Part 14 (1/2)
Willie patted Ace's arm. ”What he means is that this guy will think you're Reed, and since I'm Reed's girlfriend, he won't want to hurt me.”
”Oh, okay.” Ace nodded, but I could tell he still wasn't quite sure.
”Anyway,” I continued. ”This guy should follow you. I'll have you drive south, keeping him occupied for a good long time. And once he goes after you, Cal is going to pick me up and we'll head up to Westminster and bug his house.”
”You really think this will work?” Willie asked.
I laughed wryly. ”Trust me, these guys are not pros.”
Willie tucked her hair behind her ears. ”And so the first thing I do is find out what car this guy is driving?”
”Yes. He borrowed the black Toyota to follow me the last few days, and I overheard him saying he's going to get another car. I can describe him pretty well, and he seems to like his Red Sox baseball cap, so if you walk the neighborhood, you should be able to spot him. Are you up for it?”
Willie scrunched up her lips, thinking. ”How dangerous is this guy?”
”Well,” I held up a hand. ”You know my line of work, and what's happened so far, so anything's possible. If he recognizes you, it would only be from the other day.” She looked at me with a blank expression, so similar to how Ace and Deuce did, it was scary. ”Remember Sat.u.r.day morning? When I talked to you when Stephanie was here?” She started nodding. ”And you thought I would choose her over you?”
”I remember, smart-a.s.s,” she said, smiling.
”But tomorrow you'll be innocently taking a walk, which you do a lot anyway, so there's nothing unusual in that. And you'll have your cell phone, so you can call me if anything goes wrong, and Cal will be here, too. But if you stay in public places, you should be fine.”
She looked at Ace. He shrugged his shoulders. ”I think it sounds kinda fun,” he said. ”And nothing happened when that guy followed me on Sat.u.r.day.”
Willie sighed. ”I guess helping you beats worrying about you.”
”Great.” I grinned.
”So if this guy follows me, what're you going to do?” Ace asked.
”This guy's got a cohort, and Cal and I are going to bug his house.”
Now it was Ace's turn to give me a blank stare.
”I'm going to listen to his friend's conversations,” I said.
”Oh.” Ace nodded slowly, but again, he didn't get what I said. Thank goodness Willie was going to be with him tomorrow...she was definitely the brains for that part of my plan.
”You want us to call and update you?” she asked.
I shook my head. ”No, let me call you once we're out of the house.”
”And why do you want to bug Gilbright's house?” Now she was curious.
”Because he lives with the guy in the baseball cap, and by bugging their house, I might figure out what they want and why they're after Stephanie.”
”And Cal's helping you bug their house,” Willie said.
I nodded. ”Yeah, can you believe he researched bugs? He secretly loves helping me.” Willie laughed. ”Anyway, let me grab a few things and then we'll leave,” I said.
Willie and Ace chatted while I went into the bedroom and packed an overnight bag. Then I went into the office, reloaded the Glock, and returned to the living room.
”Here are spare keys to the condo and 4-Runner.” I handed Ace a set of keys. ”Make yourself comfortable. There are clean sheets on the bed, and fresh towels in the bathroom.” I showed him how to operate the TV remote and then Willie and I left.
”You know what the best part of this plan is?” Willie asked as we went down the stairs and across the street to her place.
”What?”
”I finally get to spend some time with you.”
”I'll second that,” I said.
It was the first night I'd spend at her place, but I didn't notice much as we spent most of the time in her bedroom. And for a few hours I didn't think about Forrest McMahon, or Stephanie, or the case. And Willie was right: it was the best part of my plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
At exactly ten o'clock the next morning, Cal and I were sitting in his Honda Civic in a neighborhood off of 104th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster. So far, my plan had gone off without a hitch. Willie had spotted Baseball Cap parked in a gold Lexus near my building, where he could see both the stairs to my unit and the garage around back. Ace had done his job perfectly, fooling Baseball Cap into thinking he was me. He'd taken the 4-Runner, driven it around front, and picked up Willie, and the Lexus had followed them. A minute later, Cal and I had headed up north, he in his Honda, I following him in Willie's Mazda CX-5. When we arrived in Gilbright's neighborhood, I left the Mazda around the corner and joined Cal. I figured we had at least a few hours before Baseball Cap figured out he'd been fooled.
”What do I say if someone answers the door?” Cal asked as we watched Bennett Gilbright's house.
”Say you made a mistake,” I said. ”Then hightail it back to the car. They're not going to do anything about someone who rang their bell by accident. If no one answers, signal me and I'll join you. Then I'll keep an eye out while you pick the lock.”
”And what if they have an alarm?”
”If it goes off, we run like h.e.l.l,” I said.
”Great,” Cal muttered. He got out and walked down the street, then headed up the walk to Bennett Gilbright's house. He rang the bell and waited, then rang it again. Then he turned around and looked down the street toward me. I got out and hurried after him.
”Thank G.o.d they shoveled,” I said as I walked up the sidewalk to the door. A few inches of snow had blanketed the city overnight, and even though the sun was a bright fiery ball in a cloudless blue sky, it was still too cold for the snow to melt.
”Yeah, I didn't wear boots.”
I stared at Cal. ”I'm not worried about your feet. If they hadn't shoveled, we'd leave footprints, and that might tip them off and they'd know someone broke in.”
”Oh,” Cal said sheepishly.
I shook my head. Brains, but no common sense. I stood in front of him as he pulled his lock picking tools from his coat pocket.
”Anyone around?” he asked.
I checked. ”No. Hurry up.”
”Don't rush me.”
It was funny. He's telling me to not rush him, but by the time he'd said that, the locks were picked.
”We're in,” he whispered. ”Here goes.”