“Bout ten minutes before the mayor showed up.” Terry lied. “He was the final piece that led me to Dr. Broche.”
“And after that, you took ten minutes to put this together?”
“Just about. Remember, I had the idea, all I needed were the facts.”
Decker shook his head. “Bridger, you are a damn liar! You had to know more than you were telling me up front, because there is no way you got all this that fast.”
Terry smiled enigmatically. “It’s a gift.”
Decker wanted to say more, but the data on the bottom of the screen caught his eye. Squinting, he read quickly then raised his head to scan the parking lot. A minute later, he again turned to Terry.
“Yeah, well, it looks like there’s one thing your girl missed. Says he drives a Honda, license...
a32-78b?
Well it ain’t here.”
Terry had already noticed that but hadn’t figured out how to broach the subject. Now, he said simply, “Maybe it’s in the shop?”
Decker didn’t look convinced. “Or maybe he got wind of his buddy getting busted and split. If he did, what do we do then?”
“Then, I guess it’s back to plan B.”
“Still working on it?”
“Yeah.”
To Terry’s surprise, Decker brightened, saying, “Well while you are, let’s try my version. C’mon.”
With that, the big man slid out of the car and headed for the front door.
Terry followed with Charlie in his ear asking,
“What do you think he has planned?”
Terry sighed.
“I dunno, but my guess is it won’t be hard to see once it starts. Decker hasn’t impressed me so far with his subtlety.”
Charlie had to agree.
The receptionist was a blonde, well past thirty and trying really hard to hide it. She was pretty in a cheap sort of way that probably cost more than you would think to maintain. When Decker walked in the door, she looked up with a bored expression that said she had not had her coffee yet and what the hell do you want.
Terry saw her eyes widen a little as she took in all of Decker’s enormous frame. Whether she was impressed or afraid was hard to tell, because to her credit, she didn’t let anything more escape her face. Her smile may have been insincere, but it was brilliant as she asked sweetly. “Hello, sir. And how can I help you?”
Decker returned her smile as he leaned forward, saying, “Yes, my name is Decker. I represent Talbot and Finch out of Trenton, New Jersey. I have a little matter of an inheritance for one of your employees. A Mr. Carter, I believe?”
At the mention of the name, her mouth dropped open. Terry stood back so as not to confuse the issue. In his leather jacket and jeans, he didn’t look the part of a lawyer or a courier. He could pass for a bodyguard, although it was more than strange that Decker would need one.
The receptionist, though, hadn’t even noticed Terry as she repeated the name, this time her voice reflecting an east-coast accent. “Do you mean Sam Carter?”
Decker let his smile widen to the point where it had to hurt, saying excitedly, “That’s him! Sorry to be a little pushy, but this is the third lead I’ve had. It was starting to get expensive to find this guy.”
Finishing with a laugh, the receptionist joined in. “Well, I hate to be the one to give you the bad news, but you are going to have to wait a little longer. He didn’t show up last night, and if his supervisor has anything to say about it,” she looked around conspirator style, “he won’t be back, except to pick up his last check.”
Decker let confusion flare on his face to keep the woman talking.
Terry realized this was not his first rodeo when it came to manipulation.
The woman fell in line quickly.
“I don’t know what this inheritance you are talking about is, but I hope it’s big enough for him to retire. Or at least enough to get him started again someplace else. This place really hasn’t worked for him.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. To tell the truth, I couldn’t tell you any of the details about whatever he has coming. They don’t give me that kind of access. All I know is he’s the one that they wanted me to find.”
“Well, you should have been here last week. He was here about three days then. Which was pretty much a record for him.”
“He has a lot of trouble with attendance, huh?” Decker was trying to keep the mood light.
The woman had no problem playing along. “Are you kidding? He’s missed so much time, if it weren’t for that doctor giving him a recommendation that got him the job in the first place, he’s have been gone a long time ago. But even with that, he just pushed his luck too far this time. The head honcho just tells everybody to deal with him because he wants to stay on her good side, but the floor manager says Carter has got to go. This time, it looks like he’s gonna get his wish.”
