Deep breaths helped calm her down as she placed the book on the small counter and opened her purse to pull out the baggie of pills.
The small opening in the middle of the book barely held the baggie, so she pressed the book closed, hoping the double-sided tape would hold it closed until they were able to make the trade-off.
Sliding the book into her purse, she remembered at the last moment to flush the toilet and run the water so no one standing outside would think anything of the exchange with Sheila.
There was only one person in the hallway as she exited, and she could hear the callers getting ready to start the next round.
Carolina was already seated, but was several tables over, sitting next to a newcomer that wasn’t on the brink of death. She gave a little wave, which Carolina ignored as she sat down.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings.” Marie would have worried more, but the caller announced the first number.
“O75.” He spoke into the microphone loudly for those hard of hearing.
While she was trying to act casual and not call attention to herself, Marie zoned out and didn’t daub her normal amount of numbers.
“Marie, you feeling okay, hun?” the player on her left asked worriedly.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Got lost in my thoughts about my internet date for coffee in the morning.” She tried to play it off as the reason for her inattention to the game.
When the card was finished, Marie got up and walked to the front door, something she had never done before.
The fresh air hit her face in welcome relief as she stood holding onto the side of the building, dropping her purse to the ground at her feet.
The panic continued to rise as she heard steps coming up behind her. Grabbing her purse, she swung it around, hoping to hit the person coming up behind her, only to have the purse held by a large male hand.
“Sorry.” He let the purse dangle in her hand again. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was checking to see if you were all right.”
Marie’s face was drained of color as she saw who had come to her rescue.
“I’ll be f-fine. Thanks.” She hoped her short answer would make him go back to wherever he had been hiding before she raced out of the building.
“Well, you don’t seem fine. Here, let’s get you something to drink.” Not waiting for an answer, he walked over to the soda machine and bought a water for her.
He approached her slowly, holding the bottle out to her as a peace offering. Marie knew she was in trouble when she accepted it with a trembling hand.
“Thanks. I guess I’m shook up more than I thought.” She acknowledged grudgingly.
“Hey, no problem. I hang out just to rescue women in distress.” He winked at her and brushed a long strand of hair behind his ear.
“I’m Zach. I’ve seen your niece dropping you off several times.” He waited for a response as Marie replaced the cap on the bottle.
“She’s married, you know. They have three children.” Defensively, Marie baited him with the information.
“Um, I think you have the wrong idea. I don’t want to hit on your niece. She has cute kids, and I figured she was married. I'm just waiting here for my nana to get done playing.” Shrugging his shoulders, he turned to leave. “Sorry I bothered you. Hope you have a good day. Bye.”
“Zach, wait. I’m the one who should apologize.” Drug dealer or not, he had been really helpful and all she’d been was rude.
“I’m Marie Ward and I’m very rude.” He had turned around, but hadn’t come any closer.
“I had a panic attack, I think. Anyway, I took all my annoyance out on you instead of the person I’m really mad at. Thank you for this.” She waved the water bottle in acceptance.
“It’s okay. You’re not the first person to assume that just because I have long hair, I’m going to rip you off. Comes with the territory. Panic attack, huh?” Zach questioned, focusing his inquisitive blue eyes on Marie.
“Well, I signed up for a dating site and have three dates tomorrow for coffee. I’m more nervous than I thought, and I have absolutely no idea why I just told you that.” Marie laughed nervously.
“It seems that I have one of those faces people look at and just spill their guts to.” Zach grinned with a perfect set of teeth.
The doors opened behind them and the rest of the seniors started pouring their way out of the building.
Marie turned to face Zach, only to find him gone. He had vanished.
Where on earth did that boy go? Marie wondered as she spotted the library guy on the sidewalk on the far side of the crowd.
Making her way over to him, she paused to get the book out of her purse when she sensed a commotion coming from inside.
She glanced up to see what was happening and found Carolina waving frantically. Not wanting to get caught giving away the very book she had just been given, Marie started to ignore her when a manicured hand was placed on her arm.
“Allow me.” Alexander Fine quickly exchanged the book in her hand for a new one. “I think you’ll enjoy this one much better. It’s the first one in the series, instead of the middle.”
“Ah…uh, yes. Thank you.” Marie had been startled, but recovered enough to slip the new book into her purse, just as Carolina arrived, breathless from weaving around walkers and talkers who never allowed anyone to pass them.
Mr. Fine was back on the other corner, as if he had never left his cart of books, helping the seniors make their exchanges.
Shaking the cobwebs from her head, Marie did the only thing she knew how to do.
Go with whatever was happening. This was the advice she’d found on the internet the night before on how to go undercover, and it seemed to make sense.
Carolina grabbed hold of her arm. “I hope you didn’t think I was mad at you or anything, but I needed to circulate if I’m going to help you catch the bad guys. Wasn’t your niece supposed to pick us up?”
“She was, and she’s never late. I wonder what happened.” Before Marie could call Sunni, Kristi pulled up to the sidewalk with a screech of her SUV.
