Secret Undertaking by Mark de Castrique

Author:Mark de Castrique [de Castrique, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781464210389
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, Inc.
Published: 2018-06-05T17:52:11+00:00

Waiting. Two hours of sitting in my jeep at a side road about fifty yards from the entrance to Arbor Ridge Estates, waiting for either Janet or Robert Sinclair to appear.

I’d changed from my uniform into jeans and a polo shirt, driven by the Sinclair ranch-style house, and recognized the silver Mercedes Janet had parked at the funeral home back in July. The sedan was in a double carport with a space vacant for a second vehicle. That was at nine o’clock and Robert must have already gone to work.

Now it was eleven and Janet hadn’t left and Robert hadn’t returned. I’d phoned Marge and asked her to run the Mercedes’ plate and see if that information led to the second vehicle. She discovered an Infiniti QX80 SUV registered to the same address. Both were leased by a company called Sinclairity Sales. I assumed Robert must have been a clothing rep who was basically self-employed and had set up a company structure for tax advantages. It might mean Archie’s plan could be easily implemented if a corporation already existed that could add the names of their former identities as officers.

For surveillance, Arbor Ridge Estates provided ideal conditions. It wasn’t a gated community and it had only one entrance. Unless I fell asleep, the Sinclairs couldn’t elude my tracking expertise.

At eleven-fifteen, the silver Mercedes turned onto Hendersonville Highway and headed for Gainesboro. I pulled out and quickly accelerated to the speed limit. Between the curves and rising and falling hills, the car was visible for only short periods. I trusted that as we neared town and traffic increased, I could move closer with less chance of being observed.

At the first stoplight, she made it through the yellow, while I got trapped by the red. Then a unibody truck turned on the road obscuring all sight of her. When the signal cycled to green, I could only cruise slowly and search for the Mercedes among the on-street parking and off-street lots. No sign of the woman. For all I knew she could have driven through town and gone to Asheville. I gave up and swung through the Bank of America branch parking lot, taking the shortest route to the funeral home. On the backside of the building, out of view from the street, I saw her getting into her car. She’d been in the bank. In her right hand she held a manila envelope that was fairly thick and could have contained documents, cash, or both. In those few seconds, I took close notice of her wardrobe—lightweight khaki slacks and a pink blouse. And I made a decision to drop the tail and let her go on about her business. My best move now lay inside the bank.

Across from the row of teller stations, three glass-enclosed offices offered private spaces for financial consultations. Two were occupied by bankers with customers. Cindy Todd, Fletcher’s fiancée, was in the third and alone.

She got up as she saw me approach and smiled broadly. “Barry, good to see you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.