Dirty Thief
“We… didn’t already do that?” André’s voice is quiet. I don’t bother to answer.
“I’ll take care of it,” I say, rising from my chair.
“Wait,” Cal calls out, stopping me. “Considering all the things you said earlier, I think you were right to hold off on telling them.” He turns to Freddie. “We can do a watch tonight, and if we lose him, how long would it take to get police on the scene? Five, ten minutes?”
“Monagasco is so small, it probably wouldn’t even take that long,” Freddie says.
My brother looks up at me. “I say we give it one more night.”
I look to the clock over the mantle. It’s after four. “The first murder occurred sometime around now?”
“Police placed the first murder sometime between five and seven p.m.,” Freddie answers me.
“Freddie, you need to be where you can have clear communication with all of us—either here or at a central location in town.”
“Here is good.” He places his phone beside the laptop on the table.
“Cal, you, André, and I will triangulate around the Monte Cristo. We’ll cover all the entrances and exits. Whatever happens, don’t let him out of your sight. If he moves tonight, we can’t lose him.”
* * *
A light drizzle starts after nine o’clock. I’m sitting in a black Mini Cooper around the corner from the hotel with a driver’s cap pulled low on my head. The overcast sky and rain makes the night even darker, and as far as I can tell, no one is going anywhere this evening.
“Should we call it?” Cal is in my ear, and I look at the beads on the windshield. “Nobody is coming in or out of this hotel tonight.”
“Let’s watch until midnight,” I say, not entirely ready to give up. “If something were to happen, it would be on a night when no one is around.”
We all go quiet again. “I moved under an awning,” André says, breaking the silence. “I still have visual on the back entrance, but the alley is blocked.”
Anger burns in my chest. “Return to your original position at once,” I bark. “We can’t have a blind spot.”
Sounds of movement are in our ears. “It was raining hard, and… Oh!” We all snap to attention. More sounds of movement, something like running comes over the wire.
“André?” Cal says cautiously. “André, check in.”
Still nothing, only sounds of… a struggle? My chest is tight, but we haven’t heard the noise of voices, a gunshot, or even fighting.
Freddie is on the line now. “What’s happening out there?”
I answer him. “What are you seeing, Freddie? We’ve lost contact with André.”
“Subject is moving. His phone went out of range, but the bug is on. He left the hotel moving fast, but since it’s raining, he must be wearing his jacket.”
My relief is short-lived when Cal reports back. “He didn’t come this way,” my brother says.
“I didn’t see him,” I confirm. That means one thing. “One of us has to check on André. The other has to follow the bug.”
“You go,” Cal says. “You’ve got the car, and I’m closer to where André went missing.”
“Ten-four. Freddie, tell me where to go.” I’m putting the keys in the ignition when he stops me.
“You’d probably do better on foot. He seems to be headed northeast on Princess Avenue. He’s working his way through pedestrian areas, so he must be on foot as well.”
Pulling my cap down and the collar of my overcoat up, I’m out of the car and hitting the lock as I take off down the sidewalk. The streets are deserted, and the cobblestones glisten with the rain. The night smells like gasoline and metal. The few cafés that are still open have only a few patrons crowded around the bars. No one is looking out the windows or watching who might be chasing whom on a dark, rainy night.
“You’re getting close to him. You might want to slow down and allow some space.”
I glance up, side to side, down the alley, but I don’t see anyone on the streets near or around me. Still, I turn to face the wall and hunch my shoulders, pulling my collar up higher against the drizzle. A black cat trots by, and I step forward, straining my ears for footsteps and waiting for more information.