Decker decided to push his luck at that point. “Well, can you tell me if this is his address at least? There was nobody home when I went by there.”
The receptionist hesitated. So far, all she had done was tell what everyone knew. Or would know as soon as the guy showed up again. But to give out the guy’s personal info was another thing. Something that could get her fired if the wrong person found out about it.
“Look, I’d like to help but...you know...”
Decker raised his hands as if in surrender. “Hey, I understand. I just want to know if it’s the right one. I kinda need to wrap this up. I got three more on the route before I head back to Jersey.”
Again, the conspirator’s look and then a quick motion of her head, telling Decker to move closer, while she leaned in herself. “Let me see the address.”
Decker wrote the address down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. A quick perusal of the computer and she handed it back. “That’s the right address all right. Can’t argue if you already have it.” She smiled sweetly up at Decker who smiled back in earnest.
“Well, thank you for your time, ma’am. If he happens to show up, would you please tell him to call me at this number?” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “If he misses me, the service will get a hold of me as fast as possible. I know it’s a little old fashioned, but they offer the service and I do spend a lot of time off the grid, so to speak.”
A quick wink gave her the impression Decker wanted to give without another word and with a final wave, he turned to leave, saying, “Thank you for your time. Hope I run across more people like you. Have a nice day.”
“My pleasure.” She beamed back then added softly, almost off handed, “Maybe if he gets a hold of some money, he’ll spend some of it on something to kill the smell.”
Curious enough for the both of them, Decker asked, “Not too good in the hygiene department, huh?”
She flushed as she realized she’d been overheard. Then deciding she really didn’t care, she added, “Yeah. Sometimes, he disappears for a couple of days and comes back reeking of horses and pig slop. And those are the best smells he comes back here with.”
Terry could see Decker try not to show his surprise, but even the big man had limits. For a moment, something showed on his face, but he hid it quickly. Terry nodded a goodbye and followed Decker out the door. On the way back to the Mustang though, he figured it was time to open the proverbial can of worms.
“Okay, we both heard the reference to your friend Dr. Broche. She was the one that got him this job. But there was something else when you heard her say that shit about the way he smelled. What the hell did it mean to you?”
Decker looked at Terry, his eyes showing that whatever was going on was not at all to his liking.
“Yeah, I think it was Dr. Broche that got him the job and probably was more than a little instrumental in him keeping it, even with his bad attendance. The thing that got me thinking was when she mentioned the smell of horses and whatnot. I think I know where to find this guy. And when we do, it pretty much guarantees she’s in this somehow.”
Sliding into the car, Terry continued his questioning. “What are you talking about?”
Decker slipped the car into gear and pulled out into the street. His face still looked as though he had a bad taste in his mouth.
“About fifteen years ago, Dr. B had a program to introduce inner-city youth to ranch life. Some rich cat gave her some land out toward Joliet. She turned it into a haven of sorts for the kids. Even got the mayor at the time to help by giving out passes for the kids to ride the buses out for free. Everything went great until one kid fell off a horse and broke his arm. His crack-head momma, who probably couldn’t have picked the kid out of a line up, sued the city and got a settlement. It broke the back of the whole thing and made Mayor Linder back off of his support. Between that and the lawsuit, it pretty much ended the operation. Dr. B kept the property, in my opinion, hoping that someday she could find backers to open it up again. I think she is having this guy working out there. But for what, I can’t figure.”
Terry took it all in then added, “She hasn’t been seen for a year. If this place is that far out, it would make the ideal place to hide out while she did whatever it was she wanted to.”
“It’s not that far out. We can be there in twenty, twenty-five minutes.”
Terry looked at Decker sympathetically. “You still don’t think she had anything to do with this, do you?”
Decker set his jaw. “I know it looks bad, but I still think there has to be something more going on. This isn’t like her. It’s not what she’s been about for all these years, no matter how bad it got.”