“Hop in. Did the guy already leave that we’re supposed to follow?” Kristi asked through the open window.
“He’s over there, but it looks like he’s about to leave.” Carolina pointed to Zach as he got in a Monte Carlo from the ‘90s, that was a goldish color.
Marie got in next to Kristi’s two daughters, while Carolina took the front seat.
“Do you really think we should follow him?”
Marie asked, uncertain since he had been so nice to her.
“I’ve never followed someone before, but we don’t want to lose him if that’s the plan,” Kristi responded.
“Come on. That was the plan we had before, but no more fast driving or he’ll know you’re following him,” Carolina urged, motioning toward the disappearing vehicle.
“All right, but where’s Sunni?” Marie gave in with many reservations.
“Flynn actually managed to get a rock stuck in his ear so they’re at the emergency room having it removed. She called me, but I had to pick up the girls from school and race over here. I barely made it on time.” Kristi glanced over her shoulder at Marie. “Didn’t she call you?”
“Aw, snap. I had the phone on silent during bingo.” She started digging through her purse for the silent phone. A sudden stop caused her to grab hold of the seat in front of her for support.
“Blast it,” Kristi muttered as the gold car made it through the red light, and several cars got in-between them.
“Hey, Kristi, it’s okay. We should let a few cars be around him so he won’t know we’re following him. Don’t change lanes when he does unless he’s turning somewhere,” Marie cautioned.
“I watched some videos last night on the art of surveillance and how not to be spotted by your prey. Since he’s seen us and kind of knows who we are, then we have to be extra careful.” The buzzing of her phone interrupted Marie’s lesson.
“Sunni, is Flynn okay?
” She placed her finger in her ear to block out the noise from the two women arguing about how far back they should stay now that they were in a residential area.
“He’s fine, except for the rock stuck in his ear. We’re just waiting for the nurse to call us back so they can get it taken out safely. I’ll call you back once we’ve seen the doctor to see how the surveillance is going.”
Marie didn’t have a chance to ask anything else because Sunni had stopped listening to the phone and was trying to keep Flynn from kicking the soda machine to make a free soda come out.
“He’s stopping at that house on the left. Drive by and we’ll circle the block to find a place to park.”
“Duck, everyone,” Carolina cried out as they started to pass where Zach had parked.
“Carolina! We’ve talked about this before. No yelling in the car unless someone is actively shooting at us,” Kristi admonished, taking the corner on two wheels as she began to hurry so they wouldn’t miss anything that Zach did.
Kristi expertly parked between two vehicles so that she was facing the street with what they assumed was Zach’s house. It was just two houses to the left of the street they were on, and they had a full view of everything that went on in the yard. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice her vehicle just around the corner because Carolina could get really loud at times.
“Girls, I feel bad spying on him. He really helped me out with my panic attack today. He was a gentleman,” Marie protested, now that they were parked and she had a chance to regain her equilibrium from their crazy three-mile chase.
“That’s what this whole exercise is about. We’ll find out if he’s selling drugs, and if the sweet old woman in his clutches needs to be rescued, we can help her.”
Carolina was just getting started on her theories, so it was looking like they were in for a long afternoon.
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“Boss, the trade-off went smoothly. I thought the new lady was going to screw it up, but she got it done and no one was the wiser.”
“Do you think she’s going to be regular customer?”
“I do. She seems determined to do this, even though she knows it’s illegal. I’m not sure if she’s playing detective herself, or if she simply needs the money to survive. I’m going to be looking for some background information on her and the group she’s hanging out with.”
“Just be careful. We don’t want to tip our hand. If you see anything that screams she’s playing detective, make sure there’s nothing to link the deals to you. We can’t have our operation in jeopardy because someone got careless.”
“She mentioned at bingo today that she has a few dates tomorrow morning, and she seemed more nervous about that than she did about the hand off.”
“Let me get her info from our female contact and I’ll be one of her next dates to see for myself if she’s someone to worry about.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll inform you about anything I dig up. So far, all our other seniors are truly in need of money, but I don’t like the idea of someone trying to work undercover and find out about the operation on their own.”
“Let’s watch for the next few days and monitor her whereabouts. If she becomes a problem, she’ll have to be taken care of immediately. Think you can still do the job?”
“Absolutely, sir. I won’t let you down.”
“See that you don’t.”
He took out the battery and placed the phone on a shelf with a dozen other prepaid phones.
Time to do some work to make sure the money train wouldn’t stop. Drugs were a lucrative business, and an old lady wasn’t going to be the reason that it ended if he had anything to say about it.
Chapter 8
The hours passed slowly as the group in the SUV began to get on each other nerves. Kristi’s two daughters were connected to their electronics with headphones, so they missed most of the adult conversation, which continued to circle the same topics.
“Ladies, I hate to break it to you, but we’ve been here for four hours and the girls are going to need dinner soon. We may have to call this a draw and use the information we uncovered to exploit a weakness in this guy,” Kristi pleaded as her stomach growled for the second time.
