by Marja McGraw
“Pete! Check this out,” I said, giggling. “Can’t you just see Draper cuddled up with this in his arms?”
“Shh.” He hushed me as he looked up, giving the Teddy bear a cursory glance. “Draper could be back any minute. I don’t want him to hear us.”
~ * ~
“I had a lot to learn, and Pete was a good teacher, even if he wasn’t always patient.”
“This is such a good story,” Dolly said.
“I still want to hear more about Stanley though. I need to know why he won’t talk about it.”
“In good time, Felicity. There were so many things going on between Stanley’s situation and the missing college student. I’m trying to remember everything, but I need to do it in my own way.”
“Tell us the rest.” Glenna seemed to be totally distracted and I decided that was the best thing for her.
Chapter Eighteen
If Glenna wanted to hear the rest of the story, I was more than happy to tell it. “Okay, but there’s not too much more to tell. Draper nearly caught us, but because of that Pete and I kind of discovered each other. You never know what might happen in a crowded closet.” I smiled to myself, remembering that close encounter.
~ * ~
Pete had finished with the desk and was looking through a drawer in the nightstand. I noticed that he wasn’t being quite as careful as I was.
“Pete, slow down,” I whispered. “The idea is not to let him know we’ve been here. Remember?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Well? Shall we tackle the closet?” I asked. “I noticed a suitcase and some boxes in there.”
“Let’s get to it,” Pete said, sighing. He wasn’t having the same good time I was. After all, this was my first search, and I wanted to relish every moment. I was doing some real private eye detecting and it felt good.
I opened the door to the closet and Pete was reaching toward the suitcase when we heard whistling outside the room. We both stood quite still, until we heard someone fumbling with the door handle.
Pete shoved me into the closet and back to the corner, and followed behind, pulling the door shut behind him. We huddled together, waiting.
“Get that hat out of my way,” he whispered, when it poked him in the eye.
I pulled it off and shoved it behind me, leaning on it.
We heard the door open, and Draper mumbling to himself. The sounds of muffled music reached us when he turned on the radio.
Pete gently moved some clothes on the rod so they’d hide us. At least they’d hide us as long as Draper didn’t look too closely.
Draper started whistling again. We could hear his footsteps when he approached the closet. The door opened and some light shown in. We shrank back into the corner even farther.
He took a hanger off the rod and hung up a windbreaker before turning away and closing the door behind him.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. We were blanketed in blissful darkness again.
“Sandi, you’re cutting off the circulation in my fingers,” Pete whispered.
I loosened the fearful grip I had on his hand. I hadn’t realized I’d taken hold of it.
We heard Draper walk across the room and a door opened. Then we heard water running.
“Come on,” Pete whispered. “We’ll try to get out while he’s in the bathroom.”
He stepped forward and opened the door a crack, looking out. Closing the door quietly, he stepped back into the corner and onto my foot. I grimaced and gritted my teeth, trying not to groan.
“Forget it,” he whispered. “The water’s running, but he’s standing by the bed taking a gun out of his shoulder holster.”
“Wonderful. I sure hope he’s going out again. We could be stuck here all night unless he finds us and decides to use us for target practice. I don’t think I want out of here that way.”
“I could live with being stuck in here all night.” Pete chuckled softly.
I pinched his arm.
“Ouch!” he moaned quietly.
Before I knew what was happening, Pete took me by the shoulders and turned me toward him, holding me tightly and kissing me. I started to push him away, but he tightened his grip. I didn’t fight him too hard, I have to admit. It was a long, lingering kiss, or at least it felt that way. But all too soon we heard footsteps coming toward the closet and we both froze. Pete didn’t even move his lips from mine.
The door opened and between us we didn’t move a muscle.
Draper shuffled through the clothes. Fortunately for us he was looking through the opposite side of the closet, and withdrew a hanger with slacks and a jacket on it. After what seemed an eternity, he closed the closet door again.
I pulled away from Pete and tried to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the kiss or because of half smothering while we waited for Draper to close the door. We couldn’t see each other in the dark and neither of us said a word.
We could hear Draper moving around, apparently changing his clothes and finishing whatever else he might be doing. He turned off the radio.
“Who could resist a stud like you, ol’ buddy,” Draper said to himself. I choked back a laugh, just barely. He left the room as soon as he was through complimenting himself.
Pete threw open the closet door. “Glad he’s gone. That was no pea shooter he had in his holster.”
“I’m glad I didn’t see it.”
Both of us pointedly avoided mentioning the kiss. It had been spontaneous and hadn’t meant anything. No, I thought, it hadn’t meant a thing.
“I think maybe I’d better start carrying my gun again.” I had a feeling Pete was talking more to himself than to me.
“Pete, please don’t carry a gun unless you absolutely have to,” I begged.
“I think I have to.” He started rummaging through the closet.
We searched every nook and cranny, but didn’t come up with anything.
Pete walked over to the desk and leaned on it, his eyes looking far away and pensive. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, then fished for something – probably his lighter. His eyes began to clear as he dug deeper and couldn’t find it.
