reinstatement. If what you’re telling us is the truth, you have nothing to worry about. Of course if any charges are brought against you or you are found to have been involved in any way, your employment with the Guardian Security Agency will be immediately terminated. Do you understand?”
“I wasn’t even supposed to come in today. This is my day off.”
“He asked you a question.” Mr. Loeffler said. “Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I said.
TWENTY-ONE
“They can’t fire you based on one cop’s suspicion.” Jessie said. I called her immediately after leaving Lakeview. Her anger was making me feel better. “And Borgano can’t go making wild accusations about you to your boss. That’s slander. He’s spreading lies about you. It’s illegal.”
“Jessie, they’re not lies. I am helping David. His suspicion is correct.”
“They don’t know that. And until they prove it, you’re innocent. What does Pap say?”
“He says that I might be reinstated when David is arrested if it turns out I’m not involved. They’re calling it a suspension without pay.”
“Why didn’t he stick up for you?”
“I don’t know.” I said. “You can ask him yourself when you pick him up. I’ve still got his car.” I explained that we were going to have to trade cars and that she would have to pick up Pap in his car and get a ride home from him.
“Oh I’ll ask him alright, don’t worry.”
“Jess, it’s really not his fault. He works for Loeffler and Pierson, he’s got to do what they say. It’s not really up to him.”
“Jesus, you’re pretty philosophical about it.” She said. “They just fired you Ben…”
“I was suspended without pay.” I said.
“Oh I’m sorry, big distinction. You need to get pissed off here -what’s wrong with you? Don’t you see that you won’t be getting a paycheck anymore? No paycheck means no rent, no food, no car payments. We’re fucked. They just inflicted physical violence against us and you’re being philosophical about it. If someone was punching you in the face I hope you would at least put your fists up to make it look like you might try to fight back.”
“Cool-out Jess, damn.” I said. “This’ll probably all blow over in a couple of weeks. And even if it doesn’t, I can get another job, I’ll wash dishes or something. And it’s not your fuckin’ Pap’s fault either, so don’t go yelling at him. He was nice enough to get me the job in the first place, I don’t want him to think we’re ungrateful just because it didn’t last forever.” I took a deep breath. “I need something to take my mind of this shit. What’s going on with Gretchen?”
She told me that she was waiting for Gretchen to come out of the Shoreston public library and I told her I’d meet her there to take over the rest of her surveillance shift so she could bring Pap his car.
We had to make the exchange quickly because Gretchen was leaving the library, walking to the parking lot when I pulled up. I followed her on a short drive from the library to a sporting goods store, where she spent about twenty minutes shopping and emerged with a bag. She got back on the road again, and I followed, careful to keep a car or two between us whenever possible.
Her next stop was a liquor store, where she picked up what I assumed to be a bottle of wine in a silver gift bag. I followed her onto route twenty, relieved to be in some traffic where I wouldn’t be noticed. It was early in the evening, the sun had gone down but it wasn’t quite dark yet.
She took an off-ramp without using her turn signal, and then turned down a residential street and parked in front of a one-story white house. It looked like all the other one-story white houses in the area. I drove past and watched in my rearview mirror as she walked up to the house, holding the wine. I went to the end of the next block, and made a u-turn and parked facing the house. I turned my headlights off and sat.
Almost fifteen minutes later, a maroon Chevy pulled up, and parked behind Gretchen’s car. Two women got out, one of them holding a bouquet of flowers. They walked up to the house close together, maybe holding hands. Someone opened the door for them before they’d even knocked. My phone was vibrating. It was John. “I’m sorry Ben, it was out of my hands.” He said.
“That’s okay,” I said, “I don’t blame you.”
“This detective has it in for you, I don’t know why.”
“It’s okay really. I was never in love with the job anyway. It was always just a paycheck to me. That’s the only thing I’ll miss -the paycheck.”
“You’re not fired yet.” He said. “I told Jessie the same thing, you could get your job back when David is caught.”
