No Such Thing as a Lost Cause

by Shelly Fredman

  “What’s with the hat?” I asked.

  With a show of reluctance, he removed it and waited while I gave him the once-over. “Johnny, I can’t believe you shaved your head. I swear to God, it looks great.”

  John ran his hand over the peach fuzz and smiled. “You really think so? Carla talked me into it. I was nervous at first, but I figured it had to be better than masquerading as a French Poodle until the damn perm grew out. It took a little getting used to…you really think I look okay?”

  “I really do.”

  He leaned back and relaxed into his seat.

  “So, what did Garrett say about the new you?”

  “He hasn’t seen it yet. To tell you the truth, I think he’ll hate it. Mainly because it wasn’t his idea.”

  “You want to talk about it?” I asked and tossed a bit of my bagel to Adrian. He caught it neatly and swallowed it whole.

  John shook his head. I was relieved. Anything I could contribute to a conversation about Garrett would either be insincere or unsupportive. John deserved better than that.

  “Let’s talk about you, he said. “I heard you called 911 because someone on the city council tailgated you.”

  “Jeez, John. Where’d you hear that? You know, that’s how rumors get started.” I ended up spilling the entire story, including the epilogue starring Bobby and his make-out partner, Officer Cutie Pie.

  John did a sympathy grimace. “Ooh, Sunshine. That couldn’t have been easy to watch.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. And before you go leaping to the conclusion that I was jealous…okay, I’m willing to admit there might have been a small degree of territorial feelings involved.”

  “How small are we talking here?”

  “Okay, technically, I’m talking huge. And I can’t understand it myself, so don’t go all analytical on me, okay? Look the point is he really likes this girl, y’know? And if I’d come charging up there, all emotionally needy—I just didn’t want to wreck things for him.” I shrugged. “I want him to be happy.”

  “You know what you did, don’t you?”

  “What?” I asked so that I could add it to the list of countless ways in which I’d screwed up, lately.

  “You put DiCarlo’s needs before your own.” He grinned and passed me his Hershey’s Kisses. “Our little girl is growing up.”

  *****

  Surveillance work can be excruciatingly dull, which is why, when I went back to K-Nine Security to do some additional recon, I brought along some company. The other reason is (contrary to popular belief) I do learn from my mistakes, and I understand the value of reliable back up.

  Alphonso and I were parked down the block from the building, playing the waiting game until Wade Stoller walked out the door. We could have come by after the place closed to have our little look around the facility. But, breaking into a building full of guard dogs seemed like a really dumb idea. Plus, it’s always nicer to be invited.

  Still, there wasn’t a prayer of doing any snooping with Stoller on the premises. Consequently, we’d arranged for him to meet up with a potential client, a rap singer in need of protection from his legions of fans. Unfortunately for Wade, the phantom rapper lived about an hour’s drive away.

  “The guy should’ve left by now. This is no way to run a business,” Alphonso complained.

  “May I remind you, he’s not really meeting anyone? We’ll be lucky if he hasn’t already figured out that Big Dreddy Locks is a rapper in your mind only. How’d you come up with that ridiculous name, anyway?”

  Alphonso grinned. “It’s a gift.”

  I whipped out my phone to check the time. Alphonso eyed it and laughed.

  “My five-year old niece has a fancier phone than that. Why don’t you replace that relic with something from this century?”

  “I did, but they kept getting lost or broken…or falling in the toilet. What? It could happen to anyone…repeatedly.” I stuffed it back in my pocket and searched for a new topic of conversation. “So,” I settled on, “how’s the big romance going with Nicole?”

  “Who?”

  “Nicole, the woman you were so hot for a few weeks back?”

  Alphonso thought for a minute. “Oh yeah, Nicole. I forgot about her. I should give her a call sometime.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from giving him a good smack and pulled out my phone again. Janine was calling.

  “Bran, I need your opinion,” she said, skipping the usual conversational amenities. “Do you think it’s too soon to sleep with Mike? I mean I know he likes me, but this would really seal the deal.”

