Sexy Girls (20 page)

^{Jimmie left me a package of photos of Robert Grayson and his model girlfriend that he took during the last week. They were shot at various locations in the Delaware Valley and showed them in some provocative and compromising poses. I reclosed the envelope and took them out to Lauren. I asked her to mail them to Walter Hines.}

^{I spent the remainder of the day up in the sky on the 44
th
floor of
Two Liberty Place
catching up with mail, phone calls and the loose ends of my other investigations.}

^{I called Cyn at my home and she was in the middle of doing a sketch. Cyn put down her pencil and thanked me for calling.}

^{I said, “I want you to know that I've made good progress. I've learned a few surprises, but will explain it all when I get home tonight.”}

^{“Please do, Stevie.”}

 

^***

 

^{I sped south on I-95. At home, we unwound. I helped Cyn prepare a small feast. I opened the white wine for us. We sat down at dinner and savored the feast of a wonderful pasta salad with sautéed boneless chicken breast, rosemary red potatoes, green beans, and a cherry pie.}

^{After dinner, Cyn lounged next to me on the couch. She listened to the tale of my day.}

^{Cyn answered my obvious first question. “No, Stevie, I didn't know this Hostel guy. I remember him, but I never spoke more than hellos and goodbyes; he wasn't my type. I was completely wrapped up with Red and Andi the whole last year at the agency. Do you believe me?”}

^{I held her hand. “Of course I do. But, Andi had to have some contact with him. She tracked him to Fort Collins, his hometown. I just wandered if he came on to you or Andi and you guys turned him down and he got mad at you two?”}

^{“No. Nothing like that happened, at least not with me. I'm not sure about Andi.”}

^{I then asked, “I wonder if Robert screwed him in any way?”}

^{Cyn answered, “Maybe, but we'll likely never find out about that.”}

^{After I finished my day's discoveries, we planned our next steps.}

^{“Cyn, we just need to hang in here. I feel were close to a breakthrough. I know over the next few days and weeks this story will become clearer as we learn more and get more information.”}

^{We agreed that I needed to travel back to Colorado to chase down Jack Hostel. I'd leave on Monday morning.}

 

^***

 

^{On, Friday, I got caught up at work, or at least put out some fires on my other investigations.}

^{Early in the afternoon, I called Edie and told her my news and Colorado plans. She missed me so much and couldn't wait to be held by me again. For now, we had to be patient.}

^{It looked like Cyn and I would have a quiet weekend at my home, just the two of us. It was the last time that ever happened.}

 

^***

 

^{Saturday morning, Cyn asked me about Edie. I spoke of our time in Florida and how right Cyndie was about my little California woman and the times to come. Surprisingly, Cyndie was truly happy for me.}

^{Saturday night, Cyn and I went to see the new baseball stadium in Philadelphia. The Phillies hosted and toasted the New York Mets and held on to their one and a half game lead in the National League East Division. It's a real nice grass field stadium and we had good seats behind first base, tenth row, near the Phillies dugout. Jim Thome hit a home run to right field and Randy Myers pitched a five hitter as the Phillies won 5 to 1. It was the perfect tonic and we relaxed and enjoyed it.}

^{Later that night at home, after a moment of silence, Cyn snuggled up against me and held my left hand. “Stevie, how did we ever get in the middle of this?”}

^{Cyn's soft hand and gentle grasp of mine made my heart rush. Realizing there was no way to answer these questions literally, I told her “Cyn, we'll get you through this madness.”}

 

 

 

^{It was another 100% clear, dry afternoon when I landed in Denver two days later. My flight left Philly at noon and I arrived in Denver around 2 p.m. Once again, it had rained the day before my arrival and the whole metropolitan area had a clean, fresh air feeling. The temperature was nearly 80 degrees. I rented another SUV, this one bright blue, from the big red rental car company.}

^{I had no problems with luggage or the car rental. I found some good music in my pack, Ivy's CD,
Long Distance
. I slipped it into the stereo, and turned up the volume. Within thirty minutes of arrival, I steered the SUV out on Interstate 25, headed north to Fort Collins, and let the miles fly by.}

^{As I neared town, I once again saw the big white 'A' painted on the side of the mountain nearest to the college campus, reminding me that this trip was for Andi. The town was quiet, even more on this trip.}

^{I made my reservations at the same Holiday Inn on Prospect Avenue. I registered at 4 p.m. and got a smaller room for this stay, on the seventh floor.}

^{I called Cyn and checked in. I passed on my room number.}

^{We talked about my first order of business; tracking down Jack. My plan was to, first, locate Sarah Hostel's house on Rodeo Drive, and hope that Jack would show up at some time. Second, I would try to find out what he was doing back in Fort Collins. Third, I would speak to him about Andi's murder, the blackmail and where he fit in.}

^{Cyndie said that sounded perfect and then told me, “Please be careful Stevie. Call me no later than tomorrow morning.”}

^{“I will Cyndie.”}

^{It was a simple, but bold plan. But, what is the catch phrase, Man plans and God laughs. Well, the good Lord may not have laughed at my four days in Fort Collins, but he may have smiled; on me and with me.}

^{I pulled out my Fort Collins map while I ate a late lunch in the lobby restaurant, 'The Park.' I located Rodeo Drive and mapped my route. There was a park on Rodeo and I hoped Mrs. Hostel's house was across from it. Either way, the park would be a good place to park and stake out her home. With luck, maybe Jack Hostel would visit Mom on Monday after work.}

^{My hotel was in the south-central part of Fort Collins, just west of College Avenue, the main north to south route. Rodeo Drive was on the northwest side of town, running east to west. I plotted a route and decided to head there once I finished eating.}

