Iced Tea Page 17

  “No thanks, this part of life I have under control. Just sit down and get comfortable, I’ll be with you in two minutes.”

  I carried everything out to the table, sat down, drank the ice cold Pepsi and started to dig in. Faux stew is one of my specialties and it didn’t let me down.

  “Okay, I left a note on your door last night before I went bowling, did you see it?”

  “Yep. I made noise, but you didn’t come out, and we didn’t see your car, so we figured that you would call if it was really an emergency. Did you learn something?”

  “Well, like I told you, I bowl with the chief. I asked a few questions, didn’t get any answers, but I did get a feeling or two.”

  “Your Spidey sense go off?”

  “That’s one way of thinking about it.”

  “So, what did your Spidey sense tell you?”

  “It told me that something hinky is going on. I’m not sure what it is. I’d be willing to bet pretty big money, money I don’t have right now, that the chief is clean in all of it, but at the same time, I think there’s something pretty big going on.”

  “Something else has happened since we talked. Last night my sister and her boyfriend came over for dinner. We started talking and ended up going over to the condo to look for something, anything, that would help figure all this out. We searched high and low and couldn’t find a damn thing. Then all of the sudden my sister goes into movie fiction mode, we pull down the shades in the bedroom that Louis turned into a physical therapy room, and we find a key to a toilet paper dispenser in the tube part.”

  “That was either luck or just plain weird.”

  “My sister is weird. Trust me. Anyway, the condo has a community clubhouse type thing, we go charging over there, and the guys check in the men’s room, nothing. Teagan and I check in the women’s room. She found a little memory card shoved between the dispenser and the stall wall. By the time we got all the dispensers off, there were eight cards.”

  “Did you put everything back the way you found it?”

  “Yep, and as far as I know, no one even knows we were in there. One little old lady talked to us, but she thought we were just visiting our grandma or something.”

  “She didn’t know you were connected to Louis?”

  “I think maybe we said something about him, now that I think about it. She said he was strange, hanging out with old people at the condo complex when he was young and should have been with people his own age.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “What do you think?”

  “What was on the memory cards?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know? Was the information encrypted or something?”

  “Oh, I didn’t even think it might be encrypted. Can you do that on those little cards? We just didn’t want to know what was on them. Kind of like not looking at the bad guy when he robs the bank. If you can’t identify him, he’s less likely to hurt you.”

  “Teagan isn’t the only one watching too much TV. So what are you going to do with the memory cards?”

  “They’re locked up. Far away. We figured we would bring them to someone in authority, I’m just not sure who that authority should be.”

  “I could give them to the chief.”

  “No offense, but we kind of thought it should be someone outside of the police department.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “There could only be a couple of things on those memory cards. I know I’m only guessing, but guessing is all I’ve got right now.”

  “Okay, tell me what your guesses are.”

  “My first guess is that Louis really was working on something to do with a bunch of serial murders, and he found something he wasn’t supposed to find, but he couldn’t prove it strongly enough to hold up in court, so he was working on getting the proof he would need to convict the guy.”

  “Sounds reasonable. Then the memory cards would hold the evidence that he had collected so far.”

  “I’m not sure about evidence. Wouldn’t there have to be some kind of chain of command.”

  “You mean chain of custody?”

  “Yeah. See, I don’t watch as much TV as you think.”

  “Possibly. What’s your second guess?”

  “My second guess is that there is something going on with the cops. Maybe there’s a bad cop. Like maybe ol’ Jerkface that keeps showing up at my door. Or maybe Jerkface is actually a good guy and he’s trying to nail the bad cops like Louis was.”

  “If Jerkface is a good cop, then why doesn’t he just go to his superiors and get help. Why is he trying to be Serpico?”

  “Who is Serpico?”

  “Only honest cop in the NYPD? One of the best movies ever made. Think it was in the early 70s.”

  “Shall we talk about when I was born?”

  “Don’t depress me. So, you think it’s either a good cop tracking down a murderer, or a crooked cop.”

  “I know. We’re back to TV plots.”

  “Those things really do exist in real life Cara, and unfortunately, some innocent people come across it in life. What are you going to do?”

  “Any suggestions?”

  “If you don’t want to bring it to the chief, do you know a good lawyer?”

  “Why, am I gonna be in trouble?”

  “No, a lawyer can help you in this.”

  “I don’t know any lawyers.”

  “Well, you could call the media.”

  “I don’t want to do that. My brother’s a cop. If there’s one bad cop, then it would be great if they could take care of that with as little damage to the rest of the force as possible. Corruption can be like cancer. You really want to get it out before it starts to spread.”

  “Well, I guess you’re going to have to contact the State Attorney General.”

  “Crap.”

  “What?”

  “That sounds so official. I don’t want to get my brother all tangled up in this. We share the same last name. How do I get myself in the middle of this kind of stuff?”

  “This isn’t the first time?”

  “Well, for this specific stuff it’s the first time, but I’m always stepping in something.”

  “I guess I could do it for you.”

