COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) (29 page)

            “Thank you. Aren’t those washers done yet?” Rose jumped up to go stand over them as the machines started vibrating their way through the spin cycle.

            They were taking the clothes out of the dryers and folding them when Manny entered the laundromat.

            “What’s wrong?” Rose said.

            “That new guard, he’s disappeared. One minute, he was sitting in his car. I did a scan of the parking lot, looked back and his car was gone.”

            Rose frowned. “Pull my car up front.”

            “What does that mean? Where’d the guard go?” Kate asked.

            “Don’t know, but we’re getting out of here.”

            “I got a funny feeling he’s gone AWOL,” Manny said as they loaded the laundry into the car. “He’s been acting strange all day.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

            It was starting to rain when they arrived at the shack. Dolph came out to help them get the clean clothes inside before the sky opened up.

            Rose told the others about the missing guard.

            Sue turned from where she was cooking dinner in the makeshift kitchen. “Is he likely to tell anybody where we are?”

            Dolph winced a little at the anxiety in her voice. He quickly reassured her. “Not if he ever wants to work as a bodyguard again. He’s not gonna admit that he deserted his post.”

            Over dinner at the crowded table, they ironed out the plan for the next day.

            “Kate, I’m thinking you could wear your sweats and take your good clothes with you,” Rose said. “We take the bucket and mop. Make it look like we’re janitors coming in to clean up before folks arrive for the day.”

            “Good idea,” Skip said. “Kate needs her briefcase from her car in the morning.”

            “I’d like to go by our house,” Dolph said. “There’s some stuff there I think we might find useful.”

            Sue shot him a concerned look. He carefully avoided eye contact with her.

            “If I could get some papers from my office,” Rob said, “I can work on the prep for my court case here. The judge may not grant the continuance. And it wouldn’t hurt for me to be there when Skip meets with Judith, just in case my services are needed.”

            Rose’s expression was thoughtful. “Lilly and I’ll go with Skip and Kate to her office. Rob, you ride with Dolph. Manny’ll follow to watch–”

            “We need to leave two guards here with Sue,” Dolph interrupted. “It’s too easy to sneak up on this place through the woods.”

            Rose frowned at him. “It’s not all that safe for you and Rob to be running around Towson without back-up.”

            “Damn it!” Skip said. “Lilly could follow you guys. Rose goes to get Kate’s briefcase.”

            Unh, uh,” Rose said. “They will definitely be watching Kate’s office. You two are the main targets. I’m not leaving you there by yourselves.”

            “We’ll be okay, son. We’ll take Sue’s car. The bad guys don’t know it.” Dolph was looking everywhere but at his wife. Mentally he upgraded the four-day cruise he’d been considering to a seven-day one. “We all converge on Mac’s Place at one. Some of us inside, some out. That’s where you’re most vulnerable, sitting still in a public place for at least a half hour.”

            “I’ll call the manager in the morning,” Rose said. “Tell him not to be surprised if some of us suddenly run out the back exit. Let’s hit the sack. We need to be up by four-thirty, on the road by five-thirty.”

            That was met with a chorus of groans.

~~~~~~~

            Rose’s plan to sneak Kate and Skip into the building as janitorial staff worked beautifully. By eight o’clock, Kate had changed her clothes and Lilly had retrieved her briefcase.

            Kate started making calls. Her fib that she was coming down with the flu met with sympathy. By nine, she was feeling vaguely guilty but she’d cleared her schedule for that afternoon and the next two days.

            Lilly was sitting in her truck half a block from the building, with a two-way radio. She was watching the front entrance and the silhouette of a man in a dark sedan across the street from it. Skip was in the locked waiting room, Rose in the hallway by the elevators. They both had radios as well. Kate had given them a physical description of each of her morning clients. Skip would keep the waiting room door locked until he received the signal that the next client was on the way up.

~~~~~~~

            About the time Kate’s first client was arriving, Dolph was rummaging through a set of shelves on one side of his garage. He pulled out two bullet-proof vests. “Got these cheap in the equivalent of a cop shop yard sale when BCPD upgraded. I figured they’d come in handy some day.”