Terry looked at the man behind the wheel. He was clearly torn by what he knew of the woman and what he was learning. It was clearly difficult for him to reconcile the two.
“I know what I see. And what I see says that the lady
is
involved in this, somehow. I still think it’s not as much as you think, but I’ll give you that much. If she’s helping this clown, then yeah, maybe she has flipped out. But that still doesn’t negate all the good she did. At least, it doesn’t to me.”
Terry had to admire the man’s loyalty. It was almost inspiring. But there had to be a limit.
“What if she’s the leader of this? I mean the real leader?”
Even in the dim light of the car, Terry could see the man’s jaw clench. “Then, we stop this and take her in.” The words had all the conviction of a verdict. And the same finality.
They rode in silence out to the Ranch, as it had been known in its heyday. Decker had given him a link, and Terry had looked it up on his phone. It had been impressive. Two hundred acres of combination pastures and woods. Pictures of the Ranch showed a lush environment filled with wildlife and trees. A truly beautiful place at one time. He could see how Decker could find it hard to believe she could do anything like this after having done all she had for this city.
Terry didn’t fault him for it, but he did think he was being a bit naïve. No one fought that hard without losing their share of battles. Maybe she had just had enough of them and lost it.
In any case, she was involved. Like Decker, though, Terry began to have doubts as to the depth of that involvement.
True to his word, Decker made the trip in under half an hour. Normally, it would have taken far longer but Decker had the Mustang as far open as he dared every chance he got.
The entryway was a simple lane with a sign that had long ago fallen to time. Without Decker, Terry realized he would probably never have known where to turn. The lane was ill kept and unmaintained, but it was still there. From the road, though, you would be hard pressed to see it just driving by.
One thing Terry did notice as they entered the lane was that the power pole that had the transformer on it had fallen. It lay on the ground just around the first bend in the road. Apparently, even the power company had deserted this place.
Decker explained. “About five years ago, we had a bad snowstorm. Lots of places lost power for a lot of reasons. This place was abandoned, and since there was no pressing need for it to be repaired, no one bothered. Then, when things got tight, Dr. Broche told the city council to leave it alone rather than use money that would better serve the community somewhere else. She was just that way. Now, do you see why I got trouble figuring out why she would do this?”
“Never said I didn’t. All I said was the facts point to her. And they still do. Look.”
As they rounded the last bend, they were inundated with light from a dozen sources. Poles held massive lights thirty feet up, casting sharp shadows that were cut off by their neighboring lights from other directions. It was clear nothing would cross this area unseen.
Terry sighed, shaking his head. This was not good.
“Whoever is running this wants to know when anybody comes calling.” Inside his mind, he told Charlie,
“Can you boost my senses enough to see—”
Charlie cut him off.
“The cameras are not hidden. Whoever is behind this is not interested in keeping their interest in their visitors secret. They are almost conspicuous. There are units under each of the lights and three on the barn that I can see. I would surmise that there are others behind that as well as that main building over there. The question is who is watching?”
“Yeah that would be the part that we need to figure out. Can you do anything about them?”
Charlie could normally use his abilities to trace the signal down to find out where the computer was. It was a simple matter of following the impulses, since he didn’t have to read anything. The only trouble was that he couldn’t get a line on the source.
Finally, Charlie said,
“Terry, for some reason, I cannot find the location those cameras go to. And I should be able to. There is something very wrong here.”
Terry stepped out of the car as soon as Decker stopped. One, to let Charlie have a better view, even though it wasn’t necessary. And two, to try to see if there was anything he could see on his own.
Decker, meanwhile, killed the engine and looked around himself. Then, with a shrug, he reached into the glove box. A second later, he stepped out and handed Terry a 9mm.
Terry looked at the gun and smiled. He hadn’t bothered to bring any of his with him, because he hadn’t figured on needing it. Now, he accepted the weapon gratefully. He could also feel there was something wrong here, but he had no idea what.