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"Nobody except a regular customer who always orders the fajita combo. She brings me my Corona before I order it. Two limes. I tip her well, and I'm a good listener."
"You two talk a lot?"
"As much as I can swing without making her suspicious. I hang around till near closing. When the dinner crowd thins out, she dawdles at my table. I think I've won her confidence."
"What story did you give her?"
"I have nowhere else to go, and I hate spending my evenings in my empty apartment, where I live alone on account of my wife taking up with another guy and moving him into our house."
"I'm getting all choked up here." A cop pretended to be crying.
"Sounds like a sad country song."
The captain frowned over the interruptions and turned back to Dodge. "What's your take?"
Dodge had been giving Tommy Ray Madison and his girlfriend a lot of thought. Although his honest assessment wasn't what anyone in the room wanted to hear, he gave it to them straight.
"She's a nice girl. Too nice for Madison, but who can explain love? And maybe he did find Jesus and is now a changed man. On the other hand, if Tommy Ray was robbing banks, or even if she suspected him of parole violation, I think she'd dump him, baby or no baby. I think she'd turn him in for his own good. She's got this integrity thing going on, so I don't believe she'd harbor him if he was our perp."
"He's not our guy. That's what you're saying."
"I'm not positive of that, Captain, but he's not at the top of my list, no."
The other members of the task force, none joking now, took a moment to assimilate that, and it flattered Dodge that they gave such weight to his opinion. The captain ran his hand down his face, rearranging the fat folds. "Keep doing what you're doing. Watch for signs of a change in their relationship."
Dodge didn't need to be told that, but he nodded as though to say, What a good idea, Captain. I certainly will.
"What about the other one, Albright's squeeze?"
Franklin Albright was another parolee, but, beyond that, he and Tommy Ray Madison had little in common. Albright was scarier, meaner, and Dodge was almost positive he had never even looked for Jesus, much less found him and signed on.
Frowning, he replied to his captain's question. "The girl's name is Crystal, and this one's more difficult."
"How come?"
"Access. Albright is the jealous type. Watches her like a hawk. Drops her off at work every morning, picks her up at quitting time. She doesn't go out unless he's with her, not even on mundane errands. Supermarkets are usually good for accidentally-on-purpose bumping into someone and striking up a conversation, but Albright is always right there with her. He's alienated her from her friends and family. You see the problem? I haven't had an opportunity to get near the lady, much less become her confidant."
The captain stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Where does she work?"
"So now this fat jerk-off has got me working at her place of employment."
Gonzales laughed so abruptly he choked on his orange juice. After recovering his breath, he wheezed, "You're kidding."
"Swear to God. He adjourned the meeting, made some calls. Twelve hours later I reported for my first shift in the janitorial department."
"Oh, man."
"I've got a mop bucket, a push broom, a shirt with my name embroidered on the pocket. Can you believe it? But I have access to the whole place. I get to wander around, go everywhere, and nobody thinks anything about it. At least I'm not stuck in one spot all day."
He could be working on the assembly line of the tire manufacturing plant, making steel-belted radials instead of replacing burned-out fluorescent tubes and emptying trash cans. All in all, though, it sucked.
"A janitor, huh?" Gonzales could barely control his laughter. "Who knows? You may decide on a career change."
"Screw that, and screw you." Dodge doused his eggs liberally with Tabasco. The two had made a date for breakfast between the time Gonzales's night shift ended and when Dodge had to clock in at his new day job.
"You met your target yet?" Gonzales asked.
"We've made eye contact. She's a clerk in the payroll office."