            Rob frowned. “A standard-sized vest isn’t going to fit Skip.”

            Dolph deposited the vests in the trunk of his wife’s car. “One’s an extra, extra large.”

            A corner of Rob’s mouth quirked up. “You bought it for him.”

            Dolph could feel his face turning red. He considered repeating that they’d been cheap, which wasn’t totally true. He’d paid two hundred apiece for them–half their original cost but still not a minor expenditure. He opted for honesty and voiced a sentiment he’d never shared with anyone but Sue. “I tend to think of him as the son I never had.”

            Rob smiled. “Those two grow on you, don’t they?”

            Dolph chuckled. “Next stop, your office.”

            At Kate’s suggestion, Rob had worn one of the plaid flannel shirts she and Skip had bought for him in Chestertown. It did indeed make a good disguise for slipping into the building undetected.

            But in the law offices of Stockton, Bennett and Franklin, Rob’s entrance in his Joe Farmer costume caused a bit of a stir. By the time he and Dolph reached his office, he had been the recipient of several surprised comments and teasing barbs.

            Rob gestured for Fran to follow them in and close the door. “I need to get the papers on the Harrison case but I’m not staying. Please clear my calendar for today and tomorrow. I’m going to work on the prep for court from home.”

            “Are you okay?” Fran asked.

            “Yeah. I’m just involved in something right now that’s kind of complicated. If anyone comes looking for me, I’m not here. I’ll buzz you when I’ve got what I need gathered up, to see if the coast is clear.”

            Fran gave him a concerned look but asked no questions. She nodded and returned to her desk.

            Dolph stepped over and locked the door. Rob began rummaging through the papers on his desk. He stuffed folders and a thick law book into a briefcase, then buzzed Fran. They were headed out again in less than five minutes.

            As they neared the glass doors at the front of the building, Dolph grabbed Rob’s arm to stop him. He tilted his head toward a black sedan parked across the street. It hadn’t been there when they’d come in. Two dark-haired men were sitting in it.

            Dolph and Rob pivoted toward the back of the building. “How we going to get to your car?” Rob was huffing a little as they race-walked to the back exit.

            Dolph had been trying to figure that out. He wasn’t thrilled with any of the options that came to mind. “Stay here for a minute.” He went out into the back parking lot to look around. Seeing nothing suspicious, he returned to Rob.

            “Give me the briefcase. You stay back here, hidden behind the dumpster over there. I’m going to get the car, check it for bugs and then see if they follow me. I’ll double back for you once I’m sure I’ve ditched them.”

            Dolph moved around the side of the building. The two guys were still out front, acting like it was perfectly normal to sit in a car with your morning coffee, reading a newspaper. The hairs on Dolph’s neck were standing at attention.

            He walked to his car and shoved Rob’s case over the seat into the back, then climbed in. Pulling away from the curb, he fumbled with his seatbelt with one hand while watching in the rearview mirror to see if the sedan followed.

            It didn’t do so immediately but when Dolph stopped at the red light at the corner, it pulled out and started in his direction. He was reaching under his seat for his new toy when he caught movement in the mirror.

            He swivelled his head around. The sedan was not following him. It had just turned right onto a side street that led to the street behind Rob’s building.

            Ignoring the red light, Dolph swung his car into a right turn, narrowly missing a Honda that had started into the intersection. A horn blared as he raced down the block, then took the next right as fast as he dared. Approaching the back parking lot entrance, he saw the sedan parked in the lot. The two men climbed out and started walking toward the building’s back door.

            Dolph’s neck hairs were vibrating. He pulled over to the curb as he dug out his own cell phone and turned it on. Finding the number under contacts for Rob’s office, he punched send.

            “Mr. Franklin’s off–”

            “Get out of there, Fran. Now.”

            The men started running.

            “Now!” Dolph yelled. He frantically looked around the car. There was a small round object stuck to the lower back corner of the passenger’s window. He jabbed at the button to lower the window, hoping the listening device wouldn’t be able to pick up anything if it was down inside the door.

