23
Tara smiled all through the morning with the memory of the perfect weekend lingering. Carter had sat with her as she talked to Colleen about her grandfather, but considering Colleen had no memories of the man, she was not upset. Carter had read to Colleen and tucked her in, then stayed the night again. Smiling, Tara felt the heat of blush move over her at the memory.
But it was now almost time for the bag lunches, and she wandered outside to watch. She couldn’t define what she was looking for or suspected, but knowing something was happening, she didn’t want to stick her head in the sand.
Leaving the kitchen through the back door where deliveries were made, she observed the tables already set up and volunteers placing bags onto the tables. A hand landed on her shoulder, and she jumped, whirling around. “Enrico, you scared me to death.”
“Sorry, Tara. You’re not usually out here so early.”
“Well, I was finished with my intakes and thought I’d see how things were going.”
He smiled and ambled over to the tables, greeting several of the volunteers. As usual, George had his walkie-talkie as he walked up and down the line making sure the people were staying orderly as well as chatting with many of them.
She heard a sound close by and turned to see who it was, not wanting to be surprised again. As Carter caught her eye, she smiled. “Hey, I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Her smile quickly dropped as her brow furrowed. “Oh, my God, is something wrong?”
He quickly shook his head. “No, no. Right now, I don’t want to be out there where others can see me, but I’m hanging in here so that I can get a better view of how things are going.”
They stood next to each other, close but not touching, watching the proceedings. Two church vans had delivered several hundred paper sacks of lunches for today’s meal, and the volunteers were efficiently stacking them on the tables.
“How many churches and organizations help with this?” he asked.
“I’m not in charge of this project, but I know that there are close to thirty local churches, adult fraternities and sororities, and community service organizations that are on a regular rotation. Since there are only twelve days in a month that the lunches are needed, most only have to provide it once every quarter of the year.”
She inclined her head toward the tables and said, “Most of these people are volunteers who aren’t here all the time. Enrico gets them organized. I know there are a couple of volunteers who are here often. The woman in the blue dress, Chelsea, is an employee of the shelter, and her job is to keep the organizations on schedule for their deliveries.”
“Is Enrico always in charge of the bags with the ‘PB’ on them? The ones with peanut butter”
“I honestly don’t know, Carter. I’m usually not out here, especially when it gets started. And when I am, well… I haven’t been very observant.” She peered up at him, noting his intense gaze as he watched everything going on around them. “You’d think with my father and brothers being in law enforcement, I’d have a better idea of how much observation you have to do in your job. It’s not at all like on TV.”
He spared a glance toward her and smiled. “A lot of my job is spent putting together pieces of an elaborate puzzle. Like with any puzzle, a lot of time is spent looking at one piece, turning it and twisting it until deciding exactly how it fits in the overall picture.”
She nodded slowly, her gaze moving back over the hive of activity. “And this is one of the pieces.”
Carter did not respond but instead moved closer. She had no doubt that he was carefully examining every aspect of the procedure. She tried to see it through his suspicious, analytical mind, but as she watched the people go by, taking their bag lunches, most grateful that they would not go hungry during the day, she could see nothing untoward happening.
“Ms. Wilson?”
She turned around and saw Bethany nearby. “Yes?”
“An emergency intake has come in. A woman with two children. She looks like she’s had it rough. She may be better suited for the women's shelter, but I wanted to let you make that call.”
Nodding toward Carter, she moved back inside, leaving him to do his job while she hurried inside to do hers.
He wanted to stalk over and demand to see inside each of the lunch bags, but with no evidence that drugs had ever been transported in them, he was stuck simply watching the procedure. Evan was outside today, not in line, but observing.
The procedure was quick, the volunteers hustling people through so that they got their bag lunch and moved on. He had to admit, for such a large endeavor, it was a smooth operation. His phone vibrated, and he looked to see Evan’s name on the screen. “Yeah?”
“Watch for a man in a camo coat and jeans with a black cap pulled down low over his forehead. He’s got long, dirty blond hair hanging down the back.”
Considering Evan just described several of the people in line, he almost growled, but his partner continued, “He’s coming up to the line right now.”
His gaze latched onto the indicated person and saw someone greet the man before bending to snag one of the specially marked lunch bags.
“Follow him. He’s seen me, so he’ll know if I am. I’m moving closer to keep watch where you are,” Evan announced.
Keeping his distance, Carter slid out of the doorway. A quick glance to the left showed the line to get lunches was nearly finished. To the right, he
