Angel Sleuth (24 page)

“How about I lead Hiram to believe that the guy didn’t fall to his death accidentally at the old bottling plant, but that he was killed by the city goons who run this show?”

“You can’t say that.”

“Sure I can. I just need you to know that’s what I’m doing. I tell Hiram that, and you give him some kind of break if he comes in and rats on the outside parties. Okay?”

He leaned back on the bench. “That’s what you needed from me?”

“Well, that’s not all. I need you to look the other way when Bethany and I leave the house she’s staying in.”
Oh, oh.
One of those skeptical cop looks swept his features.

“What’s Bethany got to do with Hiram, except that they’re working for the same set of criminals?”

“That’s where the trust part comes in. Trust me, don’t ask any more questions, turn a blind eye to what Bethany and I do, and you’ll get your man.”

“Why don’t I just play on Bethany’s fears and get the same information?”

“Because she doesn’t know as much as Hiram, that’s why. And that’s why everyone is sitting watching her in hopes that she’ll contact someone who knows more than she does or that pressure on her will get her to tell what she knows. Believe me, she doesn’t know much. Whoever these guys are, they’re a lot smarter than to reveal their operation to a teenager.”

Without replying, he rose from the bench, walked toward the riverbank and picked up a stone, then skipped it across one of the pools shaded by a large overhanging maple.

“Besides, Mac will be with me on this. He’ll protect me.”

That seemed to do it.

“Okay, tell Hiram your version of his friend’s death. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make it work. Then I’m taking action.”

“What action?”

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.” That sly boy. Taking her words and turning them back on her.

She watched him stride along the riverbank, stopping every now and then to pick up rocks, and skim them across the surface of the water. When he got to the next street, Carson, which cut back to Main, he turned toward her. She thought for a moment he was going to return, but he stepped off the footpath onto the sidewalk and strolled toward downtown. Even though she had been up front about using him, she didn’t feel good about it.

But as with Scarlet O’Hara, tomorrow was another day. Now she was free to prepare for the party at Mother’s on Friday night. A bit of shopping in the mall in Kingston should do it. She thought Bethany might want to join her there.

She remained on the bench for a while longer. If she had to do business, it might as well be in a pleasant setting with trees shading her seat and part of a cappuccino remaining in her cup. Emma answered the phone when she tried the number given to her by Bethany’s mother. Emma denied that Bethany was at the house. Kaitlin pushed, and she finally put Bethany on the line.

“How did you find me?”

“Look out any front window and you’ll notice some car on the street so nondescript that it yells ‘cops.’”

There was silence on the line, then whispers in the background.

“How did they find me?”

“They simply followed you after we met the other night. Don’t hang up. They’ve been following me around, too.” Actually she had a major crush one of the cops, but she didn’t think that would encourage Bethany’s confidence.

“So, they picked up your trail that night. Look, you’re in more danger than you know. The guy who was found by the river dead? Friend of Hiram’s? He was murdered, and now whoever’s running the show up at ARC has lost confidence in Hiram as well. My friend, the state investigator, told me Hiram’s number is up as far as these goons are concerned. The two of you will never make it out of the country.” She heard Bethany crying into the phone.

“Listen to me. I’ve got a plan to help you and Hiram. But you’ve got to trust me.”

“Why are you doing this? Hiram told me you didn’t like him.”

“But I like you, and you’re too young to go to jail or pay the price for covering for some bad guys.” She didn’t add that she thought one of the bad guys was Hiram. “Can you get a message to Hiram to meet us at the mall in Kingston this afternoon? I don’t want you to try and meet him yourself because the cops are on your every move. Have him meet us in front of Macy’s around two o’clock.”

“But the cops will follow us there.”

“Don’t worry. I have a plan to get us away from there without anyone seeing us.”

Kaitlin trusted Jim, but there were other officials in on this too. And she couldn’t trust that he could talk the Feds out of following Bethany and her. She’d use the Mary Jane maneuver to slip their tails.

* * *

The Cappuccino Café was crowded during the lunch hour. People from the stores downtown streamed in and out of the place, grabbing coffee, sandwiches, and pastries for their midday meals. By the time Kaitlin arrived, there were no tables left, so she placed her order and stood at the coffee bar. Several minutes later, Bethany came in, looked nervously about and finally located her at the end of the bar. Kaitlin’s presence didn’t seem to reduce her anxiety; her glances jumped around from person to person.