            The men had disappeared through the building’s back door. Dolph hit the accelerator and roared into the parking lot.

            Rob ran out from behind the dumpster and jumped into the passenger seat. Dolph had the car moving again before he could get his door closed. The forward motion slammed it shut.

            Dolph tore out of the parking lot. “Roll your window up. Let’s see if the listening device is still there.”

            Rob gave him a confused look but did as he was told.

            “Look for a little white button in the lower corner,” Dolph told him.

            “Don’t see it.”

            “Shit! It’s fallen off inside the door.”

            Dolph was making random turns as he moved away from Rob’s building. When no one seemed to be following, he slowed on a side street, feeling under his seat with one hand for the device. He turned it on and swung it slowly around in an arc, still creeping down the street. “Listening device isn’t showing so hopefully it’s busted. We do have another tracking device, on the front bumper it looks like.”

            Dolph glanced in his rearview mirror. No sign of a tail. Handing the detector to Rob, he said, “Watch for bad guys.”

            He pulled to the curb, then jumped out and raced to the front of the car. Feeling along under the bumper, he found the bump that shouldn’t be there. He yanked it off.

            A Fed Ex truck was double parked two cars up. Dolph ran to it and jammed the device inside its back bumper. He was in the car and pulling away from the curb in seconds.

            “Does Fran carry a personal cell phone on her?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Call it. Make sure she’s okay.”

            Rob punched the number into a throwaway phone, then hit the button for speaker. “Where are you? Are you okay?” he asked when Fran answered.

            “I’m back by Shirley’s desk. What’s going on?”

            “Can’t explain right now. Call reception on Shirley’s phone. Ask if two dark-haired guys in suits came in looking for me. I’ll hold.”

            In less than a minute, she was back. “Yes, they pushed past the desk when she said she had to buzz me. They hurried back out again a minute ago.”

            “Call security. Have them search the building to make sure they’re gone.”

            “Uh, hold on. Mr. Stockton wants to talk–”

            “Wait, Fran! Tell Bill I’ll call him back. Then you go home. Don’t come back in until you hear from me. It’s dangerous for you to be there.”

            A beat of silence, then Fran said, “Okay, I’ll tell him. Be careful, boss.” She disconnected.

            Rob took the phone off speaker and called his partner. Dolph could hear a faint voice shouting, “What the hell’s going on, Rob?”

            “It’s complicated, Bill, and confidential. If anybody asks where I am, tell them I’m out of town on business, and you’re not sure where I am or when I’ll be back.”

            Rob listened for a moment. “I can’t tell you just yet. I’ll stay in touch.” He disconnected.

            Dolph swung into a parking lot and drove over to a trash can in front of a strip shopping center. “Toss that phone.” Rob leaned out his window and obliged.

            They drove for several more blocks before Dolph pulled into another parking lot and put the car in park. He called Skip and filled him in. “I’m thinking Rob needs to stay out of sight. We’ll watch the front entrance of Mac’s Place from the car, in case unwanted guests show up. Meet us at the Burger King on York Road at 12:30. I have a present for you before you go to meet Judith.”

            Dolph disconnected just as Rob was opening his mouth to protest. “I need to be there in case she tries to arrest him.”

            “I doubt that’s going to happen but if she’s got enough to arrest him, you’re not going to be able to stop her.”

            “But he can’t let her take him in,” Rob said.

            “He won’t.”

            “How’s he going to stop her?”

            Dolph glanced sideways at him. “Best you not know the details, counselor.”

            “Shit,” Rob said. “Thus the vest.”

            Dolph didn’t answer him.

            At twelve-thirty, Rose pulled in beside Dolph’s car in the Burger King lot. She lowered her window. “Only one guy watching at Kate’s office. Lilly kept an eye on him while we went out the back. She’s headed for Mac’s Place to check things out.”

            Dolph got out, motioning to Skip to join him. He walked toward the back of the car. “These guys are getting bolder, going into Rob’s office like that.”