No Such Thing as a Lost Cause (27 page)

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, no 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.”