  “Neenie, you have to stop using sex to get the guy.”

  “Shut up. You do it, too.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Janine considered this. “Oh, you’re right. I was thinking of Fran.”

  “Fran doesn’t do it either. Just you. Listen, can I call you back? I’m in the middle of something.”

  I hung up with Janine and caught Alphonso staring at me. “Yes?”

  “I’d like to meet Janine. She sounds nice.” He flashed me his thousand watt smile and pointed out the window. “There he goes.”

  I grabbed my binoculars from under the seat and took a look. The black van pulled out of the driveway with Stoller at the wheel. We waited five more minutes to make sure he wasn’t coming back. Then we unloaded our equipment (a fourteen-year old video camera my dad had left in the basement when my parents moved to Florida) and headed up the street.

  Kaye answered the buzz and let us in. Her eyes roamed over Alphonso, taking in his considerable attributes. Alphonso ramped up the wattage on his smile. “Nice ink,” he said, giving a nod to the skull and crossbones on her forearm.

  Kaye blushed. “Thanks. I designed it myself.” She glanced at the dinosaur of a video camera perched atop Alphonso’s shoulder. “Was Wade expecting you? He just left for an appointment.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad,” I sighed. “We were in the neighborhood and I thought we’d come by to get some footage of the place for the piece on local businesses. Unfortunately, we’re on deadline and need this right away.” I paused, as if the disappointment was too much to bear.

  Alphonso glanced over at me and played along. “Tell you what? How about we go ahead and film and then do the interview with Wade later, if this pretty lady would consent to taking me on a tour.”

  “Oh, hon, I don’t know. Wade wasn’t real keen on the idea. Said something about protecting his clients’ privacy.”

  “Well, I can see his concern, but let me reassure you, we have no intention of compromising his relationship with his clients. We wouldn’t film anything that might in any way jeopardize his business. If anything, this piece will enhance it.”

  “Well, we sure could use the publicity. Business has been a little slow here, lately. And, between you and me, I think my nephew is a bit on the stubborn side, sometimes. He insists on doing everything his way. Of course, it is his company, but sometimes I wonder. Oh, heck, why don’t we go ahead and get started,” she decided. “I’m sure he’ll come around once he sees how good it will be for the business.”

  “Great. Alphonso, why don’t you start with some outdoor shots, maybe get some footage of Kaye standing under the sign. And then we can move on to the kennels. In the mean time,” I scooted next to Kaye and put my mouth to her ear, “something I ate must not have agreed with me, so if you could direct me to the powder room, I’d be very grateful.”

  “Sure thing, hon. You can use the one in Wade’s office. More privacy and a little cleaner.” She winked, woman to woman. “It’s straight down that hall. First door on the right.”

  “Oh, thank you.” I shot her a grateful smile and watched as Alphonso followed her outside. She had no idea what a gift she’d just handed me.

  Wade’s office was sparse. A large computer monitor sat on top of a weathered oak desk. There was a matching file cabinet situated behind it and some padded chairs for guests. A plastic palm tree, n
o doubt a gift from Kaye, capped off the floor décor.

  A calendar was tacked to the wall, displaying the month of August. Some dates and times were circled in red. One was starred. I took a picture of it. Next to the calendar were framed pictures of Wade, flanked by several highly imposing-looking attack dogs, sitting obediently by his side. The eyes on one of the dogs followed me around the room as I poked into things I wasn’t supposed to. It looked about to jump off the wall and rip my throat out.

  Stoller had left the computer on, which I found oddly disappointing. If he’d had something to hide, wouldn’t it be locked up tight, instead of so completely accessible to random passers-by? Maybe I was wrong about him…unless he didn’t see the need to go to the trouble of turning everything off. After all, who’d be crazy enough to break into building full of professional attack dogs?

  A quick scan of his document folders yielded me his client contact information. I checked the one for the security service. No red flags there, but I took some pictures with my phone, so that I could examine it more closely, later. There was a separate folder marked drug detection. The list was small, only three clients in that one. One stood out among the others, only I wasn’t sure why. I copied that list, too.

