Upon A Pale Horse (19 page)

“I see. And home phone?”

“Just a cell and her office. Oh, and her car’s license number.” He’d memorized it – part of the mixed blessing of a photographic memory.

“If she had a home phone it would be easy to skip trace her.”

“I know. She doesn’t.”

“I’ll need a grand downstroke as a retainer.”

“Do you accept cash?”

Jakes smiled for the first time. “I like you already. Where’s the card and the photo?”

Jeffrey extracted Monica’s card from his wallet and handed it to him, then unfolded a piece of paper he’d printed that afternoon at the copy center. It was a photo from a few days before of Monica wearing shorts and a T-shirt at his house, beaming mega-wattage at the camera while pouring them wine. He pushed it across the table.

The big man whistled. “Wow. Congratulations. What do you do for a living, Jeffrey?” he asked as he studied the printout.

“Lawyer. But don’t hold that against me.”

Jeffrey took another pull on his drink and then took out a wad of hundred dollar bills – part of the money he’d gotten out of the bank in San Francisco to cover surprises once in Washington. With a thousand to Jakes, he was left with five, which was more than enough to cover anything except a protracted surveillance he hoped wouldn’t be necessary. If it was, he would hit his new bank and pull whatever else he needed under the guise of wanting cash for the trip. He carefully counted out the thousand dollars and slipped it to the detective, who was drinking what looked like a soda. Jakes counted it again and grunted.

“How do I get hold of you when I know something?” he asked.

“I’ll call you. How long for the background check?”

“We’ll run the plate and check on the company she works for first. That will take a day or so. I’d say give me a call day after tomorrow – Thursday – and I should have something for you.”

A man wearing a windbreaker entered and looked around, causing Jeffrey’s heart to flutter. The newcomer spotted his friend and walked over, then pulled out a stool and sat down at the bar, his back to Jeffrey. Jakes’ eyes watched Jeffrey’s reaction without comment, although his eyes narrowed slightly.

“Anything else I should know, Jeffrey? Any pieces of information you might have left out?”

“No. That’s it.”

“You sure? You look pretty spooked right now.”

“It’s nothing. I thought I knew that guy. Turns out I don’t.”

Jakes finished his drink and stood. “If you say so. Call me in a couple days. I’m always in the office during business hours, and if not, my girl can patch the call through to wherever I am.”

Jeffrey nodded, and Jakes eyed him one final time before he rose, leaving Jeffrey to pay for the drinks. The bartender came over and took Jeffrey’s burger order and asked him if he wanted another beer, to which Jeffrey gave a thumbs up. It would help him sleep, he reasoned, and was completely consistent with what he now thought of as his cover.

Jakes seemed crusty but competent, and hadn’t batted an eye over Jeffrey wanting to contact him instead of giving the PI a phone number to reach him. His burger arrived a few minutes later as he was watching yet more soccer, or maybe it was rugby, on the television, and as he bit into the mouthwatering sandwich he congratulated himself for having done as well as he had so far with the whole clandestine thing. The second beer was relaxing him and he was just starting to feel decent when he reminded himself that this wasn’t a game, and that the consequence for a slip was a trip to the morgue.

The beer tasted rancid and metallic from that point on, and he declined a third, preferring to make his way back home and spend another night wondering how the hell all this would end, a vision of Monica seared into his retinas from the photo, her smile as innocent and loving as a baby’s.

TWENTY-TWO

In the Clear

When two days had gone by with excruciating slowness, Jeffrey practically ran from the office at lunch time, the now-daily walk part of his attempt at exercise, he’d told his secretary, who hadn’t given the remotest sign of caring. He was getting better at checking his reflection in shop windows, looking for a tail, and didn’t see anything ominous as he ordered his sandwich and stood in line to pay, a predictable creature of habit who would hopefully lull any watchers into somnolent boredom.

He rushed to eat and then made his way to the pay phone to call Jakes.

The gruff PI’s voice was matter-of-fact when he came on the line. “The car’s not in her name. It’s actually owned by a company out of Virginia. Evendale Industries. Ever heard of it?”

“No. Doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Name doesn’t come up on any lists, which is neither good nor bad. Means she has no criminal record. We’re waiting for a more thorough search, though. Should be in by the end of the day.”

“Where does that put us?”

“Nowhere good. I also did a reverse on the business number, and it comes up as unlisted. Which doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Lots of businesses have unlisted numbers. Depends on what they do, of course.”

“Of course.”

“I took a drive over to the address that was listed on the card, and there’s an office building there, so it’s not a vacant lot.”

“Then it sounds like she’s clean, right? I mean, the car could have any number of explanations, correct?”

“Anything’s possible. Why don’t we wait to see what else comes up before we throw a party, though, okay? All we’ve got right now is that she has no criminal record and is driving a company-owned car. I’m doing some research on what Evendale is, and that should be in around the same time as the in-depth search. So how do you want to play this? Call me again tomorrow?”

