Boggs got the rest of the boxes and followed her. “And I was thinking of us maybe getting another cat. You know, a friend for Mr. Rupert. What do you think?”
Toni stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around, grinning. “I think Mr. Rupert would love to have his own cat for a pet.” She laughed, then hugged Boggs fiercely. “I love you. Now let’s get to work.”
Chapter 19
On Wednesday morning Jan was sitting at her kitchen table, drinking her third cup of coffee. She was trying to figure out a way to get Toni’s e-mail address. She Googled her to no avail and there was no e-mail listed for the prosecuting attorney’s office. Frustrated in her inability to come up with a plan, she began thumbing through the morning paper. In the entertainment section, she saw an article about Eat for Pride. Within minutes she had a plan. A half-hour later she was printing off sign-up sheets for an imaginary organization that helped the pets of people living with AIDS. She knew there was such an organization, but she altered the name. The sheets asked for people to help and had a place for their names and e-mail addresses. On the top of each page was a picture of a puppy and a kitten.
Jan looked at the finished product. It was perfect, really tugged at the heartstrings. Hell, she might even sign up.
Although it was far from a sure thing, at least she had a shot. If this didn’t work she might have to just go up and ask Toni. She looked at her work again. She’d put these sheets at both Gertrude’s Garage and the Cat’s Meow and pick them up tonight around ten.
Late Wednesday night the woman was continuing to obsess about Toni. The thought of having her in bed had invaded her thoughts constantly for the last few days. Now that her second plan was set in her mind, she was just waiting for Jan to arrive so she could give her the details. She smiled, making herself a drink and centering it on the coaster without looking. She sat in her tall, dark leather chair and sighed deeply. This would be absolutely perfect, she told herself. She stirred the Scotch three times with her left index finger and tapped it lightly twice on the rim. She savored the drops on her finger. Her eyes were closed and she was reliving her latest fantasy of Toni when she heard the front door open. A few minutes later Jan appeared in her study. She opened her eyes and motioned toward the bar. Jan made herself a drink and grabbed the ashtray from the bar before sitting.
“I’ve got a job for you.”
Jan nodded and lit a cigarette. “I got the e-mail address.” She gave a quick explanation of how she obtained it.
The boss sat up straight and her eyes got wide. She could feel her heart beating faster. She held out her hand and watched as Jan put the scrap of paper there. She stared at it, knowing it could get her closer to Toni. She curled her fingers around it and closed her eyes. She could already imagine sitting in her chair, watching Toni. She licked her lips and slowly opened her eyes.
“Okay, now here’s my other plan,” she said, coming back to reality. “I’ll give you the basics and you can figure out the details. I want you to set up a meeting between Doug and Toni. Have him call her and say that he’s got information or something. Make sure she’s alone. Have them meet at a bar. Then we’ll spike her drink with Davey’s new drug. I’ve got some here in liquid form.” She took a sip of her drink and smiled. “Then you step in and help Toni. According to Davey, she’ll probably seem a little drunk, but not too bad. You can bring her to me. It should only take about fifteen minutes for the drug to work, so you’ll need to be close by. She won’t remember anything once the drug takes effect. It’ll last maybe four hours, according to Davey, but to be safe, you should take her back in three.”
Jan nodded. “What about Doug?”
The woman took another sip of her drink. “You’ll have to take care of that. And we’ll have to find a replacement, but I think it’s worth it.” She smiled, dreaming of her rendezvous with Toni.
Jan put out her cigarette and immediately lit another one. “I’ve got a couple guys in mind,” she said as she slowly exhaled the smoke. “I lined them up in case Doug didn’t work out.” She took another drag and grinned. “And I guess he didn’t.”
The woman finished her drink and glanced at Jan, who immediately made her another. After she set it down on the coaster, she returned to her chair.
“When would you like this done?”
“Tomorrow is good for me. Would that be a problem?”
“I don’t see why,” Jan said as she put out her cigarette. “I’ll take care of everything and call you when I have a set time.” She emptied her ashtray into the metal can and washed it and her glass, then picked up her old backpack. “Do you have the drug?”
