“Always,” Mildred huffed, then she got out with her little dog, Spit, and slammed the car door.
Heidi knew the layout of the main floor of the house, thanks to Sarah’s report the night before. It had been a lucky break that they’d been able to get inside. No, it wasn’t luck. It was planning and careful selection of society members, she reminded herself. She should be proud of the women in the society and all they accomplished. Heaven knows they put their hearts and souls into it. She was thankful for good weather too. She didn’t have any control over that and March weather was always iffy.
“Car,” Sarah texted from her vantage point down the road.
Heidi watched as a sleek black Cadillac pulled up and parked at the curb in front of the mayor’s house. She took several photos with her phone, then watched as Mildred walked her little dog past the two men emerging from the car. The men were large and wearing suits, and they made the hair on the back of Heidi’s neck stand up. She couldn’t see details from where she was parked, but she squinted through the windshield, watching to be sure Mildred was safe.
Even though she was prepared, she jumped in surprise when Mildred’s little dog broke into a fit of viscous barking and latched onto one of the men’s pant leg.
Adam watched as Tyler ground rust off the fender of the jeep. The rust was thick and he’d likely end up cutting parts out and welding in new, but the kid was having a blast.
The grinder stopped and both turned toward the door of the house where a loud, long wail of a howl could be heard.
Tyler lowered his safety goggles. “Sounds like he’s lonely.”
Adam shrugged. “He’s never whined to come out here before.”
Tyler winced as another howl rang out from behind the door.
“What do you say we take a break and get something to drink?” Adam asked.
“I’d love a beer!” Tyler replied, looking even more like a kid as he straightened his skinny shoulders and stood as tall as he could.
Adam chuckled. “Your mother would kill me. Come on, I’ve got some soda in the fridge.” He watched as Tyler removed his goggles then stepped over and around Jeep parts as he made his way to the door. It felt good having the kid here, like he was doing something worthwhile. Not that his work with vehicles didn’t give him a certain sense of accomplishment, but this was different. He felt like an adult, like he’d made some progress in his life. It had been a while since he’d felt secure about his place in the universe. Shrugging off the thought, he led the way into the kitchen.
The second Tyler was through the door, the dog once again tackled him, joyous in the extreme.
That fact bothered Adam, but that was dumb. He was a grown man and the dog could like whoever he wanted. It didn’t mean anything. But still… it stung.
Tyler selected a soda from the fridge and followed Adam into the living room with the dog by his side.
Both guys settled onto the sofa, and the dog stood at Tyler’s knee, his eyes fixed lovingly on the boy’s face.
“That dog has sure taken to you,” Adam said, taking a draw of his soda.
Tyler gulped thirstily from his can. When he came up for air, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “They say dogs are a good judge of character,” he said, patting the dog on the head. “What’s his name anyway?”
Adam frowned at the comment. “I haven’t really had time to name him yet.”
Tyler looked disappointed. “You gotta name him, what do you yell out the back door to get him to come home?”
The damn dog had never gone out on his own. He hadn’t ever needed to call him. He rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling like an idiot for the second time that day.
“He’s a great dog,” Tyler continued, unfazed.
Adam watched as the boy rubbed the dog’s ears.
Tyler looked up at Adam. “He’ll warm up to you. You just gotta open up to him, treat him like he’s a friend.”
Adam suddenly felt as if he’d been downgraded from the adult in the room to the student.
“You’ll see,” Tyler assured him. “Give him a chance.”
Adam stood and strode into the kitchen to throw away his soda can. Had he been so uncaring to the dog? No, he’d gotten him a bed and a leash, and he’d offered to walk him.
Discomfort prickled along his back. Damn. He’d closed himself off so tight through the whole divorce fiasco that now he couldn’t even open up to a dog.
Well, he sighed, he was what he was.
Mildred waited for a few seconds, drawing out time before she acted on her dog’s aggression. “Oh, Woofy, bad boy,” she cried in mock horror.
The burly man wasn’t hurt, just surprised by the attack of the little mutt. He shook his leg, trying to dislodge the dog from his pant leg. “Get off, get him off!”
“Oh my, do be careful,” she hollered at the man in a shaky voice. “Woofy is old, you’ll hurt him!”
The man stared at her, incredulous. “I’ll hurt the dog? Who’s biting who here?”
“Knock it off and come on,” the other man sneered, elbowing his buddy. “Stop messin’ around.”
“Lady,” the first man bellowed, “get your dog off me!”
“Okay, okay,” Mildred clucked, leaning down. “Come on now, Woofy, leave the nice man alone,” she said, being careful to get a sample of the torn fabric as she unlatched the dog. Woofy complied to her order as if he’d done it a million times.
“Stupid mutt,” the man mumbled as he followed his buddy up to the mayor’s porch.
Back in Heidi’s car her phone dinged with a message from Sarah. “Jersey plates. I looked them up—licensed to Sergio Manuka.”
Heidi’s stomach sank. The name sounded Russian. Could they be messing with the Russian Mafia? Lord help them!
The passenger door opened. Mildred yanked off her hat and climbed in with her little dog. The old woman looked rattled for the first time Heidi could remember.
