She looked at Ace. He shrugged his shoulders. “I think it sounds kinda fun,” he said. “And nothing happened when that guy followed me on Saturday.”
Willie sighed. “I guess helping you beats worrying about you.”
“Great.” I grinned.
“So if this guy follows me, what’re you going to do?” Ace asked.
“This guy’s got a cohort, and Cal and I are going to bug his house.”
Now it was Ace’s turn to give me a blank stare.
“I’m going to listen to his friend’s conversations,” I said.
“Oh.” Ace nodded slowly, but again, he didn’t get what I said. Thank goodness Willie was going to be with him tomorrow…she was definitely the brains for that part of my plan.
“You want us to call and update you?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, let me call you once we’re out of the house.”
“And why do you want to bug Gilbright’s house?” Now she was curious.
“Because he lives with the guy in the baseball cap, and by bugging their house, I might figure out what they want and why they’re after Stephanie.”
“And Cal’s helping you bug their house,” Willie said.
I nodded. “Yeah, can you believe he researched bugs? He secretly loves helping me.” Willie laughed. “Anyway, let me grab a few things and then we’ll leave,” I said.
Willie and Ace chatted while I went into the bedroom and packed an overnight bag. Then I went into the office, reloaded the Glock, and returned to the living room.
“Here are spare keys to the condo and 4-Runner.” I handed Ace a set of keys. “Make yourself comfortable. There are clean sheets on the bed, and fresh towels in the bathroom.” I showed him how to operate the TV remote and then Willie and I left.
“You know what the best part of this plan is?” Willie asked as we went down the stairs and across the street to her place.
“What?”
“I finally get to spend some time with you.”
“I’ll second that,” I said.
It was the first night I’d spend at her place, but I didn’t notice much as we spent most of the time in her bedroom. And for a few hours I didn’t think about Forrest McMahon, or Stephanie, or the case. And Willie was right: it was the best part of my plan.
Chapter Twenty-One
At exactly ten o’clock the next morning, Cal and I were sitting in his Honda Civic in a neighborhood off of 104th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster. So far, my plan had gone off without a hitch. Willie had spotted Baseball Cap parked in a gold Lexus near my building, where he could see both the stairs to my unit and the garage around back. Ace had done his job perfectly, fooling Baseball Cap into thinking he was me. He’d taken the 4-Runner, driven it around front, and picked up Willie, and the Lexus had followed them. A minute later, Cal and I had headed up north, he in his Honda, I following him in Willie’s Mazda CX-5. When we arrived in Gilbright’s neighborhood, I left the Mazda around the corner and joined Cal. I figured we had at least a few hours before Baseball Cap figured out he’d been fooled.
“What do I say if someone answers the door?” Cal asked as we watched Bennett Gilbright’s house.
“Say you made a mistake,” I said. “Then hightail it back to the car. They’re not going to do anything about someone who rang their bell by accident. If no one answers, signal me and I’ll join you. Then I’ll keep an eye out while you pick the lock.”
“And what if they have an alarm?”
“If it goes off, we run like hell,” I said.
“Great,” Cal muttered. He got out and walked down the street, then headed up the walk to Bennett Gilbright’s house. He rang the bell and waited, then rang it again. Then he turned around and looked down the street toward me. I got out and hurried after him.
“Thank God they shoveled,” I said as I walked up the sidewalk to the door. A few inches of snow had blanketed the city overnight, and even though the sun was a bright fiery ball in a cloudless blue sky, it was still too cold for the snow to melt.
“Yeah, I didn’t wear boots.”
I stared at Cal. “I’m not worried about your feet. If they hadn’t shoveled, we’d leave footprints, and that might tip them off and they’d know someone broke in.”
“Oh,” Cal said sheepishly.
I shook my head. Brains, but no common sense. I stood in front of him as he pulled his lock picking tools from his coat pocket.
“Anyone around?” he asked.
I checked. “No. Hurry up.”
“Don’t rush me.”
It was funny. He’s telling me to not rush him, but by the time he’d said that, the locks were picked.
“We’re in,” he whispered. “Here goes.”
He turned the knob and opened the door. We both waited for some kind of shrill alarm, but nothing happened. I nodded and we slipped inside.
We stood in a small foyer, looked around and listened. To the left was a living room, to the right, an office, and directly in front were stairs leading to the second floor. And all was quiet.
“Let’s make sure there’s not a silent alarm,” I whispered.
He nodded and we walked down a short hall to a kitchen. Cal scoped it out and I turned right, to a laundry room and garage exit. A small rectangular box was near the door. It was an alarm system, but it was turned off.
I strode back to the kitchen. “We’re okay,” I said. “The alarm’s not set.”
“Good.” Cal glanced around. “I don’t see a land-line phone. Too bad. It’d be easiest to put a bug near a phone. Okay, let’s put a bug here and in the office.” He pulled a small bag from his pocket and pulled out a tiny device. He studied the room, then decided to place the bug on the underside of a round table in a small nook off the kitchen. “This will catch conversation here, but the bug is pretty powerful so it should pick up conversation from the kitchen as well.”
