“Calm down. I suspect when we need to know, we will. In the meantime, I expect to see him in Chicago, I’ll ask him then. I just got off I-95. I’ll be there in five minutes. It would help if you were dressed and downstairs when I get to the house.”
“I’m downstairs already, watching Mrs. Murphy from the front window. Every time I look she’s standing just behind her curtain snooping. I swear she doesn’t have a life.”
“You’re a fine pair, Ron, both snooping on each other. Okay, I just turned on Blue Heron.”
Two minutes later, she swung into the drive and shoved the gearshift into park. Glancing across the street, she smiled as the lace curtain swung back into place. Sara wondered if Mrs. Murphy had seen anything strange going on in the last few months. Sara was going to have to bake an applesauce cake for her, the only one she knew how to make, and pump Ron’s neighbor for information. Wouldn’t it be cool if they had an eyewitness to the bad guys and their bugs?
No, Mom. It would be dangerous for all three of you.
Now is not the time, Carl. I’m late.
Sara walked up the front steps and opened the front door to find Ron propped up on his crutches behind the door.
***
At the orthopedic clinic twenty minutes later, the technician, a statuesque brunette, called from the doorway, “Mr. Stafford, we’re ready for you now.”
Sara stood to help Ron up and he snapped, “I’m not an invalid. I can do it myself.”
Mr. Macho now, but that wasn’t his tune twenty minutes ago. She shrugged and shifted her purse strap to her left shoulder. Her cell chimed. It was a number she didn’t recognize. Watching Ron hobble off with the technician, Sara pushed the talk button. “Hello?”
“Sara, Matthew here. How are you doing?”
She walked out the clinic door and across the parking lot, away from eavesdroppers in the waiting room.
“I thought we were meeting this morning at the office?” And you have no idea how much it hurt to see you gone.
“I had to leave. I’m sorry. When I called your office, they told me you left early. Is anything wrong?”
“Ron’s appointment to get his walking cast was moved up. I’m his transport at the moment.”
“Are you still going to be able to make the conference on time?”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Look Sara, this line isn’t secure. If anything comes up, you know what I mean, don’t confide in anyone at your office. I’m close to finding the leak. I believe it’s someone you work with. Call and talk to me only; do not use the office line. You understand what I’m saying?”
“Do you know anything about the phone logs at the office? They turned up missing this morning.”
“I used them last night. They’re between the wall and Louise’s desk.”
“Was that intentional?”
“I didn’t want the wrong people to get a hold of them before I had a chance to trace them.”
“Is it okay to find the logs now?”
“Leave them there for a while. I’ll let you know.”
“What about the bugs?”
“The bugs are gone, Sara. I neutralized all of them but mine.”
“Do you think that’s wise? Won’t they get suspicious?”
“We’re beyond that now. Stay on your toes.”
“It’s really beginning to scare me, Matthew.”
“Love, it’ll be over soon. You just have to stay strong a little longer. Chicago will be a break for us both.”
He said love. Did he mean it?
“Jonathon’s back,” she said.
“I thought he might be. Remember don’t confide in anyone there.”
“Can I use the number you left with Catherine?”
“It’s a secure line but you’ll have to leave a message, I’ll get right back to you.”
“Won’t leaving a message be a risk?”
“Just leave the name ‘Mourning Dove’ and I’ll know it’s you. I have to go now. Remember, trust no one.” He hung up and as she turned back toward the building she saw a black Jeep parked on the edge of the road above the parking lot. Someone was sitting in the driver’s seat, she could see him smoking. God! Now she was paranoid about every SUV she saw.
***
In the waiting room on one crutch and a hard booted foot, Ron watched his wife through the window. She looked exhausted.
He stumped out the door. “Sara?”
“Oh, you’re back.” She replaced the worry with a mask of cheer. “And, you’re walking on two feet. Awesome!”
She broke into a smile and he wondered if the strain over the investigation was wearing her down. “Sweetheart, let’s go get something to eat, my treat.”
“I am so tired, Ron. All I want to do is pack up my cat and dirty laundry, drive home, and crash. Can I take a rain check?”
“I owe you a lot more than a good meal at your favorite restaurant. I would really like to do this now. You probably have no more than an ocean of caffeine in your stomach. Let’s fill it with a good hot meal then you can go home to sleep.”
“You’re right about the contents in my stomach. Okay, you owe me at least one good meal. Then, I’m gathering up my things and going home. You can surprise the heck out of Mrs. Alvarez in the morning by showing up for work.”
“The surprise is probably going to be mine. She’s a worse neat nick than you. God only knows what she’s done with my office while I’ve been gone. Allen just smiles every time I ask.”
“Okay, let’s get you out to the car.”
“Sara, I really can do this myself.”
CHAPTER 23
“Otto, I gave you ten grand and you gambled it away,” The boss man said. “Now you want fifty. The answer is no.” They stood facing each other in the evening darkness under the entrance ramp of the Million Dollar Bridge that connected Portland to Cape Elizabeth. There was a chill in the air and it wasn’t all weather related.
Otto hunched over in his black leather jacket. “You owe me, Mr. Bigshot. I’m doin’ all your dirty work. I want a ten percent deposit for the job.”
