The Poppy Drop

by C L Bauer

  “No, Lily. I’ll follow you to your house and we will leave my car there. Remember, I’m supposed to keep you safe. Besides, I want to make sure that the police detail is in place.

  Police detail? She thought they weren’t involved. When did that happen? This was really beginning to sound like a bad Telemundo soap opera complete with the Cartel stalking the florist.

  “Really?” she muttered. “What next? Oh God, I don’t want to know.”

  He’d reached his car. “I’m following you. That’s it.”

  She was too tired to fight him. When they reached her house she was looking down the street at the cars parked on either side. Was anyone out of place? She noticed a black sedan parked across from her driveway. One person was behind the wheel. Could the police be any more obvious? Didn’t they ever watch “Murder, She Wrote”?

  By the time they reached one of Lily’s favorite Mexican restaurants, the lunch crowd was gone and it was too early for the suburban Saturday night dinner bunch. She had discovered on the way over that Agent Pierce enjoyed salsa, chips and the occasional margarita. He wasn’t much for the “girly” drinks but loved a good Dunkel, a German beer and a shot of southern bourbon. But since he was on duty, he wouldn’t be drinking anything tonight. She had her very own government designated driver.

  For someone who claimed to love Mexican food, he was studying the menu like it was a college exam. She dug into her chips and salsa after ordering the super sized margarita on the rocks with salt. The server brought it to the table and she was taking her first sip by the time she saw his face again, menu down on the table.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  He eyed her large libation, his left brow raised. “Is that big enough for you?”

  She licked the salt rim. “Yep. Just right. It was a long day. Heck it was a long week.”

  “Salsa is good, so are the chips,” he grabbed two chips at a time. “I couldn’t believe all the physical work…the boxes, the lifting, the walking, the standing in one place. I had no idea doing weddings were this much work.”

  “Some are easier and then you have one like today. Add on your friend Gretchen,” Lily couldn’t help smiling as she watched him squirm a bit, “and you have the perfect storm.” She took another sip. “I’m just happy it all went well. And I’ll be paying for dinner. You worked very hard today, sir. Also, I’m pretty sure Gretchen dodged a sexual harassment suit.”

  He smiled at that. “I can’t let you pay.”

  “Yes, you can. It really is the least I can do for your help.”

  He was opening his mouth to argue his point but thankfully the server showed up. Lily ordered her usual enchilada and tamale combo and her “DD” for the night ordered the grande burrito with queso sauce. He asked the waitress if it was good.

  “It’s one of our most ordered items,” she answered with a subtle little smile forming as she took his menu. “Your first time here?”

  Lord, was she flirting? Lily was getting tired of every woman hitting on her, on her…on her nothing. He was nothing to her, just the agent assigned to watch over her for a little while and then he would be gone, back to wherever he came from.

  He was continuing a lovely conversation with the young lady while Lily dug into her drink and more chips. She looked up at the girl and handed her the basket.

  “We need more chips, please. Thanks.” Maybe that would make her leave.

  “Did we need more chips?” Dev asked as the woman trotted away.

  “Yes, we always need more chips. You can’t have too many chips.” She was beginning to feel the tequila. The sound of the word “chips” felt funny on her lips. Oh right, she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and had drank very little water today. He was smiling at her as she raised her head from the birdbath margarita.

  “So you will be drinking, I mean driving us back to my house.”

  “You think? You need to slow down, sport.”

  Sport? What was she, his pet now?

  “I’m good, at least, I’ll be good when I get some food.” She thought about the term and it dawned on her. They were becoming buddies. Oh joy, she just loved being buddies with men. That’s a path she didn’t care to go down, again.

  “So where do you live when you’re not traveling?”

  “Well, I have a townhouse in Virginia, near DC but I’m seldom there anymore. I grew up in the area.”

  “I love that area of the country. My brother and his family are in Maryland and my sister is in Virginia. Hate the traffic but love the history, the old houses. The way you travel around you must think Kansas City is pretty boring.”

  He shook his head. “No, not at all. Beautiful city and the people are nice too. Your highway traffic is crazy in its own right.”

  “It’s not just the highways. Believe me it’s nutty everywhere. It was pretty quiet today but we didn’t have to deliver to several places or go downtown. I think there’s some festival going on near the Sprint Center this weekend. During the summer there’s either a festival or some race. They run all over the place from the Plaza, Ward Parkway, Corporate Woods, and Broadway. I sometimes hate runners.”

  She wasn’t slurring her words but words were just flowing from her mouth. Humored by the “tequila Lily” he studied her face with amusement. She had a nice face and very few wrinkles. He knew her profile, age, birthdate and her background but that never truly told you everything about someone, especially someone like her. She was a unique one. There was some hidden chapter in her past. Yet, she was an open book for everyone to read at other times. You seldom had that in one person, at least the people he knew as friends. Everyone had their secrets but usually he didn’t want to know what they were. Her’s seemed to be life experiences that she internally took in as flaws to her personality. Lord, he was trying to read someone who was drinking lots of tequila. He needed to turn off for just a little while.

