“He’d know where you live, right?”
“Right. There’s a firm directory. Plus I’m in the phone book.”
“Okay. Looks like we’re set, then.”
He started for the door, but Aspen grabbed his arm. “Who are you using for the decoy?”
“I don’t know, vice is going to get someone for us about your age and size,” he said. “I told them to be sure she’s pretty so we keep it as real as possible.”
She smiled.
“You are such a flirt.”
He shrugged. “Actually, I really did say that.”
“See what I mean?”
After Teffinger left, Aspen and Christina walked down Washington Street until they found a dark place with upbeat music and ordered Margaritas at the bar.
“I just hope that the people inside the house don’t go snooping around to kill time,” Christina said.
“Why?”
“You know.”
“No, what?”
“My dresser drawer,” Christina said.
“Why, what’s in there?”
“You know, my vibrator.” Christina punched Aspen on the arm. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”
Aspen laughed.
“Okay, busted. I think that I might have taken one short peek in there once.”
“As long as you didn’t use it,” Christina said.
“No need. I have my own.”
They clinked glasses.
86
DAY TWELVE-SEPTEMBER 16
FRIDAY NIGHT
On Friday night Gretchen wanted to go out and get drunk, so Draven decided to take her to an old biker bar that he used to frequent in downtown Golden, up the street a block from Foss Drug. It turned out to still be a bar, but the ragged edge was gone.
Someone had civilized the place.
Shit.
Nothing ever stayed the same anymore.
Still, it wasn’t bad, so they grabbed a booth, sat on the same side next to each other, and drank Jack while they talked about what life would be like in California.
A couple of women sat at the bar drinking Margaritas.
One of them looked familiar.
The Asian one.
The one with the designer glasses.
Outside lightning cracked and the sky dropped rain with a vengeance.
Gretchen reached under the table and rubbed Draven’s dick.
“I love the rain,” she said.
87
DAY TWELVE-SEPTEMBER 16
FRIDAY NIGHT
Teffinger hadn’t been on more than two or three stakeouts in his entire career, largely because they almost always represented too much of an investment of time for the potential return. So it was weird, sitting out here in the dark a half block down from Derek Bennett’s house, waiting for something to happen.
Having Davica with him made all the difference.
Without her, he wouldn’t have had the patience.
The rain beat down and sounded incredibly nice.
Better than any song ever made.
Except maybe “Brown Eyed Girl.”
They sipped coffee. The first thermos was only half gone and they still had a second full one in the back.
“I need to tell you something weird,” Davica said.
He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re not going to say you used to be a guy, are you?”
She laughed. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay. Good.”
“It has to do with last night in the hot tub with Monica,” she said. “Before it all started, I was really excited about it.”
Teffinger smiled.
“You looked pretty excited during it, too,” he noted.
“Right,” she said. “I was. But not as much as I thought I would be. I kept thinking that she shouldn’t be there, that she was invading our space. I felt guilty, being the one who brought her in.”
“Our space, huh?”
She nodded. “The space of you and me; our private space. The bottom line is that I don’t think there are going to be any more Monicas.”
“Your choice,” he said. “Either way, I’m going to support you.”
He called Sydney and when she answered he said, “Talk to me.”
“We got Aspen’s car in the driveway to make it look like she’s home,” she said. “We have most of the curtains partially open and the decoy’s walking around, turning lights on and off, stuff like that, to make it obvious someone’s there. I’m sitting a half block down the street. It’s raining like hell.”
“Here too,” Teffinger said.
“So far, no activity.”
“Same here.”
“How will Bennett know the car in the driveway is Aspen’s?”
“The information is in her H.R. file. Plus I’m sure he’s already been stalking her.”
Forty-five minutes later a silver BMW pulled out of Derek Bennett’s driveway and started to wind its way out of the neighborhood.
Teffinger followed.
He called Sydney to tell her he was in motion.
Being this far off the main roads, the traffic was sparse. So Teffinger had to hang back. Unfortunately he had to hang back so far that Bennett slipped away.
He called Sydney.
“I lost him,” he said. “Watch for him at your end. I’m headed that way.”
“What do you mean you lost him?”
“I had to hang back.”
“Well, don’t hang back that far,” she said.
“Now you tell me.”