“You do something worthy of it and I’ll consider a loan.”
“If I don’t have fifty grand by Friday a certain somebody is gonna know my connections.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m explaining the repercussions.” He shrugged his shoulders and jammed his hands into his jacket pockets.
“Otto, have you ever studied badgers?”
“Yeah, a college basketball team, they’re a lousy bet.”
“No you idiot, the animal. A badger attacks when he’s threatened. He doesn’t back down; he eliminates the threat. One of us is a badger and it isn’t you.”
“I’ll need to disappear for awhile without that money. I’m gonna need some cash and a place to hole up in.”
“One word from you about our connection to anyone and what the loan sharks do to you will seem like a tea party in comparison.” The boss man spun around in a round house kick jamming the heel of his right foot into Otto’s gut. Otto folded into a groaning heap on the edge of the construction gravel below the ramp of the bridge.
“You’re getting soft, Otto. I thought you could take more punishment than that.”
“Fuck you.” He spit blood.
The boss man squatted down a safe distance away. “Your belly gives like a pile of bread dough.”
“You’re the second baker to punch it down this week.”
“Well I guess you’ll have to lay low until you stop spewing blood. I have an easy job for you, first. Not all the kid’s stuff is in his daddy’s garage. He may have stashed some of it at another location, at a strip mall in Greenland. The place should be quiet by Saturday night. Be thorough; make it look like a break-in. Then I’ll set you up where you can toughen up your breadbasket.”
He tossed down a white business card banded with a small bundle of greenbacks. “The location is on the front. A new number where you c
an reach me is on the back. Call in when you’re done; then we’ll find you a hole to heal in.”
The boss man stopped Otto’s reach toward the bundle with a foot on his wrist. “Stay away from the casinos. There are many ways to die.”
***
“L E A T H E R, the L is on a triple word. That’s thirty-three.” Cass placed the letters on the board and pegged her score.
“”You took my spot, you shit!” Sara turned the scrabble board around for another look.
“You want to finish the wine off?” Cass held the bottle up to the light while Sara studied her options.
“No, the tiles are blurry enough as it is. Aha! I got it. You’re going to lose this one.” Sara scooped up her last tiles and plugged them in: E X O T I C. One and eight, that’s nine, and one is ten, eleven, twelve, and three on a triple letter. Nine and twelve is twenty-one and double word makes forty-two. I win!”
“That’s it, Sara. Next time they have to be all four-letter words.”
Westminster Cathedral chimed from the coffee table. “Woops, there goes your phone again.”
“Cass, clear the board. I know more four-letter words than you do.” Sara reached over the table for her phone.
“Remember who taught them to you!”
“Ron, it’s kind of late.” She answered the phone with a laugh. “What’s going on?”
“I might ask you the same thing. Sounds like you’re entertaining, you having a celebration? Or is it just a party for two?”
“Oh for God’s sake, Ron; put a sock in it! Cass and I are playing Scrabble. She was just about to challenge me to a rematch. What do you want?”
“We have a problem, Sara. I’m down at the office with the police.”
“The police! What happened?”
“We’ve had a break-in. I know it’s late but I’d like you to come down.”
Sara disconnected. “Okay, what’s happened?”
“Ron had a break-in at the office. I have to go down there.” Sara snatched her purse off the counter and headed for the closet to get her jacket.
“You’re going now? Sara, we’ve just polished off a bottle of wine.” Cass threw the orange angora shawl over her shoulders and snagged her keys off the kitchen table.
“It’s important, Cass, or I wouldn’t attempt it.”
They were both in Sara’s garage when Cass grabbed her arm. “Then, I’m coming with you. I may be slow but I’m not in kindergarten. First there was the break-in at Stacey’s; then she’s dead. Next, a break-in at Jordie’s, conveniently blamed on the cat. Then, some guy from the government starts romancing you. And let’s not forget Ron’s accident. Now, we have a break-in at Ron’s office? Nobody, no matter how unlucky, has that much happen to them in a short period of time. Hell, Sara, most people don’t have that much happen to them in a lifetime. My son is involved in this. I have a right to know!”
Sara stared into Cass’s anxious eyes. “It started with Carl’s death. And it’s not over yet. I have to go now. I’ll fill you in later.”
“I’m still going with you. You can explain in the car.”
“Then we’ll have to go in your wagon. My car’s bugged.”
“BUGGED! Jesus, Sara. What the hell is going on?”
***
Ron stood in the doorway of his trashed office explaining what he saw to a patrol officer. The buzzer over the front door announced Sara’s arrival. She looked rumpled and Cass was right behind her. Damn it!
“Excuse me,” the patrolman called to her. “This is a crime scene; you can’t just walk in here.”
“I’m Sara Stafford, a partner in this company. We were asked to come down.”
“By whom?”
“By me,” Ron said. “They can help me figure out what’s missing.”
The cop closed his notebook. “We want to come back tomorrow and see if we can find some clear tread marks. We’ve roped off the area; don’t break the police tape.”
