“ I didn’t think so, but I do now.”
“ Then that’s good. Now let’s go get a car.”
Mansfield Wayne hated depending on others, especially those he considered beneath him, and he didn’t consider himself better than most, just luckier and maybe bolder. But there were those who were cut from a coarser cloth and Peeps Friday was one of them. But sometimes one had no choice.
He pulled his iPhone from his pocket, scrolled through his contacts, tapped on Peeps. The man answered on the second ring.
“ Listen up,” he said after Peeps identified himself. “I just got a call from one of my contacts. Isadora Eisenhower used her card to rent a motel room in Susanville. She’s not there now, doesn’t look like she used the room. But after a little investigation he found out she’s got a son living there.” Mansfield paused, coughed. “I called and got her daughter-in-law on the phone. Seems Eisenhower stashed her granddaughter there. She offered them a lot of money to keep her and to keep quiet about it.”
“ Doesn’t sound like she kept her mouth shut,” Peeps said.
“ I offered her a lot more. Besides, there doesn’t appear to be any love lost between the daughter-in-law and Eisenhower. The woman doesn’t believe Eisenhower will pay. She thinks it’s a trick of some kind, but she couldn’t afford to take the chance, so she agreed to keep Amy hidden.”
“ And you’re telling me, why?”
“ I want you to go and get her, of course. I’ll have a couple of my people pick you up. They’ll also have the money I promised the woman.”
“ Why do you need me?”
“ You’re a police officer. You’re older. You look believable. All qualities my men, good as they are, lack.”
“ So, you’re thinking Amy might not come peacefully, that it?”
“ That’s right. So it’s your job to see she does.”
“ Alright,” Peeps said, but he didn’t sound enthusiastic.
“ Oh and, Peeps,” Mansfield said. “You bring me that girl and I’ll see you get more money than you’re able to imagine.”
“ Yes, sir.” Peeps perked right up. “But having your guys pick me up isn’t going to work very well, I’m in Medford, Oregon.”
“ What?”
“ We were with the FBI. We almost had the Eisenhower woman, but she got away, in large part thanks to Lila Booth.”
“ Say again.”
“ Lila Booth. She’s helping Eisenhower. Looks like they’re a team.”
“ Does anybody else know this?”
“ No, sir,” Peeps said. “I recognized her straightaway, but I kept my mouth shut. I’m not stupid.”
“ Did your partner see her?”
“ Yes, but he doesn’t know her. He doesn’t have a clue as to who she is.”
“ Alright.” Mansfield clenched his teeth. “I’ll give you the address. My guys are driving a white Escalade and they’re leaving from Reno now. They’ll be there in about an hour and a half. I’ll call the Medford airport and arrange a plane for you. How quick can you get there.”
“ Straightaway,” Peeps said.
“ When you land at Susanville, wait at the airport. My men will find you. They’ll give you the cash. Pay off the girl’s stepmother, then bring me the girl.”
“ I won’t let you down, Mansfield.”
“ I know you won’t,” Mansfield said, only half believing it. He sighed, then hung up.
Mouledoux was having a cigarette with one of the Medford plainclothes cops as Peeps took his call. At first Peeps looked agitated, but he seemed to settle down. The guy was a bundle of nerves, this business was maybe too much for him.
Peeps put his phone in his pocket, waved, then approached.
“ I gotta go, wife’s sick,” he said. “One of the locals is letting me take his ride, said it was cool as long as I left it in short term parking.”
“ Cool, he actually said it was cool?”
“ I guess that’s the way they talk in Oregon. They’re very friendly.”
“ And he’s letting you take his unmarked?”
“ He cleared it, but why wouldn’t his chief okay it? They’re friendly, like I said.” Peeps smiled, but it didn’t look real. “You’ll need to be here for a couple days getting this all straightened out. I’ll be back.”
“ Alright, I’ll see you then.” Truth be told, Mouledoux was glad Peeps was going. The last thing he wanted was Peeps bumbling everything up with the feds. If he was going to find Eisenhower, he needed their help. And if she wound up in their custody, so be it. He just wanted to know what was going on, how she got to be the way she is.
“ Thanks, partner.”
“ Don’t mention it.” He took a final drag on his Marlboro, then stubbed it out as Peeps hustled across the parking lot toward the car. He turned toward his smoking pal. “You all think anybody’ll mind if I go over to the Carl’s Jr.” He pointed. “Get something to eat, then go back to my room, get a shower and change.”
“ How long you think you’ll be gone?” the man said.
“ Forty-five minutes, an hour tops. This circus is gonna go well into the night.”
“ Yeah, go ahead, go. I’ll cover for you, just like you’re gonna be covering for your partner.”
“ I’m not the fuck up he is,” Mouledoux said.
“ I can see that.” He smiled. “Go ahead, go.”
Peeps Friday checked the GPS application in his iPhone. He loved that app, didn’t know how he’d ever gotten along without it. He got on the freeway, heading north and got off on the next exit, making a right at Biddle, where he got the surprise of his life when he saw Lila Booth and Isadora Eisenhower blow past in Lila’s black Jag, heading south, away from the airport.
He pulled into the left lane, but there was a divider and it was impossible for him to make a U turn.
“ Damn.” He thumped a hand on the steering wheel. By the time he got turned around, they’d be long gone. Still, he had to try. He swung the unmarked left, jumped the divider, making as close a U turn as possible as the undercarriage scraped the divider.
A horn blared. A tow truck was bearing down on him. Peeps accelerated, almost lost control in the turn, barely avoided sideswiping a white minivan, which was going about fifteen miles an hour under the speed limit. He had to brake to avoid hitting it, instead of accelerating and swinging into the left lane. He could’ve made it. Braking was instinctive and stupid, because had not the honking tow truck’s driver been as fast on his own brakes, he’d’ve plowed into Peeps. As it was he got his truck stopped inches from Peeps’ turning vehicle.
And for reason’s unknown the slow going minivan screeched to a stop, smoking rubber, locking Peeps between the minivan in front and the tow truck behind. He hit the horn, wanting the mini van to get out of the way, but instead of moving, the door opened and a woman old enough and heavy enough to be his grandmother climbed out.
“ Are you crazy?” she shouted, marching toward him like a samurai warrior, cane in hand.
The tow truck driver was out of his truck, too.
“ Police officer,” Peeps shouted as he shut the engine off and got out of the car. “I’m in pursuit.”
“ Bullshit!” the tow truck driver said.
“ Really.” Peeps pulled his badge from his inside coat pocket.
“ Is that how they taught you to drive at the police academy? You should watch where you’re going,” Granny said.
“ Sorry,” Peeps said. “I saw a felon and didn’t think.”
“ You could have killed someone.”
“ He said he was sorry,” the tow truck driver said, voice and tone deferential, now that he’d seen the
