Chapter 10: Collision Course

Peter put the car in park and looked around the small lot. He did not see Agatha’s car, but he knew she oftentimes walked to the coffee house. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Her call certainly did not seem like a booty call, and even if it was, she knew the agreement he signed with his wife would prevent him from being with her again.

He opened his door and walked into the shop. When he entered he heard Agatha call out, a little louder than needed.

“Peter? I haven’t seen you ages. How are you doing?”

Peter was taken by surprise and did not understand the subterfuge but played along.

“Hey, Agatha! Yeah, it’s been a while. How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” she said, “go get a drink and join me.”

He ordered a coffee and waited for it to be made before heading to Agatha’s table. He sat and took a sip, letting Agatha take the lead.

She smiled brightly and said, “So how are you? It’s been a few months.”

He gave a brief recount of their trips: a weekend at the water park, a Disney cruise, and then the week in Vegas. When Agatha did not ask about the sex he knew something was fishy. He continued to play along.

“And you? How have you been?”

She gave an equally brief and benign recounting of her past few months. When a man at a nearby table got up for a refill she leaned into Peter and said quickly, “We need to talk for real, but you are being followed. That man,” she nodded her head toward the stranger getting a refill, “is following you.”

Peter started to turn his head when Agatha hissed, “Don’t look.”

He snapped his head back in her direction.

“How do you know? What’s going on?” he protested.

“Trust me,” she stressed. “Quickly, what is your address? Do you have a fence? Can I get into the backyard?”

He quoted his address, then added, “Yes, there is a fence but it is not locked.”

“Perfect. Get a refill and take your time. When you get home take a drink outside and sit for fifteen minutes. When you enter I’ll be right behind you. If there is a chance the man is trying to look through windows, make sure all of the drapes are closed. If I am seen at your house you are fucked.”

The man sat at his table and turned his gaze back to his phone.

“It was so great catching up,” Agatha said loudly as she stood. “Hopefully, it’s not so long before we see each other again.”

“Yeah, you, too,” said Peter with as much normality as he could muster.

He followed Agatha’s instructions and got a refill and took his time sipping it. The stranger stayed in his seat, apparently reading something on his phone.

Twenty minutes later Peter stood and took his cup to the trash. As he left he watched the reflection in the door. The stranger rose and followed him out of the coffee house. Panic started to ebb at Peter’s consciousness. He wanted to turn and call out the man. Ask him why he was being followed? Instead, he walked as calmly as he could to his car and headed home.

All the way home he watched his rear view mirror. The stranger was clearly following him, matching his speed and lane changes all the way to the house. As Peter approached, he saw the man pull into a drive way and do a u-turn. For a second, he thought he may have been mistaken. However, by the time he got out of his car and clicked the panel to close the garage door he saw the stranger’s car roll past the front of his house.

Peter entered the house and leaned against the door. He breathed deeply as a million thoughts raced through his mind. He first went into his bedroom and got a cigar. It was a small one that only took twenty minutes to smoke. As he went to the kitchen he checked the windows. All of the blinds were closed. He took a bottle of tequila and a glass off the cabinet. He put water in the glass. He didn’t know if his stomach could tolerate the booze at this point but he wanted it to look real.

Outside, he tried to look for Agatha.

“Just sit! Act normal,” she spat from a hidden location.

Peter sat in a lounge chair and opened his cigar. He sipped the water from his tequila glass and smoked. He was starting to feel normal when he heard a loud crack from behind the fence. He thought he saw a head duck below the fence line, and then he saw a shadow walking quickly down the street. He started to panic again as he wondered if the stranger was watching him in his own backyard.

“OK, put that out and let’s get inside,” said Agatha.

Peter dropped the cigar into his water and left the cup and tequila bottle on the table next to his chair. He rose and went to the door. As soon as he reached for it he saw Agatha, dressed in all black, slip from behind a cart holding potted plants and shoot through the door opening before he entered.

The first thing she said was, “Why did you leave the tequila outside?”

He grinned. Whatever was going on did not seem to have an effect on Agatha.

“That was actually the tequila I use in mixes. I have a sipping one if that would work?”

“Fuck yeah, pour me a double.”

Even though the windows, blinds, and drapes were closed, Agatha stayed well out of any possible eye line. She watched Peter pour two drinks then readily accepted the glass when offered, downing a large portion on the first swallow.

“Now it’s your turn, what the fuck is going on?” Peter said.

Agatha drained the rest of her glass and shivered as the alcohol burned a path down her throat.

“Whisper,” she said quietly. “Just in case. Do you have a walk-in closet in the master bedroom? Someplace we can talk with no chance of being heard?”

Peter nodded. She turned and headed into the house, guessing the direction of the bedroom.

As she passed the bed she took pillows.

“To sit on,” she said as she carried them into the closet.

They propped pillows against opposite walls and sat eyeing each other for a minute.

“Not that I expected to see you again, but if so, I would have put a clandestine meeting in my closet at the bottom of the list,” Peter said.

Agatha smiled. “Me, too, but I’ve gotta do what’s right.”

She took her phone out of her pocket. Before she looked at it she said, “How are you and Brandi doing?”