  The web browser was open to a page that advertised wholesale dog food. I clicked to another open tab, this one for synthetic grass. Gaah, was this guy boring. There were no more open tabs, so I clicked on his web history and scrolled down. More dog food comparison shopping, the weather report, an article on hair restoration, and, a youtube video. It must’ve been a good one because he’d watched it over a dozen times.

  I clicked on it and almost vomited. The picture was grainy, but there was no mistaking the content. A hand held camera zeroed in on the back of someone’s head. The person was female, short in stature, with long, dark hair, a tangled mess. The camera pulled back to reveal the woman’s back. She was standing outside in her bra.

  Suddenly, the view shifted, and the inside of a car trunk appeared. Once again the camera zoomed in, this time on the telltale, heart shaped spot on Popeye’s left leg. Bile rose in my throat. I swallowed hard, cringing at the bitter aftertaste.

  As I relived the drama on the screen, the horror of that day came flooding back to me. My chest tightened and my head swam. But even as I fought to stay upright, I knew I’d struck gold.

  I ducked into Stoller’s private bathroom and closed the door. Turning on the light, I steadied myself against the sink and sprinkled water on my face. The coolness helped to calm me. As the nausea began to subside, my brain struggled to process this new information. Well, I’d figure out what it all meant, later. For now, I had to grab Alphonso and get the hell out.

  Quickly, I dried my hands, pushed open the bathroom door and ran headlong into Wade Stoller. He grunted and reeled back as my forehead smacked against his chest.

  Fuck all. “Oh. I’m sorry,” I stammered, looking up. He was a lot taller than I’d remembered and considerably more formidable.

  A momentary flash of anger surfaced in his eyes. “Well, this is a surprise,” he said, regaining his composure.

  I bit back my first response, “No shit!” and chuckled. “A pleasant surprise, I hope.”

  “What are you doing in my office?”

  Okay, guess not. “I needed to go to the little girl’s room, and your aunt told me to use the one in here, because it’s nicer. I must say the toilet paper is very good quality. Extra soft.”

  Stoller tapped his foot and the spur on his boot jingled merrily. “I can see that you used the bathroom. What I meant was why are you here in the building?”

  “Oh, sorry.” My eyes cut automatically to the desk. Oh, for Crap’s sake. When I was on the computer, I moved the mouse and forgot to put it back where it was…okay, Brandy, stay calm. Maybe he won’t notice that it’s on a completely different side of the monitor now…or that I left the youtube video up on the screen…although that’s kinda hard to miss. Shit, shit, shit. What do I do now? I know! I’ll talk about his high quality toilet paper some more.

  I began bouncing on the balls of my feet, as if the very idea of what I was about to say was so enthralling, I couldn’t contain my excitement. As I bounced I worked my way incrementally back to the desk, effectively blocking Wade’s view of the computer screen.

  “My assistant and I were in the neighborhood and we’d hoped to grab a few moments of your time to discuss that piece I’m doing on local businesses. Kaye thinks it’s a great idea, by the way. She’s giving my assistant a tour of the facility as we speak.”

  Stoller’s voice hardened. “Like I already told you, I’m not interested.”

  “Oh, but that’s because you haven’t seen how much it can help your business. Here, let me show you.” In a flash, I’d grabbed the mouse and clicked out of the video and began randomly clicking on whatever popped up on the screen. “Gee, I know it’s here somewhere.”

  Stoller lunged for me, and slapped his hand over mine. I froze.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but where I come from it’s called trespassing. Now, we’re going to walk out of here and find your friend. And you’re not coming back. Is that clear?”

  I nodded all wide-eyed innocence. “Crystal clear.”

  Stoller escorted me by the elbow to the front office. Alphonso was just coming in from his tour with Kaye. He raised an eyebrow and I gave a slight shake of my head. Alphonso shrugged and reached an arm around his back. It was a casual gesture unless you were privy to what he had stored in his waistband.

