Worse Than Being Alone

by Patricia M. Clark

  “I find it strange that he doesn’t worry about a tail,” I said as I sipped my latte.

  “He’s probably supremely confident. You said hardly anyone ever gets followed especially early in the claim. Besides, he’s young and just getting started.”

  “That’s true,” I said. “He must be smart and a good liar. I don’t think I could pull this off.”

  “From what you’ve told me, it’s his arrogance that’s about to do him in. He couldn’t resist being the smartest guy in the room and taunting his employer.”

  “There’s no doubt he pissed off the wrong guy,” I said as Thomas came out of the house and jumped in the red truck. Lionel started the Pilot and stayed a few car lengths behind.

  “He really does look young.”

  “Roni and I joked he probably doesn’t even shave yet,” I said. “Cindy says he has a black aura so I guess looks are deceiving.”

  “OK, I’ll bite. Cindy sees auras?”

  “Yes, I was surprised, too,” I said. “She dropped that bomb on me yesterday.”

  “Cindy has some issues, right? I kind of picked up on that when I’ve been in the office.”

  “Think of issues as baggage we all carry around,” I said. “While most people have a carry-on or two, Cindy has several steamer trunks. Still, Roni says Cindy’s aura predictions are usually accurate. Besides, she’s my friend and I’ve never seen anyone work harder to overcome her demons.”

  “How did the subject come up in the first place?”

  “She was commenting on my aura being different,” I said. “One thing kind of led to another.”

  “This is getting interesting. What is your usual aura and how was it different yesterday?”

  “Mostly we talked about Thomas Sloan’s aura,” I said. “He really has the most striking one.”

  “Not going to work. Come on, come clean. Changing the subject isn’t going to cut it.”

  “OK, it all started when I walked into the office the other day,” I said. “Cindy told me my aura was blue instead of my usual red.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Supposedly, blue means that you’re more at peace,” I said. “Red is a sign of restlessness. Black is a sign of extreme anger or dishonesty. Cindy thinks people with black are bad.”

  “So, after our night together you were content?”

  “I guess that’s one way to put it,” I said.

  “My daughters can’t stop talking about you. They keep asking when you’re coming back.”

  “I’m crazy about them,” I admitted. “It kind of scares me in a way.”

  “Why does it scare you?”

  “It seems like it’s too soon,” I said. “Maybe we shouldn’t rush into this.”

  “So, you’re scared you’ll get hurt?”

  “I married the wrong person the first time,” I said. “I want more this time. I want a real relationship. The other night scares me because it felt like I belonged there. How can that be?”

  “I agree with Cindy. Auras don’t lie, Kit. You’re letting your head overrule your heart. I’m not hiding anything from you and I promise I won’t. It did feel like you belonged there. We’re all saying the same thing here. Run toward us and not away.”

  A pregnant pause ensued and was extended when Thomas Sloan pulled into the parking lot of a South County Orthopedic Surgeon’s office. Lionel parked and followed Sloan into the facility, leaving me in the car to rehash our conversation. Fifteen minutes later, Lionel emerged from the building and jumped in the Pilot.

  “He used the name Ricky Dent. Is that a new one?”

  “Yes, that’s a new one,” I said as I leaned over the console and began kissing Lionel, who sighed and pulled me closer while our tongues hungrily dueled. We were interrupted by a knocking sound on the driver’s side. A St. Louis County patrolman was standing by the Pilot glaring at us. Lionel lowered the window.

  “You two need to get a room,” he said. “You can’t do that in a parking lot in the middle of the day.”

  “Sorry, Officer,” Lionel said. The cop got back in his patrol car and left. We sat there in stunned silence for several minutes and then started laughing.

  “I haven’t done that since high school,” I said.

  Lionel was about to comment when Thomas Sloan emerged from the doctor’s office building and got in the red pickup. We pulled out of the lot and stayed four or five cars back. The route Sloan took seemed familiar so I wasn’t surprised when he pulled into the First Federal lot. He put on sunglasses and a different cap.

  “He keeps coming to this bank,” I said. “I don’t get it. He wears a different hat and sunglasses every time he comes.”

  The same thought landed in our consciousness about the same time as we stared at each other.

  “He’s casing out the bank?” I asked.

  “It sure looks like it.”

  “Why in the world would he be doing that?” I asked.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  The atmosphere inside the Pilot seemed charged, but neither one of us was ready to break the silence, as we digested the situation and considered all the possibilities. The sudden conclusion I had seemed preposterous, despite my inability to think of a better alternative.

  “Are you thinking the same thing I am?” I said.

  “Yeah, but he’s just a boy. Is it really probable he’s going to try to rob a bank?”

  Sloan came out of the bank a few minutes later; we followed the usual routine.

  “Wow,” Lionel said. “When you actually say it out loud it sounds lame. He seems to be headed back home.”

  “I’m not sure it’s that lame. My brother Dave is a cop. He ran the plate for us. I did a criminal record check and Thomas has a sealed juvi record and some shoplifting busts. The most interesting thing in my mind is that he’s a suspect in a Radio Shack robbery. I looked up newspaper reports. It’s fascinating. They’re not really sure how the robber got in the building but the place was totally cleared out. The hard drives from all the outside cameras were removed. No prints.”