“I’ll take your word,” I said. “What about in there?” I pointed to a den across from the kitchen.
“I’m getting there.”
We stepped down a single step into a comfortable room with a large stone fireplace, a sectional couch, loveseat, coffee table and a gargantuan flat-screen TV with games and a DVD player hooked up to it. Cal took out another bug and stuck it underneath the coffee table. “That should be good. Let’s go to the office.”
We went back down the hallway to the office where Cal put another bug on the underside of the desk. An oak desk sat facing the room, and a bookcase in the corner had a few pictures on it, but nothing else. On the desk was a laptop and a desk lamp. Cal sat down in a leather office chair and opened the laptop.
“Nice,” he murmured as he typed on the keyboard. “Password-protected. Want me to crack it?”
“Quit fooling around,” I said. “We don’t have time for that. Should we put some bugs upstairs?”
He grinned. “I was just kidding.”
“Come on.”
He closed the laptop, then pushed himself out of the chair. “All right, don’t rush me.”
We sneaked up the stairs. There was a decent-sized landing that looked down onto the foyer, and open doors led to three bedrooms. One had an exercise bike and weight set in it. Another had an oak bedroom set, a queen-sized bed with blue comforter, and a small desk with another laptop. The master was sparsely filled, with a king-sized bed, a large flat-screen TV on a dresser, and nothing else.
I raised an eyebrow. “Put a bug in each bedroom?”
Cal nodded. I waited while he popped into the smaller room. I stood to the side of the door and when he emerged, I tapped his shoulder.
He let out a high-pitched squeak, then punched me in the arm. “Don’t do that!” he said through gritted teeth. His face flushed red.
“Sorry. I was trying to relieve the tension.”
He fought not to grin at me. “If only your clients could see your professionalism. Okay, now the master bedroom.”
“Great –” I paused. “What w
as that?”
Cal stood still and listened.
“The garage door!” he hissed. His face color changed from red to white in a flash. “What do we do?”
I held up a hand and he clamped his jaw shut. I pushed him to the wall and tiptoed to the rail, listening. The door from the garage opened, voices sounded, and the door slammed shut.
“How could you get fooled like that?” I recognized the voice as Bennett Gilbright, and he was fuming.
“Hey, you weren’t there.” That from Baseball Cap. “The guy who walked down from Reed’s condo looked like Reed.”
“But it obviously wasn’t him, was it now, Aiden,” Bennett said. They had moved into the kitchen.
“I know that now,” Aiden said, sarcasm dripping off every word. “The guy picked up the girl who lives across the street and they drove south to the Tech Center. It wasn’t until I saw them stop for gas that I realized it wasn’t Reed. That’s when I called you.”
“Where the hell did he go?” Bennett asked.
“How should I know?”
As Aiden and Bennett continued arguing, I glanced over at Cal. He was breathing in short gasps and I wondered if he was having a heart attack.
Aiden spoke again. “So now what?”
They moved into the den and the television came on. A few moments later, the sounds of simulated gunfire drifted up to us. They were playing a video game.
“Let’s go,” I mouthed at Cal.
He shook his head vigorously.
I leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “You want to stay here?”
He shook his head again.
“Then let’s go.”
I had to tug his arm to get him to move.
“We’ll get caught,” he whispered.
“We don’t have a choice. Follow me.”
I crept to the top of the stairs and listened. An “Oh!” came, and then “I got you!” They were getting into the game.
I waved at Cal as I eased down the stairs. He followed slowly. We stole to the bottom of the stairs and stopped in the foyer. I heard Bennett’s voice, sounding louder.
“What do you want?” he asked.
I froze. Nearby I could feel Cal’s fear, like electricity buzzing.
“Gimme a Coke,” Aiden said.
Noises of the refrigerator door opening and closing sounded over the video game, then footsteps and soda cans opening.
I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. I let it out slowly and peeked down the hall toward the kitchen. I couldn’t see either of them. I was across the foyer in two long strides and I quietly eased the front door open. I waved at Cal and he dashed past me. I followed, quietly shutting the door. We hurried down the driveway and to his car.
“I’m going to die,” Cal said, clutching his chest. He sank into the driver’s seat and put his head back. “That’s it. I’m never leaving my house again.”
“Oh, relax,” I said. “It’s okay now.” I glanced around. The neighborhood was quiet, and it appeared that no one had seen us. “You’ve got to show me how to use the equipment.”
“Okay, and then I’m out of here.”
Cal fired up his laptop, where he’d loaded the software for the bugging equipment. He plugged in ear buds and handed them to me. “How’s it sound?”
I put in the ear buds. “Good. They’re still playing video games.”
“This has a long range so you should be able to hear from around the corner.”
He showed me how to record their conversations and a few other things, and then he drove me to my car.
“Thanks,” I said. I got out and put the laptop in my car.
“I’m going home. This sidekick is sticking to armchair detection from now on.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I watched Cal drive off, then unlocked the Mazda. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, so I sat in the back seat of the car, where the tinted windows would keep prying eyes from seeing me. Nothing much happened. Bennett and Aiden played some kind of battle game for a while, then switched to Madden NFL football. Then they went to the kitchen, and dishes clanked around as they prepared something to eat. The conversation was generally uninteresting.
