Learning to Drive... Him Crazy (12 page)

"No, but you aren't afraid of losing
it?"

"I put it in a bag on the bottom of the
waste basket, underneath the bag that holds the trash. To find it
you have to take out the bag of trash and look in the empty
wastebasket. All you see is what looks like an empty plastic
grocery bag. If someone finds it there, they've earned it."

"Brilliant!"

"Thank you."

When they got to Newjangles they were happy
to see the same security guard walking around the front of the
store, close to the doors. "We've got to get his name somehow,"
Alana said.

"I've got an idea. Wait for me somewhere in
this department. I'll get it and be back in a few minutes." She
walked past him, glancing at him on her way past and smiling at
him, and went into the restrooms. She came back out a couple
minutes later and found Alana. "I got it and wrote it down," she
said quietly in case anyone was close enough to hear.

They walked toward the shoe department, but
stopped at the jewelry department, which was next to the shoes.
They browsed at the racks of earrings, while glancing over to see
who was working in shoes. They were happy to see the same man
helping people again today. They took their time, slowly looking at
jewelry until luck was with them and the security guard walked over
toward the shoes.

They nonchalantly headed for one of the
racks of shoes on sale toward one end of the shoe department,
talking excitedly about some of the gorgeous shoes they found. When
the two men went into the back room, the girls moved to a display
of shoes right by the open entrance to the back room. They picked
up some shoes, appearing to study them.

The men were talking just inside the back
room, and the girls could hear some, but not all of the
conversation. When they heard them wrapping up the conversation
they quickly moved back to the sales rack. The security guard came
out first, alone, and went directly back up to the front of the
store. A couple minutes later the salesman came out and headed
toward the register. As he walked past the girls he stopped and
smiled. He obviously remembered them from the day before. "The
professional shoe shoppers are back," he said with a smile.
"Finding everything okay?"

"I debated about getting these yesterday and
talked myself out of it. Then last night I decided what the heck,
they're on sale, I need them, too, so here we are," Alana said.

"It's a good sale. You may as well get
them," he agreed.

"Unfortunately, you don't have them in my
size today. That'll teach me, I guess," she said with a pout.

"I'm sorry we're sold out," he said.

"Yeah, me, too," she said very convincingly.
"But I'm looking at them all again. You never know, I may have
missed some yesterday that I have to have."

He chuckled as he said, "Well, good luck.
Call me if you need any help."

"We will. Thank you."

They continued to look at the shoes for a
while, and when he went in the back room to look for another size
for a customer they left. They walked around a little longer in the
store, feigning interest in several more items, before leaving.

Once they'd made their escape, as it felt to
both of them, they hurried to Kelli's car and headed home. As Kelli
was driving she said, "Get the little note pad out of the pocket on
the outside of my purse. That's where I wrote the security guard's
name."

Alana found the notebook and read, "Phil
Jansen. The name doesn't sound familiar to me. Does it you?"

"Nope. Neither did the shoe department
employee, Jason Wilson."

"I've never heard of either one of them,
either."

Kelli said, "You better write his name down
on that note pad, too, so we don't forget it. How are we going to
try to learn something about these two?"

"We'll start with Google. After that I'm not
sure. But now to the important stuff. How much of what they said
did you hear?"

"Parts here and there. How about you?"

"Same here. But they said there's going to
be another shipment Friday night."

"I heard that," Kelli said. "What are we
going to do?"

"I'm not sure, but I know we have to do it
fast."

"I hate to say this," Kelli admitted, "but I
think we need to tell John."

"Let's go home and Google these two names
and see what we come up with first. See if we get any clues from
that. Friday gives us three days yet."

"Okay, we can do that much, but I don't know
what Google can tell us."

"I don't, either, but I think it's worth a
try," Alana said.