  “No, that isn’t fair. This is my thing to do and I’ll do it.”

  “There’s probably some anonymous way to report it online.”

  “Yeah, but I have those stupid memory cards. I’m sure it’s all part of the same thing, although with my luck, geezer porn is not out of the question.”

  “I don’t even want to know.”

  We finished dinner. We talked about all the reasons that I don’t want to own a gun. Why Teagan probably should. About his new girlfriend, she’s a nurse, and AJ.

  I admit, I really didn’t get all that much information about what to do with Jerkface, but it was a nice dinner, we bonded as neighbors, and when it was time for dessert, my other neighbor, of the quick draw video camera persuasion, joined us. We had a great time, and they left, just as AJ was walking in the door.

  EIGHT

  The Internet is a wonderful thing.

  I’m just sayin’.

  I logged on first thing this morning and typed in a rather vague question, I fine tuned that and fine tuned that, and by the time I was done, I was on the Department of Justice’s website and they had a form there for me to fill out regarding law enforcement. The page had all kinds of information, and directions on how to fill everything out and what applies and what doesn’t.

  The page also had a list of other agencies that might be able to help me if that agency can’t.

  I’m not the most computer literate person in the world, so I decided to print everything out and have Teagan look at it later.

  I’m hoping I can set up some anonymous email address, send the information to the right authorities, then I can follow that up with the memory cards and maybe the journals. If I had a magic wand, I’d wish to get the probl
em taken care of without me getting in the middle of it and more importantly not get Rory in the middle of it. I doubt that is going to happen, so my goal is to get it done so I can sleep well at night knowing I’ve done the right thing and haven’t stepped in it in the process.

  I caught my phone on the second ring. “Hey Sugar, how are you?”

  “I’m great Jovana.”

  “I just wanted to tell you that you did a phenomenal job yesterday.”

  “I had a great time, plus, you know, it’s the least I could do after all you’ve done for me and my family.”

  “Speaking of which, your sister-in-law is a genius. She has come up with some really stunning work for us. I think that she may actually do more for us than we are doing for her. Plus, a couple of my clients have seen her stuff, and they are going to be in touch.”

  “I will never be able to repay you.”

  “Well, that’s kind of why I called.”

  “What’s up?”

  “AJ told me a little bit about what is going on with your business, and I was kind of hoping to hire you.”

  “I don’t really have a business. I thought I might be able to start one, but it isn’t working out that way, but, I’ll do anything I can for you, you know that.”

  “It isn’t for me Sugar, it’s for my neighbor.”

  “Okay.”

  “It’s kind of sad really. She is a lovely old woman, but she is kind of confused these days. She has a couple of kids, who are pretty much waiting for her to die. She also has one really good daughter that is serving our country over seas. The really good daughter is Genevieve. She called me yesterday. They’re gonna have to put her momma in a home soon, but she needs someone to go over there for a while every day. Get to know the lady. Get to know what is important to her in that big ol’ rambling house, so that when they move her to a home, they move the most important stuff with her. They also need to document her health, not it a technical way, like a nurse would do, but in a more casual way.”

  “That sounds like something I can do. When should I start? Does the lady know I’m coming?”

  “She knows you’re coming. She might not remember though. You can start any time you want. I have a house key and I’ll introduce you.”

  “I can start today. I can be there in about an hour. Where do you want to meet?”

  “At my house, if that’s okay. I know it’s a bit of a haul from your place, but I really do appreciate this, she is such a wonderful ol’ woman, I can’t believe her two youngest are treating her with such disrespect.”

  “No problem.”

  “And Sugar, you keep track of the time from when you leave your door, to when you get back to your door. And your mileage.”

  “Jovana, after all you have done for me and mine, don’t be silly. This is on me.”

  “Oh Sugar, you’ll have all the time in the world to wait on me like a princess in a movie, but this is business, and you never turn down offered money when you are startin’ a business.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Now, do you remember how to get to my house?”

  “I have a GPS thingy, if you just give me your address, I’ll plug it in there, and my sexy Australian friend will keep me company all the way to your front door.”

  “Sexy Australian? I need to get me one of those things.”

  She gave me the address, said she’d see me when I got there, not to rush, and we hung up.

  I’m not really sure why, but I decided to wear a dress. I’m not into the whole Rock-a-billy scene or anything, but women from a few decades back, were shaped more like me, so I have a lot of retro inspired dresses.

  I chose one of my favorites. It’s a halter dress, sweetheart neckline, fitted through the bodice, then an almost circle skirt. It falls right below my knee. The upper part is kind of outlined in thick red piping, which turns into the straps that tie around my neck, and the same piping is used on the pockets. I love pockets.

  I grabbed a pair of red ballet flats.

  Dumped everything from the little clutch I’d been carrying into a bigger purse, shoved a pad of paper, some pens, a camera, and anything else I could think of, and ran out the door.

  I almost smacked into my neighbor.

  “You do anything about your problem yet?”