“That seems best. How much have you burned so far?”

“You’re almost through your grand. The in-depth search will cost me a few hun. Figure we’ll eat fifteen hundred by the time we’re done.”

Jeffrey paused, digesting the number without comment. “Listen. If I needed to hire a reliable car for a day, without any paperwork, you know anybody who could handle that?”

“Depends. You going to rob a bank?”

“No. I just want to run an errand and not use my car. It’s pretty high-profile.”

“An errand, huh? Well…I have a Ford Taurus that’s not being used. I suppose I could let you have it for the day for a hundred bucks. When do you want it?”

“A hundred bucks!”

“Or you can rent one from any of the agencies for thirty or forty.”

Jeffrey thought fast. “No, rental cars are going to look too new. Fine. I’ll pay the hundred. I’ll need it on Saturday. First thing in the morning.”

“I’ll drive it into work. You know where my office is?”

“I remember the address. I can find it.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Thanks for the good work. I’ll call you tomorrow, same time.”

“I’ll be here.”

Jeffrey was walking on air as he returned to the office. It looked like Monica was the real thing. Nothing could have made him happier, and as a sea of gray-skinned clerk and low-level bureaucrat faces surged towards him, he questioned just how far out of touch with reality his brother’s note had pushed him. Not everything was some plot, and not everyone was bad.

Now he had to figure out how to get away on Saturday so he could get to Virginia and hunt down the professor. The car solved the biggest problem – how to make it a hundred and fifty miles into the wilds without being tracked or going on record as renting something – but he still had to figure out how to lose Monica for the day.

As he waited for the elevator, he was confident he would think of something.

After all, he had so far.

That night their lovemaking was especially tender, their connection even deeper than usual, probably because he was more at ease now that Monica had been vetted. He’d taken her to an Italian restaurant in Georgetown for dinner, and the conversation had been easy, the wine flowing like water as they savored their meals. Upon their return to the condo they’d turned the lights low and Jeffrey had made them each his version of a Cosmo, and they’d bantered about his upcoming trip and the weather finally turning warmer.

He shifted on the bed and stroked her bare stomach, the skin twitching at his gentle touch as he ran his fingers along the slight rise of her abdomen, and she squirmed and moved closer to him, purring like a contented jungle cat. He pulled away and closed his eyes, reveling in their mutual joy, and felt as close to love as he’d ever experienced. Which made it all the harder to deceive her, but he had no choice.

“That was incredible. As usual. You’re amazing, Monica. Truly.”

“About time you realized it,” she said playfully, her eyes closed.

“I do. I’m glad I met you. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“So far so good.”

He hesitated. “I’m going to have to abandon you on Saturday, so if you need some ‘me’ time to yourself, that would be your big chance.”

Her eyes popped open in surprise. “Why? What’s up on Saturday?”

He put his arm over his forehead and stared at the ceiling, unable to meet her gaze. “Just a bunch of BS I’ve been putting off. I need to spend most of the day rooting around in my crap that’s in storage, and look through Keith’s, too – I’ve put it off long enough. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to think since I got here, but I have to do it sometime. I need some of my stuff, and I wasn’t really thinking when I told the movers to keep it all.”

“But we’ll still hook up Saturday night, right? I don’t have that many more shots at you before you run off to Switzerland.”

“Absolutely. I just need the day to go through my stuff and sort it for long-term storage, and maybe look around for a cheaper place. It’s costing me a king’s ransom to keep it there.”

Monica seemed mollified by his explanation, and he pulled her closer, the lie now told, his deception an ugly necessity. She leaned her head back and invited him with a glance, and then he was consumed by her again. Their bodies joined in concert, a harmonious rhythm that was as effortless as it was by now familiar.

TWENTY-THREE

The World According To Sam

“I want to do a day’s surveillance, Jeffrey.” Jakes’ voice was flat over the pay phone, and Jeffrey could practically see the man’s face scowling as he spoke the words Jeffrey had been hoping not to hear.

“Why? I thought you said she was clean.”

“I don’t want to go off half-cocked. You need to trust me on this. When are you going to see her again?”

“Tonight. It’s Friday. She’ll spend the night at my place, and then take off tomorrow morning. I’m going to pick up the car at your office, remember?”

“Yeah. It’s already parked on the street. I drove it in today, filled it with gas, checked the tires. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have someone meet you at the office, and I’ll tail her from your place.”

“Is this really necessary?”

“Yes.” The single word had the finality of a jail door slamming shut, and Jeffrey swallowed hard at Jakes’ tone.

“Fine. She’ll be leaving at around nine a.m.” Jeffrey gave him the address. “You have her license number. Red Alfa convertible.”

“I know the car.”

“Can’t you tell me anything more?”