Finders Keepers Losers Die (22 page)

The two men disappeared into Carl's office.
Except for a pile of unopened mail and a heap of filing, there
wasn't much for me to do so I went outside. The aroma of Gina's
flowers, and the need to gossip, drew me to her shop. She finished
serving a customer then beckoned me over.

One look at her face and I knew something
was wrong. Her lips were pursed so tight it looked like they were
sewn together, and a little muscle in her neck ticked. She picked
up a bouquet of lilies and a pair of florist's scissors and hacked
away at the bottom of the stems. Not just snipped, but really
chopped like they were the enemy.

"I take it something's wrong," I said,
keeping my distance and one eye on the scissors. "Unless those
flowers just went
Little Shop of Horrors
on you."

"That bastard!"
Hack
. "He dumped me."
Hack
.

"Oh, you poor thing. No wonder you're
upset." I stepped forward to give her a hug but she pointed the
scissors at me so I held my ground.

"No, you don't get it.
He
dumped
me
, Cat. Me!"

Ah. Gina had never been the dumpee. She'd
always been the dumper, and always before the guy could get too
comfortable in the relationship. I don't know how she got over her
men so fast but I never questioned it. She was a worldly girl with
a good heart and low tolerance for boredom. If a guy lasted longer
than three months, he must have been interesting. Or really good in
bed. Rarely were they both, according to Gina.

"It happens to everyone now and again," I
said. "And it's not like you were serious about him."

She chopped away at the stems until they
were only three inches long. No prizes for guessing what would be
on sale later.

"Oh. You did like him, didn't you?"

"No! He was a computer programmer. Of course
I couldn't be serious about a nerd."

I couldn't believe it. Who'd have thought
Gina could be so complicated. She was a girl who'd partied hard
from the age of sixteen. Every night. Even I had trouble keeping up
with her after returning from L.A.

"You'll be okay," I said, finally getting
close enough to give her hug. "I have to go, but you know where I
am if you need me. Otherwise I'll see you tonight."

"Let's go out and get raging drunk." She
looked at me with big, watery eyes. "Please."

Who can deny a friend in need? Not me. Nope.
Scarface would have to wait.
Phew, I got out of that
one
.

I gave her another hug and returned to the
office. Will opened his door and crooked his finger. I thought I
was in for a bit of afternoon fun, despite his warning to keep work
and sex separate, but I was disappointed.

He indicated I should sit in the chair
opposite him. He sat on the desk overlooking me. "I know I said you
can keep on with this case…"

"You're not backing down now, Will. I'll
just do it anyway."

He sighed. "I know. Just be careful. And
keep me informed at
all
times. I'm busy now but I'll drop
everything if you want help."

It wasn't what he'd wanted to say and it
must have irritated the shit out of him to not order me to leave
the case alone. "I'll be careful. And Will? Congratulations. You're
learning."

He huffed out a humorless laugh. "Get out of
here, Cat, before I change my mind."

I stood. "I've got to go out this
afternoon."

"Where to?"

I almost lied but checked myself. After his
change of heart, I should at least keep him in the loop. "I thought
I'd visit Stonewater's City Wide branch. I want to see if anyone
remembers anything about the other robber."

He opened his mouth to say something then
shut it and shrugged. "Okay. See you tonight?"

"I can't. Gina's having a crisis. I need to
console her."

"Something tells me you'll be hungover again
tomorrow."

Again? Hmmm, he really hadn't missed all
that much.

Driving along the freeway to Stonewater, I
called Scarface and told him I couldn't meet up with him later.

"You're avoiding me," he said.

"Not at all. Gina needs me."

"Gina's a big girl."

"But vulnerable on the inside."

"Seems to be a lot of those people in your
life right now. Call me when you need a real man." He
disconnected.

What the hell did that mean? Had he guessed
about me and Will? Was he implying Will was vulnerable? I
considered that but decided Scarface didn't know his old buddy as
well as he thought. Will was no pushover. He may not always notice
things because he was so busy, but once he did, he faced the issue
head on. Like tackling Tanya over the missing money.

