The Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries 1-3 (64 page)

The
morning started off peacefully until Harry got up and decided to recap,
musically, the opera he went to the evening before.  Fortunately, he was in the
shower.  Unfortunately, it was a German opera.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't
that the opera didn't have its merits, it was that Harry's German was very
phlegmy.

I was just
about to pound on the bathroom door to get him to stop when the doorbell rang.  Expecting
Father David, I just pulled the door open and was surprised by Buslowski.

"I
know you're up to something, and I want in," he said as he brushed past
me.

"Well,
good morning to you," I said as I craned my neck outside looking for any
lurking priests before shutting the door.  I turned to find that he was already
in the kitchen helping himself to coffee and my omelet. "It's egg
substitute," I warned him, but he just grunted and started eating.

"Toast,"
he demanded.

"Excuse
me, but I don't remember opening a diner."

"Do
you have to be so difficult?"  He got up.

I raised
my hand.  “I'll get it."  I didn't want him rooting around in my pantry.  God
only knows what Harry may have tucked away in there.  "I notice you're not
in your work clothes."

"So,"
he said with equal parts sarcasm and acid.

"So,
why are you here?" I said as I popped two pieces of wheat bread in the
toaster.

Harry
finished off his shower with an aria.

"What
the hell was that?"  Buslowski looked around.

"I
think a gator got a cat," I said, reaching for the butter.  "Harry
went to the opera last night."

"You
go with him?”

"Nope,
band practice."

"And
then..." he led.

"Home."
 I looked closely at him as I handed him the buttered toast.

"You
got another home in Palm Beach?" he asked before taking a bite.

"You
had me followed?"

"Yep."

"So
how long have you been following me?"

"Since
I heard your old man left town.  And we both know how much trouble you can get
into while the ex is away."

I didn't
say anything because he was, well, right.

"Are
you going to tell me what you were doing in Palm Beach?"

"Nope."

"I'm
not leaving till you do."

"You’re
going to have to pay rent if you stay.  You'll have to share a bath with Harry,
and he’s a neat freak."

"I'm
not a freak, just particular," Harry said, coming down the hall into the
kitchen.  "Hey, what's up, Buslowski?" he asked patting his back.  Harry
winked at me, telling me he would handle this.

"Just
asking questions,” he turned around to look at Harry.  “Do you know why Cin was
in Palm Beach last night?"

Harry's
eyes opened wide.  "No."  He looked over at me.  "I thought you
had band practice?"

"I
was at practice."

"How'd
it go?"

"C
minus on my part."

"Mind
wasn't in it?"

"Yes
and..."

"Will
you two just shut up!"  Buslowski stood up.  "I know you went to the
Williams's condo.  The same Williams you and Harry found at the sugar
mill."

Harry
squinted his eyes at me accusingly.  

"I
was paying my respects."

"At
ten a night?" Buslowski spat out.

"I
had band practice."  I threw up my hands and cleared up the counter.  "Harry,
you better get a move on, we’re leaving in, oh, about twenty minutes," I
said, looking at the clock.  Harry left, leaving us with another phlegmy aria.

"Where
are you going?" Buslowski asked pouring himself another cup of coffee.

"Jump
school."

"You?"
His face broke into a smile, and he started to laugh.

"Nope,
Harry and a friend of ours.  I'm just going along for the ride."

"Can
I come too?"

Oh great,
I’m sure Buslowski was going to stick out like a sore thumb.  He had all but a
neon sign over his head flashing,
I'm a cop!
  "Nope."

"Why
not?"

"Because
I want to have a fun, peaceful day without guns and suspicions."

"Make
you a deal.  You tell me why you were in Palm Beach last night, and I will go
away," he said as he put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my
eyes.

"I
returned the diamonds."  I met his eyes.

"All
of them?"  His gaze intensified.

"All
the diamonds," my voice cracked.

"You
kept something?"  He lowered his hands and stepped back.

"How
do you do it?  I mean, how can you tell if I'm lying?"  I dug in my pocket
and pulled out the cat's eye and dropped it in his palm.

"Good
choice.  Me, I would have gone for the steely."  He rolled it around. 
"I also know that you may be going to the jump school, but it's not just
to see old Harry pee himself.  But I get the idea that me being there isn't a
good idea."

"And
so..."

"So,
I guess I'll head home and cut the lawn."  He drained his cup and put it
in the sink.  "Call me when you're ready to have a real
conversation."

I walked
him out to his truck, trying not to be too obvious that I was also looking for
our flying priest.  "Dave, I’ve a question.  Now answer me
truthfully."

"Sure,
go ahead."

"Do
you think Harry's ever going to move out?"

"Harry?"
he said laughing. " Oh Cin, Harry's here to stay.  You would have a better
chance of getting rid of Harry if you moved out in the middle of the night,
but, no, he would find you."

I blew air
out of my mouth.  "Alex has a lot to answer for.  If he didn't insist on
Harry taking care of me…"

"Alex?
Oh no, you’ve a lot to answer for."  He leaned over and kissed the top of
my head.  "Life is too exciting around you, Cin.  Harry's no fool."

~

Harry and
I were ready and waiting as Father David pulled into the driveway.  Harry
called shotgun, and I climbed into the back of the rental car.  This shotgun
stuff was getting on my nerves.  I felt like “the wife” in the back of all
vehicles lately.  We updated Father David on our little visit from Sergeant
Buslowski. I didn't update him on my visit to Michael, and Harry didn't
either.  Harry and I would no doubt discuss it later, but right now we kept our
heads on the activities of the day.