^{I checked my watch and noted it was 5 p.m. I exited the hotel, turned left out of the parking lot and headed west on Prospect. I crossed a main street, South Shields Avenue, after a mile, and then a mile further I came to the intersection with Taft Hill Road. I turned right on to Taft Hill and continued north for another mile and a half, on a rising road until I saw Rodeo Park starting on my right. I turned right on to Rodeo Drive.}

^{I found 53 Rodeo, on the north side of the street, but drove right by. As the map showed, there was a playground park across the street, on the south side of Rodeo.}

^{The sun was beginning to get close to the mountain tops as I pulled into the park's parking lot. The park was about a half mile long - all facing Rodeo Drive - and a quarter mile deep. The entrance road led to an oval parking lot in the back middle of the park.}

^{This was a fairly big park with lots of stuff; a large parking lot, a soccer field, a softball field, a little league baseball field, a walking path around the perimeter, some majestic evergreen trees and lots of shrubs, picnic tables, three black top basketball courts next to each other, two tennis courts and a pressure treated wood playground with slides, climbing areas and many places for kids to climb and jump around.}

^{Fortunately, being a sunny day, there were at least fifty people of all ages out enjoying the facilities. This provided good cover as I sought out a park bench to observe the Hostel's house. I found one on a slope that had three Christmas tree sized firs between me and the walking path, and a full-leafed maple tree next to it, bathing me in full shade. I was at the right end of the soccer field, about the ten yard line (if it was a football field). A peewee game was in progress and the soccer moms were to my left.}

^{The Hostel house was across the street at about the fifty yard line, so I had a diagonal sight line, across the soccer field. This was perfect, because it appeared to the casual observer that I was watching the game. I pulled out my notebook, pen and small binoculars and started my stake out. A white farmhouse-style home floated in my round lenses. It had a long front yard, with a garage in the back yard, and a driveway to the right. There was a covered veranda in front of the house, up three steps from the sidewalk. There were multiple gardens with many flowers in bloom.}

^{I saw a new dark green Honda Accord in the driveway - it still had its white cardboard temporary tag. I wrote down the temporary plate number. I noticed a bumper sticker on the left rear, white with red letters, but couldn't quite read it. I saw several lights on through the downstairs windows. It sure looked like someone was home.}

^{A sizable wood pile was out back to the left of the garage. I spotted a large dog house in the backyard, farther left of the wood. The backyard was surrounded by a white picket fence with a gate off the driveway - I guessed it led to the house's back entrance.}

^{I watched for about twenty minutes, and wrote all these observations down. I wanted to get closer to the house and the Honda, and saw that the walking path went between the soccer field and Rodeo Drive. I decided to take a walk.}

^{I first went back to my rental and placed my notebook inside, but tucked my binoculars inside my pant's back pocket. The parking lot was in the middle, back of the park, with the path between me and the park's back boundary. With my back to the Hostel's house and Rodeo Drive, I turned right and began to walk clockwise around the path. This was the opposite direction of most walkers, but this way would provide me with a slow approach to the driveway and would allow me to look at the house and the Accord for long minutes. At the end, I'd be about seventy-five feet from the Honda.}

^{I kept walking. As I rounded the far west end of the park, I spotted a park bench off to the left of the black top path. I slowly walked over and noted that the closest person to me, an elderly lady, had just passed, so her back was walking away from me. The next person was at least a football field away from me. Perfect!}

^{I pulled out my binoculars and immediately focused on that bumper sticker. At this point, I was about fifty yards from the Honda. The powerful lenses brought these words into focus, “SHOP AT JACK and JILL'S - GRAND OPENING - 917 South College Avenue.” Wonderful! This couldn't be a coincidence.}

^{Looking closer at the Accord, I noticed on the driver's door the following painted words, “JACK'S ELECTRONICS & HARDWARE.” It looked like Mr. Jack Hostel was a local shopkeeper. I wondered, “Who is Jill?”}

^{I decided not to approach the house, at least not yet. Instead, I would go visit
Jack's
on College Avenue. I quickly put the binoculars back in my pant's pocket and started walking again. I thought I saw someone moving inside the living room as I passed, but kept up my steady pace and looked innocently down the path, completing my mile-plus walk back to my rented SUV.}

^{I pulled out my map and charted my return trip down College Avenue. I wondered if I should stay longer in the park, but realized that the park was emptying. It was 6:40 p.m. On the way out I saw a sign that said the park closed at dark and the realized that would hamper a night-time stake-out.}

^{I turned right out of the lot and made my way due east. That's what I love about most western towns; the roads were laid out true, east to west and north to south. I drove about three miles east until I intersected College Avenue. Turning right again, I kept my eyes open for 917 South College.}

^{The first thing I spotted on the right side was
Nico's Catacombs
, the restaurant where Andi had dinner with the two mystery diners. I was already guessing at their identity.}

^{I noted that
Nico's
was in the one hundred block of South College, so I needed to drive about eight blocks further south before I'd reach
Jack & Jill's
. I continued down this main drag.}

^{Just north of the Colorado State University campus, I found the
Jack & Jill's
shops. College Avenue is the main north-south road in town and is especially wide - six lanes in some places. The street is lined with shops, restaurants and food stores and, for an early summer evening, had surprising numbers of shoppers walking up and down the street.}

^{I drove past the two shops and pulled into to an off-street parking lot that was free after 6 p.m. I parked, locked and started walking back up the street to 917 College Avenue. The two shops were attached to each other on the west side of the street.
Jack's
was, as advertised, a large hardware store with an electronics section.}