I’m leaning as far back in my seat as I can, watching as Raide walks toward a large apartment building. I’ve been following him for the past two days. Using the resources provided by the company, I’ve managed to find his location. I had to follow him from a nearby coffee shop and around the block a few times, but we’re finally at an apartment now. I don’t think it’s his, but still. It’s obviously the home of someone he knows.
I’m in my car, sitting outside the large complex. He hasn’t noticed me, thank God. Fortunately I’m better at the stakeout business than at the art of seduction. Still, it’s not exactly fun. I peer through the windshield, watching him take a phone call. He stops before he enters the gate, and I can see that whoever is on the line is making him angry, because his entire body is rigid, and damn, his jaw is tight. Plus he’s waving a hand around like a conductor who can’t quite control his orchestra.
My phone vibrates and I jump. I find it and press it to my ear, whispering, “Hello?”
“Gracie?” It’s Vance.
“Vance.”
“Why are you whispering?” he whispers back at me.
“I’m on a stakeout.”
He chuckles. “A stakeout?”
“Yes, Vance, a stakeout. I’m trying to find where Raide hangs out so I can get my plan into action.”
“You do know I could just come and take him in, right?”
I frown. “Yeah, and if that doesn’t work, he runs and I blow my only chance. This is my case, and I have a few months to get him in. I’m going to do it right. Don’t spoil my big chance—”
He sighs. “You know I wouldn’t, Gracie. But a stakeout—”
“What?”
“You’re not a cop.”
I scowl. “So?”
“I thought you were going to seduce him.”
I don’t know how to make Vance understand what I’ve already discovered. That a man like Raide is not just going to let me seduce him. He enjoys playing games with me. I need to know his movements. I need to know all of this so I can follow him, and just so happen to pop up in the places he frequents. Then when I get my opportunity and he’s not suspecting it, I’ll take him down.
“Because he’s a smart man, and I may or may not have told him girls like me don’t go for men like him.”
Vance chuckles. “That makes your game a whole lot harder.”
I huff, still keeping my eye on Raide, who is still waving his hands around in the air, yelling at someone on the phone. “I’d use my legs, but it appears Raide isn’t interested. I’m going to have to up my game.”
Vance is silent. Then he warns, “Be careful with this, Grace.” Grace. Someone is getting serious.
“I can do this, Vance.”
He sighs, long and deep. “All right, well, I was just calling to check how you are. You coming into work tomorrow?”
“Yep, see you then.”
“Later.”
He hangs up and I continue to watch Raide for a while. He finally disappears inside but I’m still guessing the apartment isn’t his. He wouldn’t be renting, because that would make it too easy to track him down. I wonder who lives there. I write down the address and then decide to wait a little longer. If I can catch him going to a bar or somewhere more public, this will be far easier.
I can hardly go and knock on the front door.
I wait for three hours. Jesus. How do cops do this? It is boring as all hell. I decide I’ll give it another hour, but I’m desperate for a coffee. I glance with longing at the coffee shop on the corner. I could run over and get one, right? He wouldn’t notice me, he’s inside the apartment complex. Deciding that’s exactly what I’m going to do, I get out of the car and run across the road, toward the coffee shop.
I quickly order a latte and grab a big chocolate cupcake, then I head back out toward my car. I’ve just stepped outside when I see Raide coming out of the apartment. Holy Mother. He’s turning my way. Without thinking, I launch myself into the bushes beside the coffee shop. I land with a thump, and my coffee explodes everywhere. “Motherfucker,” I hiss, desperately patting at my skirt as the hot liquid sinks in and burns my legs.
I shuffle backwards when footsteps near. I hear Raide’s voice; he’s on the phone again. “Yeah,” he mutters. “I’m hearing you, but he wasn’t there. I waited. Nothing. You gave me false information. I thought you were supposed to be good at this?”
Silence now, and Raide stops right beside the bush I’m hiding pathetically behind. I hold my breath and try not to move. It really wouldn’t look good if he found me like this. I close my eyes. I hope my cupcake is okay. Dammit, I really wanted it.
“Yeah, well, you got twenty-four hours to get me a new location.”
Then he obviously hangs up, because his footsteps pick up and he disappears. An interesting conversation indeed. I wait a few moments and then stand, shuffling out of the bushes.
“Are you okay?”
I squeal and spin around to see an elderly man staring at me.
“What are you doing in the bushes?”
“Ah, I had an emergency … of a personal nature.”
He narrows his eyes.
“Bladder problems—they happen to the best of us!”
Then I give him a lame wave and run across the road to my car. When I get back into my car, I drop my head onto the wheel and exhale loudly.
This isn’t going well.
*
“How’s the case going, Grace?” Don asks when I arrive at the office the next morning.