F is for Fred

by Rebecca Cantrell

  She grinned. Tex. That was like having backup right there on the pier. Her shoulders dropped a notch and she kept walking. She was halfway down the pier now. Nothing. She took a deep breath. Sea air. A hint of French fries. If Fred wore perfume, that was what he’d choose.

  A seagull swooped down toward the end of Tom’s line. Not Fred. She remembered the dead gull on the beach. If she were shot, would Violet suggest they eat her, too? Maybe, if she got hungry enough.

  Reflected sun off the waves dazzled her eyes. She should have brought sunglasses. She kept walking. If the blackmailer wasn’t out on the pier, he’d have to pass Aidan coming and going. Aidan had been difficult lately, but he’d have her back.

  But what if there was a reason the blackmailer had requested her? Because she was the smallest and least experienced member of the team. She’d been training in boxing and had taken a lot of self-defense classes, but a man with a gun at a distance could take her out easy.

  To make matters worse, she didn’t even know how much money she was carrying. An envelope full, but she had no more idea than that. Brendan had said it was best she didn’t know. Like that was reassuring.

  Her phone rang and she started. Not very cool. She took it out of her breast pocket. Would a call mess up the recording app? She hoped not. Not much she could do anyway.

  As if she sensed Sofia’s unease, Tex put down her pole.

  “Brendan here. You’re to leave the money on the ground next to the garbage can on your right. The memory card is at the end of the pier, taped to the railing.”

  “Should I do it?” she asked. “Give him the money without the card?”

  “Aidan’s ready for him. Drop the money, then hustle to the card and confirm that it’s there.”

  She dropped the envelope next to the garbage can as instructed, then sprinted to the end of the pier. Quick look under the railing. A silver lump under some duct tape. She yanked on a loose corner of the tape, but it didn’t budge. She pulled harder, putting her back into it. The tape came free with a crack and she fell back onto her ass.

  That was going to leave a mark. But she ignored it and pulled a small gray square out of the center of the tape. A memory card! She jumped to her feet and held it over her head. Brendan and Aidan ought to be able to interpret that.

  Then she remembered she was wired.

  “I have a memory card,” she said. “No idea if it’s the right one.”

  “It is her!” called an excited voice.

  She stuck the memory card into her front pants pocket.

  “Half Pint Detective!” A little girl stood right in front of her. Her red hair was done up in pigtails, like Pippi Longstocking.

  “I’m on a case,” Sofia said. “Just one second.”

  Nobody had approached the money. Should she pick it up? She had a memory card, but it might be the wrong one. If it was, the Solovs would be out a good chunk of change.

  But it was Aidan’s job to watch the money. Her instructions were to get the memory card and stand clear. Technically, her job was done.

  Tex was jogging toward her and the little girl.

  “I’m so excited to meet you.” An older version of Pippi was grinning maniacally. “My father said he saw you here the other day, so we took a chance.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She watched the money envelope, not sure what to do.

  A faint buzzing turned into the familiar sound of a jet ski. Aidan hadn’t moved from his position at the end of the pier.

  She ran toward the money. But she was way too slow.

  The man who’d stolen the memory card from Fred clambered onto the pier, snatched up the envelope, leaped back over the side, and tore off. If he wasn’t already a stuntman, he ought to be.

  Ahead of her, in the parking lot at the end of the pier, Aidan stood with his back to her, talking on the phone. He’d missed the drop. She was willing to bet a whole bag of peanuts that Priscilla was at the other end of the line.

  I have your back, he’d said.

  Tex ran over, a pail of bait banging against her knees. “Was that a cash exchange? Like for a kidnapping?”

  She was breathing hard. “No kidnapping. Work.”

  Tex patted her on the back. “You took off like a house on fire.”

  Sofia talked into the wire. “A man came up on a jet ski and grabbed the envelope. I think it was the man from the party.”

  Tex leaned over the edge of the pier. “The guy who took your envelope is out of range now.”

  “Out of range of what?”

  “A pistol. But if you have snipers, you could take him out.”

  Sometimes Tex reminded her of Violet.