“Calm down. You’ll be fine. Here’s the plan.” Kaitlin leaned close and whispered in Bethany’s ear.

She watched Bethany walk down the hallway toward the restrooms, then downed her coffee and followed, beginning what she hoped looked like a line to the ladies room. Bethany strolled beyond the restroom door and exited the hall into the alleyway. Kaitlin was only steps behind her. Mac’s car sat in the alley, idling.

“Why’s he here?”

Kaitlin shoved her into the front seat of the car and slid in beside her.

“Because he’s our protection.”

“Protection? From what?”

Kaitlin didn’t tell her she thought they needed protection from almost everyone—the authorities, some people at ARC, the nefarious types behind this whole situation, but, most of all, Hiram. She decided not to answer Bethany’s question.

“I don’t like this.” An announcement from the man behind the wheel. She decided a shot of humility was in order, just to remind him he had volunteered for this caper.

“At least this time, you’re in on the deal, not standing on the street wondering what happened to the person you were tailing. You said you’d help.”

They slipped out of town with no sign of the authorities on their bumper. Bethany fidgeted the entire trip, pulling her long dark hair to her lips and chewing on the ends, then drawing it behind her ears to twist it into a knot.

“So what did you do to get into all of this mess?” Kaitlin asked. Bethany jumped at the question.

“Do? What do you mean?”

“I know you. Better yet, Jeremy knows you, and we know that you’re a good kid. So what do they have on you?”

Kaitlin thought she would refuse to answer by the long silence that followed, but, after picking at her nails for several minutes, she looked up.

“They sold marijuana to my little brother and told me they’d turn him in if I didn’t do what they wanted. He’s only eleven, and he bought it only that one time on a dare from the other kids. He didn’t even smoke it!”

“Do you know who ‘they’ is?” asked Mac.

“Nope. I get phone calls telling me what to take and where to drop it off. Usually my contact was Hiram.”

“I wonder how he got in on all of this,” Kaitlin said.

“Oh, man. That’s the sad part.” Bethany’s eyes filled with tears. “His mother is sick, and he can’t afford the drugs for her, so they give the stuff to him and that’s all he gets from this.” She hesitated. “Plus a little money.”

“Just enough to buy a Corvette, get the two of you out of the country and buy a house and sailboat in the islands, right?” Kaitlin tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“I’ll have to get a job when we get there, you know. You don’t believe me about him, but he’s a great guy. Bethany crossed her arms over her chest and stared straight ahead at the road. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Kaitlin didn’t think Bethany was in the mood to hear about Hiram’s poor sick mother who died some years before in a barroom brawl with Hiram’s father’s mistress. Every family has their little secrets, Kaitlin guessed. She’d choose another time to inform Bethany that Hiram’s mother would not be joining them in the sunny tropics.

* * *

“I’ll wait here.” Mac took up his station at the mall entrance, leaning against a wall and scanning the people inside. “I can keep both of you in sight, but I’ll stay in the background.”

Kaitlin steered Bethany down the hall toward Macy’s. They took seats on a bench in front of the store and waited, Kaitlin’s eyes fastening on the individuals walking past them.

After half an hour of sitting and studying faces in the crowd, Kaitlin began to worry Hiram wouldn’t show. Maybe he didn’t believe her story that the people he was working for killed his friend or perhaps he didn’t think she could get a deal for him from the police.

“Hi! Your name Kaitlin?” The voice came from behind her. Kaitlin turned to look into the face of a teenage boy. He wore the adolescent uniform—jeans with their hems dragging on the floor, a Nike tee shirt, its sleeves ripped off at the armpits, and sneakers, untied, no socks. He handed a folded-up piece of paper to her and turned back into the crowd of kids passing by. The group absorbed him into their midst, and she lost sight of him as other shoppers obscured her line of sight down the hallway of the mall.

“Hey!” Kaitlin got up and started to run after him. The anxiety of being watched and the long wait for Hiram’s appearance must have broken Bethany’s already fragile state. She ran in the other direction. Kaitlin hoped Mac would see her coming and grab her before she got away.

