Special Talents (21 page)

"I'm sorry about that. There wasn't time to tell you. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Oh, it probably will. But at least your motives were pure even if you actions weren't. In the future let's just keep either of us apprised of what's going on. If I had known what you were doing I could have been more believable and Napolitano would never have caught on."

"Okay, you have a deal. Well, it seems I have the rest of the day free. Nothing to do until the group makes their decision and we won't know that until tomorrow morning. What would you like to do?"

"Let's start with a cup of coffee," said Jeremy. "I know a convenience store that sells just regular coffee. None of those fancy flavors that seem to be prevalent everywhere. You can drive. I'll come back for my car later."

"Sounds good to me. I could go for some coffee right about now."

The two headed for Scarborough's car that was sitting in the underground parking garage of the building.

Jeremy and Scarborough stopped at the convenience store to get their coffee. While they were there Scarborough started looking over the selection of premade sandwiches sitting in the cooler near the back of the store.

"You're not getting one of those, are you?" Jeremy asked.

"Hey, I didn't get any lunch. Besides, they aren't so bad. They've actually come up in quality in the last few years."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," said Jeremy. As he was talking to Scarborough he noticed a young woman standing half concealed behind a nearby gondola.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how many of these I've eaten. Sometimes on a stakeout it's the only thing you get to eat."

"You were an assistant director for the F.B.I. How many stakeouts could you have been on?"

"I wasn't always an assistant director," said Scarborough, walking over to Jeremy holding one of the sandwiches. "Once upon a time I was just a normal, everyday agent. And they can do quite a few stakeouts."

He noticed Jeremy watching the woman and looked over at her. She didn't seem all that remarkable. She was attractive enough, but he had never cared for red hair. She was dressed somewhat conservatively and she seemed to be holding something in her hand. From where they were standing he couldn't tell what it was.

"Something interesting with that young woman?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Jeremy. "She's not looking over the items on the gondola like most customers. She's just standing there. Like she's waiting for something."

"Well maybe she has a friend who's supposed to," began Scarborough.

He stopped in mid-sentence when the two of them suddenly notice the woman look up toward the clerk at the register. Then she placed her hands together and an almost imperceptible glow emanated from them for just a few seconds. When she opened her hands they could see a money bill lying in her open hand.

"Did you see that?" Jeremy asked.

"I saw it but I'm not sure what I saw. Her hands glowed. Was she using an ability?"

"I don't know. It happened so fast I didn't get a chance to use my ability on her. She did something to that bill. Richard, I think we should stay close to her."

"I think you're right," replied Scarborough, putting the sandwich he was holding up on the gondola next to him. "I think I should get that bill, too. It might tell us what she did to it."

They watched as the woman walked up and placed some items on the counter. The items were mundane items that were sold in any convenience store across the country. The clerk rang up the items and the woman handed them the bill she was holding which turned out to be a twenty. He gave her her change and she left the store. Scarborough walked up to the counter and showed his ID to the clerk.

"I'd like to see the bill that woman used to pay for her items with," he said.

The man opened the register and took out the twenty and handed it to Scarborough. He handed it to Jeremy and they both looked it over.

"It looks real enough," said Scarborough. "It's one of the older bills but as far as I can tell it's genuine."

"Maybe it's something we can't see," said Jeremy.

Scarborough took some money out of his pocket and peeled off a twenty. He then handed it to the clerk.

"I'll need to take this bill with me," he said.

"Hey, as long as my register comes out even at the end of my shift, that's all I care about," said the young man taking the bill and placing it in the register.

Scarborough took a plastic bag out of one of his pockets and placed the suspicious bill in it. Then he sealed the bag and put it back in his pocket.

"You actually carry those with you?" Jeremy asked.

"Sure. You never know when you may need one to safeguard evidence. Come on. Let's follow her before she gets away. She's really got my curiosity piqued."

"Mine too," said Jeremy.

As they walked outside they casually walked over to Scarborough's car. The young woman had just finished putting the items she had purchased into the trunk of her car, closed the trunk, and was getting into her car. She got into her car to drive away. As Jeremy and Scarborough got into his car, Scarborough made note of the license plate on her car. He pulled out his cell phone as they began to pull out of the parking lot.

"Charlie, it's Richard Scarborough. I need a favor. I need you to get me the info on a Maryland license plate. The number is seven, bravo, papa, delta, zero, six . . . No, all I need right now is the name and address." He paused for a moment. "Okay, thanks, Charlie. I'll talk to you later."

He closed his cell phone and put it away as they followed the woman.

"It comes back registered to a Mariah Shepherd in Silver Spring. Charlie said there were no red flags on the file so apparently she's not had any legal trouble, at least none that are outstanding."

"You got that information pretty fast."

"I have a friend that works at the DMV. He has access to all the information of every licensed driver in Maryland. And he knows if I'm asking it's for official business. I wonder what her story is."

"I don't know," said Jeremy. "I didn't get a chance to see if she was using an ability but her aura seems normal. Don't get too close. We don't want her to see that we're following her."

"I have done this a time or two," said Scarborough, smiling at Jeremy. "I'll run a check on her first chance I get. My gut tells me she's up to something. I just can't figure out what it is."

"Well, that glow from her hands would indicate she has an ability. I wonder what the money has to do with it?"

"I don't know. Like I said, it appears genuine. It's a little old but there are still plenty of the old bills in circulation. Your guess is as good as mine."