“Doesn’t seem likely.”
“Well, on the bright side, you can spend more time doing surveillance. Are you with the object of our extra-curricular investigation?”
“Yeah, I’m on her.” I said.
“Any news?”
I told him about the sporting goods store and how she was at a house off route twenty near the CostCo. “I think it’s a dinner party, she brought wine and some other people went in.” I said.
“Did she leave the bag from the sporting goods store in her car?” He asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” I said.
“Well? Don’t you want to know what’s in there?”
“You mean you want me to bust into her car?”
“No, don’t bust in, just go see if she left a door unlocked or a window down. Hell, you might be able to see what’s in the bag through the window. Just go check it out.” He said. “Is it a new car? When she got out did she beep it with a remote?”
“No.” I said.
“There you go, she probably left one of the doors unlocked then.” He said. “See if it’s ammo. She might be making her move soon if she’s out buying up cartons of ammo. She’s in the house drinking wine and eating dinner, you have at least an hour.”
“I guess I could take a look.” I said.
“Just be quiet about it.” He said. “And hey, call me back and let me know what you find. After I drop Jessie off I’m going to get some food and then I’ll come take the night shift. I’ll need directions.”
I said alright and shut the phone, thinking that with my luck I’d get arrested for trying to break into her car. I left my keys in the ignition and walked quickly up the street to Gretchen’s Honda. It was a quiet street, so I wasn’t worried about anyone coming by. Her driver’s side door was locked, and the rear door on that side too, so I walked around the car, glancing over at the house to see if anyone was at the window. I didn’t see anyone so I tried both doors on that side but they were also locked. I looked through the rear-window at the bag sitting on the back seat. It could be boxes of ammo or a baseball glove or fishing wire or anything. I couldn’t tell.
I was about to go back to my car, when I had the idea to try the hatchback. It took me a long time to find the handle, but when I did, it opened right up. The light went on in her car and I looked at the house again, but didn’t see any indication that I was being watched. I climbed in and leaned over the back seat to reach the bag. There was dark cloth in there, and I had to actually remove the stuff before I realized that it was ski masks and gloves. Four masks and four pairs of gloves. I shoved them back in the bag and got out of there. The hatchback made a loud thunk when I closed it, which sent me ducking behind the car.
I peeked around the bumper at the house, but the front window remained empty. I stood and began walking casually toward my car. A pair of headlights was coming toward me from up the street. The car was about two blocks away, and I knew that if I kept going they would see me. For some reason the sight of those ski masks had freaked me out and I was in a nervous state. I thought they might’ve seen me ducking behind the car, and it would be bad if they got a good look at me. I thought they would know I was spying.
When I got to the end of the block, instead of crossing the street to my car, I turned right and walked away from it. I was about halfway down the block when I h
eard the car pass behind me. I stopped and exhaled. It was a warm night and there was a particularly loud cricket nearby. I looked over and noticed an alley that cut the block in half and ran right behind the house Gretchen and the two women had gone into. It ran the whole length of the street. Before I had time to think about it, my legs were carrying me down the alley toward the back of the house.
There were small garages on either side of the alley and some fences around what I imagined were nice, suburban back yards, but the house that Gretchen had gone into didn’t have a garage. It had two parking places on a patch of gravel, with a dented Toyota Carolla parked in one of the spots. There were cement stairs with a rusty metal handrail that led up to a small yard surrounded by bushes. An old tree in the corner of the yard had branches that stretched out over the Toyota. I went halfway up the steps and looked at the back of the house. There was an enclosed back porch with a garden next to it underneath a lit up window. I thought the window was probably to a den. I could see the blue light from a TV flickering in the corner above a bookshelf. I stood there for a while and saw no sign of people. I figured they were probably in an adjacent dining room, eating.
I took a deep breath and went up the stairs into the back yard. I crouched down and ran to the enclosed porch, where I held myself against the vinyl siding so I couldn’t be seen from any of the windows. I wanted to look into the den, but from my low,