Chapter 6

After Lisa left I went out to breakfast. It was back to the southern style diner for me. I could eat what I wanted and the waitress already knew I was nuts.

"So?" Liam asked. "How did it go last night?"

"You should know I got the job done," I said.

"Yes but how do you feel about you this morning?" he asked.

"I don't know I haven't stopped to think about it. I just reacted to her and kind of went along. I don't think going along makes me a lesbian or even bisexual."

"Oh what do you call it then?" Liam asked.

"I call it going along to get the job done," I said with a smile.

"Well you don't want that shit on your computer not even the one with no hard drive. You need to dead drop that flash drive physically," he suggested.

"I'm going to arrange that after a healthy dose of animal fat," I said.

"Your friend talking to you again?" the black lady asked.

"Yeah the horny old bastard won't leave me alone," I said.

"Just like a man," she said. "So what'll it be?"

"Eggs and grits I think some of those link sausages as well," I said.

"Oh big night last night was it?" she asked not expecting an answer.

After breakfast I rode the small bike back to the apartment. I rolled it upstairs and into the living room. I leaned it against the wall like a piece of sculpture. If anyone objected I decided I would call it sculpture.

I used the no hard drive computer to draft an email. My email read. 'Dear Lois. I think I need to take a package to the post office this morning but I need to look up the address and operating times.' I left it as a draft before I collected my clothes for the shower. The clothes were a pair of black cotton panties and a bra.

After my shower I didn't dress, instead I checked the mail. I had a reply.

Dear Lois

I decided to take the package to the post office at the corner of Burch and Smith Streets at 1 PM today.

So on my way to work I was going to make a stop at McDonald's for a cookie and coffee. The cookie bag would contain the flash drive when I dumped it in the trashcan at the corner of Burch and Smith Streets.

I completed that task at exactly 1 PM, then drove to a city park near there to drink my coffee and watch a softball team play. It was an industrial league team, a southern tradition dating back to the 1930's at least. It was sponsored by the different industries back then. On the day I sat there it was more a community center thing. Since it was during the week it was more a game for retired old men. There was housewives league that played there as well.

I sat with an old black man and watched the game. He made a comment and I began to see what he meant about the team that won made the least mistakes. Unlike real softball games there was more than a few mistakes. Also more than a few aches and pains I was sure.

"You know what they need?" I asked the older black man.

"No what do they need?" he asked in reply.

"To get a bus, go to a nursing home so that they could bring in some cheer leaders," I suggested and laughed.

"Oh Lord that would be a sight," he replied.

"Yes but it would be fitting," I said.

"You know you got some good ideas. You should work for one of these community centers," he said.

"Or maybe one of those cruise ships," I suggested with another laugh. "Well I got to go to work. See you again."

"You might I'm here most days," he said.

"That was a nice thing you did?" Liam said.

"If someone told you I wasn't nice they were lying," I said. "Time to get to work. I can see how this new thermos works." I left the parking lot and headed to the nearest fast food. I got one large and one small coffee. I pulled to a parking spot in their lot to fill the thermos. When I left the lot the thermos was full of really bad coffee. Since there were a few ounces left over I drank it as I drove. It was truly awful coffee.

"Stonebridge, how did you beat me to the office?" I asked.

"I had a couple of errands to run and got finished a little early. So tell me how is Lisa?" he asked.

"How do you mean that?" I asked.

"Well I saw the looks you two were sharing," he said, "So now it's time to fess up to it."

"Nothing to fess up to. Lisa helped us get a leg up on the investigation. That is if the pictures helped the Detectives," I said.

"Oh they helped okay, but you know that isn't what I meant. Is she as hot a number as she appears to be?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. She is a nice enough lady and we shared a glass of wine after work. You might remember I shared a beer with you and no one asked how you were," I informed him.

"Okay, I get it you don't kiss and tell. I'll just let my imagination fill in the blanks," he suggested.

"Whatever you imagine it won't be near enough," I said and winked at Pete the Geek who smiled. I put the original files from the night before into an evidence bag and sealed it. The copies of the files had been hand carried to the detectives the night before. All that being verified I had cleared the decks for a new night.

"After tonight there is one more then a two day break before we begin the dreaded midnight shift," Stonebridge said.

"Oh what is that all about," I asked.

"Midnight shifts are spooky. Things come out of the dark when you work crime scenes," he suggested.

"Sounds like a bad song to me," I admitted.

"I have wrecked two of those SUVs or maybe it was the same one twice. Things just jump out at me at night," Stonebridge lamented.

"Or you fell asleep at the wheel," Pete said on his way to the door. He was off and headed god knows where.

"Stonebridge I know you are single, I mean that is obvious, but what about Pete?" I asked.

"He is working on this third wife," he said. "This one is probably going to stick. They have been together ten years. If you make it that long after a divorce it usually means it's a go."

"Who the hell told you that?" I asked.

"I think it was Dr. Phil. It was one of those TV shrinks anyway," he said.

