Authors: Isis Crawford

A Catered Wedding (18 page)

BOOK: A Catered Wedding

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Chapter 18

S
ean was still pondering what Marvin had said when they pulled into the parking lot of the West Vale Country Club. For some reason he'd expected a building with an antebellum facade, but this was some piece of junk. The front was all glass.

“Frank Lloyd Wright's son built it,” Marvin explained before Sean could ask. “It's a landmark building.”

“It looks like a glass box to me.”

Marvin looked slightly scandalized. “It's in all the books.”

“Good for it,” Sean said as Marvin headed towards a handicapped parking space. He noticed that Marvin's tic was gone. “Park in the second row,” Sean told him.

Marvin looked at him. “But . . .”

“Second row,” Sean repeated. He was damned if he was going to use those handicapped parking spaces. That was like announcing to the world that he'd lost it. He knew other people would tell him it was stupid to think that way. That convenience was what mattered. But that was too bad. That was the way he felt.

For a moment Sean thought Marvin was going to say something, but he just nodded, kept going, and turned into the second row of cars. At least the kid had some sense, Sean thought. He'd just about to tell Marvin to turn into the parking space on the left when Sean saw a West Vale police car heading towards them.

“Here we go,” he said as he made Alex Fisher behind the driver's wheel.

Marvin glanced over at him. “What do you want me to do?” he asked Sean.

“I want you to stop the vehicle and let me handle this.”

Sean watched as Marvin put the car in park. The police car kept coming. And coming. He could hear Marvin hyperventilating next to him. He didn't even want to think about what his tic was doing.

“Take a deep breath. Don't worry. It'll be fine,” Sean told him.

“Maybe I better back up,” Marvin suggested.

“Stay where you are,” Sean barked as he watched Alex Fisher close the distance between them.

He wasn't about to let Fisher intimidate him. No way. Still, Fisher wasn't slowing down. Just when Sean thought he'd made a mistake the patrol car squealed to a stop. The vehicles were so close their bumpers were almost kissing. Any closer and they would have been locked. A moment later the door opened and Alex Fisher stepped out.

The man's watched too many movies,
Sean thought as he watched Fisher strutting towards them. Who did he think he was trying to impress? If Fisher was putting this performance on for him he was wasting his time. This was strictly stuff for civilians.

Fisher had a big grin on his face as he leaned in Sean's window.

“Snappy driving,” Sean told him.

Fisher smirked. “Can't get enough of this town, can you?”

“Apparently not,” Sean said. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah. You're on private property.” Fisher pointed to a sign on the near side of the lot. “It says:
NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED. MEMBERS ONLY
.”

“I can read,” Sean informed him, “unlike some of the other inhabitants of this town. We have an appointment here.”

Fisher's smirk widened. “Not anymore you don't. That's been canceled.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“Mind if I call up and ask?”

“Be my guest.”

Sean took out his cell and went through the motions even though he knew that Fisher was telling the truth. He wouldn't take a chance on having his bluff called. The guy he was supposed to be speaking to wasn't there. Neither was Paul.
Wonderful
, Sean thought as he dropped his cell into his lap.

Fisher's smirk had turned into an out and out grin.

“So I suggest you gentlemen leave,” he informed Sean. “Otherwise I might be forced to run you in for loitering.”

“Is that so?” Sean said.

“Yes, it is,” Fisher told him.

Sean could feel himself starting to lose it. He hated to be muscled around to begin with, but being muscled around by a fatuous asshole like Alex Fisher was more than he could bear. He was about to ask Fisher how much he was getting paid for doing this when Marvin piped up with, “We're leaving right now, officer.”

Fisher nodded towards Marvin. “Now there's a bright boy.”

Out of the corner of his eye Sean could see the back of Marvin's neck turn bright red as he turned the ignition key and put the car in reverse.

“I thought I told you not to say anything,” Sean said to him once they'd moved a short distance away.

“You did,” Marvin stammered. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “And I'm sorry, but Libby would never forgive me if you landed back in jail again.”

“I can take care of myself quite nicely, thank you,” Sean retorted. He was about to add something to the effect that he'd been doing it for a little over sixty odd years now when he noticed Ditas Raid walking out of the front door of the country club. Maybe he decided the day wasn't going to turn out to be a total loss after all. “Back up a little bit more, and pull in there,” he instructed Marvin gesturing to a space in back of him that was flanked by two tall SUVs.

The lot was almost completely filled and Sean was sure that Ditas couldn't see him from where he was standing. Since Fisher's attention was focused on Ditas's approach and the exit path went opposite to where Fisher was standing, Sean didn't think the policeman would catch Marvin's maneuver either. Fisher would just assume he and Marvin had packed up their marbles and gone home like good little boys.

“Why are we doing this?” Marvin asked after he'd done as Sean had requested.

“Because I want to see what Ditas is going to do,” Sean explained. He was waiting for Marvin to say something else about Libby not approving at which point he was going to hand him his head, but Marvin surprised him. Pleasantly.

“Cool,” he told Sean. “I've always wanted to play detective.”

Then Marvin grinned and Sean found himself grinning back. So maybe I was slightly mistaken, Sean found himself thinking. Maybe the guy's not a total loser after all.