  But he was used to working 24/7. In the field, in war, he was always present in the moment and now that he was back on U.S. soil for awhile, he needed to settle down, take a breath occasionally. Even though he was technically working he needed to do that right now. He’d lost track of the conversation. Hopefully she wasn’t expecting him to listen to her. What did she say? Something about a mouse in the bride’s shoe?

  “What?”

  “It was in her shoe. Yep, just sitting there in her shoe. Sure hope our food gets here. I should’ve eaten something while we were in the car, a snack bar, banana or something.”

  “But, what, how did the mouse get in her shoe?” Dev really did want to know at this point.

  “I told you. It was in the freight district in that venue that went bankrupt. They had mice, big ones with the prettiest little brown eyes, no wait, maybe they were rats. Can’t remember.”

  He laughed out loud. That food needed to get there now. Thankfully, the server was placing their plates in front of them. As she walked away, Lily was still thanking her for her generosity.

  During the meal she began to sober up. The lengthy sentences became shorter, albeit still pithy. However, she was still talking about the rodents.

  “I’m so glad we don’t have to go back down there ever again or at least until someone else opens it up again. Hopefully the city will inspect it and make the new owner do some extensive renovations to come up to city code.”

  “Well, I have to admit something, Lily,” Dev began. “I’m not usually surprised or out of my element but today…” He shook his head.

  “I know. Weddings are just their own monster. Even the simple ones are a circus sometimes. Today we kind of threw you in among the piranhas.”

  “I might have had a better chance dealing with them than that wedding coordinator.” She laughed out loud at his blunt uncomfortableness.

  “You mean you are telling me you have never, ever run into someone like her?” He looked up as if he was thinking rather intently.

  “Hmm, let me think. Terrorists, machetes, hand grenades, lan
d mines…Gretchen. Nope, I have never run into someone like her. I have this idea.”

  She leaned closer across the table as if he was going to tell her some military secret. “Yes?”

  “I think we should send her to fight ISIS. Maybe they’d all stop thinking about those virgins.”

  She snorted out loud and then Dev laughed at her. It was one natural enjoyable moment for the first time since all this craziness began.

  “I can just see her,” Lily stammered as tears began to run down her cheeks. “She’d have the hijab on but her platinum hair would be pink by that time and under the robes she’d be wearing some tight little outfit and lots of gold necklaces. Her eye shadow would form cat’s eyes. She’d be wearing those shoes.”

  Dev could see the sight in his mind. “You forgot the whip. She’d probably have a whip in one hand and a cocktail in the other.”

  An eruption of laughter made their table the loudest in the restaurant. Officially they had bonded over Gretchen. She would make sure Abby knew about the whip AND the cocktail. Sadly, Lily would never look at Gretchen the same way and she’d have to watch her demeanor from now on…she didn’t need to die laughing every time she saw the woman.

  As the end of dinner approached she did manage to grab the check even though she had a disgruntled dinner companion. It was the least she could do for him after the day he’d had. She was pretty sure weddings and how to work them were not in the manual of any government entity. He’d learned some things on the fly and he had helped her out.

  The check was paid and she dug in her purse. She handed her keys across the table.

  “I could drive but you’re here and I might as well use you.” She knew as soon as the words came out of her mouth that his one brow was going to raise and darned if it didn’t. His eyes sparkled, that was just a bonus for her mistake.

  “Use me? Interesting, Ms. Schmidt.”

  She was already warm from the hot humid day, the alcohol and now her goof. She envisioned that her face was probably a new un-named shade of red.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything…”

  “I know. Just had to mess with you a little. Been a long day. Let’s get you home.” By the time he pulled into her garage, Lily was done in. He walked her inside.

  “So, you know that car will be out there tonight and tomorrow. They have been told they are working with the FBI. They are to keep their eyes on you and report any suspicious activity.

  I’ll check in and find out what we know and touch base with you tomorrow. I don’t believe you are in any danger but we like to be safe.”

  She nodded and understood. She didn’t believe she was in any sort of danger either but she didn’t mind the precautions really.

  He turned to go and stopped at the front door. “You see anything out of place in the house before I go? Check your rooms before I leave.”

  Lily turned on every light in the house, including her bedroom and the guest room. She didn’t see anything out of place. Everything looked just as messy as when she left it in the tornado state this morning. She checked every room quickly, looking for whatever. She really didn’t know. If anyone was hiding they were doing a darn fine job in her little closet surrounded by her clothes and shoes stuffed in there.

  She came back to where he was standing. “If it had been clean I would have know something was wrong.”

  He smiled. “So, one more thing. Where’s a good Catholic church?”

  She smiled. It was though he were asking where a good place to get an oil change was. “Well, we passed my church on the way back here. Do you remember? They have services there seven-thirty, nine, ten-thirty, noon and there’s one in the evening. Can’t remember.”

  “I can make one of those and yes, I remember the church. I’ll check in tomorrow. Have a good night, you deserve it.”

  He was already down the walkway and to his car when she closed the door. She leaned against it and sighed. Lord, it had been a day. It was time for a bath and then early to bed. It would make no difference that the sun hadn’t begun to set. Lily giggled out loud.

  “Gretchen with a whip and a cocktail.”

