“$29.99. Plus tax.”
I handed him two twenties. “Keep the change.”
He looked at the money, then at me. “You really didn’t need to come here, you know. If Jacquie wants to know something, she should just ask me.”
“I’ll pass that along,” I said, since there didn’t seem to be much point in maintaining the fiction.
He nodded. “You do that.” He pocketed the cash and walked away without another word.
I drove off, out the open back of the bay and through the parking lot, feeling his attention on me until I turned onto Charlotte Avenue and disappeared into traffic.
* * *
By the time I got back to the office, I had formulated Plan B. Plan A had been stealth and subtlety. Plan B was Zachary.
He looked up from the sofa when I walked in, his face hopeful. “How’d it go?”
“He made me,” I said flatly. “Two minutes in.”
Rachel’s head popped up from behind her computer screen. “He recognized you?”
“Immediately. And then he accused me of spying on him, which, to be fair, I was.” I dropped my purse on the desk. “So much for my career as a covert operative.”
“At least you got an oil change out of it,” Zachary offered.
“There is that.” I eyed him. “How do you feel about spending the afternoon in a Taco Bell parking lot?”
His eyes lit up. “Seriously?”
“The Body Shop is right across the street from a Taco Bell. You can park there and keep an eye on the place. Nick’s never seen you before, and even if he notices your car, he won’t connect it to me.”
It wasn’t the kind of vehicle I would want to be caught dead in.
But Zachary drove the sort of ancient beater that a twenty-year-old kid who worked a fast-food job would probably drive, so if the car stayed there for the next six to eight hours, hopefully Nick would just think its owner was inside working the dayshift.
Zachary looked like all this dreams—or most of them—had come true at once. I’ve never met anyone so excited about the prospect of spending the next half a day in his car. “What am I looking for?”
“Nick Costanza,” I said. “You were here yesterday, weren’t you? I could have sworn I saw you.”
Zach blinked, and I sighed.
“Nick is the tall, dark, good-looking guy in grease-covered overalls. You really can’t mistake him for anyone else, but he’s a few years older than you, Jacquie’s age, with black hair, brown eyes, olive skin. There’s also the blonde who works in the office. Jeans, navy polo with the Body Shop logo on it. Ponytail. I assume she is who Jacquie was talking about. She’s the only woman I saw there, and she spoke to Nick, and touched his arm, so it’s probably her.”
Zachary nodded. He was drifting slowly away from my desk and towards the door, one slow step at a time. By the time I had finished briefing him, he’d be ready to cut and go.
“Watch how they interact,” I told him. “See if they leave together at lunch, or after work. And not just them, but Nick and anyone else, as well. Especially women. If he goes anywhere with anyone, follow them. If he goes anywhere by himself, follow him then, too. And try not to get made as quickly as I was.”
“I won’t,” Zachary promised. He had his keys in his hand and the other on the doorknob.
“Call me if anything happens. Even if it seems like nothing.”
“Got it.” He was halfway out the door when Edwina realized what was happening. She scrambled to her feet, tail wagging frantically, and trotted towards him.
“No, Edwina,” I said firmly.
Zachary looked down at the dog, who gazed up at him with heartbroken bug eyes. “Sorry, girl. This is a solo mission.”
Edwina gave an outraged bark as he slipped out the door. When it closed behind him, she turned to me with an expression of pure betrayal, then stalked over to her bed and flopped down with a dramatic sigh, her back to me.