The two men watched as Ditas and Fisher talked for a few minutes. Then Fisher got in his police car and took off. Ditas watched him leave before heading for his car.

“What do you think that was about?” Marvin asked.

“I don't know,” Sean said. “But it would be fun to ask Ditas.” He would have clapped Marvin on the shoulder if he'd trusted his hands not to shake. Instead he said, “Welcome to Beginning Detective Work 101. If you follow my instructions, he'll never know he's being followed.”

“My father would die if he knew what I was doing,” Marvin commented as both men watched Ditas Raid get into his BMW.

“Then don't tell him,” Sean answered as Ditas Raid began backing his vehicle out of his parking spot. “You're a grown man. He doesn't need to know everything.”

Sean could see Marvin thinking over what he'd just said.

“You're right,” Marvin finally replied.

Maybe it was his imagination, but it looked as if Marvin was sitting up a little straighter, Sean thought as he coughed and changed the subject. He hadn't meant to get into personal stuff with Marvin.

“The man's got a nice ride,” Sean commented as he watched his quarry head for the exit.

“
Car and Driver
rated it in their top five,” Marvin said.

“Really?” Sean said. He could feel his pulse start to quicken the way it always had when something was about to go down. He'd forgotten how good the adrenaline rush felt. He hit the dashboard three times. His old signal to move out. “Okay,” he said to Marvin. “Here we go.”

Sean glanced at Marvin. All things considered the kid was doing way better than he thought he would for his first time out. At least they hadn't crashed into anything yet. Maybe, Sean reflected, he'd just needed to relax a little. Maybe, Sean thought, I was making him nervous before. His daughters kept telling him he scared their boyfriends. He shook his head. He couldn't see it, but maybe they were right.

“Now slow down,” he instructed Marvin, “and move over into the other lane. That's right. Always keep at least two car lengths between you and the car you're following when possible. You want to be close enough to see where someone is going but not so close that they notice you.”

If Ditas had been looking for a tail, Sean reflected, he would have made them by now, but apparently he wasn't. He was probably too busy listening to his high-end CD player and talking on his cell.

“Where do you think he's going?” Marvin asked Sean.

Sean shook his head. They'd been driving for half an hour now. Fortunately for them Ditas had been using the interstate, which provided them with plenty of cover what with all the vehicles on the road.

“I don't have a clue.”

“How much further are we going to go?” Marvin asked. He pointed at the gas gauge. “I'm getting low.”

“We're gonna go till we can't go any further,” Sean said. He glanced down at his cell which he'd turned off. He probably should give Libby a ring. Then he decidedâno. She'll be fine. “You have a problem with that?”

“Not at all, boss,” Marvin replied.

“Good.” Sean was pleased to see that Marvin's grip on the wheel had relaxed. He leaned over and clicked the CD player back on.

Ten minutes later Ditas Raid went into the exit lane.

“Hang back as long as possible,” Sean told Marvin. “Okay. Go now.”

“I'm on it,” Marvin told him.

Sean could hear Marvin breathing as they followed the BMW down roads that were getting progressively smaller and smaller. The number of cars on the roads got fewer and fewer. Sean sniffed the air. “Cows,” he said. A moment later a farm appeared on his left.

“You think he's trying to lose us?” Marvin asked.

Sean shook his head. “He's not driving as if he is.”

By now they were bumping down the nearest thing you could get to a dirt road.

“He's got to see us,” Marvin said. “We're the only two vehicles on the road.”

“You'd think,” Sean said.

“Maybe he doesn't care,” Marvin said.

Sean nodded absentmindedly as he looked around. The countryside had turned into woods and meadows. He didn't see any houses around, any farms, any signs of human habitation. It was hard to think that this dense country existed just an hour from Longely.

Up in front of them Sean could see wooden fence posts strung with barbed wire. There was a gate. And a sign that read:
INWOOD HUNTING PRESERVE. PRIVATE. ENTRANCE PROHIBITED. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW
. At least it didn't say trespassers will be shot, Sean thought as he saw the guard shack inside the wire. Some sort of security guard was standing in it.

Cute
, Sean thought. Now he knew why Ditas hadn't been paying them any mind. He knew once he got inside the gate there was nothing anyone could do to him.

“Gun it,” Sean said to Marvin. They were about fifteen feet away from Ditas's car.

Marvin just looked at him.

“I want to get to him before he gets in there.”

“Okey, dokey, boss.”

Marvin put his foot down on the gas pedal.

“Not so fast!” Sean yelled as they roared forward at the same time that Ditas stopped.

Marvin applied the brakes. The Outback squealed to a halt. Sean estimated that there was no more than an inch of space left between the two cars, as Ditas got out of the car and came running towards them.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Ditas yelled at Marvin.

“He's following my orders,” Sean told him as he watched the security guard open the gate and come running towards him as well.

Ditas came around to his side of the car. “Fine. Then what the hell are you doing?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“Try making a phone call,” Ditas told him as the security guard came up behind him.

Sean noted that he had a holstered 9mm Glock and that his hand was hovering around it. Not that that meant he knew how to use it. Of course you didn't have to at this range. All you had to do was point, release the slide, and pull the trigger.

“Everything all right, Mr. Raid?” he asked.

“Everything is fine.”

BOOK: A Catered Wedding

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