“I didn’t know you smoke,” I said. “I’ve never smelled it on you.”
“You don’t know a lot of things about me,” he replied. “I’m trying to quit.”
“Not going too well, huh?”
He finally shrugged and opened one of the desk drawers, pulling out a book of matches.
“I saw these when I was searching the desk,” he said by way of explanation.
“Okay.”
He opened the book, tore out a match and lit it, but just stood there, the flame burning closer and closer to his fingers.
“Ouch!” He shook out the match without lighting his cigarette before grinning at me.
“What?”
He took his sweet time and lit another match, puffing on his cigarette to get it started, and took a long, slow drag. He blew out a smoke ring and watched it rise in the air.
“What is it, Pete?” I asked impatiently. “What did you find? Don’t play games with me. And get rid of that cigarette. Draper will smell it if he comes back.”
His smile widened, spreading across his face, and he replaced the matchbook in the drawer before walking to the bathroom and flushing the cigarette down the toilet.
I moved to the desk and reached for the drawer handle. Pete was back and put his hand over mine, stopping me from opening the drawer.
“I just found Mr. Beck.” Pete was gloating, and he was disgustingly good at it.
“What are you talking about? Where?”
He stood quietly and grinned.
I shrugged his hand off mine and opened the drawer. Removing the matchbook, I opened it, expecting to find something written inside, but it was only gray cardboard. There were no notes inside or out.
“What do you mean you found Mr. Beck? Where?” My frustration was building by leaps and bounds.
“
Close the matchbook.”
“Why?”
“Close it,” he repeated.
I did what he said, the light finally dawning on me. I turned the matchbook over and looked at the advertisement on the back. In block letters it said, “Becker Loan Co. - $1,000.00 or More - In A Bind? Come See ‘The Man.’”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of him before,” Pete said. “I’ve heard of this guy. I guess it threw me because we thought Draper said Beck, not Becker. He makes legitimate loans, but he’s also a loan shark. Loan sharks need collectors. Draper is probably one of his collectors.”
“Oh fine. Just what we need – a run-in with a loan shark. What do we do now?” I asked.
“You’re the boss.”
“You’re right. Let’s go talk to Becker.”
“After we see him,” Pete said, “I’m going to talk to Rick to see what they have on him. Maybe we can do something about getting him off the streets.”
“Maybe we should talk to Rick first,” I said hopefully. “Besides, I can’t imagine Mr. Hawks going to a loan shark. He’s not the type.”
“There isn’t a special type that goes to a loan shark,” Pete replied. “And if we’re going to help Hawks, we need to talk to Becker before Rick does. He’s not going to say anything to us if he knows the cops are involved. Let’s talk to Hawks before we go see this guy. Maybe he can shed a little light on this. I want to keep him out of it if we can. I sort of like the little guy.”
We left the room, but this time I took the stairs while Pete rode down in the elevator. I met him on the first floor.
“I forgot my hat,” I said when Pete tried to lead me out of the hotel.
“It doesn’t matter if he knows we were there. We found what we needed. Your hat’s all crumpled up in the corner anyway.”
~ * ~
“He kissed you in the closet?” My mother appeared to be amused.
“That’s all you took away from my story?” I asked.
“Yes. No. I mean, it’s a cute story, or at least the kissing part of it was cute. I’m still digesting the part where he had a big gun and could have murdered you in the closet.”
She wasn’t quite as amused as I’d thought.
“Did it turn out Stan went to the loan shark?” Felicity knew, too, that Stanley didn’t seem like the kind to take that road. However, she was marrying Stanley and she wanted to know more about his past. She knew he was keeping something from her.
“No, he didn’t. Actually, it turned out to be a case of…”
The phone rang, interrupting my story. I’d enjoyed telling the story about Pete and me so much that I answered it without even thinking about trouble.
“Hello?”
“I see you’ve added to your little entourage. Do you believe there’s safety in numbers?” He laughed. “It doesn’t matter though. I don’t care about any of them, and I’m a patient man. I can wait. You’ll end up alone eventually.”
“David! Leave me alone. It’s not my fault you went to prison. I didn’t murder a college kid – you did. I didn’t kill a prison guard, either. You did that all by yourself. I don’t – ”
“Shut your mouth and listen, Sandi,” he interrupted. “If you hadn’t stuck your nose in, no one would have ever known it was me.”
My mother stepped in front of me, waving her hand in my face. I almost told her to go away, but realized she wanted my attention.
“I’m going to start an argument,” she said very softly. “Play along.”
What was she up to? Oh. I remembered our plan. Our argument would be why everyone suddenly left the house.
“Sandra, hand me that phone.” She spoke loudly and angrily.
“Mother, go sit down! This is none of your business.” Yeah, right.
“Give me that phone.” She grabbed it and we struggled with it.
She clapped her hands together. “How dare you slap your mother, young lady?” Okay, she was carrying this a bit too far.
I could hear David talking, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I hung up on him.