  “Um, Kaye,” I said, keeping up pretenses for the only person in the room who still bought into our charade. “Wade isn’t interested in participating in our news segment, so we’ll be going now. Sorry to take up your time.”

  Kaye flashed her nephew a scowl. “I’m sorry, hon. Like I said, Wade can be stubborn.”

  I headed for the door and Alphonso fell in behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he was watching my back.

  As we swung open the door and stepped through the threshold, Kaye addressed her nephew. “What are you doing back so soon? I thought your appointment was all the way across town.” We didn’t stick around for his answer.

  I kept quiet until we reached the car. Alphonso threw the camera into the back seat and started the engine. Breaking the silence he asked, “What happened in there?”

  “Plenty. He’s on to me.”

  “You sure?”

  I leaned my head against the coolness of the window. “Oh, yeah. I’m sure. But wait til you hear what I discovered.”

  *****

  When I got back to Nick’s, I found Adrian curled up next to Rocky on the couch. Neither of them seemed particularly psyched to see me, so I tossed them each a treat to get them to like me again. As my morbidly obese Aunt Doris used to say, food is love.

  I took Adrian across the street for a walk in the square to compensate for the overfeeding. I thought maybe I’d run across Paul and Daisy there. As much as my brother denied it, he was falling in love with that little girl. I smiled to myself, thinking about it.

  As I slipped back into the apartment again, my phone rang. I checked the readout. It was DiCarlo. I let it go to voicemail and slipped the phone back in my pocket.

  I was a little hungry, so I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and then I started my daily round of phone calls. First, I called the police station to see if anyone had confessed to the murder of Mrs. Gentile’s planter. (I tend to go into denial mode when people try to kill me. It’s more palatable to think that I was merely an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of a succulent-hating miscreant) Next, I checked out the jobs on Craig’s List. No luck in that department, but I got a great deal on a used kayak.

  After that, I called Vince to tell him about my visit to K-Nine Security. He didn’t pick up his cell phone so I tried the office. His assistant took my name and put me on hold. While I waited for Vince to get on the line, I thought about how I’d spin the story so that
I wouldn’t look like a total criminal. Because, technically, (at least as far as I was concerned) I’d done nothing wrong. I had been, after all, invited in.

  A minute later, Vince’s assistant got back on the line and informed me that he wasn’t available. I got the feeling he just wasn’t available to me, so I called Janine.

  “Yo, Neenie. Do me a favor and call Vincent.”

  “Sure. But why don’t you call him yourself?”

  “I just want to see if he’ll pick up for you. I think he’s avoiding me.”

  “Why would he avoid you?”

  “Because he thinks I’m being a pain in the butt.”

  “Well, are you?”

  “No more than usual.”

  We hung up and she called me back a minute later. “He’s really not there.”

  “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

  My brain was on overload, so I went into Nick’s bedroom and crawled into bed. I lay on my back and did some controlled breathing exercises, which might have worked, except that Nick’s scent lingered on the pillow case. With every deep breath I took, I was reminded of just what I was missing.

  After a minute or so of tossing and turning, I gave up and grabbed a pen and pad of paper out of the drawer. If I wasn’t going to relax, I might as well make good use of my time. Bobby always told me that the most important thing in an investigation is to look for connections among seemingly random facts. So, what were the facts? I began to write.

  Donte and Mario Lewis, both card carrying members of The Junk Town Gang, dabbled in dog fighting. Mario, Donte, and Calvin Doyle, along with a flame- throwing guy named, appropriately enough, Torch, were in some undisclosed business together. Cal and Donte were afraid their boss would find out about Mario screwing up, so they killed Mario. Now, Calvin is dead and Donte Lewis is missing. No word on the pyromaniac, Torch.

  I made a side note. Did Lewis and Torch kill Calvin? If so, why? Deal gone wrong? And where the hell were they now?

  Moving along. Wade Stoller tried to hide his association with Calvin Doyle. Plus, he must have had a vested interest in the Mario Lewis incident. Why else would he watch that video over and over? Could Stoller be the boss Lewis and Doyle were so afraid of? And if so, what was his game?