Kaitlin couldn’t see anything of the boy who delivered the note, and she realized she had little chance of finding him in the expanse of the mall, so she headed back toward Mac. Sure enough, he stood at the mall entrance, his hand gripping Bethany’s arm.

“I gather Hiram didn’t show,” said Mac.

“Let’s sit for a minute.” She showed Mac the note the boy handed to her and opened it to read:

Kaitlin,

We can meet Friday night at your mother’s party.

Hiram

She found his knowledge of the Friday night party puzzling. What was his source? At least he was willing to see her, but she couldn’t say whether that meant he believed any of her story or if he were willing to deal on Frederica Hatfield’s papers. She shared her thoughts with Mac and Bethany.

“His use of that boy to deliver the note suggests he’s playing it cautious. I’ll bet he’s scared silly at this point,” said Mac.

“Yeah, but scared of the cops or his compatriots?”

“Both, probably, and, if that’s true, let’s get Bethany out of here. The cops won’t harm her, but the goons he’s been associating with might.”

Bethany began to cry. “I didn’t know about those papers or that Hiram took them out of the music box. I swear I didn’t. I want to see Hiram. I put him in danger, I know I did. He told me not to get in touch with him, that he’d come for me.”

Bethany knew little of the operations at ARC, but Kaitlin was as convinced as the authorities that Hiram knew more. All she could do was wait until Friday. There was one problem with that plan. Jim gave her only twenty-four hours to work her deal with Hiram. Now she had to charm Jim into an extension.

* * *

When Kaitlin and Mac returned from her thwarted errand, Mary Jane sat at the kitchen table, eating a snack of cheerios and milk. She smiled at both of them and waved her spoon in greeting. Mac walked over to her and wiped milk from her chin with his thumb. Then he kissed her. Kaitlin gathered they were once again hormone compatible.

“Uh, honey, would you mind? Kaitlin and I need to have a little girl talk.”

“No, problem. I’ll be on the porch if you need me.”

“Want to tell me what’s happening? Mac was close mouthed about what you were up to,” Mary Jane said.

Kaitlin hesitated.

“Or should I go first?” asked Mary Jane.

“You first, I think.”

“I know you think I spied on you in the alleyway behind the newspaper office when you and Brittany found those websites of Leda’s, but it wasn’t me. I think it was Hiram.”

“Yeah, me too, now. I only caught sight of purple satin and it was the color of the skirt you were wearing that day, but it’s also the material and color of the letter jacket Hiram wore in high school. It’s just like him to be wearing his letter jacket today trying to revisit those winning days of yesteryear when he was the school hero. Cigarettes were his too. Sorry.”

Mary Jane sighed and got up from the table. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled then.”

“There’s more.”

Mary Jane sank back into the chair. “Oh. What?”

“Your name. It’s not Smith, is it?”

“Smith? Uh, not usually.”

“And it’s also not Cousin Mary’s last name either, is it?”

“Of course it is or was, until I changed it.”

“Changed it? Why?”

“It’s a long story.”

Kaitlin sat in the chair across from Mary Jane. “Try me.” By now, she thought Mary Jane would be squirming around in her seat, but not a flinch, not a twitch. She looked as if she’d just walked through a field of daisies. If she was in the Witness Protection Program, wouldn’t she be a little uncomfortable with someone cross-examining her this way? Maybe she was used to intensive interrogations.

“It was to honor my father.”

“Your father?”

“Sleepy.”

“Your last name is Sleepy?”

“No, silly,” she said. She got up, put her bowl in the sink, and began washing it. “Well, that was his nickname. His full name was Antonio Botano.”

Again, thought Kaitlin. Again, this conversation was going nowhere. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. “I don’t get it.”

“Oh, right. You never met Daddy. He was usually too busy to come visit with Mom and me. Besides, Dad had narcolepsy, and it was kind of hard socializing. You could never tell when he’d fall asleep.”

“He had what? Oh, never mind. I still don’t get it. If your name isn’t Botano, and it’s not Smith, and it’s not Sleepy, then please, please tell me what it is.” Kaitlin clasped her hands together as if in prayer and gave Mary Jane a pleading look.