"You watch that shit. No wonder you don't have a girl. If you listen to their advice you never will have," I suggested.

"Well you know if I was drop dead gorgeous like you maybe I would at least be having fun," he said.

"What in the world makes you think my life is fun?" I asked with a laugh.

"Lisa. The Lisa," he replied.

"I am not joining you in this warped fantasy so stop asking," I said.

"So I know we got Pete, the real Crime Scene Supervisor, and Fat Howard the Department Director. Who are the others?" I asked.

"Martin who is working midnights this week and Louise who is off right now."

"Oh why haven't I met Martin?" I asked.

"You have only been on shift three days and we were out when he started his shift. It happens quite often on the 3P and the 12A overlap. You will probably meet him tonight," Stonebridge said to me.

He was right. The night was so dull that we only rolled once. We got to a gang fight about 9 PM but it was all over. I took lots of shots of the crowd while Stonebridge talked to the Patrol Lieutenant. After he returned I followed Stonebridge around while he collected weapons. I also took photos of blood spots and their relationship to the scene. It was a busy time for me but it ended just before 11 PM.

"I was packing my camera case away when Martin, a man probably forty five or so, entered the lab communal area. He had two cups of coffee in his hand. "Someone told me you liked good coffee," he said. "I'm Martin by the way."

"Well hello Martin, and thanks for the coffee. I didn't get a chance to refill my thermos," I said.

"Nada, so how you liking our little coal mine," he said.

"Well I have done worse things to stay alive," I said playing along. Martin wanted to be a tough guy, I decided instantly. Sometimes I did that and was very wrong but most of the time I pegged them pretty good. It might have been because he looked like a gym rat that I thought that as well.

"So what you do when you ain't making pictures?" he asked.

"During my spare time, I am an international spy. What about you?" I asked.

"Oh I hunt, fish, or work out at the gym. Mostly I do work around the house this time of the year," he said.

"Yeah, I heard you were a henpecked husband," I said with a smile.

"Not much chance of that," he said with a laugh. He at least could take a joke. Some of the imaginary tough guys I met in the wholesale pharmaceutical business wanted to slap a woman for questioning his masculinity. Of course those were the kind you found in jail or a ditch, not a cop house.

"So how is that new wife," I asked.

"She isn't so new," he replied.

"My ex used to say 'better than nothing' when he was asked how I was," I added with a laugh.

"Now that is cold," Martin said.

"Well it's time we get out of here," Stonebridge said to rescue me.

"Yeah, I got a date with Stonebridge. See you around Martin," I said. On the way to the car I thought that there wasn't much chance I was going to get Martin's laptop or cell phone. I still wanted to get something on him. I could swipe his wallet, then clone the magnetic strip off his bank card. That would give the Camp Geek something to work with.

Using my laptop in the car I put an email into the draft folder requesting a credit card swipe device. If I got caught with it there was a good chance the controller would let me take the heat. So once I used it, I was going to immediately dead drop it all. I did not want to be caught with the tools to clone credit cards.

I went to Heidi's for a drink before I went home. I left the cop bar alone by choice. I did have several offers but what would I expect from a sausage cop bar. When I got home my email had an answer to Lisa. She appeared clean at first glance so I was told not to waste anymore time with her. The implication was that she had lots of girl on girl porn and the controller was afraid I would find her too interesting and forget my mission.

There was also a set of instruction for using the card magnetic strip copier. It was simple all I had to do was get the card and slide it through the jaws of the reader. The real work would be from the Camp Geek when he got the codes.

My problem was getting hold of his wallet. At the rate I was moving I would be through with the assignment rather quickly. But the downside was that I wasn't any closer to establishing a connection between the cases than I had been when I first arrived. It wouldn't matter. I was in that place just to collect information. If the powers that be couldn't make a case, it just wasn't my problem.

My problem was how to get Martin's credit card and keep Lisa off my ass. Literally off my ass, I might add. She had hinted she wanted to own my ass which usually meant use it. Not something I looked forward to even in the old days.

Then there was Louise she was another Crime Scene Supervisor. She would have to be checked out as well. I knew nothing about her. I realized I should have asked Stonebridge about her personal life. I would meet her in a few days and could ask her myself no doubt.

I went to sleep with the knowledge that tomorrow there would be a dead drop before my last night on swing shifts. I would have about four hours from the time my cycling ended till my shift started to pick up the reader and hide it.

The draft Email was on my computer when I returned from breakfast. I had thirty minutes to shower and get to the Red Dot grocery store. In the parking lot I was to park beside a van with the license number KYE321. When I saw a fifty year old woman begin to unload her groceries I was to take the buggy from her and head for the store. Inside the buggy I would find a plastic grocery bag with the reader inside. I was to go into the store and buy something. It didn't matter at all what I bought.

I did as I was instructed and found the reader to be nothing more than a box with a card swipe sitting on top of it. I went from the parking lot to the store and then to the Police Station. Since I couldn't go home it limited what I could buy. I took a chance and bought a fruit salad for dinner.