With his right foot throbbing from his drive to the office, he waited for Sara and Cass to walk around two upended ficus plants and a blanket of potting soil covering the carpet in the front room. He watched them scan the devastation. Stuffing spewed from the chairs in the waiting area looked like a set of twice-baked potatoes; two of Jordan’s originals were slashed and broken against the wall; and the computer from his bookkeeper’s desk was in pieces on the floor along with paper and file folders from the desk drawers.
“Hi, Ron, are you sure you’re all right?” Cass asked.
“Yeah.” He turned to Sara with eyebrows raised.
“She had less wine.”
Cass looked at the two black filing cabinets with their drawer fronts twisted into a piece of modern art. “I take it they were locked?”
“They would still be in one piece if my bookkeeper didn’t insist on locking everything up.”
“You always have a way of blaming Mrs. Alvarez, Ron. She shouldn’t show up on Monday without warning.”
“I know, Sara. I’ll call her first thing in the morning. There’s no use all of us losing sleep.”
“Anything obviously missing, or is it just trashed?” Sara asked.
“Two very expensive speakers were taken. But he didn’t cart them off on a bike. Allen found them in the dumpster out back. The cash box is gone. It’s hard to tell about anything else until all the mess is cleaned up.”
“Ron, I see a lot of CD cases on the floor in the front room. Where are the disks?”
“Good question, Cass.”
“Well, this is an entertaining night,” Allen said as he walked into the front office from the back room. “Reality TV in downtown Greenland. What do you think, Ron? Ladies?”
“I think I need to call Matthew?”
“I think you’re right, Sara?” Cass added.
“Not so fast,” Ron tried to halt any movement in that direction.
“Who’s Matthew?” Allen asked.
“The feds,” Cass said.
“The CIA,” Sara said.
“Sara’s lover,” Ron finished with a smirk.
“Wait a minute, did one of you say, CIA? As in spies and stuff?” asked Allen.
“Ron, that’s uncalled for.” Sara was steamed now.
“Time out you two.” Allen held his hands up in a T. “Bickering isn’t going to help.”
“We need to work together here. Sara, if you can reach him, you better.”
“Thanks, Cass.”
Sara pulled out her cell and punched in a number, then waited what seemed like an eternity.
“Mourning Dove,” She said and disconnected the call.
“What kind of a phone conversation is that?” Ron asked.
“It’s a message center.”
“Oh great, now we wait around for this guy to check messages while we sit on our thumbs. Sara, I’ve told you before this guy is just...”
Sara’s cell chimed.
“Hi Matthew, we have a problem. Ron’s office was robbed...The police just left...Ron, Allen, Cass and I are all sitting in the middle of the trashed office. We thought we better let you know. Not much was taken but it appears every disk in the place is gone. Allen says the guy escaped out the back when he walked in the front. The burglar was riding a dark motorcycle...nothing beyond what I told you.” She closed the phone.
“What did he say,” Ron asked.
“He’ll be here in the morning, early. He wants to go over everything with us.”
“Well, we might as well go home and get some sleep,” Cass said.
“Do you mind going back alone? I’d like Sara to stay. We need to talk, alone.”
Allen and Cass were out the door before Sara turned back to him with fire in her green eyes. “That was rude!”
“Do you think there’s still a bug in here?”
“I think if there is, it’s moot point now!”
“Come here.” He rose from his seat. “I want to show you something.”
On the floor by the window in his office, he pus
hed several catalogs aside with the tip of his crutch and unearthed the two-foot monolith. “The tip is cracked,” Ron said, “and the base looks like a set of stairs have been added. It appears that the stone fell to the floor when he broke in. He stepped over it without checking.”
Sara lifted the broken monolith onto the desk for a closer look. “Something is wedged inside the base.”
“Go ahead, pull it out.”
She removed a black leather black bi-fold wallet from inside the base and opened it. With heads together they read the secret identification of their son: ‘Carl Stafford, Field Agent, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Justice, United States of America.’ Her hand was shaking when she offered it to him.
“Oh my God! I’m not hearing things,” she said.
“Son, I am so very sorry I ever doubted you,” he whispered.
I love you too, Dad.
“Sara, did you hear that?”
“Hear what, Ron?”
“I think I’m losing it, Sara.” Ron shook his head. “We have to hide this where no one can find it.”
“What about Matthew Farrell?” she whispered.
“Don’t say anything to anyone about this. Not even to Farrell.”
“Here, wrap it up in your jacket; we’ll take it to the house.”
“Sara, we are dealing with something way over our heads here. And, I don’t completely trust the Brit.”
“I wish you would stop calling him that. He’s a CIA agent for God’s sake.”
“And, that’s another thing. Have you seen his ID? Where’s his chain of command? Maybe we should just pick up a phone and call the CIA. Maybe they’ve never heard of him?”
“Please don’t do that, Ron. There’s a leak in the agency. You might tip off the wrong people.”
“Did he tell you that?” He waited for her reply. “Your silence confirms it.”
She shook her head at his suspicions. “You’re wrong, Ron. He’s not the only one who’s warned me.”
“Then who, Sara? Give me another name, someone to corroborate what he’s feeding you.”
“I can’t, you won’t believe me.”
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