by Harlow Stone
My only hope is that she doesn’t get a wild hair and do something more stupid than heading back to Canada. I hope to hell she doesn’t put herself in the path of whoever it is who wants her dead. Call me a selfish son of a bitch, but I need more time with her. The knock on my door pulls me out of my thoughts of the woman who constantly invades them.
“Boss?”
I turn around, acknowledging Rodriguez. Ivan gets up off the couch and heads toward the door.
“Boxing night, Rodriguez. I’m kicking Hunter’s ass at seven. Loser buys the crew beer.”
We all know Hunter will be the loser, but the cocky little shit won’t give up trying to beat the big Russian bastard. Rodriguez gives him a chin lift before Ivan continues down the hall.
“I have the information you asked me to get. I also found something interesting you might want to take a look at.”
“How good is the info, Cabe?”
I see a small twitch on his lips.
“Solid—and damaging.”
I let go of the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Get Benson to arrange a flight, I’ll meet you in your office in ten. I need to get ahold of Denny.”
Chapter Twenty-four
“Don’t forget my smokes!”
I holler to Jimmy. I’ve slept most of the day away, not wanting to face the light. I refuse to acknowledge the hurt I heard in Ryder’s voice and instead focus on the fact that my headache and hangover are gone.
So now, here I am enjoying a mimosa. The sun is almost down, and Jimmy and I just finished breakfast for dinner, along with a little hair of the dog in the form of orange juice and champagne.
I prop my feet up on the cheap plastic outdoor table and recline as much as possible in the lawn chair I’ve parked my ass in. Jimmy has never spent much time entertaining. His barbecue probably hasn’t been turned on since the last time I was here. Come to think of it, I think the only company he has, aside from his business, would be the one night stands he brings home and immediately kicks out, unless he falls asleep before they do.
I hear the back door open and silently thank Jimmy as he hands me my death sticks and lighter. He settles into the seat beside mine and we both stare out at Norm, chasing a chipmunk through the small compound.
“When are you going to let Laura know you’re here?”
I mull over the question, much like I have been the last few days. I can’t seem to come up with an answer. I want to see her, but I don’t want to put her in danger. I think she could come alone to Jimmy’s shop without alerting anyone of my presence, but as good as she is at keeping secrets I know she would not be able to hold back the breakdown that’ll surely follow. It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other and I have no doubt that she worries about me constantly.
“She’ll lose her shit, Jimmy. I can’t do that to her yet. Do I miss her? Fuck yes. I miss those kids too. But until I know that no harm will come to her, I can’t do that yet. You know she won’t be able to hold her emotions in if she sees me. Shit, she’ll probably get shitfaced and not show up to work for a week. I can’t do that to her.”
I light up a smoke, satisfied that even though it feels wrong, I’m doing what’s right.
“I’m not saying you’re wrong Jay, but if she shows up here and finds out how long you were with me and I didn’t say anything? You know what she’s like, that woman can hold a grudge.”
He is not wrong.
My burner starts dancing on the table. I don’t waste any time picking it up.
“Hello?”
“Elle, its Cabe.”
“Hey, any progress?”
“Does ‘ANIG Tech Solutions’ ring any bells for you?”
I roll the name around in my head, coming up with nothing. “No, should it?”
“Well it’s not that it should per se, I was just hoping it would narrow it down for me a little. I’ve been going through the old bank records of Andrew Roberts. He put money in the account of ANIG monthly. I can’t find much on the business; there’s no website, which is odd considering it’s a tech company.
“What I did find out though is that the business is registered to an M. Downey. This may be a shot in the dark, but I’m hoping I’m right.”
I’m practically on the edge of my seat, thanking this incredibly talented man and anticipating what he’s going to say next.
“M. Downey is the woman who had Shawn Flynn for six years in foster care. Her name was Marion. Now, I don’t think she opened the business, because as far as I can tell it wasn’t created until a few years later. Marion left what little money she had to Shawn, but he didn’t get the money until he was nineteen-years-old. The will had a stipulation that he only got it if he continued his education after high school, and he did Elle. I think he opened this business with her name in honor of her. I just need to figure out why Andrew put money into it and what they actually do.”
Wow.
“Cabe, how would someone open up a business in someone else's name? I mean, I get what you’re saying and it all seems to fit. But something's missing?”
“I already checked; you can register pretty much anything online. It’s not like he needed to enter a social security number to make a business. If it’s not rolling in the cash, then he doesn’t have to worry about the IRS picking up on it, or in your case, Revenue Canada. But there have been some purchases so he obviously has some two-bit accountant out of a back alley somewhere that looks after everything for him. I’m not sure how it all works for them, the system up there is a little different from ours so I’m having trouble tracking down my next lead.”