The woman retrieved the vial from her desk drawer and handed it to her. Jan put it safely into her backpack and left.
The woman leaned back in her chair, took a sip of her drink and closed her eyes. In less than twenty-four hours she’d have Toni in her bed. She grinned in anticipation, then called Davey, telling him she had the e-mail address. He told her he’d be over in fifteen minutes.
Forty-five minutes later Davey pushed away from her desk. “It’s all set for now. The e-mail will look like it’s coming from that fake place Jan made up. There’s an attachment with a picture of a kitten. When she opens it, we’re in. Then you’ll get a message on your screen. Once you get it, call me and I’ll come over. It’ll give me her system specs. If she’s got a webcam I’ll be able to activate it. Otherwise, I’ll just set it up so you can read her e-mails. If she does have a webcam, once my program is in place, we’ll get a message that says ‘accept.’ All we do is click on that and a screen will open. You should be able to see and hear everything.”
“What does the e-mail say that you sent her?”
“Just a thank you,” Davey said.
The only thing she could do was smile.
Jan flipped open her cell phone with one hand and lit another cigarette with the other as she sat in her recliner. Doug answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Doug. I’ve got an easy job for you and it pays a cool thousand.”
After a few minutes of explanation and instructions, everything was set. Doug would call Toni tomorrow morning at work. He’d ask to meet her at Homer’s, a small tavern that Jan knew and tell her that he had information about Kevin Tucker. Jan would be in the bar, but he wasn’t to acknowledge her. He could tell Toni anything he wanted about Tucker—it didn’t matter. Jan planned to meet him a half-hour later in the alley behind the old candy factory and give him the money. When she hung up she couldn’t help but grin. He’d seemed eager to please her. Tomorrow would be a great day. She was going to drug and kidnap a woman and then kill a guy. It had been a while. Yes, tomorrow was definitely going to be a good day. She was humming as she fixed herself a rum and Coke.
Chapter 20
Toni was sitting at her desk on Thursday morning when Chloe buzzed her. “There’s a Mr. Doug Bradley on line three for you.”
“Thanks, Chloe.” Toni wondered who that could be. She punched line three. “This is Toni Barston.”
“Um, hi. I need to talk to you. It’s super important. I have information about Kevin Tucker.”
“Okay. It’s Doug Bradley, right?” She was jotting down notes.
“Yeah, that’s me. Meet me at two o’clock at Homer’s and I’ll tell you everything I know.” His voice sounded shaky.
“Can’t you just tell me now?”
“Uh, no. Not on the phone. I need to tell you in person, okay? I gotta go. I’ll see you there at two.”
The phone disconnected and Toni stared at the receiver. Hmm. The guy was probably scared, she thought. Homer’s was only a few miles away. She looked at her calendar and saw she had nothing on the docket this afternoon. Maybe this Doug guy could give her the information they needed to crack this case. And if he had enough information, maybe Anne could offer him immunity from prosecution. She called her boss first and then Boggs to fill her in.
“I don’t think you should meet this guy by yourself,” Boggs said. �
�I can rearrange a couple things and go with you.”
“No. I’ll be fine. It’s in a public place. I don’t want to scare the guy off. If I can get enough information, I’ll try to convince him to talk to Vicky.”
“I don’t know,” Boggs said. “But, well, I guess as long as you call me as soon as you’re done, okay?”
“I will. Promise.” Toni was smiling. She loved the fact that Boggs worried about her. “I’ll call you as soon as I get back. I love you.”
“I love you, too, babe.”