“I have those dates in the morning and some things to do before bed so that I’m ready for them. I think we should call it a night.” Marie agreed easily, ready to be as far away from Carolina for a little while. She was someone who was good in small doses, but after four hours, everyone was ready to be alone.
Zach chose that moment to walk out to his car.
“Look! He’s leaving.” Carolina pointed excitedly. “Hurry! Turn the car on and be ready to follow him.”
Kristi rolled her eyes and started the car. “Windows up, everyone.”
She waited until he backed out of his driveway before she maneuvered her way out from between the other two vehicles.
Already at the end of the street, Zach turned left, onto the main road.
Kristi approached the stop sign at full speed, then came to a complete stop, causing everyone in the vehicle to groan.
“Can we ease into our stops and starts?” Marie asked, as Kristi impatiently tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for a break in traffic.
Kristi didn’t even acknowledge the request as she pulled out in front of several cars with only feet to spare.
“We can’t drive like an old lady. He’ll be long gone and our chance to find out where he went will be lost.” Kristi didn’t even slow down, weaving in and out of the evening traffic as if their lives really did depend on catching up to him. “I’ve got this.”
All three women tried to keep an eye on the golden car, but the darkening evening shadows were making it hard to see any features on the vehicles ahead, except for their tail lights.
“He just turned into that neighborhood,” Carolina crowed, her finger waving wildly.
“Hold on, we’re about to be back on track.” Everything slid as Kristi turned the corner at the speed limit.
“Those lights should be his up ahead,” Marie informed them. “He’s slowed down. I wonder if he’s looking for an address.”
All three women groaned as they drew closer and realized it wasn’t his car in front of them.
“We lost him.”
“Turn around and we can look on the side streets and see if he parked somewhere.”
Twenty minutes later, nauseated and ready to give up from driving in circles, they saw a flash of gold coming up the street toward them.
“Oh, no. He’s headed right at us. What if he’s trying to run us down?” Carolina gasped in horror as the car approached quickly, not realizing that Kristi’s car was hardly moving.
The gold car moved past them and stopped. It backed up until it was even with them while the driver made a motion to roll the window down.
“Ladies, are you lost?” Zach asked with a wide smile that Kristi could almost see in the growing darkness.
“This is not really a good neighborhood to be in after dark. They don’t really like white ladies hanging around unless you’re selling something, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what you had in mind.”
“Thanks for the advice. We seem to have gotten our streets mixed up.” Kristi pressed her luck and added with sass. “But if the neighborhood is so bad, what are you doing in it?”
Zach reached over the seat, causing both Marie and Carolina to gasp.
He held up a gallon of milk. “It’s always cheaper at the corner store at the end of the street, and they have milk stamps so you get one free. I got something for you ladies as well.” Zach leaned out of his car and almost tossed the grocery bag into Kristi’s hands.
“What?” Kristi exclaimed as the sack with five 20 oz. drinks and a bag of chips landed in her lap.
“I thought you ladies might need something to tide you over if you were going to watch my house for the rest of the evening.” Zach winked and waved as he headed back toward his home.
“Well, phooey. Now
he knows we were watching him,” Marie huffed.
“Oh, he knows more than that. Don’t you realize he left simply to get us to give up?” Carolina commented. “He’s hiding something, and he didn’t want us there this evening to find out what it is.”
“Kristi, can you just take me home now, please?” Marie didn’t care if Carolina made sense or not. She wasn’t used to being cooped up with so many people for such a long time, and needed to get away from them immediately.
“Sure. I’ll need directions.” Kristi made a U-turn and headed back toward the main street.
“When we get home, I’m going back in my own car,” Caroline declared to no one in particular. “Since it will be a different car, he won’t think it’s us and I’ll park in a different spot so he won’t get suspicious.”
“All I know is that the girls need dinner and have homework to get done.” Kristi sighed because there was nothing she could say that would change Carolina’s mind.
“Let us know if anything important happens,” Marie requested as she got out at her house.
“You do the same. We want to hear how your dates go. If you find more than one good guy, I’ll see if he might want a substitute.”
Marie ignored the shaking of Kristi’s shoulders because she wanted to laugh as well, but didn’t want to hurt Carolina’s feelings.
“If there’s more than one great guy, I’ll set us up on a double date. That way, we can check them out together over dinner.” Marie knew such a thing could only end in disaster, but agreed anyway.
“Good night girls.” Marie shut the door and almost ran through the dark to her front door to escape any more plans for a disastrous future.
Her home was bathed in silence and she had never been so thankful before that she was single.
Maybe going on a date was a huge mistake, but she was curious to see what kind of men the internet could produce to keep her interest.
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Sunni had just spent the past five hours waiting in the hospital. A small procedure that felt more like a surgery later, she finally made it home. Deciding that the drive-thru for a quick takeout salad dinner was her best bet, Sunni then headed home with the twins.
The Mommy Detectives and the Bingo Hall Mystery Page 7
