag that he was a major crook.” He sipped a little coffee. “I thought he was doing good work. Nobody saw this coming. Oh, and, hey, get this: a couple of other guys from the station were in on this thing too. Really disappointing.”

  We ate in silence for a while. There was so much to think about. The case had been a long road. So many twists and turns. I thought of the night out at the dumpster.

  “Graywell,” I said, remembering. A chill ran through my body. “Did Snow kill Graywell too?”

  A painful look crossed his face. “He didn’t do the job himself. But he was the one who put that whole thing into motion.”

  “Who was it that shot Graywell?”

  “It was Mickey. He confessed. Snow sent him to do the job.”

  I took a bite of cake. “Whoa. This is a whole lot to take in.”

  “Yeah. I could tell right away that Snow wasn’t very happy that Boston sent the two of you to investigate. Not that I was thrilled. But he was really pissed. Which seemed strange to me. Maybe that should have been my first clue that something wasn’t right.”

  “I thought he was just ignoring me. Because I was some rookie from out of town who wasn’t worth his time.”

  “Oh, no. You must have really scared the guy. He told me “Alex, you keep an eye on that girl’s every move”. And I said “Thank you, boss. Because she’d kind of hot.” He smiled. “I’m gonna miss that. I’ll miss watching you.”

  Oh, man. That made my mind go to a million places. I had to admit: I would really miss it, knowing that this guy could pop up at any time. I didn’t want to leave. But I had a promotion! And a raise. My new life could start.

  Of course, he was probably just some asshole flirt who knew that he was gorgeous. And flirted with every girl he came in contact with. But still. I wanted to reach out and grab his hand. How stupid would that be?

  “Seriously, Cooper, I want you to be more careful the next time you go chasing after some big lead. This business can be brutal.” His voice turned soft as he reached for his coffee mug. “Boston sent two people to work this case in Springston. Only one of them survived.”

  That sunk in hard as I finished up his fries. “Yeah. That’s the part that’s hard to think about.” My chest filled up with a kind of ache. Graywell and I had been after the same information; we’d made the same enemies. The next body that turned up in town could have easily been me.

  My thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. He took it out and checked. “Message from the station. They need me back right now. It’s a busy day, as you can imagine. They’ve already named a new chief. He wants to talk to all of us.”

  “Already? That was fast.”

  “Well, he was second in command. So it was kind of set up for him to take the reins in case of emergency.” He stood and picked up the bill. “Don’t be a stranger. Look me up when you come back.” He grinned. “Take care, limbo queen.”

  I watched him move toward the door. Suddenly he turned and grinned. “One more thing. The name’s Alex Spencer, not Cole. You know, because of the undercover thing.” Then he was gone, leaving me with my mouth half-open.

  He hadn’t been gone two minutes when Marge appeared behind me. Her voice was low and whispery. “Hey! Follow me! Right now.” Hmm. I wondered what that was all about. Marge seemed to have gotten stuck in secret-agent mode.

  Curious, I followed. She led me to the storage room where Celeste was waiting. Very quietly, Marge closed the door behind us. My two friends glanced over at each other. I could see smiles about to form. Whatever they had to say, at least it was good news.

  Then Marge grabbed my hand. “We’ve made a big decision,” she said in a low voice. “About what we’re doing next. Celeste and I are going back in business.”

  Celeste smiled. “I knew that if we just waited and were patient, an idea would come.”

  “And it did!” Marge squeaked.

  “Shh!” Celeste touched Marge on the shoulder as a warning to keep her voice down. Then she looked at me. “This idea is absolutely perfect.”

  I was still in the dark. “Well, you guys have talked a long time with very little information. What is your idea?”

  “It’s an idea we got from you,” Marge said. She took a deep breath before her big announcement. “We’ll be undercover spies! Or just plain investigators. We haven’t worked out all the details yet.”

  What? That sounded like an action flick, not real life in Springston.

  Celeste joined in, just as enthusiastically. “Cause wasn’t that a rush? To put all the clues together? And then to solve the case?”