Three hours later Toni turned into the small parking lot of Homer’s tavern and noticed there were only six other vehicles in the lot. Who went to a tavern in the middle of the afternoon? she wondered. People who worked the night shift maybe? Lovers wanting a secret rendezvous? Maybe sneaking off to a place where they could hold hands and make plans? She shook her head, brushing off her vivid imagination. She parked her new Bug in a spot closest to the door and went inside. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness of the room, but when she did, she saw a couple sitting at a far table, engaged in what looked like a serious conversation. Maybe she was right about a rendezvous, she thought. Listening closely, she could hear people talking in a backroom, but she couldn’t see them. There was also a woman seated at the end of the bar reading a newspaper and a young man about twenty-five years old at the other end of the bar. He was drinking a beer and looked nervous. She assumed he must be Doug and went over.
“Are you Doug?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he whispered. He pointed to the barstool next to him and Toni sat.
An old man appeared behind the bar. He looked like he’d been a fixture at the tavern since its inception and she grinned. If ever there had been a man who matched the name of Homer, it was him.
“What can I get ya, miss?”
He smiled and she could see that he had unfortunate teeth, the kind that didn’t realize they were intended to be part of a matched set. One stuck out at a rather odd angle. Still, he seemed warm and friendly and she smiled back at him. “I’m fine, thanks,” she responded. The old man frowned. “Well, I guess Sprite would be good.” She didn’t want to be rude.
He flashed another tooth-filled smile and looked at Doug, who nodded at his almost empty beer. He returned a few minutes later with the two drinks. Toni thanked him and paid for both, slipping her wallet back inside her blazer pocket. Homer disappeared in the back and she turned to Doug.
“Now, what would you like to tell me?” she asked.
Doug got off his barstool and went to the window, motioning her to follow him. When she was at his side he pointed to a car in the lot.
“See that Pontiac there?”
She nodded, not understanding his point.
“That belonged to Kevin Tucker.” He stared at the vehicle for a few minutes and she wondered what his point was. Doug went back to his barstool and Toni followed, still puzzled. “I got spare keys,” he explained. “I used to hang out with him and stuff. After he got himself killed, I just went ahead and borrowed it.” He took another long swallow of his beer and began telling her about his friendship with Kevin.
She had listened politely for almost twenty minutes and had finished her soda before she finally stopped him. “What about Kevin?” she asked. She knew if she didn’t interrupt him soon, he’d probably talk all afternoon and never say anything worthwhile. Her patience was running thin.
“Oh, well, I know he sold drugs because there’s some in the car,” he said.
Finally. God, she thought he’d never get to the point. She stood up with the intention of going out to the car with him and she felt herself sway. She steadied herself by grabbing the bar. She felt dizzy. “Is it still in the par?” She giggled. “I said par.” She giggled again. “I meant car, but I was thinking Pontiac.” She laughed so hard she almost fell down.
“Yeah, they’re still in the car.” Doug seemed oblivious to her condition and headed for the door. Toni attempted to follow. What’s wrong with me? When she got to the door, she felt the support of a woman’s hand on her arm. Her hand feels soft. Doug was already halfway across the parking lot when she crossed over the threshold of the door and stumbled. The woman tried to catch her but it was too late. Toni crashed into a cement planter headfirst and landed on her butt on the sidewalk. She giggled as she put her hand to her head but stopped when she realized she was bleeding. She felt the blood streaming down her face and tried to get up. She stumbled several times before she was able to stand, and then leaned against the planter. What the hell happened? She scanned the parking lot. Doug was nowhere to be seen. And neither was the woman. She made her way back into the tavern, holding onto the wall as she went. Once inside she slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Nothing was making sense.
“Homer!” she yelled, and then giggled. Never in her life could she have imagined calling out that name, unless maybe to a dog. “Homer!”
The old man ran to her side and pressed his bar rag against her head. “Miss, are you okay?”
“I think I’m bleeding,” she answered nonchalantly. Then she giggled again.
Homer went back to the bar and she thought she heard him phone 911. He got a clean rag and returned to Toni’s side, handing her the replacement. “Here you go, miss. I called for help. They should be here any minute. What’s your name?”
She thought for a minute. “Um, my name? It’s, um, Toni. Yeah. My name is Toni.” She fumbled for her wallet inside her blazer pocket but couldn’t seem to get it out. The process made her giggle once again.