They followed the woman as she seemed to be driving out of the city. Eventually she turned into a small strip mall and parked in the parking lot. As the two men watched, they saw her go into a small store that sold all sorts of items including drugs from a small pharmacy in the back of the store.

They followed her in and nonchalantly followed her through the store. She went immediately to the pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist assistant at the counter. She handed the assistant a piece of paper and the assistant went back into the back of the pharmacy.

The woman looked around apprehensively. From his vantage point Jeremy was able to watch her and make it look like he was looking over some reading glassed on a display. As he watched, she pulled a small white sheet of paper out of her pocket. She glanced around furtively and then placed both hands over the paper. Again he saw the soft yellow glow come from her hands. He also saw a change in her aura that told him she was using an ability.

When the woman opened her hands, a twenty dollar bill lay where the white paper had been only a moment before. Jeremy watched as the pharmacist assistant came back to the counter and handed the woman a white bag. No doubt it was some type of medication the woman was picking up. She used the twenty dollar bill to pay for the purchase and then left the counter.

As before Scarborough went to the counter and asked to see the bill. The assistant, noting his identification, pulled the bill out of the register and handed it to him. He pulled the one out of his pocket that was in the plastic bag and compared the two.

"It looks genuine enough to me," said Jeremy as the two looked the bill over. He reached up and rubbed one of the bills between two of his fingers. "It even feels real."

"Yes, they do," said Scarborough. "There is just one small problem with them, however. They have the exact same serial number."

"That's not possible, is it?" Jeremy asked.

"Not for genuine bills," said Scarborough. "Each bill has a separate number." He pulled another twenty out of his pocket and handed it to the assistant. "Come on. Ms. Shepherd appears to be a counterfeiter. Her only mistake was having the same serial number on both bills. If it wasn't for that I'm not sure even an expert could tell the difference. I know some boys at the Treasury Department who would love to have a little chat with her. This is one of the best counterfeits I've ever seen."

"Let's not be hasty," said Jeremy. "She was definitely using an ability. And it appeared that she simply produced that bill almost out of thin air. A moment before she used it to pay for her purchase it was just a white sheet of paper. If she is a counterfeiter she's not the normal type."

Scarborough put the second bill in the plastic bag with the first and they walked out into the parking lot. Shepherd was just getting into her car. As she pulled out of the parking lot they got into Scarborough's car and followed her. Once again she headed out of the city. Scarborough decided the next time she stopped, he was going to confront her.

They followed her out of the city into Silver Spring. After a bit she again stopped at a fast food restaurant and went inside.

"Come on," said Scarborough. "It's time we found out what's going on."

The two men followed her into the restaurant and found her standing near the counter surveying the menu overhead. As they walked up to her, Scarborough reached into his coat pocket for his ID.

"Ms. Shepherd?" questioned Scarborough. "We'd like to have a word with you."

"Who are you?" she insisted. "How do you know my name?" She looked at Scarborough's ID. "Homeland Security? What do you want with me?"

"I'd like to know about these," said Scarborough, pulling the plastic bag out of his pocket. "You used them at a convenience store and a pharmacy."

"Oh, I'm sure you're mistaken," said Shepherd nervously. "I haven't even been to a pharmacy today."

"Then I'm sure they won't have a record of you picking up a prescription about twenty minutes ago," said Scarborough. "Why don't we go outside where we can talk better?"

As the woman followed the men outside Jeremy noticed she was holding a white piece of paper in her hand. From what he could tell, it appeared to be a ten dollar bill.

"Now," said Scarborough when they were outside, "we've been following you since the convenience store. And I collected these," he indicated the two bills in the plastic bag, "from the clerk at the convenience store and the pharmacy where you used them. Care to explain how you happen to have two twenty-dollar bills with the exact same serial number?"

The woman just looked around. She was extremely nervous. Jeremy was afraid she might try to run.

"May I see that?" he asked, indicating the paper in her hand.

Hesitantly she handed the paper to him. Jeremy and Scarborough examined it. It looked like a genuine ten-dollar bill except this one had obviously been reproduced on a copy machine. Otherwise it was the exact size as the genuine article.

"You know it's illegal to copy money, don't you?" Scarborough asked.

"Oh, it's for my nephew," said Shepherd. From her aura, Jeremy could tell she was lying. "He and his friends use it to play a game they have. Obviously I couldn't really spend it. It's not even the same color."

"That doesn't make it any less illegal," said Scarborough. He held up the two twenties. "And it doesn't explain these. Which are going to have your fingerprints on them. Now I suggest you start giving us some answers before I decide to turn you over to the boys in the Treasury Department. Counterfeiting is a felony. The penalty can be 15 years in a federal prison."

"Fifteen years?" asked Shepherd in shock. "But I'm not counterfeiter. I work for a small restoration company. I don't even have the equipment to counterfeit money. And I can't go to prison. I'm all my sister and her son have. Please, I'm not a counterfeiter. I'll make good on the money, I promise. I'm not a criminal."

"Ms. Shepherd," said Jeremy, "at the pharmacy you were holding a white piece of paper in your hand, similar to this one." He held up the copied ten-dollar bill. "But when you paid for the prescription, you used one of those twenties. And you didn't take it out of your pocket. So tell us. How can you be holding a white piece of paper one minute and a counterfeit bill the next?"