“Those men are up to no good,” Mildred huffed, absently smoothing her wrinkled hands across Spit’s head. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find out anything about them, including mob ties.” The little dog yapped in agreement, as if the man’s trousers had tasted bad.
Heidi’s stomach churned. They were in dangerous territory. They’d need to be very careful if they were to get out of this mission intact. The dog barked again and Heidi patted his little head. “Good job, Spit,” Heidi told the dog. “You’re such a good actor.” Then she looked up at Mildred. “Why did you name him Spit, anyway?”
The old lady waved off the question. “I named him that before he was trained.”
Heidi blinked at the comment but then her phone dinged and she forgot all about the dog.
“Heading to the Cadillac now,” Michelle dinged in.
“Be careful,” Heidi texted back. “Buford isn’t here yet.”
“Will do,” she texted back.
“Biker Chick in,” Monique texted, meaning she was in the side yard of the mayor’s house.
“The dog?” Heidi texted.
“Dog took the steak, we’re friends. Not so with the cat.”
Heidi would have laughed if she weren’t so stressed. Monique and Michelle were taking huge risks getting so close. But Monique had to be in the side yard to peer in through the living room window. The other window was visible from the street.
Michelle hoped to get valuable information from inside the Cadillac. She had offered to go in, but Heidi was worried about her friends and what would happen if they got caught.
“Two males, dark suits, dark hair, fair skin.” Another message from Monique read.
“I could have told you that,” Mildred huffed. She fingered the scrap of fabric Spit had torn from the man’s pant leg. “This is high dollar fabric. Those are money men.”
Heidi’s phone dinged three times. “No shouting yet but looks tense,” from Monique, and “Pink Hair inside car,” from Michelle. Monique added “Rachel is in the corner. Seriously, does the mayor know the diff
erence between a secretary and a slave?”
“Pickup,” lookout Sarah texted to the group. “Looks like Buford.”
All the women watched as the little man parked, then climbed from his truck and headed inside. Luckily, he didn’t give the black Cadillac a glance or he could have seen Michelle.
“Car registration says Sergio also,” Michelle’s next text confirmed. “Found napkins and matchbooks from casino in glove compartment.”
“No handshakes or introductions,” Monique texted. “Talking, talking, Buford getting upset.”
Sarah interrupted with a text. “Googled Sergio Manuka, he owns a casino in Atlantic City.”
Heidi and Mildred made eye contact over her phone. “Atlantic City?” they exclaimed.
Chapter Fifteen
“Something’s happening,” Monique texted.
Heidi and Mildred sprang into action, gathering props and jumping from the car.
“Buford is yelling, he’s upset.” Monique dinged in as Heidi slammed her car door. Mildred put on her floppy hat and Spit joined her on the sidewalk.
“He’s yelling that he won’t do it. He says—he’s leaving! Everybody is leaving!” Monique texted.
Heidi fought down panic. “Abort, Abort!” she texted to the group as she, Mildred, and Spit ran down the sidewalk. She pulled on her long blond wig and was still adjusting it as they reached the front of the mayor’s house.
As the front door flew open, the women turned the other direction, making it appear as if they had been walking away from the house, but stopped when they were surprised by the commotion.
Buford stomped from the house and marched to his truck, climbed in, and roared away.
Next, the two men in suits tramped out of the house to head across the yard.
Worried that Michelle was still in the Cadillac, Heidi stepped in front of the leading man. “Thurman? Thurman Witherspoon, is that you?” She cried with an exaggerated southern accent.
The other man stopped in his tracks at the sight of Mildred and Spit. “Keep that thing away from me,” he warned.
Spit broke into a fit of barking and snarling.
“Woofy, calm down,” Mildred cried, allowing the dog to lunge at the man.
Heidi blocked her man from reaching his car. “Why, I haven’t seen you since high school graduation! How have you been?”
The man frowned and tried to sidestep around her. “You got the wrong guy,” he muttered.
But Heidi wouldn’t have it. She put one hand on his arm. He glared down at her, and she could see that he was upset, but she was too worried about Michelle to consider what the man might do. “Oh, come on now, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that night we parked by Lake Winachookoo.”
“Woofy, Woofy!” Mildred called, her voice shrill and cracking.
Between Mildred, Heidi, and Spit barking, they made quite a commotion.
The man brushed off Heidi’s hand and pushed past her. Heidi made a move to tackle him, but from the corner of her eye she saw Michelle jump into Sarah’s car. The other man ran around the yard, trying to get away from Spit, then circled around to the car to climb in with his friend.
“Well, haven’t you turned into a rude thing!” Heidi yelled as the men slammed their doors.
Spit quit barking and Mildred and Heidi stood watching the car roar to life with their heartbeats pounding in their ears.
The long, black Cadillac sped away, spewing up dust and gravel.
The women headed down the sidewalk with shaking knees, pretending to continue their evening stroll, but neither woman was calm nor collected.
“I wonder what happened in there?” Mildred huffed, tossing a glance back at the house.
Heidi, still working to catch her breath after the scare, opened her car door. “I don’t know but that was too close for comfort. Did you see if Monique got out?”