  Chapter Nine

  No matter what happened on Saturday, how late or early she got to bed and how much sleep she had actually gotten, Lily Schmidt went to Mass at seven-thirty on Sunday morning. If she didn’t go early she wouldn’t go. It had always been that way since becoming an adult. She had some schedule to her life and her only normalcy was Mass on Sunday morning. During the winter the schedule deviated a bit if she had a Saturday afternoon off and she could attend at night. Then there were those occasional ice storms when she didn’t venture outside, preferring to luxuriate in her flannel pajamas under the covers until she was so hungry she had to get out of bed. No one was going to make her breakfast in an ice storm.

  She sat in her pew at the back of church. There were the usual parishioners but it looked like summer had already taken its toll on attendance. Many people were enjoying the lake this weekend too. Last week it had been the same. She was in her own little world in church. The quiet that was usually so deafening in her home was soothing to her here. She tried to talk to God but mostly she listened or at least attempted to listen. “Practicing Catholic” was a good term for her; she hoped that the more she practiced the better she would get at her religion.

  There was always that diversion of the cute baby, the toddler smiling at everyone and showing them his cookie. She wanted that cookie. She always stopped and picked up something for breakfast as soon as services were finished.

  Lily was listening to her already grumbling stomach and wondering what would be on the menu today. If she stopped for a sit-down breakfast then she’d stop at the grocery store later. She was out of milk, bread and she didn’t think she had any eggs. She stared at the toddler waving his coveted cookie. She needed cookies if she was going to live through June. Lord, sorry for making lists in my head before Mass. Was that a sin? Making lists was an obnoxious behavior, at least Abby saw it that way. She didn’t like post-it notes either. Neither one was a sin, Lily decided. If anything, they were useful indiscretions. Nothing to report to God or in any confessional. It was the way she operated with her useful tools even if other people, including her siblings, thought they were sources of deviant behavior. They didn’t appreciate her organizational skills or the glory of them.

  She decided she’d just pick something up, maybe a bagel. She’d go to the store later. She needed lettuce too, maybe some vegetables. She stopped making her list and wondered if the patrol cop had followed her to church. She hadn’t noticed but at this time in the morning she didn’t notice much. She was pooped. Maybe he didn’t since she was out in public? Who knew. She was already weary of all this. Closing her eyes, Lily tried to listen to God again. Someone had sat next to her on the left. Why do that when the entire pew to the right of her was empty?

  The lector was announcing the reading and the beginning of Mass when she opened her eyes. She focused straight ahead, sometimes on the toddler now taunting her with that cookie, until she opened the readings for today. After the beginning prayers she sat down with the rest of the congregation. Lily slightly looked to her left and saw a large college ring on the man next to her. It looked like…

  She turned her head completely to see Agent Pierce smiling back at her. “Hi,” he whispered. “Didn’t know if I’d make it.”

  She whispered hello in response and stuck her head into the missal. Listening to the first reading was near impossible, concentrating on the second was impossible. She stood automatically for the gospel. She couldn’t even remember her grocery list at this point but she could smell the light cologne he was wearing. Placing her head down to supposedly follow what was being read from the pulpit, Lily could see he had dark loafers on with lightweight slacks. He had his hands placed on the pew in front of them. She hadn’t noticed how tan his hands were and there was not even a light line near his ring. Apparently he didn’t wear the ring all the tim
e. Did he spend a lot of time at the beach?

  Thankfully, they were able to sit down. Listening to the priest’s homily would take more focus than she had today. Agent Pierce was sitting next to her at Mass. What the heck? Was this standard operating procedure for the DEA? It was as much as her lists were a sin.

  Lily was doing quite well with her unexpected guest through the main part of the Mass. He had reached for the kneeler for her and they’d knelt side by side. She smiled slightly at him. Wouldn’t want him to think that she meant to ignore him.

  When they stood for the “Our Father”, terror came upon her, not the Holy Spirit. Lord, the next part of the service was the sign of peace when you reached over to the person next to you and wished them peace. How ironic was that to wish an agent with the department of justice, peace? But you also showed them a sign of peace…a handshake, a nod to your neighbors in the pews in front of you, a kiss. She’d have to shake his hand. She’d have to pretend to suddenly be comfortable with him when all through Mass she had felt like ants were crawling up and down her skin.

  Get a grip, Lily.

  As Devlin Pierce casually extended his right hand, Lily turned too quickly. His hand struck her left breast. There was no recovery. Both of them were laughing as a few people turned to look in their direction.

  “Sorry,” he whispered as he grabbed her hand and shook lightly.

  “It’s ok, I mean,” Lily stammered. Shut up, Lily, just shut up.

  Oh good, it was time to kneel again. Church would be over soon, thank you Lord.

  When it was time for communion, he raised the kneeler for them once more. She knew he was behind her but she could also feel him there. His touch was warm again on her hand. She wasn’t burning up but she could feel where his hand had touched hers. She would not even think about what her left breast was feeling. And in church, Lily Schmidt!

  She had never been so happy to get out of Sunday Mass. They were walking side by side out to the parking lot.

  “So, breakfast?”

  “You heard my stomach, didn’t you? Sorry