When four fifteen rolls around, I snort the contents of a couple capsules, put them back together, and drop them in the pill container. I check myself out in the rearview mirror just in case a bit of that white powder is stuck around my nostrils or the whiskers of my upper lip. I’m clean. Don’t know why I thought otherwise. I’ve been doing this long enough that I’m damn good at hiding it, but the routine checks have become habit.
It’s a busy Friday, so more than a few cars roll by, but I don’t see the one I’m looking for. Then, as if right on cue, I see a shiny black Lexus occupied by a black male roll up to the stop sign at Wisconsin and Water.
I recline myself a bit and look through small binos cupped between my hands. He fits the description Justine gave me. He’s looking around, obviously trying to spot her. A car behind him honks. It seems to startle him, and he makes a right turn, heading in my direction. I slide down further below the window, but stay up just enough so I can clock him driving by. I sit up and look over my shoulder as he makes a quick U-turn about a half a block down. I scoot down again as he slowly passes my car and pulls to the curb near the intersection in an illegal spot five cars ahead of me. I have to look around the parked cars, so I only get a glimpse of his vehicle. But that’s all I need.
He’s got his hazard lights on; it looks like he’s giving my fictional Tamie a little more time.
Sweet Tamie. She’s worth every bill. And there were a couple hundred of ’em.
I start my car up.
It’s almost four forty.
The undercover cell in the center console rings. I take it out. It’s Playboy trying to call Tamie. It rings through to voicemail. I wait for it, but he doesn’t leave one. It rings a second time. Again, no message. He rolls out a couple seconds after that call attempt and makes a left on to Wisconsin. I quickly maneuver my way out and follow.
By the time I turn onto Wisconsin he’s almost at the canal. Another car makes a left turn onto Wisconsin from Grace, cutting in front of me. That’s a good thing. Now I’m two cars behind him and that makes for better cover. I cross over the canal and notice that he hit the red light at M Street, but it looks like he’s staying on Wisconsin. The undercover phone rings a third time. Boy’s sprung, he won’t give up on her. I pull to the curb just before the cut that leads to Blues Alley and wait for another car to pass me before I continue to follow him. I change to his lane, but stay two cars behind.
The light turns green and he continues traveling north on Wisconsin. It’s getting pretty congested, everyone making their way home early on a Friday. We get caught up in crawling traffic before we hit N Street. I’m still two cars behind.
Traffic clears after the signal. He merges into the left lane and takes a right on Q Street. No more calls on the cell. I think he’s given up at this point. I take the right on Q, but slow down to let him get far enough ahead of me so he won’t notice my car. If he sees it once I’d better make sure he doesn’t see it twice or I’m done, especially if it’s going to be a long tail and a possible surveillance afterward. Tailing someone with just one vehicle is tough. You gotta have a minimum of three cars to do it right. I’ve had a lot of practice, so I’m still pretty confident in my skills.
I allow another car to pull out of a parking space and get in front of me, then hope he travels at a decent speed so Playboy doesn’t get too far ahead.
He makes a left on 23rd, crosses Massachusetts Avenue, bearing right onto Florida, headed toward Adams Morgan. Hits a signal at 18th Street and puts on his left-turn blinker, but once the signal turns, instead of heading north on 18th, he crosses it and bears left to stay on Florida. He hangs another and I can see the Third District station on the right. A couple of marked units are parked half a block up.
At this point I’m fairly confident where he might be headed. If it were the area of 16th and Park, where José and his boys used to hang, then he probably would have continued east on Florida to 16th and made that right. Traveling this direction, I’m guessing he’ll be headed in the vicinity of 17th and Euclid.
I’m almost a block behind him when he hits Kalorama. The boy’s good about obeying the traffic laws. He makes a full stop. By the time I get across Kalorama he’s got his right-turn signal on for Euclid Street. I speed up a bit so I can catch up, but hang back when I notice he’s moving slower, like he’s checking out his ’hood. I double-park on Euclid at the intersection with Ontario and watch him make a left on 17th. I continue slowly and notice him park along the curb on the east side just a few feet from the intersection. Halfway down the block I double-park again. A couple of cars pass me on the left, having to merge into the other lane.