While I listened, I got my cell phone out and dialed Willie.
“Reed, thank goodness you called! I was so worried when that guy quit following us.”
“Yeah, he came home, and the timing wasn’t the best.” I told her what had happened.
“I’m so sorry, but we had to stop because Ace was desperate to use the bathroom.”
“He didn’t think to go before he left my condo?”
“Well, apparently not,” she said. “You would think he’d do that, but then –”
“He’s a Goofball Brother,” I said.
“I’m just glad you got out of there safely.”
“Me, too. I don’t know how long I’ll be tied up, but I’ll call when I can.”
We hung up, and I noticed the cold, so I lay down on the back seat and covered myself with a blanket, then ate a Snickers candy bar that left me unsatisfied. “So much for the commercials,” I said, tossing the wrapper on the floor.
After Aiden and Bennett had eaten, the house grew quiet. I detected what sounded like one of them in a bedroom, and then I must’ve dozed off. I awoke with a start and sat up. The sky was morphing into a deep blue as dusk fell. My cell phone was ringing. I glanced at the number: Forrest McMahon. “Not now,” I muttered, letting the call go to voicemail. Through the ear buds, I heard conversation.
“We’ve got to be extra careful,” Bennett was saying. “For all we know, he’s outside right now and we’re next.”
“I can’t believe he’s back after all this time,” Aiden said.
My ears perked up. Were they talking about me? I sat up and continued listening, and then the sound of a door slamming startled me. Footsteps echoed across the floor. Then a voice said, “You idiots!”
My jaw dropped. I recognized that voice. It was Stephanie.
“What are you doing here?” Aiden asked.
“I sneaked out.” There was an angry edge in her voice.
“Man, you look like shit,” Aiden continued. Bad move.
She called him a few choice names. “It’s not like I had time to shower, and I hurt like hell.” To emphasize this, she groaned dramatically.
“What about the bodyguards your dad had outside the door?” Bennett’s voice was bemused.
Stephanie snorted. “My father came by the hospital to see me, but I didn’t want to talk to him so I pretended I was asleep. I overheard him tell Tyrone to go with him for coffee while I was sleeping. Then I got out, called a cab and came here.”
“Your dad is going to be pissed,” Aiden said.
“It’s his fault for assuming I was asleep,” she replied. “Besides, he pulled some strings and got my stay extended, so it serves him right. But I couldn’t wait around while you two screw things up. Why on earth are you going after Reed Ferguson? When I texted and said my dad hired him, I didn’t mean for you to follow us all over town.”
That explained why they were so easy to spot, I thought. They weren’t just amateur assassins, they were amateur everything.
“Then why did you keep texting us where you were?” Aiden asked.
“Not so you would follow us,” she repeated. “I just wanted you to know where I was in case anything happened to me. We have to be careful after what happened to Avery and Brittany. And I told you to stop following us, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“Hey,” Bennett protested. “That detective’s poking around your business, so it’s just a matter of time before he figures out about Rebecca.”
“He didn’t know anything until he spotted you. Gawd, could you be any more obvious? And now he’s suspicious,” she said. “You two are nothing but a couple of imbeciles.”
“He can’t trace us,” Aiden said. “I’ve been borrowing friends’ cars so any trail l
eads to them, not us.”
“You better hope that fooled him,” Stephanie said.
Aiden started to say something, but Bennett interrupted him. “So what do we do now?”
“We’ve got to find Scott and take care of him before he kills us all.”
My mind raced. Who was Scott? And where had I heard the name Rebecca? Then it hit me. The article in Stephanie’s scrapbook. The girl who’d died accidentally was named Rebecca Thorndike. Sounds like it wasn’t an accident, rather that Stephanie and her pals had something to do with Rebecca’s death.
“Might I point out, we wouldn’t be in any of this if you hadn’t decided we needed our own secret group,” Aiden said. “But you thought it would be so fun. And then on top of that, you set Rebecca up.”
“I didn’t hear you saying no to the group,” Stephanie said. “And once Rebecca died, someone had to take control.”
“And you screwed it up,” Aiden said.
“You were in on it, too.” Menace crept into Stephanie’s voice. “And when it went bad, I didn’t see you offering to help her, and you were right there with me to cover it up.”
“Yeah, because if anyone knew what we did, we’d all be in huge trouble,” Bennett said. “You want to talk about your dad being pissed because you left the hospital. Think what would happen if it came out that we murdered Rebecca.”
“You could kiss your trust fund goodbye,” Aiden said.
“You, too,” Stephanie snapped.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Bennett interrupted. “The question is, where do we go from here?”
The conversation turned into an argument about what they should do about me, so I decided to help that along. In a few scant minutes, I was at Bennett’s front door. It was unlocked so I let myself in.
Voices filtered out from the den. They were still arguing. I walked quietly down the hall and stood in the doorway. Stephanie was sprawled on the loveseat, her left arm still in the sling, her hair in disarray, her face drawn. Bennett and Aiden sat on the couch, both sipping beers.
Reed Ferguson Mystery series Box Set 2 Page 25