I arrived at the Stonewater bank in the
early afternoon. It was located in one of the tentacles of the
enormous shopping mall so I parked and wandered around until I
found it. On the way, I bought some sexy lingerie and a dress to
wear that night. I refrained from buying shoes because I didn't
want to lug too many bags all the way back to the car at the other
end of the mall.

The bank was fairly quiet and only two
tellers worked, a twenty-something redhead with fat rings on every
finger and long nails painted lime green, and a middle aged woman
who looked worn out. I figured she was the most likely to have been
around when Lou robbed the bank but I was served by the younger
woman, Elle according to her nametag.

"Hi," I said. "Love your nails. Did you get
them done around here?"

She wiggled her fingers and the little
jewels dangling off the two pinkies sparkled. "Bunny from Nail Me
did them. I wasn't sure about the green at first, but she said it
would go great with my hair." She held them up to her hair.
"Whaddaya think?"

"Good choice."

"So what can I do for you today?"

"You didn't happen to work around here
twelve years ago, did you?"

She snorted. "How old do you think I
am?"

"Sorry, just thought I'd ask. Your
co-worker?"

"Sheila? Yeah, maybe. Hey, Sheila." Sheila
looked up from her customer but her fingers kept tapping away at
the keyboard. "How long you worked here?"

"Too long."

"Yeah, but how long?"

Sheila was the exact opposite of perky Elle.
Elle wore so much makeup she could pass for a badly tanned clown,
but Sheila wore none. Not even mascara, Heaven forbid. Her face
sagged as if she'd spent her entire life frowning and her dull blue
eyes implored customers to be quick and get the hell out of there
so she could just go home and put her feet up.

"Nearly sixteen years," she said.

"In this branch?" I asked.

"This branch, this window, this chair, these
customers." The woman she was serving scurried away, as if she'd
single-handedly caused Sheila so much misery and felt guilty.

I swapped places with Sheila's next customer
who looked relieved. "Were you here twelve years ago when there was
a hold up?"

"I'm always here. Every day except
holidays."

"So you remember that day?"

"Yep. I remember all the hold-ups. Nothing
like a robbery to make life interesting for a while." She said it
with a dead-pan face so I couldn't tell whether she was being
serious or making a joke.

"There were two robbers," I said. "One had
his mask ripped off and was arrested the next day, the other got
away. Do you remember anything about him? Anything at all? His
build, eye color, voice."

"You a cop? If you're a cop you need to go
through the manager first." She nodded at a middle-aged man talking
on the phone in an enclosed office to my right.

"No need to call him," I said quickly. "I'm
not a cop, I'm a private investigator. I'm working for City Wide's
head office. They want to re-open the case and try to find the
other thief." I leaned closer to the protective glass separating
us. "But they want to keep this low key. Strictly no middle
management to be involved."

"Why?"

I winked. "You know what Head Office is
like."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure do. Okay, let's
see." She sucked on the inside of her cheek and stared off into the
distance. "I remember a little bit about him, but nothing I haven't
already told the cops. He was tall, over six feet, and well built
but not in a fat way. Like an athlete. His mask covered his hair so
I don't know the color but his eyes were light blue. And he wasn't
like other robbers. The other guy, the one who got caught, came in
swearing and ordering everyone around, but this guy said nothing
and he didn't scare anyone. He was kind of nice." She smiled a
little.

Christ, she had a crush on him. "Have you
seen a therapist about this?" I asked.

She reeled back and screwed up her face.
"Why would I want to see one of those kooks? I'm fine."

I took out a piece of paper from my handbag
and wrote my cell phone number on it and slid it under the window.
"Call me if you remember anything else."

"No business card?"

I knew there was something I had to do.
"I've run out."

I left the bank and drove out of Stonewater,
feeling like I'd achieved something. It was getting late but not so
late that I could avoid work. Besides, after being out all morning,
I thought putting in some face time with Will would score me some
points.

