Like by Bart Hopkins

Author:Bart Hopkins [Hopkins, Bart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bart Hopkins
Published: 2014-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Rose and Mary Beth

Rose watched Mary Beth’s house. Even though she had on a brilliant disguise—sunglasses and a floppy hat—she felt conspicuous. Exposed and obvious. She almost expected a large, cartoonish arrow to appear over the car, flashing and blinking, pointing at her: in this car be the interloper.

But she didn’t know what else to do. So she sat. And she waited.

Summertime in central Texas could be unkind to native Texans, and cruel to the country’s northern born guests. The forecast called for a particularly oppressive high temperature that day. The kind of day you could scramble eggs on the pavement. She had no doubt the local tow trucks would be tugging overheated cars from the nearby highways throughout the day.

Even at 9:00 a.m., Rose felt sticky. She didn’t know how long she would be able to stake out the Connor house on a street devoid of trees and shade. The grass was green, and she could only imagine unprecedented daily watering—the Berlin Airlift of lawn watering—was necessary to offset the brutal effects of the sun.

The idea plagued her that a vehicle parked and running would arouse more suspicion than one sitting quietly. Then again, what the hell do I know, she thought. If it got too hot, she would run the air conditioner, precaution be damned.

She’d known immediately that she had the right house when she saw the SUV parked outside. It was the same one that the Connor family had climbed out of the previous night. Thanks to the all-knowing, all-reaching fingers of the Internet, the numbers on the outside only confirmed what she already knew.

Their street had a typical southern small-town name: Running Buck Lane.

Running Buck Lane, she mused. She’d chuckled about the name the night before, lying atop the itchy comforter on her hotel bed, the television running unwatched in the background. The laughter spilled out of her again as she stared at the street sign.

After the near-miss the night before, almost being busted outside of the art gallery, the adrenaline release had hit her like a sack of potatoes. She had slipped into what could most accurately be described as a coma. The sleep was deep and black; it was the best she’d had in weeks.

She hadn’t planned on eating anything, but the mouth-watering smells in the lobby changed her mind. Super sleuth that she was, she used her nose and located platters of bacon and eggs, cereals, and fruits in an alcove around the corner from the receptionist. She earned some of her hotel cost back during that breakfast.

Then she was off to find Mary Beth. Magnum P.I. without the mustache.

She arrived early. Within a few minutes of shutting down the engine, Tom departed for work in a late model pickup truck. She watched his vehicle approach her and prayed for invisibility. Tried to blend into her seat. Sat frozen, unmoving, eyes following the truck.

Nary a glance was cast her way when he rolled by sipping his thermos of coffee.

The first hour passed without much activity on Running Buck Lane.

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.