“Yes, we’re a little further behind up here in our igloos, Cabe.”
I didn’t mean for that to come out as harsh as it did, but shit I hate when people practically refer to Canada as a third world Country.
“I’m sorry, Elle. That’s not what I meant. Pretty much everything is electronic nowadays. There was a purchase from ANIG at a property company in Tucker’s Point three years ago. I looked at it on a map. Population is only a few hundred people and the local property office is about ten years behind. They don’t have any electronic records for their purchases. All I’m able to find is the company name, and I know it was purchased for thirty-two thousand dollars. Someone would have to sign for something. I can’t see that on my computer because it’s probably locked in a filing cabinet in their office.
“I hacked into their email records around the time of purchase and I can’t find anything that way either. Obviously either Andrew or his brother physically walked into that office to make the purchase. They don’t have a damn interact machine listed at the property company, so it had to have been done in person.”
I don’t doubt what he’s saying for a second.
“I know where Tucker’s Point is, Cabe. That doesn’t surprise me. It’s not a known town. People mostly go there if they have a hunting cabin located in the near vicinity. It’s not a place you go out of your way to visit.”
“I gathered that, and the hunting comment seeing as I can only find three business located in the town. One sells hunting shit, and the other two sell booze and food.”
“Yes, that sounds about right. So where is the property office located there?”
“It’s not just an office, it’s a house. The address for the business is the same as the residence of Margaret and Clinton Cooney. They do in fact have a website. It looks like the front of the house is the business and the back is the home. Not sure why they put a photo of their house on the internet with the business because it looks like something out of Beverly Hillbillies. No shit Elle, they have a moose head above the office door.”
I can’t help the bark of a laugh that escapes my mouth.
“That’s not uncommon in that neck of the woods, Cabe. It’s about two hours northwest of here in the bush. Like I said before—hunting country.”
“Well, I called the office to inquire about a piece of property.”
“Really
? Thinking about moving up here to tag a moose for your own front door?”
“Ha-ha, not likely. I called figuring I could get them talking a little, see what kind of property they’ve sold in the past. I want the location of the property that ANIG purchased. Anyway, they aren’t open. Voicemail says they’re closed until the twenty-first of this month.”
“That’s a week from now.”
“I know. Like I said though, I’m still digging. I mainly called because I wanted to see if you knew the company, small town and all.”
“My town is not that small Cabe, but I’ll see what I can find out from here. Thanks for the help.”
“No problem, I’ll get back to you soon. Stay safe, Elle.”
“Will do, Bye.”
I hang up the phone, completely floored with the progress Cabe has made.
“Well? What did he say?”
I look over at my good friend, cautiously.
“I need to go on a little road trip.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“I really wish you would’ve stayed at the shop.”
I half-hoped to sneak out on Jimmy, but I should’ve known after I mentioned leaving his little compound that he wouldn’t let me venture out by myself.
“Fuck off, Jay. I’m not letting you go alone. Nobody is going to recognize us anyway. They’ll think we’re lost city folk. How did you get this BMW across the border anyway with the Colorado plates?”
“I paid some lot lizard at a truck stop an hour south of the border. Told her to play along if she got a phone call about her truck being borrowed. She gave me her phone number, then I gave her cash and took a picture of her driver’s license.”
“Why did you take a picture of her driver’s license?”
“Because she used it to register at the Western Union in the truck stop. I paid her one hundred in cash and told her I’d send two hundred more if I got across the border okay. Figured I better cover my ass after that time you, Laura and myself got held up at the border after high school driving my mom’s Cadillac down to Watertown for the weekend. ”
“Shit, that sucked. We sat there for like two hours until your mom finally answered her phone. Obviously it worked okay for you this time?”
“Jimmy, I could’ve smuggled half a ton of cocaine back with me. They didn’t ask me shit. He looked at my Canadian Passport and never batted an eye at the vehicle. None the less, I sent her the money.”
Jimmy sighs in sarcastic contentment.
“You always were charitable, even thinking of the poor pussy lurking around the truck stop.”
I laugh a little. Leave it to Jimmy to lighten the atmosphere.
“Speaking of pussy, who’s Randi? She’s been blowing up your phone ever since I got back.”
“Randi is Wednesday’s. Sometimes Saturday’s. But now she wants to be every-fucking-day and I’m about to cut her off. Even if she is ‘Randy’. By that I mean-”
I shoot my hand up to cut him off and shake my head at my good friend. He can be so crass when it comes to women. Not that talking about sex with him has ever bothered me before. It’s more like I’m not having any, so I don’t want to swap stories right now.