  “How did he become a suspect then?” Lionel asked as he pulled off the highway continued following Sloan.

  “Sloan parked near the Dierbergs at the other end of the strip mall. There was a camera inside the store that caught his plate.”

  “So he missed that camera?” Lionel asked.

  “That’s what they’re thinking. The police talked to him, but there wasn’t enough evidence to get a warrant or pursue the matter any further. Dave said the detective who interviewed Sloan described him as a ‘cocky little bastard’. Sounds just like what our employer said about him.”

  “I hear you,” Lionel said. “Still, it’s a big leap from Radio Shack to banks.”

  “Our other problem is trying to follow him 24/7. If he really is planning to hit a bank he certainly isn’t going to do that during the day.”

  “I have just the thing for this situation,” he continued. “We can put a GPS tracker on the truck. If he leaves his house at night it will activate an alarm and then we can track him.”

  “That sounds great. I’m not going to tell his employer at this point. If we’re right and Thomas does try to get in the bank, we can call 911.”

  “I’m sure he won’t be upset if Thomas gets nailed for attempting to rob a bank.”

  “When can you get the tracker?”

  “I have it at my office,” Lionel said. “I’ll come back tonight or tomorrow morning and stick it under the truck.”

  “You could give me the monitor with the alarm. I mean, you don’t have to be involved with the rest of it. I know it’s hard at night with the girls. You can’t just leave.”

  “I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” he said.

  “What if the police find the tracker? Wouldn’t that be a problem? Maybe give Sloan’s attorney an issue.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Lionel said. “The best thing to do would be to remove the tracker before the police find the truck.” />
  “It shouldn’t be that hard. It’s not like he’s going to park in the bank lot. He’s going to hide in one of the residential areas behind the bank.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “I’ve got a collection of trackers courtesy of the bureau. They could probably be traced back to me.”

  “This is better all the way around. I’ll get one of those throwaway phones, and we can make an anonymous 911 call. What about the girls? If this happens, it’ll be in the middle of the night probably on a weekend.”

  “I can ask my Mom to come over,” Lionel said. “I’ll call her tonight and ask her. I think you should spend the night at my house this weekend just in case. We’ll tell the girls we’re investigating a case. It’ll be fun.”

  “What will your Mother think? I’m not sure she’d think this was such a great idea.”

  “She’ll probably want to know what your intentions are,” Lionel said as a serious expression rolled across his face. ”By the way, what are your intentions?”

  “They’re good. I just want to be sure nobody gets hurt. I can understand you’d be concerned about the girls getting attached to someone and then having the relationship end badly or abruptly. I would never do that to them. If we don’t work out as a couple, let’s try to still be friends. Deal?”

  “Deal,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how to say that without sounding like an ass.”

  “You wouldn’t have sounded like an ass. This is something you have to be very careful about. The last thing they need is a revolving door of your girlfriends who get close and disappear. Have you been dating?”

  “Not really,” he said uncertainly. “Mostly I’ve been hesitant for the reasons you just enumerated so well. How about you?”

  “I’ve had a few forays into Internet dating that didn’t go that well. Look, I really like you. Let’s give this a shot.”

  I had the distinct feeling there were things Lionel wanted to say to me, but in the end, he bailed. I wasn’t sure whether he thought it was too soon or he didn’t want to say anything that might hurt my feelings so he changed the subject.

  “So, do you think we’re on the proverbial wild goose chase with Sloan?”

  “I don’t know. The other issue is that he might not pull the trigger any time soon.”

  “It’ll be an adventure,” he said.

  “Roni invited all of us to the farm on Sunday,” I said. “You can meet Harley. They have a couple of ponies that I’m sure the girls would love to ride.”

  ”Sure, why not,” he said.

  “So, if we’re right, I wonder what Sloan’s ultimate goal is? Become some kind of master thief? If he pulled off the Radio Shack robbery, and now he’s looking at banks, that’s impressive. My sixth sense must be working overtime. I wonder if that black SUV three cars back is following us?”

  “I noticed them, too,” Lionel said. “They’ve been behind us a long time. It looks like Sloan is headed home. Let’s break off our tail and see if they follow us.”

  Lionel pulled into the center lane and made a sudden u-turn. The black SUV kept going for another block and then made a u-turn, trying to stay back.

  “They’re definitely following us,” he said. “Can you make out a plate?”

  “No, they’re too far back.”

  “Let’s see how determined they are,” Lionel said as he sped up and took the entrance ramp back onto highway 270.

  “They’re still there but getting farther behind. They’re getting off.”

  “Still think they were following us?” Lionel asked.

  “I think so. I guess a couple of better questions might be who are they and why are they following us?”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  In my family, Friday was always pizza night. Lionel and I decided to honor the tradition, at least for this particular Friday. I was headed to Lionel’s house with my bag in the backseat, humming along with a song on the radio, checking frequently for a tail. September hadn’t moderated the summer temps much, so we’re hoping for one of those last-chance swimming weekends since Lionel has a pool.

