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Chapter four
“I’m looking at them now and I’m not happy. You promised me that you would deliver and you haven’t. There’s no way that she can possibly disappear from the face of the earth with no trace. I don’t want to hear it. I want her found with no excuses. If you can’t do it, I’m sure that there are other agencies that would gladly take my money. If it helps, I’ll even offer a sizable bonus for anybody with information that can come forward with the whereabouts of where Lillian is hiding. I don’t want to continually tell you this. It’s none of your business the reason why I want her found.” I was listening to every word, feeling like I was that fly on the wall but in a different way.
There was only one way to avoid detection. I was outside the window, keeping close to the wall and hoping that my feet weren’t going to slip and send me in a desperate grab for anything to break my fall.
“I’ve been patient and now my patience is wearing thin. I don’t know what is so difficult about this assignment. I give you money for a certain task and you fulfill that obligation. It is what makes America great. A contract has been made and I expect results, or you will find yourself in court dealing with so much of litigation that you won’t be able to see a red cent of what I owe you for several years. By that time, you will be bankrupt and begging me to put an end to your misery. I will play with you until I am suitably satisfied that you have suffered accordingly.” Had she known that I was within spitting distance, she probably would’ve had a heart attack.
I was sweating profusely with the clothes that I was wearing sticking to me like a second skin. I was in desperate need of a hot shower and the possibility of inviting another to join me. I didn’t think that it would take all that much to get him to drop what he was doing and his pants in that order.
This whole thing has been going on for too long. You have one more week and then I’m going to cut the cord. If I have to do that, then you won’t find work in this town ever again. I’ll make sure that your reputation for failure will follow you from one job to another. I don’t want you to consider it a threat. It’s more of a promise. I believed you when you said that you could do this job.” She slammed down the receiver with enough force to make it rattle in its cradle.
She stormed out, fuming with the knowledge that I had disappeared with no way for her to get her clutches on me. It wasn’t easy doing this kind of work and sometimes it took somebody that was willing to do the impossible. My former clients told me that I was very good and that I should take the leap to leave what I was currently doing. I had an interest in doing this full time. I had to admit that the feel of my adrenaline rushing was a sensation that I could never get enough of.
I waited and then I made my way back over to that drainpipe and started to shimmy down. I heard cracking. I stopped and waited with bated breath to see if it was going to come loose from the wall bracket. It was barely holding it in place in the first place.
I could hear it creaking and I moved quickly to avoid a fall. It would certainly hurt me enough that I would feel pain for quite some time. I landed on my feet, looking up and seeing that it had remained intact by pure luck. There was no way that I would be able to do that again without having it come apart in my hands.
“I was worried when I saw her go in there. I can’t see in the office and that is the one place in the building that is not secured. It’s obvious that she doesn’t want people to have any kind of record of what goes on in there. I’m sure that she had a heated debate with her head of security over that matter.” Speaking of her head of security, I saw Susan and she was looking right at me.
“I’m going to have to go radio silence for a moment.” I stood there ready for her to attack, but she walked right past me and went into make that necessary surprise trip to catch them doing something wrong. “It looks like Susan has once again mixed up her schedule to keep them guessing.” She not only made them guess, but she had my heart racing in my chest.
“That was too close. Get out of there and come home immediately. You have no idea what this persistent danger is doing to me. I can think of a couple of things that will help to relieve that stress.” I was glad that he was thinking like I was. I wasn’t going to have to leave him spent and looking stunned by my behavior.
“I can’t leave. I have to go back to the bar and make my excuses. I doubt that they would even remember that I was gone, but I can’t take that chance.” I had a change of clothes in a car that I had bought sight unseen during an auction. It was this beat-up clunker, but it had good bones and underneath the hood was almost pristine.
I slid in the passenger seat, watching the bar and making sure that nobody was going to come out. I couldn’t afford for them to find me in a state of undress. I quickly took off the black pants and underneath was that same ugly looking brown dress that made me feel like I was trying too hard not to be noticed.