  Pippi’s mom caught up with her. In her hand she gripped a brown fedora. Sofia recognized it as the same kind she’d worn on the show.

  “Could we please have a picture? It will only take a second.” Her brown eyes begged. Sofia was a sucker for big eyes.

  “Not much you can do anyway,” Tex pointed out. “That jet ski is long gone.”

  Sofia tamped down her impatience and smiled at Pippi’s mom.

  “Your show helped me spend time with my mom when she was ill.” The woman beamed at her, so happy that Sofia couldn’t help but thaw. Brendan had reached the end of the pier. “It changed my life.”

  “That’s kind to say.” Sofia didn’t actually believe it.

  Brendan waved.

  Sofia held out her hands in a giant shrug, a visual what-should-I-do? He held up a hand to tell her to stay there. She gave him a thumbs-up and patted her pants pocket. The card was still there.

  Pippi’s mom waved to Brendan. “Was he on the show? He looks familiar.”

  “Technical consultant,” Tex answered. “Former LAPD. He was an extra a couple of times.”

  Pippi’s mom held up her phone pleadingly.

  “I’d be happy to,” Sofia said. “But I only have a minute.”

  Brendan had reached Aidan. Even from where she was standing, he looked angry.

  “Would you mind awfully wearing the hat?” Pippi’s mom asked.

  “It’s just your size,” Tex pointed out helpfully.

  She put on the hat. It took about twenty tries and ten minutes before Pippi and her mom were happy with the photos. Tex was an exacting photographer.

  “Thanks so much,” Pippi’s mom said. “What’s it like to kiss Gray Cole?”

  “About as wonderful as you can imagine.” Sofia smiled mechanically.

  “That’s not enough detail,” Tex said. “Like on a scale of one to—”

  Sofia started backing down the pier. “I’m glad you liked the show, miss, and I’ll see you later, Tex.”

  She turned and jogged away. Sometimes people would jog after her, but Pippi’s mom didn’t seem too fit, and Tex had a pretty big bucket to contend with.

  “Sorry I didn’t get there in time,” Sofia said, when she reached Brendan. “But I got the memory card.”

  “That’s more than some people can say.” Brendan’s tone was icy.

  Aidan’s shoulders hunched forward and his face hardened into an inscrutable mask. She was pretty sure he was miserable underneath.

  She handed Aidan the card. He was the technical person in the agency, after all.

  “Thanks, Sofes.”

  “Aidan’s riding with me,” Brendan said. “We’ll meet you back at the office.”

  “Roger that.” She left that awkward situation behind and jogged to her car.

  Overhead, a gull squawked. A flash of purple told her who it was.

  Fred got in on all the action.

  20

  Sofia took her time driving back to the office. She wanted Brendan and Aidan to work things out before she got there. It was fun to watch Aidan get into a little trouble now and then, but this was different.

  Was he trying to drive his dad into retirement? If he and Priscilla took over the agency, Sofia would have to quit. The weight gain from the peanuts alone would be too much. Not to mention fighting against doing honey-trap
work.

  Even so, she should stop worrying. Before any of that happened, they’d have to solve this case. Who was the man who had shot at Fred, then blackmailed Mrs. Solov with the memory card? She wondered what was on the footage. It had to be something bad. She felt a deep sense of unease for Yvette Fantome and the other girls. Hollywood could be an unforgiving town, especially if you were a kid with ambitious parents.

  But it was a sunny day and the top was down and the sun was shining. She couldn’t stay worried. She piled on the speed, overshot the turnoff for the office, and circled back. Traffic was light and driving along the ocean was a dream. By the time she pulled into the parking lot, she was whistling.

  Then her whistle trailed off. Aidan’s car was gone. Priscilla had taken it to be detailed. Check. But Brendan’s car wasn’t there either. So, either there was a big break in the case or Brendan was yelling at Aidan somewhere. She tapped the leather steering wheel, trying to decide what to do. She could do another lap around Malibu, try to get her good humor back.

  No, she wasn’t feeling it anymore.

