Moth(14)

“A makeover.” She claps her hands together. “Awesome. When I’m done with you this brat over here,” she points. “She’ll be jealous I get all the credit.”

My stomach feels queasy. I’ve never been one to enjoy change, and this will make me unrecognizable. I’m not sure it’s going to be something I’ll ever gets used to.

Since I know it’s going to take this chick a while to make me presentable, I mess around on my phone, comparing calls between my brother and Windy. They’ve definitely been in contact with one another. Between eating at the same places and now the communication, I know they at least spent time together. He wasn’t just an acquaintance.

It takes the girl an hour to finish. When she finally spins me around to see what she’s done I’m dumbfounded. I don’t recognize the person looking back at me. It’s unbelievable. I pay her, including a hefty tip, and start to head out. Right before I reach the door I hear her calling me back in. “Hey, cutie.”

I turn and see her swaying around like an excited little child. “What can I do you for?” I say it like I’m at her service. It’s obvious she likes the man she’s uncovered under all that overgrown hair.

She hands me a business card. “I was hoping you’ll call me for your next appointment, or maybe for other reasons.”

I grin. It sucks I have to change my appearance to get women in these parts to see the good quality I have to offer, but at least I’m getting recognition.

“Yeah, maybe I will.”

I leave before I get sick of seeing her satisfaction from my statement. I’m not sure she’s my type, but I’ll keep her in mind in case I have to spend a lot of time here, but I won’t waste any of it by going back to the hotel. Instead I take the old truck to the parking lot where Windy works.

It’s almost closing time before she surfaces. She’s dressed to the nine today. Her heels are at least six inches high. I notice them as I’m following her sexy legs up to her short skirt. Her blouse has some kind of frilly lace on the front, and it makes me curious what kind of bra she could be sporting underneath. I snap out of my perverted fantasy to notice she’s on the phone with someone and the conversation seems to be heated. She’s red in the face and raising her voice. I’m not close enough to hear what she’s saying, and since I don’t want to be discovered, I decide to head out and wait to see if she resurfaces at her apartment. While doing that I make a few calls myself. It’s time I placed some bugs on little Windy. Something about her feels off.

I’m disappointed when she doesn’t go straight home. I take a drive by the campus and find her car in the parking lot. I wouldn’t call it lucky, but I locate a cell phone sitting in a cup holder. I don’t want to warrant suspicions so instead of telling the security guy who I am, I wait until he leaves to do rounds before searching for a slim jim in his little building. I’m taken back by the pungent smell of stale coffee as I enter. I keep my hand over my nose and search around. On the second shelf in a small closet I find a familiar type of kit. Since I’m not sure how long he’ll take, I only grab one tool and leave the rest in place.

I’ve used this kind of device plenty of times. In a matter of seconds I’m in her car. I pick up the phone and examine it, making sure it’s on before downloading a cloning app. Now I’ll be able to listen in on every single call she makes or receives.

When I know the cloning has worked, I place the phone back in the slot and exit the vehicle. I toss the slim jim near the security station and head back to my truck.

Windy appears after the sun has gone down. The lights in the parking lot aren’t that great, but are good enough she can see me across the way. I’m standing in front of the truck with the hood up, as if I’m having engine trouble. I start to cuss to grab her attention and see if she’ll bite.

“Shit! How am I going to get home now?” I say loudly.

I can hear her heels clanking against the concrete and peek to see if she’s actually buying it. “Excuse me, is everything okay?”

I close the hood and wipe my hands, even though I know they aren’t dirty. “No. I need to be at work in an hour and my truck won’t start. I work across town and my boss says if I’m late again I’m fired. If I lose my job I can’t pay my tuition.”

“Have you called?”

“Yeah. Right before my phone died.”

“Do you need to use mine?” She asks while pulling one out of her purse. It’s not the same phone that’s still sitting in her car. This is a huge red flag. Why would the girl need two identical looking phones? Now I know I’m onto something, I just don’t know what it is.

“No. I’m new around here. I haven’t exactly made many friends. There’s no one to call, and I sure as hell can’t pay for a tow.”

She crosses her arms and looks me up and down. “What’s your name?”

“Monty,” I lie. It’s a name I use with the DEA while doing field work. I can’t exactly tell people my real name for security purposes. “Monty Theroit, but my friends call me Moth.” I know only my team calls me that name. At first I’m testing her. I want to see her reaction to the name and see if it appears she recognizes it. When she doesn’t I continue. “What’s yours?”

“Windy. Lewis. Windy Lewis.”