“I have a meeting with Lillian and the board of directors in two days. I want to find her at my mercy. I’m going over the files, but so far there’s nothing here to put h
er at any scene of a crime. There is no impropriety and I don’t see anything that resembles embezzling of company funds. I’m going to have to dig a little bit deeper. I have something to occupy my time until you get here.” I was doing all the hard lifting and he was at the safe house. I wasn’t sure, but I was feeling that I was doing a lot more than he was.
“I know the reason why you can’t be seen, but that still doesn’t make me feel any better about being here underneath her nose. So far, she hasn’t recognized me, but that security expert is making me feel like somebody’s walking over my grave every time that she looks at me.” I popped my head up from the back seat, making sure that I wasn’t going to jump out and find myself accosted by one of my colleagues.
I got out and carefully closed the door. I saw the homeless man that I had paid $5.00 to look after it and then I gave him another five upon my return. He waved the bill in the air with a toothless grin. His shaggy and dirty hair was the perfect complement for the ratty looking clothes that looked like they hadn’t been washed in weeks.
“The likelihood of anybody stealing it is slim to none, but I still have to give you something for your diligence.” He looked confused and I could tell that my highbrow vocabulary had gone right over his head. “I’m just saying that I’m grateful that you are here to look after it. He nodded his head and grumbled something under his breath. There was really no way that I was going to understand what he was saying.
“I don’t see why you even bother to give him anything. If it was for charity, I might understand, but that clunker is not worth the money that you spent. If it gets stolen, then you can always get another one.” He did have a valid point, but to lose it would only compound the issue.
“Let me see if I can explain it to you, Marshall. If it’s stolen, then there will be a report and then I would become more than just wallpaper. The last thing that I want is for them to see me. I have to remain in the shadows, working on our behalf to get what we need without attracting Susan to my activities.” I went across the street, stayed by the door and then went in when somebody came out.
I found my way to the same bar stool that I had in the corner and my drink was still sitting there. I’d settled down and then felt a hand on my shoulder that had me go rigid like I had been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
“I’m not sure that it was a good idea to invite her. She has been making fun of everybody. You can tell that most of them are trying to keep her at a distance. There have been a few that went to the bathroom and didn’t come back. She is enjoying herself, but it’s not in the way that I intended She left for about 10 minutes and I think they were all hoping that she went home.” Tina had found me and was now telling me how it was a mitigated disaster to have her breach the inner sanctum of their serenity. This was supposed to be a safe place, but it was turned into more of the same that they had endured at the office.
“I hope that you not blaming me for this. You’re the one that found it necessary to invite her. I just said that it might be a good idea to give her the option. I never thought for a moment that she would take it seriously. You can at least take solace in that she’s smiling.” The only reason why she was smiling was because the guys were getting ridiculed after each game of pool with an article of clothing on the line for each ball sunk.
The girls were snickering underneath their breath as three guys stood to the side with their hands over their privates to hide their obvious shame and embarrassment for losing like a couple of chumps.
“Do you really think that you stand a chance against me, young man? You saw what I did to your friends and still, you felt obligated to take my challenge on face value. It’ll cost you your dignity and I hope that it was worth it. This last shot is going to take your underwear.” She made it look like child’s play as she lined up a shot that looked impossible to make.
“If you can make the shot, then I will gladly give you my underwear.” It was a wonder that the bartender was allowing this to continue. The only ones that were in attendance were from the office and a few girls that had come in when they saw what was going on through the window. I think that they were getting a kick out of seeing a woman wipe the floor with them. I know that I was.
From where I was sitting, I could see the cue ball jump into the air off the table and then come down landing with such grace that it hit the eight ball with a kiss. It wasn’t much, but it did send it into the pocket.
“I see the stunned look on your face, but I don’t see your underwear in my hand. A bet is a bet.” He was a good-looking man and out of the four of them, he was the only one that had the kind of body that would seem to make embarrassment a second thought to him. “I’m waiting and don’t make me think that you are not a man of your word.” He was flushed a shade red that mimicked the color of the felt on the pool table.
He slipped them off and what he was in possession of had her grabbing it. She was dragging him to a chorus of the women to the front door. “This has been a lot of fun and I’ll see all of you in the morning bright and early. This young man might be a tad late.” There was an obvious engagement ring on his finger, but that didn’t stop her from taking what was the spoils of war.