  I was feeling very conflicted because while I was looking forward to the weekend, I had just visited Meadow. Her mother’s labs had not improved and she still required dialysis and blood transfusions. The waiting and uncertainty were really taking a toll. The brutal reality that her mother was going to die now controlled the narrative between us. I no longer tried to dissuade her because she was right.

  Meadow had finally moved past the first stage of denial into a full-blown second stage of not just anger, but absolute rage. No one had been spared her wrath, especially the burn unit staff. We talked for several minutes, but she flew into a rage when a nurse came to tell her she couldn’t see her mom for a few minutes because they were putting in a new central line.

  The next minute, she was sobbing and I hugged her, feeling totally impotent. Her fiancé arrived just as the nurse returned and she took them back for a visit. I left the hospital but the feelings of impotence and depression lingered.

  I pulled up Roni’s name from the menu and pressed her name.

  “Hey, Kitty, how’s it going?” she asked.

  “It’s going fine. Mostly, I’ve been playing catch-up with phone calls and reports, but I just visited Meadow at the hospital.”

  “I hear you,” she said. “I’ve been doing the same thing so I can get to Sikeston on Monday. How is Meadow?”

  “Not good. She knows it’s only a matter of time.”

  “That’s a tough place to be,” she said.

  “She’s firmly in the anger phase.”

  “Everyone moves through the stages at her own pace,” she said. On another subject, was Paul OK with backing off Sloan?”

  “Yeah, he seems to be chilling out a little. Say, have you noticed anyone following you?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “Are you being followed?”

  “Maybe. When I was out with Lionel yesterday, we thought we spotted a black SUV tailing us. They broke it off right away so I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll pay more attention,” she said. “I wonder who would follow us?”

  “That’s what I keep wondering. You know, we keep following Sloan to that same bank. Lionel and I are starting to think he’s casing it.”

  “As in robbing it?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I know he’s kind of young. We’re going to put a GPS tracker on the truck and see what happens.”

  “Why not?” she asked. “Paul would probably give us a bonus.”

  “Oh well, we’ll see you Sunday.”

  “See you then,” she said.

  I pulled in front of Lionel’s house and got out of the car. I was pulling my bag out of the backseat when Sophie and Bella, dressed in identical pink bathing suits and clogs, bounded down the walk. We shared hugs and they talked non-stop as we walked into the house.

  Lionel walked out of the kitchen with two Corona’s and a big smile on his face. He was wearing his Hawaiian shirt and a bathing suit. We followed the girls out to the heated pool and sipped our beer while the girls played Marco Polo in the water.

  “Did you manage to get the GPS on Sloan’s car?”

  “Yeah, I went this morning,” he said. “I’ve been following his movements. The monitor seems to be working great. He hasn’t gone anywhere near the bank so far.”

  “I called his employer this morning and told him we were working some other files for a few days. I told him I’d call back on Monday and we would regroup then.”

  “He’s already got enough to cut Sloan off, right?” Lionel asked.

  “Yeah, I think he’s just really mad. This will give him a couple of days to cool off a little bit.”

  “It will also give Sloan a crack at the bank,” he said. “I mean, if that’s his plan. Anybody follow you today?”

  “Not that I could pick up. Maybe we’re just being paranoid.”

  “What cases are you working on that might result in a tail?” he asked.


  “There’s Sloan and Ho for starters. Of course, it could be someone from another case we haven’t even thought of.”

  “What about Marian or someone connected to her?” he asked. “Has Roni noticed anyone following her?”

  “I asked her if she noticed anything. She didn’t seem to think she was being followed.”

  “Well, keep looking and be careful where you go,” he said.

  “Yeah, I will. I worry I might not be able to spot the tail. If they use a lot of vehicles, it’s hard to pick up.”

  “Hey, Kitty,” Bella said as she got out of the pool and grabbed my hand. “Come on, it’s time for you to get in the pool with us.”

  “OK, let me get my suit on,” I said as I stood up and walked into the house.

  The evening seemed to fly as we played volleyball in the pool with a beach ball and ate pizza as the Tiki torches on the patio blazed with light over the sparkling water. I ended up sleeping in the living room with the girls in a borrowed Barbie sleeping bag.

  I was totally disoriented when I heard a ringing sound in the dark, open space. I wasn’t sure if it was the GPS monitor or my cell phone that was begging for attention as my eyes adjusted. I staggered over to the other side of the room to see if Thomas Sloan was on the move or if some other unpleasant reality demanded my attention.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  After stumbling around Lionel’s living room in the dark for several minutes, I finally turned on a table lamp and checked the GPS monitor first. Nothing happening there. My cell phone was on the charger right next to the GPS monitor. When I pressed the on button, I noticed a voice mail message from Meadow. I unhooked the cell from the charger and took the phone out by the pool.

  Thirty minutes later, I was on my way to the hospital. Beverly Knull’s DIC had progressed to the point where transfusions couldn’t keep up with the bleeding. I parked in the visitor’s lot and hurried up the stairs, unwilling to wait for the slow pace of the elevators.