Mildred opened her door and Spit jumped into the car. The old woman pulled off her hat and put one wrinkled hand on the car. She made eye contact with Heidi over the top. “She did. I saw her, but I’d swear she had a cat hitchin’ a ride on her back.”
Heidi couldn’t even laugh, due to the stress.
“Shoot, I’m getting too old for this. That was way too close,” Mildred huffed as she dropped into the car.
Adam lay in bed thinking back on his day. What a cluster! First, instead of making up with Heidi, he’d made her even more upset. Then his grand gesture with Tyler had only pointed out how messed up he was.
It hurt to think that all his efforts were for nothing. He wanted to teach Tyler about restoring cars, and the kid was certainly enthusiastic. He’d been willing to do anything Adam had asked of him.
It was how to fix things with Heidi and even his relationship with his dog that left Adam feeling like a failure.
This is why he never dwelt on his feelings. He always got upset yet was no closer to knowing what to do about it.
He flipped off the lamp on his nightstand and tugged the covers up over one shoulder, but his thoughts continued.
What should he do about Tyler? The kid was smart and funny and Adam enjoyed having him around. Tyler was eager to learn and could be of some help. So, what was the problem?
He snorted. The problem was the kid could see right through him.
Now he was scared of a teenage boy?
Of course he wasn’t scared, he was—a full minute ticked past.
Okay, what about Heidi, how had he botched his apology? He’d said all the right things.
Tyler’s words about the dog rang in his ears. “You just gotta open up, open up, open up…”
He sighed and flopped onto his other side, causing the dog to stir. He frowned and ground his teeth, then sighed again. With a growl of frustration, he sat up and adjusted the pillow to lean against his headboard.
In the darkness he could just make out the form of the dog curled up on the end of the bed.
“Hey, dog,” He said.
The dog’s head came up.
A moment passed as Adam fought down emotion. Finally, he motioned to the dog. “Come here, boy.”
The dog got to his feet and did a wake-up shake, then padded up to his master.
Losing the battle with his thoughts, Adam pulled the dog into his lap and laid his cheek against the mutt’s furry head. “Can I call you Ralph?” He asked, lifting his head.
The dog peered into his soul, his eyes shining in the darkness.
“Ralph,” Adam tried the name on for size, his voice ragged and his words choked. “Well, Ralph, what do you know about women?”
The next evening, Heidi called the meeting to order.
The women around the table ignored her, too intent on regaling their stories from the mission the night before. Sarah had made cupcakes with sprinkles especially for the meeting and they sat ignored in the center of the table. Even Jessica was too excited to bother with snacks. Coffee cups still sat on the sideboard and no one had even started brewing a pot.
Heidi banged the gavel. “Come to order please, we have a lot to talk about tonight.”
Mildred looked up and gave her friend a shoulder shrug.
Monique was deep in conversation with Sarah, discussing the events of the mission.
Heidi dropped into her chair, despondent and exhausted. After all that excitement at the mayor’s house, she’d had to go out to Adam’s and pick up Tyler. She had ignored Adam standing in his doorway, outlined by the warmth of his home looking all handsome and inviting and… She banished the thought.
It hadn’t been easy to act as if she’d spent a quiet evening at home when Tyler got in the car either. Luckily, he’d been content to babble about working on the Jeep all the way home.
Her pulse had still been racing when she climbed into bed. Every time she’d started to calm down, she’d think about Michelle almost getting caught in the Cadillac by those two thugs, and she’d get upset all over again.
Who did the society think they were, acting like cops and spies? What t
hey were doing was dangerous and stupid.
Underneath all of her other stress was Adam. What had he been thinking when he’d apologized? His words had been right, but his demeanor had been insulting. She couldn’t even put her finger on what exactly he’d done to upset her.
Maybe she hadn’t believed a word he said because she’d spent enough time with him to know when he was putting on a show. When he was himself, he only said a word or two and his face was thoughtful, not animated like he’d been that morning.
“Where’d you go,” Mildred asked, giving Heidi a nudge with her elbow.
Shaking off her funk, Heidi stood and banged the gavel. “Order!”
Sam raised her hand, “I motion we call the meeting to order,” she yelled over the din.
“I second,” Mildred added.
Michelle waved her purple nails. “I motion we dispense with the notes,”
“Second,” Monique offered.
“I’ll make coffee,” Michelle added as she got up and headed toward the coffeemaker.
Jessica pulled the plate of cupcakes her way. After taking one, she passed them to her left.
Heidi watched in amazement as Michelle used one long nail to separate coffee filters, then add grounds to start the brew.
Finally, she felt as if they could continue. “All right then,” Heidi began, drawing the group’s attention. “We all know that last night was Mission Mayor Meeting. Let’s not waste any time, Monique, you were closest to the action, please tell us what you saw.
The woman took a moment to collect her thoughts, then began. “I was watching the meeting though the living room window.”
The group muttered in anticipation as Michelle worked her way around the table handing out empty cups.
“Well, the meeting went south” Monique said, “and everybody stomped out, so whatever the mayor had intended to happen—I mean, I don’t think it went well.”
Talking broke out around the table, with some of the ladies in agreement and others not.
Trouble on Main Street Page 15