Until We Meet Again(55)
But just then, the girls rise conspicuously from their table
and glide out to the veranda. A moment before they go, the tall, dark-eyed girl, the beauty of the group, glances over her
shoulder with a challenging look directed at me, raising her
eyebrow with a smirk. Then they breeze out.
Charles punches me in the arm. “What’s the big idea, Lon?
Isn’t one dame enough for you?”
“Don’t blame me, Charlie boy. My mama gave me these good
looks. I didn’t ask for them.”
He harrumphs and then taps the bar. “Another of these,” he
says to the bartender. “And make it a double.”
“A little early to get bent, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m carpe-ing the diem.”
I put my arm around his shoulder and pull him away from
the bar. “Sounds good, only I need you to help me carpe it in
another way.”
“Whad’ya have in mind?”
“How does a little Grade A spying sound to you?”
A grin pricks at Charles’s mouth. “Why, Lonnie, you old
rascal. What are you up to?”
“You’ll see.”
We drive along the coast, Charles gabbing my ear off about
the latest girl he’s going to woo. I try my best to be myself,
but my hands are clammy on the steering wheel. I can see my
act isn’t working well. And as I pull into the grummier part of
town, Charles’s suspicions seem fully stoked.
“Say, where are we?”
I try to appear casual. “Cape Row.”
Charles turns a sharp look to me. “Cape Row? What do you
have in mind, Lon? Getting us killed for sport?”
“I already told you what I have in mind,” I say. “A little spying.”
“Spying on whom?”
“No one you know. Just some fella who works with my uncle.”
Charles frowns. “Sounds dull. Don’t tell me we’re on some
business errand for Ned.”
“Not exactly.”
I almost drive past the old warehouse, but then I recognize
the strange design on the rusted side wall and slam on the
brakes. It’s the same design I saw on those red-stamped letters
from Cooper Enterprises. My insides are flipping around like
a fish out of water.
“This is it.” Hands shaking, I pull my car behind a large
pile of weathered crates and park. Charles eyes me quietly
for a moment and then folds his arms across his chest with
a grimace.
“All right. You gotta tell me what’s going. For cryin’ out loud,
Lon, you look like you’ve seen the Grim Reaper.”
He has no idea how accurate he is. “You could say that.”
His expression is serious. “Tell me.”
I take a slow breath. I know I can’t tell him everything, but I
suppose it would be nice to share this burden with at least one
other person.
“It’s hard to explain. I think my uncle might be mixing with
the wrong sort of people. And I think it could cause trouble.
Serious trouble. Danger, even.”
Charles scratches the back of his neck. “Jeepers.”
I nod grimly. “Come on. I want to investigate this place.”
“You sure it’s safe?” Charles asks, eyeing the ominouslooking warehouse.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s reassuring, Lon. Thanks.”
I climb out of the car and he follows, sticking close behind me.
The warehouse to Cooper Enterprises isn’t empty. At the
far end of the building, workers are unloading a flatbed truck
stacked with wide barrels. The foreman leans against the wall,
smoking a cigar as he watches his men work. I grab Charles’s
sleeve, and we duck behind the warehouse.
“What are you thinking you’ll find here?” Charles asks as we
creep along in the shadows.
“I don’t know. I guess I just want to get a feel for the place.”
“I think we can safely write it off as dodgy.”
We reach the back of the warehouse. With my stomach
pressed to the wall, I peer around the corner. As shoddy as the
front of the building looked, the back is worse. Piles of junk sit
festering all over the crumbled asphalt. A large puddle of stagnant water reflects the silver clouds above, shivering slightly in the wind. And an old jalopy rots in a crown of yellow weeds.
Wait…
That jalopy. I recognize it. It was the one parked outside
Uncle Ned’s house in the middle of the night. The realization
grabs my throat, pinching off any breath.
“What is it?” Charles asks.
I press my finger to my lips to shush him. Only now do I see
that I’ve brought him into a very dangerous situation.
“We have to split,” I whisper. “Right now.”
The sharp tones of men’s voices cut through the air, freezing
Charles and me in place. Someone steps outside. A jolt of nerves
rushes through me. It’s the man I spoke with in the library. The