Page 36 of Never Without You
When I get back inside and share theconversation, Fernando says, “I don’t think they’re being sloppybecause they’re fuck-ups. Well, they’re fuck-ups for sure, but notabout that.”
“Explain,” Adam says.
“I’m thinking the obvious surveillance islike the obvious break-in attempt. They don’t like not knowing whowe are and what we’re doing here, especially having moved in threeweeks after they did.”
“Shit.” Adam shakes his head. “They’rebaiting us.”
“Exactly,” Fernando says. “It’s adouble-edged sword. We do and say nothing, they’re more curious. Weapproach them, and that gives them what they want because then theyknow we’re watching them too. We call the cops, we can’t tell themwe know our intruder was a frequent visitor to that house. And youknow they’re not going to send someone out to bother neighbors whohave a telescope out the window. All our windows are covered andthere’s no underage children here, which would be one of the fewreasons they’d talk to anyone who seems to be watching theneighborhood.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “Best to play dumb and seewhat they do.”
“One thing we need to do is up the blockingon this house,” Adam says. “If they’ve tried to listen in – andthey’re close enough to use a pretty low-tech device – and foundthey can’t get through, that’s the biggest tell we have. Now that Ithink about it, they probably have been trying to listen in, andwhen they couldn’t they reverted to visual surveillance.”
“You gonna call it in?” I ask Fernando.
“Yeah,” he grunts.
Two hours later, we’re conferencing withSkip, who tells us Rashad had sent out a communique to thesatellite offices and they got a hit. We sit waiting for thePortland, Maine office to come online. A woman appears on thescreen and IDs herself as Special Agent Thea Grandeau.
After the introductions, she says, “I readyour brief and it tracks with a case we’re looking into inPortland. On Tuesday, October thirty-first, Halloween, three femalestudents from Bowdoin College, about a half hour up the coast fromPortland, were at a popular club in Portland that was hosting aHalloween party. Lots of costumes, which made the two guys whoapproached these girls stand out because they weren’t in costumes.The girls said the two suspects talked with heavy accents, but theycouldn’t say from where.
“One of girls went off to dance with anotherguy, not associated with the two in question, and of the two girlswho were left with the suspects, one reported seeing the taller ofthe two putting something in her drink. She told her friend sheneeded to go to the bathroom, and asked the friend to join her.Once they were in the bathroom, the girl told her friend whathappened and they call nine-one-one. They waited in the bathroomuntil a female plainclothes officer came and got them. They foundtheir other friend, and the three girls went with the officer andher partner to the police station to file a report. They gavereasonably detailed descriptions of the two suspects, and were thentaken to their car. They returned to Bowdoin without incident.
“After reading your brief, we put out aninquiry to area PDs, as did the Bangor office. Portland PD suppliedthe report filed by the girls. I’ve forwarded that report to yourASAC. Based on the descriptions given, we believe our suspects aretwo of three individuals involved in your doping incident.”
“You planning to talk to the girls?” Iask.
“I’ve reached out to them, and hope to seethem on Monday at O-ten hundred.”
Perfect. “Mind if I tag along?”
“Not at all.”
We give our thanks and say our good-byes butstay on screen with Skip.
“It’s about a two-hour drive to Portland,”Skip tells me. “I suggest you leave by six or you’ll be sitting intraffic half the way up.”
“Will do, and I’ll touch base when I get backMonday late afternoon.”
Skip nods then clicks off.
“Fuckin’ finally,” Fernando says. “I knewthey weren’t concentrating in one place. Let’s see if anythingcomes back from any of the other satellite offices.”
“I’m betting more than one local LEO has asimilar story,” Adam says.
More shoptalk, then I’m reminded I’m on KPduty today, and head to the kitchen to make dinner.
***
Fernando leaves early the next morning, andLuke shows up after breakfast. He gets settled in the upstairsbedroom, and I head out to Saugus. I’m not even out of ourneighborhood when I pick up the tail. Is this another case of beingobvious, or are they that incompetent? I’m going for door numbertwo, but regardless, I carry on as if the guy in the black Camryisn’t on my ass. I head up Main Street and turn onto Lynn FellsParkway and head to US 1 to Trader Joe’s. Luke’s a vegetarian andhas a list a mile long of must-haves. There’s a PetSmart next toTrader Joe’s and I think of Boo. How I’m missing a dog I never metmakes no sense, but he belongs to Flower, and she belongs to me. Ibuy six quarts of the cherry chocolate chip soy ice cream ’causethat stuff sounds good.
On the way out, I clock my tail, who parkedone row behind me. Idiot.
Next up is Stop and Shop, where I load up onstaples. They don’t carry Adam’s shampoo – he’s like a girl abouthis hair – so I head down US 1 and go to Walgreens. The whole time,that asshole is right with me. Last stop is the post office, and asI always do, I take two large manila envelopes addressed to NewEngland Patriots and make sure they’re visible as I carry them intothe building. Inside are requests to be put on the wait list forseason tickets. I’m not interested in buying season tickets, butit’s a good ruse. It takes me to the counter where I push acrossthe big envelopes and my letters, which I keep in my inside jacketpocket. I ask the guy to get the mail out of my box, this way noone sees me going to the box. I take the four letters he passes tome, fold them, and then stuff them in my jacket pocket.
My tail follows me home, and Adam comes outand makes a show of helping me bring in the bags. I tell him andLuke about the tail, and they agree, it’s more of the obvious shitto see how we react. The asshole must be disappointed since I actedlike I didn’t know he was there.
After everything’s put away, I head to myroom and see two letters from my mother, one from Trask, and athick one from Theresa.