As soon as they got back to Alana's
apartment they went to her computer. They typed in Phil Jansen and
got nothing. When they typed in Jason Wilson, however, they found
out he'd been in prison a couple of times. Both girls were shocked
at that news. "He seemed so friendly when he was joking with us
about being professional shoe shoppers," Alana said.

"I guess it just shows you don't know who
you can trust. He isn't at all what he seems. So now what?"

"Let's see if we can find out what he was
convicted of. Maybe we can find an old story in a newspaper or
something that will say what he did and if he had help. Maybe
there'll be some names that sound familiar or something."

"Good idea," Kelli agreed. They found two
articles on his trials. Each girl started reading one, and they
soon came across a familiar name.

"Guess who the arresting officer was in the
case I'm reading about?" Kelli asked.

"I don't know, but the one in mine was
Officer Phil Jansen," Alana answered.

"No way! He was the arresting officer in
this one, too." Kelli looked at her friend and said, "That can't be
a coincidence, can it?"

"I don't think so," Alana responded. "But if
Phil Jansen arrested someone twice and that person went to prison
both times, why would they be working together now?"

"Good question," Kelli agreed. "Something
else, too, that means a police officer has gone bad."

"Or maybe Jansen is working undercover on
this case and they're about to arrest Wilson again, but they're
trying to get Wilson's boss or bosses, too."

"Maybe," Kelli said thoughtfully, "or maybe
you've been watching too many cop shows on television."

"No, that wouldn't make sense," Alana said
thoughtfully. "Jansen couldn't be working undercover. Wilson would
know he's a cop."

"Good point. So that puts us back to the bad
cop angle. They've got to be working together, don't they?"

"Probably. Or maybe they nailed Wilson and
they've agreed to go easy on him if he helps them catch these
guys."

Kelli looked at Alana. "Just how many cop
shows do you watch?"

"Enough," Alana admitted. "But what else
could it mean?"

"I guess, but I still think Jansen being a
bad cop makes the most sense."

"Yeah, me, too," Alana admitted. "So now
what do we do?"


Kelli glanced at her watch and said,
"Nothing right now. I've got to get home. Since Cal didn't come
over last night, he'll be over tonight, I'm sure."

"Yeah, you're right. John is apt to be here
shortly, too. Be careful, so they don't know something's
wrong."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just tell them
now?"

"I'm thinking about it, but let me think
about what we just learned first."

After thinking a little bit Kelli agreed.
"You know, if we can solve this and turn it over to the police, the
guys may not be too upset with us."

"They may even be proud of us," Alana
agreed. "But I don't think we can go to the police with it, because
we know at least one of them is involved. What if there are several
involved? At this point we don't know who we can trust to
tell."

"Ooh, you're right," Kelli agreed. "If we go
to the police, how do we know we're not giving our information to a
guy who already knows it? We don't know who we can trust in the
police department."

They both thought about that. Then they
looked at each other and at the same time said, "Except John."

Kelli said, "You're right, Alana. We need to
think about this a little bit before we do anything. What if we
tell John and he goes to his boss and his boss is in on it? That
might be putting John in danger."

"That's true. I sure don't want to do that.
Let's think about it tonight. I'll call you tomorrow when I get
home from work and we'll decide what to do." Kelli agreed, then
hurried home.

John stopped by to take Alana to dinner, as
she was pretty sure he would. She tried to put the whole ruby
incident out of her mind and enjoy her time with him, but she
couldn't stop thinking about it. Her mind kept going back to her
thought about him being in danger if they told the wrong person in
the police department. That thought terrified her.

They were sitting on her couch after dinner
and John asked, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong," she
answered.

"Yes, it is," he insisted. "I know you well
enough to tell when something's on your mind. Is it something at
work?"

Taking the out he gave her, she said, "Yeah,
I guess it is bothering me a little bit. In the back of my mind I
feel like there's some detail I've forgotten to set up on an
important business meeting Marilyn's handling, but I can't think
what it would be."