  “I found some stuff on the Internet that will help me, and I’m gonna have my sister come over tonight and walk me though it.”

  “As long as you’ve got a plan. You need anything you call me.”

  “Thanks.”

  I got in my car, programmed my GPS, while it found the satellites it needed to direct me, which can be really slow sometimes, I texted AJ and let him know how I was going to spend my day.

  The GPS bonged at me when my Australian friend was ready to go, just as AJ texted me and told me to have fun.

  I took off.

  I swear to you, it was not my fault.

  The GPS guy told me to turn left on Buffallano. I knew I should just get on 275 like a normal person, but, I did what the stupid GPS guy told me to do. Next thing you know, I’m half way down 60 and headed for Old Town, which I’d semi-convinced myself that I was still going to bypass, but then the GPS guy told me to turn right on 9th, and I really couldn’t avoid it.

  No harm, no foul, it isn’t like Old Town is off limits to me or anything, but, when I was driving down the main street, there was AJ, with his arm around some skinny little tramp.

  I wasn’t sure if I should be devastated, angry, or if I was being stupid. I talked myself out of devastated and stupid pretty darn quick.

  I flamed from angry all the way to livid.

  I am proud to say, I didn’t run them over.

  They didn’t even see me.

  I took several deep breaths.

  Reminded myself that I was being childish and stupid and that AJ is a great guy, and that if he has his arm around a skinny little trollop - as Auntie Patty, my grandmother’s twin sister would say - then there is probably a good reason and I’m sure he’ll tell me all about it when I get home.

  If not, I’ll go on my own little trollop hunt tomorrow.

  I was only semi-fuming when I got to Jovana’s.

  “How you doing Sugar?”

  “I’m good.”

  “You might be, but you aren’t a good liar, there’s something wrong, I can feel it. If you don’t want to do this Sugar, all you have to do is say so, I can get someone else to do it. AJ and I just thought you would be perfect for this kind of assignment.”

  I guess my eyes shot wee little daggers when Jovana mentioned the name of the trollop-hugger.

  “Oh, oh. What did he do?”

  “Nothing. Really. I’ve just had several bad days in a row, and my patience is about as thin as, well, as thin as my hair. I’m follicle-ly challenged.”

  “Oh Sugar, you always look just beautiful, and as far as that boy goes, he loves you like nobody’s business. Whatever he did, or didn’t do, you just let it slip right out of your mind. I’m one hundred percent positive if he knew what he did would upset you, he’d fall all over himself trying to make it better. He wants your little world to be perfect.”

  “He really does, doesn’t he?”

  “Sugar, he has you up so high on a pedestal, it’s a wonder your nose doesn’t bleed.”

  “I really don’t like that. I don’t want to be up on a pedestal. I don’t like heights, and once someone is up there, it’s a long, hard, painful fall, and there is always a fall.”

  “I have to agree with you, but you know how men are. You tell them something like that and their little head just goes to the side like a puppy trying to decide what a dragonfly is.”

  I laughed. “Are we ready to go over to this lady’s house? Is there anything I should know? Does she have any medical problems or anything?”

  “She’s just a little confused is all. I’m guessing it’s Alzheimer’s, bless her heart. She is pretty good right now. I was up there just about an hour ago, and she was fine
. Some days she is a little more confused than others, but she is always cheer-filled and smiling, and that is all any of us can really hope for.”

  “Any allergies we know about?”

  “I didn’t even think to ask. I’ll find out. I’m emailing back and forth to her daughter like a mad woman. It’s been very hard for her being so far away she can’t even get her momma a proper diagnosis. I’d take pleasure in doing this myself, but I just can’t scrape together the time, no matter how fine a trowel I pick up. I’m sure you’ll be better at it anyway, or at least that is what I’m telling myself for comfort.”

  “I come from a large Irish family. I’m good at this. I am comfortable around my elders, I have good manners, and I think one of the biggest blessings you can have in life is to learn a little from those that have traveled the path before you.”

  “Oh Sugar, that was beautiful.”

  “Thanks. I stole it from a rerun of a soap opera.”

  We had a good laugh, and walked up the street.

  The house was amazing, and I don’t use that term lightly.

  “Now, Sugar, you should know that Adeline, that is the lady you will be visiting with, has let the staff go. They were all almost as old as Adeline, and she thought they should have a few good years of retirement before they pass. Her generosity has left her at loose ends. She might ask you for a bit of help now and then, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No problem.”

  “I’m not sure just how this is going to work out Sugar. We are just playing it by ear. When I talked to the family, they said you could spend as little or as much time as you wanted here each day. I’m going to leave that up to you, but you should know, that this is the small house, the big house is in Jupiter, so don’t give your billing a thought. They can more than afford it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Jovana pushed a little button that I didn’t even see. There was no noise. We waited.

  We waited a little longer.

  We waited a little bit more.

  Then a little tiny lady came to the door. She was lovely.

  “Miss Adeline, this is my good friend Cara. She has come to visit with you today. Is that alright?”