you are playing with con men, felons, billionaires. A little scary isn’t it? Don’t you think you might be out of your league?”
“Maybe.”
“There’s no maybe about it. I’m just guessing here, but it seems to me these guys wouldn’t even think twice about chewing you up and spitting you out if they thought you were in their way.”
“Apparently they do.”
“They do what?”
“Think we’re in their way.”
“Then leave. Right now. Pack up the truck, save yourself the five hundred dollars for tomorrow and go home. Or, better yet, stay tonight with me.”
Now that was an offer worth considering. “I can still stay with you.” God in heaven, she just made the offer. It’s amazing how sex overpowers any other emotion. “But hold that thought. I sort of promised James that I’d hang around and see if I could find anything out.”
Now she had the wild-eyed expression, that ‘Skip, you dumb-ass’ expression. I’d seen it before.
“What the hell do you expect to find out?”
And I realized, I didn’t really have an answer.
“Come on. What do you think you’re going to find.”
“Well, if James has any balls, he’s going to ask questions during the poker game. He’s going to ask them if they know anything about the truck tires, about the money being stolen, and about the threatening letter.”
“He won’t. He doesn’t have the balls, does he?”
“No.”
“Then leave, Skip. We can go right now.”
“I can’t, Em.”
“I should be pissed. I come back after three months, and it’s the same old crap. You refuse to grow up.”
“But?”
“But in a very strange way, I find it somewhat charming. Trust me, that won’t last for long.”
“Can it last just for tonight?”
“You really think these guys are crooked?”
“I think that Cashdollar and his crew may be responsible for three murders and another attempted murder this afternoon.”
“Okay. So go to the cops.”
“With what?”
She kicked at a loose stone, and walked away. Maybe ten feet. Then she spun around and looked at me. “Somebody has been following me ever since I dropped you off this afternoon.”
“Following you?”
“I wasn’t going to mention it.”
“You weren’t going to tell me? Why not?”
“Because maybe it doesn’t concern you.”
“And maybe it does.”
“There’s always that.”
“What? Who?”
“A late model Cadillac.”
“Now you sound like James.”
“Please.”
“Same car? Or did they switch? Are you sure you’re being followed? I mean, maybe someone was just going the same way you were.”
“Skip, I know what it’s like to be followed. I’ve had several stalkers in my life.”
I thought about that for a moment.
“You know, you almost get used to it. Some guys think it’s their right to stalk a blond with a good figure. It happened in high school, it happened in college, and it happens now. It gets old, but I know when I’m being followed. I’ve been stared at, gawked at, ogled, and stalked. I know what it feels like, and I’m telling you with a great degree of certainty that I was being followed. No question about it, okay?”
I was working with the idea that other guys stalked her. How could I relate? “Because of us?”
“Two guys in their thirties, one black, one white.”
“What does it mean? You think they’re after you? Predators? They want to kidnap you?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest of what I wondered.
“Could be. But I think it has something to do with you and James.”
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know. I really wasn’t going to tell you about it. But I do have the license number.”
“Damn. You come back, and the first thing that happens is I involve you in — ”
“In what? You don’t even know what you’re involved in.”
I glanced over at the truck and James was watching us. The light from the sky had faded and he and Styles were standing by the truck, smoking cigarettes and apparently waiting for me to join them.
“So what are you, what are we going to do tonight?”
“Help Daron.” I didn’t want to tell her the rest.
“Help Daron what?” She knew something bad was coming. I could tell by the tone of her voice.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I never do. However, it seems we’ve piqued someone’s curiosity.”
“Piqued?”
“I’d like to know why someone is following me. And I’d like to know why someone is threatening you.”
“Well, we’ve got a plan.”
She was getting impatient. “Skip, what is it?”
“Break into Cashdollar’s office, go through Thomas LeRoy’s computer, his files, and see if we can find any evidence.”
“Jesus, Skip. You have lost your mind.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“W e’re not going to ‘break in.’ I mean, if we did breaking and entering, we’d do prison time.” Styles tugged on the brim of his hat, finally pushing it back on his head. It seemed to me that the hat was an extension of his personality, whatever personality he had.
“I believe you either said that or certainly insinuated it.” Making me look like an idiot in front of Em. To be fair, she already knew that.
“Listen, I understand what goes on back there. Usually, the security guy walks from midnight till maybe twelve thirty. That’s it. He doesn’t expect any trouble, he doesn’t get any trouble. I would guess that the security man on the rev’s office has never once — never once in all the time he’s been doing this revival meeting — had to deal with someone who tried to break into the trailer. No money is kept in there. That’s all taken to the bank and night deposited.”
“So what are you saying?” James tapped his cigarette, knocking off the ash. I wished I had something to smoke, but Em frowned on it.
We all stopped talking as three people walked up the path, talking in low voices, and smoking cigarettes. A female voice laughed out loud, and when they passed, Daron responded.
“Whoever is patrolling parades back and forth in front of the office for half an hour, then goes into the trailer, stretches out on the office sofa, and spends the rest of the night sleeping. The appearance is of tight security, but whoever is in charge just crashes, leaves the door unlocked. It only locks with the padlock from the outside.”
“You’re kidding.” I couldn’t believe things were that lax.
“I’m sure it hasn’t changed since the last time I was here.”