Within minutes the ambulance arrived and two paramedics came into the tavern. The man looked at Toni, then at Homer. “Hey, Homer. What happened? Have too much to drink?”
“Hi, Billy. Nope. She only had a soda.”
The paramedic lifted the rag and looked at the wound. “You’re going to need some stitches.” He cleaned the gash in her head and applied a butterfly bandage to close the wound.
His partner was filling out the paperwork. “What’s your name?” she asked.
Toni giggled again. “My name is Toni.”
Billy looked at Homer. “Are you sure she isn’t drunk?”
“Only had a soda,” Homer repeated. “She’s only been here maybe twenty minutes. She met some young kid here, but he left. Maybe he slipped her a Mickey.”
The paramedics helped Toni to the ambulance. She was inside the emergency room in ten minutes. Amazingly a doctor looked at her right away. “How did this happen?” he asked.
Toni blinked several times and smiled. “I was bleeding.” She giggled.
The doctor looked at the paramedics. “Is she drunk or on something?”
Billy shrugged. “The bar owner said she only drank soda but he thought somebody might have spiked her drink. The only thing we got out of her was her first name. Toni.”
“Are you allergic to any drugs?”
“I don’t know,” Toni said, grinning.
The doctor shook his head. Just then a nurse came into the room. “Ms. Barston? What happened?”
“You know her?” the doctor asked.
“Sure,” the nurse said. “This is Toni Barston. She’s a prosecuting attorney and was almost killed by that maniac last fall. I treated her then.” She went over to Toni’s side. “Hi, Ms. Barston. It’s Sally. Remember me?”
Toni looked at the nurse and just grinned.
“This seems wrong to me,” the nurse said. She glanced at the paramedics. “Where did you pick her up?”
“At Homer’s,” Billy replied. “He said she met some young kid there. Maybe got slipped a Mickey or she was doing drugs is all I can figure.”
Sally shook her head. “I’ll pull her old chart and see if she’s allergic to anything, and then I’m going to call her work. I think something’s not right here.”
After finding out she wasn’t allergic to any medications, the doctor stitched her up. She was dozing when Boggs arrived.
“Oh, my God. Toni! Are you okay? What in t
he hell happened?”
Toni opened her eyes and grinned. “Hiya, honey. Whatcha doin’?”
“Shit. Nurse!”
A nurse, not Sally, arrived in seconds, looking somewhat alarmed.
Boggs flashed her investigator’s badge. “We need to run a tox screen on her. She’s been drugged.”
The nurse hesitated.
“I’m sure of it. She was meeting with an informant and something obviously went very wrong.” Boggs softened her tone. “Please?”
The nurse smiled and disappeared, returning a moment later to take a blood sample. Boggs pulled a chair up to the bed and sat next to Toni. She held her hand. “You’ll be fine, babe. Just rest.”
Toni closed her eyes and drifted off.
As soon as she saw the gash in Toni’s head, Jan had gotten in her car and gone to her boss’s house. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. Her boss didn’t like bad news or sloppy work, and this was both. She took a deep breath and opened the front door. She climbed the stairs to the study.
“There’s been a problem,” she said as soon as she saw her.
The boss was sitting in her desk chair. Jan could see that she had on nice slacks and a pressed blouse. She’d been ready for her date with Toni and Jan could smell the overly musky fragrance of cologne that her boss preferred. The woman pointed to the bar. “Make me a drink,” she growled. She didn’t suggest that Jan make one for herself.
Jan fixed her a drink and picked up the ashtray. She placed the drink carefully on its coaster and then sat in one of the club chairs. She lit a cigarette and waited until her boss took her first sip.
“Toni fell outside the bar and cut her head pretty bad. She needed medical attention, so I didn’t bring her here.” Jan waited for a response.
The woman took a healthy swallow and glared at Jan. “You hurt Toni? How the hell could you fuck up so bad? How hard was it to bring her to me?” She slammed her fist on the desk. “Now what are you going to do?” She ran her fingers through the right side of her hair five times.
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