"I
feel bad lying to the police.  After all, this is their job," I said, more
for my benefit than theirs.

"It's
not like we’re working against the authorities, but I think we should gather as
much information as we can before presenting them with it.  I don't want them
barging in and just getting the foot soldiers when we can get the head of this
cell.  There may be nothing more to this than smuggling in workers.  If it is,
then I guess INS will have to get involved," Father David reasoned.

"Either
way we go from spies to squealers," stated Harry.  "I don't like the
idea."

"We
can't break the laws, son.  Sometimes we work around them until we can change
them.  I have two sets of laws, the laws of the military and the laws of the
church.  Sometimes it takes a toll on my soul," Father David confessed.

"So,
we find ourselves between the popular rock and a hard place.  Since we got into
this my paranoid meter has been spiking.  I thought that a band member was
threatening me last night, but in the light of day it seems silly."

"Who?"
Harry asked.

"Dwayne,
the head of the toy drive."

"He's
the one who sent you, Harry and Michael out to the Pahokee School?"

"Yes."

"What
did he say?"

"He
was interested in why Harry and I went over to the mill.  He wanted to know
where Michael was.  He said he wanted to send a card or something.  And then he
told me to be careful or I may become a ghost."

"Ghost?
Why would he say that?"

"Well,
I told him Harry and I like to look into haunted buildings, so that's why we
went over there when the little boy told us about a man praying.  But it was
only a lame excuse, and he knew it."

"How
well do you know this Dwayne?"

"Not
that well, he's been in the band longer than I have."

"Maybe
we should look into him.  I'll have one of the others tail him awhile,"
Father David said as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Don't
bother calling, Father."

"Why?"
he asked as he pulled into the airport parking lot.

I pointed
to a rental truck over by the back hanger.  There was Dwayne and several of the
landscape crew carrying crates into the back of the truck.  "That's him
loading boxes."

"Has
he... ah yes, he has seen you."

Dwayne
smiled and waved his hand.

"Well,
I better be sociable.  You may want to tag along to get a better look at what
he's loading.  Harry, you better go on with our charade and check in with the
jump school," I said before getting out of the car.

Father
David and I walked over to the truck, and I introduced him to Dwayne as my
brother-in-law.  They shook hands, and David offered to help Dwayne with the
boxes.  The men that were helping him had seemed to disappear.

"Sure,
if you don't mind.  Don't tell me this is a haunted airport?" Dwayne
teased.

"I
hope not.  Harry is going to make his first jump today!"

"Oh,
I thought the kid look familiar.  He used to work at the theater. Isn't he
living with you now?"

"My,
my, the gossips certainly have kept everyone apprised of my home life," I
mumbled.

"When
you're famous you just have to get used to the attention."

"Famous?"

"Well,
you were involved with catching the band serial killers, and you did get some
press in England," Dwayne said as he led the way back into the storage
building.  "Wasn't there a picture of you and that violin player?  He was
quite young, so I assumed that..."

"Harry
was another boy toy," I groaned.  "I could explain all of that, but
it would bore you.  Whatcha moving?" I said to change the subject.

"Not
really sure.  Bill told me that if I helped clean out some of this stuff that I
could store this year’s toys here.  It would make it easier to sort them with
all this space.  Using my office is a real nightmare."

"Oh.  Well,
I’ll leave you two strong men to it. I better go find out how Harry's getting
along."  I thought it was better to play dumb.  Father David would get a
firsthand view of what was in the building, and I could find out where those
landscapers went.

My search
for the missing men was in vain.  They must have either left the airport area
or possibly were always two steps ahead of me.  I located Harry.  He was
standing with a group of people.  They were discussing the procedures, and
since I didn't want to end up in the plane with them, I went looking for a
shaded place to sit and watch from a safe distance.  I found a bench and sat
down.  I wasn't really surprised when Dave Buslowski sat down next to me, not
really.  Annoyed, yes, but not surprised.

"What
took you so long?"

"Stopped
for some refreshments."  He handed me a soft drink.  "Thought you
might need some moral support with Harry jumping today."

"So
kind of you to think of me, but I do have a friend to share my anxieties."
 I motioned over to where I had left Father David and Dwayne. 

"The
priest or the baritone player?"

"Priest.
 My, my, you’ve been busy," I said, trying to act cool.

"It's
my county, I don't like being shut out," he said evenly.  Dave turned
towards the tarmac and watched Harry walk towards the jump plane.  "I want
to know what the hell’s going down."

"Going
down?  Isn't that Hollywood cop talk?" I said and took a drink of the
soda.  "Well, since I think our cover is all blown now, thanks to your
attentiveness, I'll tell you what I know, and the rest you will have to get
from the priest."

I filled
him in on what he didn't know.  He crumpled the soda can up in his fist in
anger.  It would have been better had it been empty.  I watched as the soda
bubbled out over his hand and onto the hot pavement.

"So
this leaves us with a problem.  Obviously someone has to tail Dwayne to find
out where he's taking the boxes.  But Father David and I were made by Dwayne
and the landscapers."

"So
you think you can dangle this carrot out in front of me and I’ll bite?"

The
temptation to tell him to "bite me" was great, but I restrained
myself.  "Or you could wait for Harry, and I will borrow your truck and
tail him myself."