“I didn’t mean to cheer you up.” Andi shrugged. “You should know by now I’m incapable of it. I’m not even sure what I want to tell you.” He put the teacup into the holder between them. “I’m just kind of glad Icantell you about them. Strangely enough, it makes me feel better, because I’m no longer the only one who didn’t have anything to do with their demise who knows that they’re there. I still can’t get them out of there or start investigating, but we both are aware of them, and one day there might be a chance to find their murderer.”
George pondered those words for a while. On the surface they seemed as gloomy as his own thoughts. When he dove deeper, though, he could see what Andi meant. His partner had to carry so many dead people with him, people nobody knew about, people seemingly nobody missed or cared about. Telling George about them didn’t change their fate or the fact that they would probably never be found, but it sure took some of the burden from Andi’s shoulders. Knowing he could do such a wonderful thing for another person lifted George’s spirits considerably. Besides being able to actuallydosomething about it, providing solace seemed like a decent second prize. He opened his mouth to say something along those lines when movement at the entrance of the city hall caught his attention. He nudged Andi.
“I think he’s coming out.”
“Great.Finallysome action.”
“You’re the worst stakeout partner I’ve ever had.” George started the engine.
“I try to avoid them. They’retedious.” Andi emphasized the last word, reminding George of a whiny teenager who got stuck with too much homework. He watched as Castain threw his man purse onto the passenger seat before getting into the car himself. Since they had the tracker on him, they could keep a generous distance George wouldn’t have felt comfortable with otherwise. Just like every evening since they had started their stakeout, Castain drove directly to his townhouse in Grimball Gates, a gated community on Johns Island. It was as exclusive as James Island, where Andi lived, though the neighborhood had a more modern feel compared to the antebellum beauties in Stiles Point. Since it was protected by a security service, following Castain undetected was a little more difficult than usual. Because George had known the stakeout would take longer than just the day Andi seemed to have calculated, he had played with open cards and told the security at the gate—two former Marines, judging from their haircut and the way they held themselves—that they were suspecting illegal activities within the community but didn’t want to unduly alarm the residents without solid proof. Which was the truth, though heavily edited. Anyway, the two men had understood immediately and were now letting them through without hesitation.
Castain’s house was at a corner, which allowed them to park in the shadow of the house on the other side of the intersection. They had full view of Castain’s property without him being able to see them. Through his nightscope, George watched Castain entering through the front door. The lights on the ground floor went on and then off again ten minutes later. Instead, one of the windows on the second floor cast a pale glow onto the pristine lawn.
“I think he’s getting ready for bed.” George couldn’t keep the disappointment from his voice. Only seconds later, the light went out. George sighed. “I guess we call it a night.”
He reached for the ignition key, but Andi’s hand on his wrist stopped him. “No, wait. Just a little longer. The house isn’t settled yet.”
George looked at his partner. The little light coming from the nearby streetlamp illuminated just enough for George to see the lines of concentration on Andi’s face. Curiosity got the better of George. “What do you see?”
Andi’s eyes narrowed, and George was so sure he wouldn’t get an answer he actually flinched a little when Andi started speaking. It was in a strange monotone, as if he were reading something off a script only he could see.
“There’s mold under the kitchen sink which the silverfish love because it’s so wonderfully damp and there’s a cockroach running around, a female, heavy with eggs, if Castain isn’t careful he’s going to have a massive problem soon, there’s a few mosquitoes in his bedroom but they’re not happy, he’s not appetizing, a useless blob of meat, nothing more, and he’s moving too much the vibrations he’s sending out are disturbing the spiders, he’s tromping around, leaving the bedroom, trying to be silent but making it worse because he can’t see very well in the dark, he’s run into a wall, there’s pain in the air, the centipedes can feel it through their legs and it tastes sharp but with a promise of nourishment which excites the ants, there’s pheromones everywhere now, his blood is weak but enough of it will do, and he’s going down the stairs and to the back, opening the door and the moths fly up and he tramples the grass, shaking the cicadas and now he’s going toward the fence….”
“You mean he’s trying to escape? How did he find out we are following him?”
Andi flinched as if he’d been slapped in the face. “Man, I’m trying to concentrate here!”
“Sorry. It’s just….”
“I know. And he doesn’t have toknowwe’re following him to suspect it. The way he’s done things so far shows how careful he is. Luckily for us, he also seems to be greedy and too impatient to lie low for much longer.” Andi started opening the car door. “Also, we should start following him. I don’t think he’s going to go far, not with his condition, but we need to know what he’s planning.”
