Thirteen

I anticipated several days’ wait from the cops about the Camaro driver, so I refocused on my job for Butler Farms. I called and gave them the bad news about Adam Bishop not being their bad boy.

I need to look elsewhere for an answer, but where?

Sitting in my living room, I recalled my conversation with Andy Bishop in the Vegas parking lot and I concluded I needed a pow-wow with Lupe Santiago. Why had she so quickly brushed off Bishop’s warnings about the account irregularities? He could’ve been lying, but I truly believed what he’d told me. My intuition rarely steered me wrong.

“Lunch is almost ready,” Linda called out from the kitchen. “I made one of your favorites. It’s more like a full dinner, but I couldn’t resist.”

“I’ll be right there.” I strolled into the dining room and waited for whatever treat she’d prepared. I couldn’t hide the smile as Linda placed the Bar-B-Q chicken breasts, oven-baked mac and cheese, and pinto beans in the center of the table.

“I know you’ve been through a lot lately, so I made you something special. I used my mother’s recipe for the Bar-B-Q sauce.”

I clamped the ends of a chicken breast between my thumbs and fingers and bit off a chunk. We did use silverware for everything else—we weren’t totally Neanderthal.

I pushed my empty plate aside. “Thank you. That was so sweet of you.”

“No problem. You’re welcome.”

“So, what’s on your schedule tonight?” I asked.

“Not much. After I clean up the kitchen, I have a few things to do around the house and then I’m going to visit my sister up in Shafter.  I might spend the night with her, not sure, though.” Shafter was a small town about twenty miles north of Bakersfield.

“No hot date?” I asked jokingly. “No handsome, sexy guy to share some time with?”

“I don’t need some guy pawing all over me and trying to coax me into his bedroom. That’s the last thing on my mind.”

“Well, enjoy your visit with your sister.”

“Thanks. I always do.”

“By the way, a little frisky pawing here and there isn’t such a bad thing.”

She frowned as she cleared the table. “Depends on who’s doing the pawing, I guess.” She finished her chores and gave me a long hug before leaving.

I thought about her comment regarding the hot date scenario. I knew she didn’t have a boyfriend, but I also noted she hardly ever talked about dates. She was naturally shy and her skin condition severely limited her social activities. Perhaps those issues factored into all that. Oh well, not my business.

I took the rest of the day off and pondered the Butler Farms situation. My next step depended on what Lupe Santiago had to say.

After a good night’s sleep, I showered, dressed and then climbed behind Patsy’s wheel. I put her top down and opened the garage door. As I backed out of my drive, my neighbor dashed across his yard toward me.

“Hi, Chuck. What’s up?”

“Got something that might interest you.”

“Can it wait? I have a busy day ahead of me.”

“It’s pretty important. I really think you should check this out.”

“Whatcha got?”

“I think you know I have a security camera for both my front and back yards. Well, my security camera pans my front yard and overlaps a little into your yard and into the McKenzie’s yard on the other side.  Late Sunday night, as it panned onto your yard, I saw something very strange. I thought you might want to see what’s on the memory chip.”

“Strange? In what way?”

“An image of a suspicious person in front of your house.”

Chuck’s a pretty level-headed guy and he sounded sincerely concerned. I cut Patsy’s engine and slid out the door, following my neighbor into his house.

He led me into his home office. “I already have the sequence cued.” He sat in his chair and I looked over his shoulder.

“Here—take a look. I downloaded this from my surveillance camera.” He reduced the frame rate to super slow.

Our mailboxes sit next to each other in the narrow, grassy strip between our driveways. As his camera panned in that direction, there was a person at my mail box dressed all in black, a hoodie covering all but a small portion of his face. Unfortunately, his head never faced directly toward the camera.

It was obvious he was putting something inside my mailbox. Across from my driveway, a streetlight glowed reasonably bright. But the lighting was to his back, so the person’s face remained obscured in the dark shadows of his hoodie. After several seconds at the mail receptacle, the hooded stranger closed it and walked away, taking the sidewalk in front of my house. He then disappeared from view.

“Interesting,” I said. “I received a threatening letter that night. This clip might hold some clues. Do you mind if I take it to the authorities?”

“Of course.” He clicked out of the video, removed the chip and handed it to me over his shoulder. “I hope this helps.”

“It might. Thank you so much.”

“Think nothing of it. Good luck.”

I dropped the chip into my blouse pocket. “I’m not sure when I’ll get it back, but I’ll let you know when I do—if I do.”

“No problem.”

Absent a clear view of the person’s face, I doubted the video would have any value. But it was worth a try.

I climbed back into Patsy and cranked her engine over. As soon as I was on the 99 Freeway, I called Max.

“Nothing new on the driver of the Camaro,” he said before I had a chance to utter a word. “You’ll be the next to know after I get a confirmation on anything.”

“That’s not why I called, but thanks for the info.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“Are you at work?”

“It’s my day off. I’m at my apartment. Something wrong?”

“Mind if I drop by? I have something interesting to show you. Actually, two things.”

“Sounds enticing.”

“It is.”

“And I have something to tell you.”

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