  “It was,” I said, confused. “But how exactly would it work? Do you think there are clients out there? Enough to stay in business?” It would be a fun job. A little dangerous. But how interesting! I’d always loved to snoop.

  “We’ve already got an idea on client number one,” Marge said.

  “The Springston Police,” Celeste said. “They’ll hire us to go in, blend in with the crowds. Then when we’ve built up a resume, other law enforcement agencies will
likely get on board.”

  But still, I couldn’t imagine it would work. “Both of you are smart. But you have no experience working undercover. You really think the police will hire the two of you? And give you enough work to make a decent living?” I hated to burst their bubble.

  Marge gave me a thumbs up. “I think the new chief can be persuaded.”

  What? “Marge! You don’t mean…”

  She laughed and Celeste shushed her.

  “Silly! Of course I wouldn’t use my gun. That’s not the persuader that I mean. This time, it would be Celeste who’d be doing the persuading.”

  Celeste leaned against a wall. “My ex is a cop. And now he’s the brand new chief.”

  Mother-loving meringues! “Your ex is the…”

  “I’ve taken plenty of shit from him. And I know some stuff he’d prefer I didn’t share. Not that he’s some Patrick Snow. He’ll make an awesome chief. But let’s just put it this way: he’ll give us the job.”

  “We already have the name…sort of,” Marge squeaked. “CMC Investigations. Or CMC Detectives. Or CMC Operative Agents. We’re still working on the name, actually.”

  “What does CMC stand for?”

  “Celeste, Marge, and Charlie,” Celeste said with a proud smile.

  “Or Charlie, Marge, and Celeste,” Marge said. “Who knows? Now you two never have to argue about whose name comes first.”

  “Charlie? Did you say Charlie?”

  “Are you on board?” Celeste asked.

  “Then we’d have an experienced cop to help show us the ropes,” Marge squeaked.

  “Yeah, if you wanna type real fast.” I had to admit that the idea intrigued me.

  Celeste watched me hopefully. “We’d make a real great team. Look what we did last night. And the best thing about snooping around, nobody will ever suspect us for working for the police. We have the advantage of underestimation.”

  “Well, I do have a promotion. If I go back to Boston.”

  I thought about the captain’s words from our last conversation. Just terrific, Cooper…you knocked it out of the park…extremely disappointed.

  Marge looked a little sad. “It just wouldn’t be the same, solving crimes without you here. To just be MC Investigations and not CMC, which has more pizazz.”

  “So why the M before the C?” Celeste looked a bit annoyed. “Why not CM Investigations if it’s just us two? Although CMC really has a nicer ring.”

  “So what do you think?” Marge asked.

  “I think…I have to think about it,” I said.

  I saw the sad looks on Marge’s and Celeste’s faces and that broke my heart. Who would have thought a couple of days ago that these two quirky waitresses would grow on me so fast?

  I opened the door to the storage room, but as soon as I stepped out, I saw my dad had pulled a chair up to a table full of diners. They seemed absolutely mesmerized by whatever he was saying. I caught a little bit of the long story he was telling. “…she always had her father’s brains…yes, she is a smart one…you know, she works with the police. Over there in Boston.”

  Then someone saw me standing there, and all eyes turned toward me. My father stood and pulled me into a hug. “There’s my girl right now. I hear that you’re a hero.” He stood back to study me. “Nobody hurt you, did they? Are you okay there, sweetie?”

  I smiled. “Thank you, Dad. I’m fine.”

  He turned back to the table. “The only trouble with this girl is that she doesn’t come around to her hometown very much. But that’s just the way it goes, I guess. Big career and all.”

  I didn’t think I ever saw my father so proud of me before. Or I haven’t paid that much attention to it in the past. I was too busy planning my escape from Springston. Thought that I’d get the life I’ve always dreamed of if only I was far away from my bonkers family and town. And now I had a promotion waiting for me in Boston. I’ve finally got the recognition that I’ve longed for. What I haven’t noticed all these past years, is that I had this recognition all along, right here in Springston.

  I turned to Marge and Celeste, who were out of the storage room. I smiled. “I need to make a phone call. I think the captain in Boston will be very disappointed.”

  ***

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