Chapter Nineteen
I frowned, and reaching deep down within my being, sighed like I’ve never sighed before. “Now he’s going to think I abuse you, Mother. He’ll think I’m just like he is. Did you have to clap your hands and tell me not to slap you? Really?”
The gang had been watching our performance and most of their mouths were hanging open.
Mother picked up her purse. “Close your mouths and pick up your purses, ladies. It’s time to put our plan into action.” Obviously, my mother was ignoring me.
“Has everyone got their walkie talkie?” I asked.
Each woman pulled the device out of her purse.
“I don’t have one,” Glenna said. “Am I supposed to go with the ladies?”
“Yes. I think you’ll be safer if you go with them. You can share a walkie talkie with Felicity.” I figured she’d be safest with Felicity since she carried a gun.
“We’ve got to hurry.” My mother was already reaching for the door handle. “Sandi, you’ve got to do two things. Follow us out onto the porch and keep arguing with me. As soon as we leave, put Bubba in the backyard. David will think you put Bubba out on patrol duty.”
I would have laughed at my mother issuing orders, but the idea of being alone weighed heavily.
“When are you coming back?” I asked. My big brave self sounded like a frightened child.
“We’ll drive around the block and park, and come through the back gate. Give us about five or ten minutes.” My mother seemed to have thought the plan through more than I had.
“Felicity, did you see Stanley parked down the street when you came back with the hamburgers?” I needed reassurance that the house was being watched by someone other than David.
She shook her head and turned on her walkie talkie. “Stan? Are you there? Do you have your walkie talkie on?”
There was some static before Stanley’s voice came back. “I’m here. What’s happening?”
“Sandi and her mother are about to argue, and we’ll all be leaving. We’ll sneak around the block and come back. You’re all she’s got for the next few minutes.”
“Roger that. I’ll stay on my toes.”
Felicity smiled when she heard Stanley say Roger that. So did I.
“Ready?” Mother turned the door handle.
We all stepped out onto the porch.
“Mother,” I said quite loudly, “I’ve had enough of your interference. In fact, I’ve had enough of all of you. Go away and leave me alone.”
Everyone started yelling at once, so it really didn’t matter what they said. No one could have understood them. I glanced at Dolly, and for just the briefest moment I thought she was going to start laughing. I saw her pinch herself. I knew it would leave a bruise.
I watched while they all climbed into Felicity’s car. They pulled away from the curb and I went back inside the house, slamming the door behind me.
Bubba watched with curiosity. Grabbing his collar, I headed for the back door. “You have to go outside, sweetie, and be really quiet. Keep your eye on the house.”
He didn’t want to go outside, seeming to know something was wrong. Instead, he sat down in front of the open door. He never fought me when I let him out. I tried to push my bear-sized dog out the door and he wouldn’t budge. He weighed well over a hundred pounds, probably closer to a hundred and fifty or more, and I couldn’t move him.
“Wanna treat?” I used my most beguiling tone of voice to trick him.
His tail moved once.
“Treat?” I repeated.
His tail thumped.
I grabbed a doggie cookie off the kitchen counter and let him sniff it before I threw it out in the yard. That did the trick. I closed the back door and locked it behind him.
Picking up my walkie talkie, I pushed a button and said, “Stan. Are you there?”
Static answered me.
My heart skipped a beat. “St
an?” I held my breath.
“I’m here, Sandi. Is something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to hear your voice. I feel more alone right now than I ever have before in my life.”
There was more static before I heard my mother. “We’re all here for you, honey. Don’t be afraid. We’re parking right now. Watch for us at the back door.”
“I will.”
“I don’t see any movement on the street.” Stanley was back. “If you need me, let me know. Roger and out.”
I smiled. Good ol’ Stanley. No one I knew but Stanley would sign off that way in our circumstances.
The phone rang, startling me. “Hello?”
“Maybe if you hadn’t argued with your friends you wouldn’t be alone right now. I’ll be over in a few…” David abruptly stopped talking. “Okay, okay. Your little plan isn’t going to work. That was quite a performance you put on out on the porch. You can expect a knock on your back door… Now!” He hung up on me.
A soft knock could be heard at the door. How could he have known what we were doing? I opened the door and everyone scooted in, including Bubba. Stepping past everyone and onto the back porch, I looked around. The neighborhood was filled with two-story houses, and David Smith was hiding in one of them. I couldn’t think of any other explanation.
Walking back into the house, I looked at my mother and friends. “Everyone can relax. David saw all of you sneaking through the yard.”
“Relax? Relax? I don’t think so. If he saw us in the yard, then he must be close by.” My mother’s face was turning red. “No matter how sneaky we are, he seems to know what we’re up to. Now what are we supposed to do? I sure wish Frank and Pete were here instead of off somewhere camping.”
I put my arm around my mother’s shoulders. “I don’t know what the rest of you are going to do, but I’m going to call Rick. My theory about David staying in one of the local houses has to be right. Otherwise, there’s no way he could have seen you. Why don’t you all wait in the living room while I call him?”