“But?”
“But in a very strange way, I find it somewhat charming. Trust me, that won’t last for long.”
“Can it last just for tonight?”
“You really think these guys are crooked?”
“I think that Cashdollar and his crew may be responsible for three murders and another attempted murder this afternoon.”
“Okay. So go to the cops.”
“With what?”
She kicked at a loose stone, and walked away. Maybe ten feet. Then she spun around and looked at me. “Somebody has been following me ever since I dropped you off this afternoon.”
“Following you?”
“I wasn’t going to mention it.”
“You weren’t going to tell me? Why not?”
“Because maybe it doesn’t concern you.”
“And maybe it does.”
“There’s always that.”
“What? Who?”
“A late model Cadillac.”
“Now you sound like James.”
“Please.”
“Same car? Or did they switch? Are you sure you’re being followed? I mean, maybe someone was just going the same way you were.”
“Skip, I know what it’s like to be followed. I’ve had several stalkers in my life.”
I thought about that for a moment.
“You know, you almost get used to it. Some guys think it’s their right to stalk a blond with a good figure. It happened in high school, it happened in college, and it happens now. It gets old, but I know when I’m being followed. I’ve been stared at, gawked at, ogled, and stalked. I know what it feels like, and I’m telling you with a great degree of certainty that I was being followed. No question about it, okay?”
I was working with the idea that other guys stalked her. How could I relate? “Because of us?”
“Two guys in their thirties, one black, one white.”
“What does it mean? You think they’re after you? Predators? They want to kidnap you?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest of what I wondered.
“Could be. But I think it has something to do with you and James.”
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know. I really wasn’t going to tell you about it. But I do have the license number.”
“Damn. You come back, and the first thing that happens is I involve you in — ”
“In what? You don’t even know what you’re involved in.”
I glanced over at the truck and James was watching us. The light from the sky had faded and he and Styles were standing by the truck, smoking cigarettes and apparently waiting for me to join them.
“So what are you, what are we going to do tonight?”
“Help Daron.” I didn’t want to tell her the rest.
“Help Daron what?” She knew something bad was coming. I could tell by the tone of her voice.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I never do. However, it seems we’ve piqued someone’s curiosity.”
“Piqued?”
“I’d like to know why someone is following me. And I’d like to know why someone is threatening you.”
“Well, we’ve got a plan.”
She was getting impatient. “Skip, what is it?”
“Break into Cashdollar’s office, go through Thomas LeRoy’s computer, his files, and see if we can find any evidence.”
“Jesus, Skip. You have lost your mind.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“W e’re not going to ‘break in.’ I mean, if we did breaking and entering, we’d do prison time.” Styles tugged on the brim of his hat, finally pushing it back on his head. It seemed to me that the hat was an extension of his personality, whatever personality he had.
“I believe you either said that or certainly insinuated it.” Making me look like an idiot in front of Em. To be fair, she already knew that.
“Listen, I understand what goes on back there. Usually, the security guy walks from midnight till maybe twelve thirty. That’s it. He doesn’t expect any trouble, he doesn’t get any trouble. I would guess that the security man on the rev’s office has never once — never once in all the time he’s been doing this revival meeting — had to deal with someone who tried to break into the trailer. No money is kept in there. That’s all taken to the bank and night deposited.”
“So what are you saying?” James tapped his cigarette, knocking off the ash. I wished I had something to smoke, but Em frowned on it.
We all stopped talking as three people walked up the path, talking in low voices, and smoking cigarettes. A female voice laughed out loud, and when they passed, Daron responded.
“Whoever is patrolling parades back and forth in front of the office for half an hour, then goes into the trailer, stretches out on the office sofa, and spends the rest of the night sleeping. The appearance is of tight security, but whoever is in charge just crashes, leaves the door unlocked. It only locks with the padlock from the outside.”
“You’re kidding.” I couldn’t believe things were that lax.
“I’m sure it hasn’t changed since the last time I was here.”
“So you’re suggesting — ”
“That we wait until he’s asleep, and we go in and see what we can find.”
I studied him in the dim light. He was serious. “So, that’s not a crime that will put us in prison?”
“Skipper, if the door is open, I consider it an invitation. If someone wakes up while we’re there, we leave. Tell him we were looking for Thomas LeRoy. Tell him we were looking for a rent receipt.”
“On LeRoy’s computer?”
“It makes no difference. Here’s a better idea. Have five hundred bucks on you and tell him you were going to drop it off on the desk for tomorrow’s payment. Hell, he can’t get mad if you were going to give them money.”
He had a point.
Em rolled her eyes. “Boys, you could go to jail for what you’re doing.”
“Could.” Daron smiled at her from under the brim of the hat. “Won’t.”
I realized I was dealing with a guy who walked out of airports with other people’s stuff. Under the eye of Homeland Security, the airport cops, the TSA, and probably two or three other security companies I don’t even know about. If anyone knew how to get away with shit, Daron Styles was the guy.
“I’m going down to play cards.” James dropped the cigarette on the gravel and ground out the hot tobacco with the heel of his shoe. “You guys can handle the rev’s trailer.”
Was everyone crazy except Em and me?
“Skip? You okay with this?”
“No.”
“We’ll get it done. Look at the big picture, amigo.”
“You’ve got money?” I thought I remembered giving him a stake. I still thought they would hand him his ass tonight, but there was no way to convince him. The game was fixed. I was sure of it.
“I’ve got enough, pard. I’ll come back with another five hundred.”
Daron shook his head. “They control the game, James.”
“Last night, I was hot.”
“You only win if they want you to.”
“Bullshit.”
Daron seemed to bristle. “Well, you live your fantasy. I’ve been in their games, and the full-timers don’t ever let you win unless they want you to. Stan does some pretty impressive card tricks.”
For the first time in my life I was impressed with Daron Styles.
James just smiled, flipped him the bird, turned, and walked down the path, whistling some tune. Whistling in the dark. The phrase was never more appropriate.
I wanted to say, “he’s always right.” But I didn’t. The truth is James thinks he’s invincible most of the time. And most of the time he is.
“It’s about ten thirty, Skipper. We’ve got a couple of hours to kill.”
I saw Em smile. I’m sure she was amused that Styles was calling me Skipper.
“So you think we can just walk into this trailer, and — ”
“If we want to get a look at what’s inside, that’s the way to do it”
Em was tapping her fingers on the truck bed. An irritating rhythm.
“Just how are you going to break into this computer? On top of having someone with a gun inside the trailer, it seems highly likely that there’s a code or password to get into the information you want.”