“Almost there.”
I see the few small lights of Tucker’s Point in the distance. It’s off the main highway and the road has now turned into oiled hard pack gravel. It’s past ten at night and there are no other vehicles out. There’s no bar in this town, nowhere to hang out and nowhere to stroll to. It’ll be tough to get in and get out quietly.
I Googled the website for the property company and noted on the map that it was just outside of town. Well, if you could call it a ‘town’. I hope to shit they don’t have close neighbors so we can get in and get out quietly.
I pass a few homes. By a few I mean five before I see the small hunting store. Right beside it is the food store, and two houses later there’s a small trailer boasting that they sell beer until ten o’clock. Most of the lights are off everywhere and there’s not a soul in sight.
I turn down the next street, heading to where my GPS is informing me to go.
“That’s it, Jay.”
I look to my right, out Jimmy’s window, and note the small little home with the moose head above the door. I continue driving, not wanting to park my vehicle right in front of where I plan to break into.
“We need to find somewhere to park.”
I drive down the road a little further, still not finding anything that’s out in the open. I only notice a few other homes set back in the bushes.
“Look at the GPS. It says there was supposed to be a wildlife lookout over Pike Lake. We would’ve passed it when we turned onto this road.”
I make a u-turn and head back the way we came, passing the rental office now on our left and a lot of forest area to the right. I see the sign for the lookout area and pull in. It looks like it forks into a few different directions for lookout posts. I don’t venture down any of those; I pull my truck in behind a few big evergreen trees and call myself hidden.
“Jimmy, if you want to wait here, you can. I don’t expect you to get caught for a B and E. But I need to do this.”
As I expected, Jimmy’s response is to grab the small array of tools we put in the back seat and get out of the truck. I knew he wouldn’t stay back, but I guess I wanted to keep a clean conscience by giving him the opportunity to back out.
We walk toward the road, both of us glancing left and right, making sure we aren’t seen. I don’t think we would be, being as there isn’t a single street light in the small town. Especially not on this deserted road.
I dressed in my usual black armor. My hair is braided to one side, black hat on. I wore a long hooded black sweater, and my black boots and tights.
Jimmy is similar. Dark jeans, black boots, black sweatshirt. All we’re missing are balaclavas and guns, then we would really fit the B and E dress code.
We walk briskly side by side, crossing the street toward the Cooney’s small office. I noted when we drove past there was no garage, but I plan to check around the back side of the house to confirm there are no vehicles, and nobody present.
We edge along the side of the yard, much like two experienced criminals would do. It amazes me how in sync Jimmy and I are. We don’t speak in words. It’s just familiar body language and comfort from knowing each other so long. It allows us to maneuver around the property like we’ve done this a hundred times before.
I want to say it scares me, but then I think about how we used to finish each other’s sentences. I think about how he eats my olives and I eat his tomatoes. We do it all without asking, because it’s just second nature. We know what the other one is going to do before they do it. That’s why we’re best friends. That’s why we get along so well.
The home is a small bungalow. The carport on the right side of the home is empty and I know from glancing at the outbuilding that it is too small to hold a vehicle. We slowly make our way toward the back of the small board and batten home. Jimmy leads, looking in a few windows, making sure nobody is present.
We maneuver around a few shrubs and come to a higher window, suggesting it’s a bathroom or a bedroom. There’s a small amount of light coming out the window that’s too high for Jimmy to see through. He motions for me to move in front of him and puts his hands around my waist.
I brace my own hands on the wall in front of me before he lifts me up to look in the window.
“Bathroom, empty,” I softly say to him and he lowers me down.
We make our way back to the front of the home, careful to stay in the shadows. There’s a door directly on the front of the house, boasting a sign for property purchases and with the giant moose head above it. Jimmy motions for the door that was hidden under the carport and I nod my head.
The first thing I see is the small slip of paper, flapping a little in the wind. It’s closed between the storm door and the main door. I edge closer beside Jimmy and we pull the paper out. ‘Tuck’s Heating’ is writt
en on the top, along with amount of money they owe for having their propane tank filled. I bring it closer to my face and look at the date.
“Three days ago, they’re not here Jimmy.”
“Good news for us.”
Jimmy opens the storm door and we assess the main one. There’s no dead bolt, and there’s enough room to stick a screwdriver alongside the handle lock to get in. He pulls out a putty knife from a small pack of goodies and within three seconds the door is open. I’m not surprised. Security is never huge in these small towns.