The drive across town on the freeway was
long and boring. I wasn't the greatest driver. My father used to
tell me how bad I was. He'd sit in the passenger seat with his hand
resting on the hand brake. When I was sixteen, I thought that was
an over-reaction but looking back, I could understand his paranoia
after I failed my test the second time. I hadn't advanced much
since those days. L.A. taught me to be a crazy driver, not a good
one. There, you have to muscle your way through all the other cars
just to cross lanes.

So I didn't check my mirrors until it came
time to get off the freeway. A dark-colored sedan a few cars back
caught my attention as it cut off a slow moving van to take the
same exit as me.

I tried to keep within the lines and watch
the car at the same time, but when I nearly side-swiped a truck, I
thought it best I keep my eyes on the road. By the time I checked
my mirrors again, the sedan had dropped right back. At the first
set of traffic lights, it didn't get through and I couldn't stop
without causing a major pile up.

Damn. I hadn't even got a decent look. It
could have been Roberta's Crown Vic but I wasn't sure. It was
definitely dark blue. Or maybe black.

Fuck! I was such a loser. Will would have
been able to drive, get the make and model, and even memorize the
license plate number. Me? I got the finger from a trucker.

I thumped the steering wheel and swore,
hoping my anger would override my frustration. It didn't. I felt
like I'd taken a step backward. I'd just started to feel safe after
my apartment fire, but suddenly the fear crept back again.
Actually, it had slammed into me with a vengeance. Even worse, Will
would take me off the case when he found out I'd been followed.

So I had to make sure he didn't find
out.

I headed to the office, trying to
concentrate on the road while checking my mirrors every two
seconds. The car was nowhere to be seen. Coward.

There were no parking spaces near the office
when I arrived so I parked on the opposite side of the road and
crossed at the pedestrian crossing. My mind kept churning through
the potential suspects with Roberta topping the list because she
drove a blue sedan. But why follow me when she'd employed me? Was
she checking up on me? Did she—

"
Watch out
!"

Something slammed into me, knocking me on my
ass and sending my handbag flying into the air and the path of an
oncoming car. The car didn't slow down and my bag rolled off the
hood and tumbled to the road several feet away. I stared after the
car.

A dark blue sedan.

"Are you okay?" The object that had knocked
me over was a man the size of a sumo wrestler. He reached out and
took my hand, hauling me up.

I stood, feeling numb of brain and sore of
body.

"Miss? You all right?"

"Cat! Cat!" Gina's voice screeched across
the road. She dodged the cars which had slowed to watch the
sideshow and hugged me fiercely. "Are you okay?"

I checked myself over. All limbs intact,
with the only pain coming from the arm that took the full brunt of
my man-mountain savior. "I could do with a drink."

She heaved a huge sigh and hugged me again.
When she let go, she gesticulated after the long-gone car. "Did you
see that fucking asshole? He didn't even slow down. In fact, I'm
sure he sped up as he approached the crossing."

"He did," said an elderly woman, nodding. "I
saw him."

"That's true," said a middle-aged man. "He
ran right through the crossing, didn't try to stop."

A group of people had milled around, all
nodding angrily and cursing the city council for not doing more
about the dangerous crossing.

"Did anyone get its number?" I said above
the buzz of voices.

They shook their heads.

"A description of the driver?"

"Tinted windows," the man who'd saved me
said. He handed over my handbag and I clutched it to me like it
contained gold.

I thanked him and took Gina's hand. We
crossed the road together and she escorted me into the office and
sat me down on the brown couch in the foyer. Carl came in behind
us, panting.

"Christ, Cat, are you okay? I just heard
what happened from Linda at the Bed Shed."

I let out a long, ragged breath. "Yeah.
Fine."

"Then why are you shaking?"

I looked down at my hands. Not only were
they shaking uncontrollably but they were white.

"I'll make you a cup of tea," said Gina. She
disappeared into the kitchen.

Carl sat beside me and put his arm around
me. "Want me to call Will?"