  Instead she went into the office. Brendan had given her a key before the cruise and she let herself in, keyed in the alarm code and glanced around. The pink color was stylish, but the air smelled like regular old paint. She cracked a window, leaned out for a deep breath and to check out the parking lot. Still nothing. She opened all the windows, propped open the front door, and turned on a fan. Maybe now she wouldn’t suffocate on paint fumes.

  Then she plunked down in her comfortable new chair. Perfectly adjusted to her desk. By Priscilla. Spitefully, she missed the old one. Sure, it had been a little too high but that didn’t make it bad. Then she snapped out of it and got to work.

  Emails to answer, reports to finish up for other cases. It ought to have been enough to keep her occupied. But she kept glancing at the door. Work. Glance. Work. Glance. Eventually, she gave up.

  She walked over to the coffee machine and started to brew a fresh pot. Whatever was in store for her, it’d be easier to face with caffeine. While she waited, she called Emily. “How’s our wounded hero?”

  “He’s good. The other skaters are very impressed. Vi and I are at the skate park watching him be adored.”

  “Should he be skating with that cast?”

  “That’s why I’m here.” Emily sounded pretty stern. “Keeping him off wheels.”

  “How’s Vi?”

  “She’s Vi. She said something about a fish and a seagull and a man on a jet ski?”

  At least she’d left out the gunshot. “We were at the beach.”

  Technically true.

  “She also said Maloney Junior was all weird. Weirder than usual.”

  “He’s got this new girlfriend with the most enormous—”

  “Enormous what?” Aidan stood in the doorway. He was flushed and sullen. It must have been a hell of a ride home.

  “IQ,” Sofia supplied. “Simply enormous. I gotta run, Em.”

  She hung up on Emily’s laugh and made a mental note not to leave that door propped open again. “Coffee?”

  He stomped over to his desk and put the memory card into its slot.

  Brendan came in. He was flushed, too, and, she saw it now, tired. Was Priscilla right? Was he ill? A hard knot settled in her stomach. Brendan had to be fine. He was always fine.

  “Hey,” she called to him. “Coffee?”

  “That’d be great. Thank you, Sofia.” Brendan’s smile was the same as always, maybe a little stiffer.

  She poured two cups.

  “Got the video loaded!” Aidan said.

  She hurried over to his desk and handed Brendan his coffee. With her free hand, she patted his arm. He gave her a quizzical look and she didn’t know what to say.

  “Good coffee,” she said, although it was too hot to drink.

  “Let’s start from the beginning.” Aidan pressed play.

  The video started with a good shot of Jeffery’s fanny pack. Hard to believe that was only yesterday morning. Who knew what mischief he’d filmed today?

  Then a close-up of her railing as Fred gobbled the caviar. Then some good shots of him pecking Jeffery in the kidney, and more caviar appeared. She smiled. “It’s definitely Fred-cam. That’s a good sign.”

  “We’d better hope so,” Brendan answered.

  “I remember this part,” she said.

  A quick peek of her face, then Fred circled over her head. Her hair did look terrible. It was all over the place. Must be the sea air from the cruise. Maybe a deep conditioner would fix it.

  On screen a tiny Jeffery wagged his tiny finger at her. She’d forgotten that part of his lecture about his new client. She didn’t like it.

  “Jeffery bribes him with caviar so he’ll stand still for the camera hood,” she explained.

  Brendan shook his head in disbelief, which was how a normal person should react to a sentence like that. Aidan nodded, like everyone bribed gulls with caviar.

  Fred circled over her trailer, over Gray’s larger one, then around to Tex’s and out over the ocean. That bird had a great view.

  Plus caviar.

  “So far, so good,” Aidan said.

  Then it got boring. Fred flew around over the ocean, dropped by the Nirvana Cove Café and stole a French fry right off an angry guy’s plate. Russian caviar and French fries. He was a gourmand gull. No wonder he’d scorned her stale bread so hard. Considering his regular diet, it was quite an insult.

  Then he flew up, over eucalyptus trees with leaves that gleamed green and silver in the sunlight. She was pretty sure he was near her trailer park, but she couldn’t be sure. Her bird’s-eye-view knowledge of her area wasn’t that good.