George copied Andi’s movements and pulled the balaclava over his face. The area was too well-lit for them to be sneaking around undetected, and the dark fabric provided at least some stealth. They both leaped over the low white fence onto Castain’s property, following him into the back garden while taking great pains to stay in the shadows. This was the part of the chase George usually enjoyed the most, when the prey was finally moving and adrenaline swamped his entire system. Under normal circumstances and with every other partner, he would be the one taking the lead, letting his inner predator come to the fore. In this case, he followed his partner, who didn’t have to see or hear their suspect to know where he was—an advantage they needed if they wanted to come close enough to listen in on any possible calls or secret meetings. They moved silently across the lawn, using the rhododendron as cover. When they neared the far end of the property, where the whitewashed brick wall shielded the garden from curious glances from passersby on the street, George watched as Castain grabbed some kind of ornamental fruit or flower—it was hard to see in the weak light from the street lamp and with the smaller light from the porch creating more shadows than illuminating the scene—and pulled it out. A hollow space appeared, into which Castain shoved something small, most likely a piece of paper. Then he put the fruit/flower back into place, spun around, and stalked back to his porch without a backward glance. George and Andi remained hidden in the shadows, waiting for the porch light to go out. It felt like an eternity, the blasted thing probably being on some kind of timer. Finally, there was a flicker and the shadows that had been cut out from the dark like the paper figures done by some giant child became one with the night again. Only the much softer edges from the streetlamp remained, helping them to see where they were going.
Andi cocked his head to the side, listening to his arthropod informants again. After a few moments, he moved forward, George trailing behind him. At the brick wall, Andi didn’t hesitate to remove the flower—now that he was close enough, George could identify it clearly—and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unrolled it, and George whipped out his phone to take a picture, their bodies shielding the flash from the house. Putting the paper back inside the hollow space and sneaking back to their car only took a few minutes.
Once inside, George pulled up the picture on his phone to stare at the combination of numbers and letters on the piece of paper. It was definitely some kind of code. Andi got his own phone out of his pocket.
“Can you send me the picture? So we both have it?”
George hit a few buttons. “Of course. It’s always better to have things backed up. Are you going to send this to Shireen?”
“Already on it.” Andi stared at the screen for a few heartbeats. “Now for the next question. Are we going to wait to see who’s picking up the instructions?” He didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it, and George had to suppress a smile, though he had to admit he wasn’t looking forward to spending the night in his car either. Strictly speaking, they had the information they needed, and this stakeout also wasn’t sanctioned, but on the other hand it could be vital to have as much additional evidence as possible should this case go before a judge. As tohowthey would enter said evidence without having plausible reason to even be at this place—that was a question for another day, preferably after a good night’s sleep and with at least one cup of coffee in his system. And yes, he was already thinking of Andi and him as a unit, which didn’t bother George as much as he would have thought.
“We’re already here. Might as well see what’s going to happen.”
Andi groaned. “I knew you’d say that. Fine. I take the first shift and you try to get some sleep.”
He grabbed the binoculars, then hesitated. “After you’ve parked the car someplace else. We can’t see shit from here.”
“Have I mentioned how much I love doing stakeouts with you?” George gave the sarcasm in his tone free range, having learned by now how much Andi liked it.
“Not yet, but I do appreciate the sentiment. Now move the car.” Andi’s tone was bone-dry, and it was too dark for George to see the little twitching of Andi’s mouth he was sure was taking place.
“As His Highness pleases.” The rumbling of the engine almost drowned out the snort he got.
Chapter 25—Digging Deeper
WAITING FORsomebody to pick up the paper Castain had hidden in his wall had proven to be an exercise in futility. Nobody had shown, so the dawning of the sun forced Andi and George to abandon their post and return to the precinct. Now Andi was valiantly trying to wake up with nothing but the help of some herbal tea and sheer willpower. George, on the other hand, looked almost chipper, though if it was from the caffeine in his second triple espresso mocha or if he had simply reached those hyper lands beyond exhaustion was anybody’s guess. Anyway, Andi had never felt deeper regret about not doing caffeine than on this particular morning. Luckily for them the chief wasn’t in her office, sparing them the scalding gazes she had started shooting them in the wake of their continued failure of not getting any further with the trafficking case. As far as Andi was concerned, he could live with the silent treatment, since it was so much easier to ignore than outright yelling. George didn’t like it as much, preferring a more direct confrontation over “pussyfooting around” as he called it.
