Chapter 6: A franc for your thoughts.

It took a little under an hour before I saw them driving up, but it was a beautiful sunny day, with only a slight breeze so I didn't mind the wait. And I think I needed that time just to run my plan through my mind again, to get clarity on it.

They must have spotted me sitting at the bus stop because the Mercedes, with Kim driving and Jen seated in the passenger seat pulled up and stopped directly in front of me.

Jen opened the car door and then after stepping out she pushed the seat back forward and scrambled into the back seat while saying, "Hi there good lookun'. Need a ride?"

The awkward maneuver Jen was forced to employ in order to crawl into the back seat caused her skirt to ride high up along her long, shapely legs giving me a delightful view of her well formed, nylon covered thighs.

I stared blatantly, "With legs like that I'd go with you even if you said we were going to a baby shower."

"A gentleman wouldn't stare," Jen laughed hoisting the hem of her skirt even farther up offering me a brief view of her shapely legs and panty covered crotch before pulling back the car seat so I could climb in.

"And when ever did I confess to being a gentleman?" I asked her getting into the car and then pulling the door shut behind me.

"It's implied." Jen answered.

"Don't drive off yet Kim." I asked Kim, then turning in my seat I placed both my hands on Jen's cheeks, drew her face to mine and kissed her squarely on the mouth. "I love you." I told her after backing away and releasing her. Then turning to my left I leaned across the console and kissed Kim on the lips in the same fashion as I had kissed Jen. "I love you." I told Kim and then I added; "Now you may drive on, James."

"So, did you guys come up with anything today?" Kim asked me as she pulled the car away from the bus stop, her beautiful blue eyes round and questioning.

"Yeah ... we did, so to speak." I answered in a spirit of scorn, instantly picturing that business card we had found and once again feeling the pain of my failure.

"That didn't sound so good. What is it?" Jen asked from the back seat.

Not looking directly at either of them I explained about the business card and how Dana had spotted the tan Ford parked inside the garage which gave us the location of Creepy's house.

"Well, you got him then. That's good, right?" Kim questioned excitedly.

"Yeah, that's great." Jen added.

"It's not quite that simple," I explained. "All we really have right now is some circumstantial evidence which we can't even use. There isn't any reasonable way for Dana or Candy to explain away how we located his house. Remember we only knew about Downey in the first place because I followed him there. And if I were to be placed on the witness stand to testify even the most abysmal of defense attorneys could easily discredit the testimony given by a drugged up, teenaged, dope dealer. Remember as far as the courts are concerned I'm Jimmy Maxwell not Sam Eldon. Not to mention how much trouble Dana and Candy would be in if it got out that they had allowed me to work with them."

"Couldn't Dana or Candy just say it was one of them that followed Creepy to his house?" Kim asked eagerly.

"Then one of them would have to be willing to commit perjury on the witness stand. That's not likely to happen." I answered.

"Candy lied on her police report about it being some prostitute that told her about seeing Creepy and Wanda going off together and not you." Jen pointed out.

"There's a big difference between fudging a little on a report and committing perjury on the witness stand where you've been sworn to tell the truth. Would you ask either of them to do that?" I asked with conviction.

"No." Jen answered.

"No, I guess not." Kim agreed.

"Gawd, why does everything have to be so complicated? So now what?" asked Jen.

"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk to you two about," I answered. "See, I'm betting that there's enough evidence buried inside that house to drop kick Creepy's ass smack dab inside cell number one on death row, but Dana can't get in there to find it without a search warrant, and she can't get a search warrant without having just cause. It's a real Catch 22."

"Okay..." Kim responded, but by the way she drew out the word I suspected she had surmised I had some sort of plan in mind and that she probably wouldn't like it.

I tried to sound as casual a possible when I said, "I haven't said anything to Dana or Candy about this ... but I was thinking I might break into his house, get some of that evidence and then put it where Dana and Candy will find it giving them enough cause to convince some judge to sign a search warrant."

"Sam! I can't believe you didn't say anything to Dana or Candy about this? How could you do that to them?" Jen exclaimed loudly almost directly into my ear because she had leaned forward.

"Hang on Jen," Kim said in a more composed voice while looking briefly at Jen through the rearview mirror, "Let's hear Sam out first. Okay Sam, so why didn't you say anything to Dana or Candy?"

"I was afraid their code of ethics would get in the way and Creepy might skip on us before they found a way to do it by the book."

"You call that a reason? Why any number of bad things could happen to you without Dana's or Candy's help. God Sam! What in the world are you thinking?" Jen questioned, and when I turned to look at her I saw that her eyes were malevolent, yet her face was pale with concern.

"I tend to agree with Jen, Sam," Kim offered in a subdued tone. "For one thing there's no telling just how dangerous this guy really is, beside the fact that if you do go off playing junior G-man all by yourself without informing Dana she'll really be PO'd, and rightly so I might add. I know I would be."