  Fred circled an ugly house shaped like a shoebox.

  “That’s where the party was yesterday!” Aidan said.

  “I see my car.” She pointed, like the two of them had never seen a Tesla before. She’d been sitting right there, eating peanuts and trying not to roll her eyes.

  Fred skimmed over the bougainvillea hedge. He circled the front yard like a gull on a mission. The camera picked up a swimming pool with no swimmer. Green grass, really well taken care of. A crowd of people stood near the sliding door into the house, but Fred’s panning left something to be desired and you couldn’t see their heads. Fred turned back to Yvette and the other girls who sat upright on lounge chairs. Strangely quiet, especially for teenage girls, hands folded primly in their laps. Like girls at church, but in bikinis.

  Yvette pressed one hand against her cheek and Dr. Solov stood nearby. His hands weren’t in frame.

  “Is that when the bee stung her? Or . . .” she shot a glance at Aidan “. . . or maybe he injected her with Botox. Does that hurt?”

  “How should I know?”

  “I bet Priscilla will have you getting preventive injections soon enough. You can tell me then.”

  Brendan cleared his throat.

  She felt a little silly, but she wasn’t going to take it back. She crossed her arms and watched Fred. He circled the table, which was pretty much like it was in her pictures. A bottle of vodka on the end, a sad collection of low-fat snacks, no birthday cake or balloons or streamers. A lousy birthday party, if that was what it had been, but nothing incriminating.

  Fred spotted the caviar and went into a steep dive. Her stomach lurched. Jeffery could use this footage for a 3-D ride.

  Fred pulled up right next to the caviar. A quick flash of the surprised girls as he looked to make sure they weren’t too close. Then he turned and plunged his beak right into the bowl. His table manners were nothing to write home about.

  Tiny black pearls slid around the camera lens. He pulled back and tipped his head up to the sky, presumably swallowing, then down into the caviar. This time he went in so deep that the lens went black for a second.

  Then the camera jumped. Maybe the gun shot? A flash of white wing. Pink from the hedge. Blue sky. A caviar egg peeled off the greasy lens.

  A quick dodge right a seco
nd later. Then he was looking at the sky, climbing to safety.

  “That looks pretty complete,” Aidan said.

  “Let’s watch the whole thing. Fast forward.” Brendan wasn’t counting his chickens yet.

  Random footage of the beach and trees. Until Fred got to Nobu. He circled the dumpster twice. The camera looked right down at Sofia. Her messy hair, it really did look impossible, blowing around her head and her arms reaching up. She was clearly begging him to come down. Not a lot to be proud of in that footage. But he flew lower, clearly thinking about landing.

  Violet burst through the door, carrying the hapless Nemo, and Fred swooped away.

  “Was Violet holding the clownfish from the aquarium?” Aidan stopped the footage.

  “That’s not the essential part of the video,” Brendan cut in. “The most important part is the party, and I didn’t see anything incriminating there.”

  “Giving alcohol to minors?” Aidan suggested.

  “It could have been water in their glasses,” Sofia pointed out. “It looks the same from a gull’s-eye view.”

  “So, now the client’s money is gone and there wasn’t any reason to spend it.” Brendan sounded thoughtful. “Nothing incriminating there at all.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “Can you run it back?”

  Aidan started rewinding.

  “Is there any way to see if that moment when everything went dark was a cut or just Fred being a greedy gull?”

  They pored over the few minutes of party video. It sure looked like a cut.

  “I can have an expert look at it,” Aidan said. “See for sure. But it looks like this guy might have cut out the juicy stuff.”

  “Hold that thought,” Brendan said. “What did you two think of the footage?”

  “Looks like the most boring birthday party ever,” Aidan said.

  “But it can’t have been,” Sofia said. “Or why would Donna Solov have paid so much to get this footage back? She must think there’s something serious on it.”

  “I agree,” Brendan said.

  “Signs of infidelity?” Aidan asked. “Maybe she thought Fred got her the pictures she needed.”