John smiled and pulled her in to lean
against him. "That's why you're going to be such a good event
planner as soon as you get your license, honey. You have a way of
thinking of all the details. If you think about it, I'm sure you'll
get all the pieces put together just fine. You have a knack for it.
But for right now, don't worry about it. I missed you last night.
Let's enjoy our time together tonight instead of worrying about
work."

She leaned up and kissed his cheek before
snuggling in against him to watch the sitcom they both liked.
"You're right. I'm going to try not to think about it any more
tonight. I'll wait and try to figure it out in the morning."

"And I'm sure you will, too," he
encouraged.

He dropped the subject until he was ready to
leave that night. He told her, "I hope you think of whatever you
think you forgot, Alana. I can tell it's got you worried, and I
don't like seeing that." He then kissed her, and when she kissed
him back with more urgency than normal, he deepened the kiss. Right
before he left he said, "Honey, if anything else is bothering you,
just remember that I'll always listen to any concerns you have and
do whatever I can to help." He kissed the end of her nose and left,
not expecting an answer.

After he left she got tears in her eyes. He
had become very special to her, and she was pretty sure she was
already half in love with him. She had to be careful and think
straight about this ruby thing. She didn't dare do anything that
would put him in any danger.

* * * * *

Kelli seemed preoccupied to Cal, as well. He
also asked, "What's bothering you tonight, Sweetie?"

Kelli had been thinking about their
situation all evening and was getting frustrated. Every idea she
thought of she shot down not long afterward. She didn't want to put
John in any danger, but she knew they had to do something. She felt
like they were trapped, with no safe way out of this situation. The
more she thought the more trapped she felt, and the more trapped
she felt the more she panicked. Unfortunately, when Cal asked her
that question she was not in a good frame of mind. She answered,
"Nothing." It came out harsher than she meant it, but with her
frame of mind at the moment, she didn't really care.

Cal, however, did care. "Whoa, back up a
minute, Sweetheart. Now I know something's wrong."

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong, I'm
fine."

"Not with that attitude, you're not." Trying
to calm her down and find out what was going on, he calmly said,
"Sweetie, you don't normally have an attitude like this. That tells
me something's on your mind. Why don't you tell me what it is and
we'll talk about it. Maybe it's something I can help you with."

"You can't help, okay? So just drop it."

Cal's eyebrows rose. "Okay, we've gone from
nothing's wrong, to I can't help and just drop it. I think it's
time you talk to me, Kelli. You'll feel better if you do."

"No, I won't. Unlike what you seem to think,
talking doesn't cure everything. And you aren't able to
miraculously solve all my problems like you seem to think you can.
This is just something I'm going to have to think through and work
out myself. So just let it be."

"Watch your attitude, Kelli. If you want a
little time to think through something, I can respect that. But
this attitude is not necessary. In fact, it's not acceptable. If
you can assure me you're okay, that your concern, whatever it is,
is not about your health or safety, I'll give you some time to
think, but I won't allow this attitude to continue."

Kelli looked up at him, ready to unleash her
thoughts of what he could do with his dislike for her attitude. But
then she saw his expression and paused. He asked, "So can you give
me your word that whatever it is that's bothering you tonight
doesn't concern your health, and you're not in any kind of
danger?"

She had been strung so tight tonight she
couldn't stop her words as they spewed from her mouth. "I'll tell
you what it doesn't concern, it doesn't concern you. My worries are
my worries, okay? So just let me the hell alone to think. As a
matter of fact, I think you should leave tonight."

She barely got the words out of her mouth
before she found herself over Cal's lap, with her jeans and panties
down around her knees. He started spanking immediately, but said,
"Kelli, I don't know what's on your mind, but if it's got you this
upset maybe you should seriously consider talking to me about it.
If you don't want to talk yet I can respect that, but I will not
allow you to have an attitude like this. I don't deserve it, and
neither does anyone else. You're a better person than to treat
someone like this, which tells me that whatever is bothering you
really has you upset."