Worse Than Being Alone (25 page)

Chapter Forty-Three

Early the next morning, Lionel and I were parked
down the street from Thomas Sloan’s house, sipping mocha lattes and
eating breakfast sandwiches from McDonald’s. Lionel had driven his
vehicle, a black Honda Pilot, just in case Thomas decided to pay
attention for once. For someone so clever and cunning about his
scam, his inattention to the possibility of surveillance seemed
odd.

“
I find it strange that he doesn’t
worry about a tail,” I said as I sipped my latte.

“
He’s probably supremely
confident. You said hardly anyone ever gets followed especially
early in the claim. Besides, he’s young and just getting
started.”

“
That’s true,” I said. “He must be
smart and a good liar. I don’t think I could pull this
off.”

“
From what you’ve told me, it’s
his arrogance that’s about to do him in. He couldn’t resist being
the smartest guy in the room and taunting his employer.”

“
There’s no doubt he pissed off
the wrong guy,” I said as Thomas came out of the house and jumped
in the red truck. Lionel started the Pilot and stayed a few car
lengths behind.

“
He really does look
young.”

“
Roni and I joked he probably
doesn’t even shave yet,” I said. “Cindy says he has a black aura so
I guess looks are deceiving.”

“
OK, I’ll bite. Cindy sees
auras?”

“
Yes, I was surprised, too,” I
said. “She dropped that bomb on me yesterday.”

“
Cindy has some issues, right? I
kind of picked up on that when I’ve been in the office.”

“
Think of issues as baggage we all
carry around,” I said. “While most people have a carry-on or two,
Cindy has several steamer trunks. Still, Roni says Cindy’s aura
predictions are usually accurate. Besides, she’s my friend and I’ve
never seen anyone work harder to overcome her demons.”

“
How did the subject come up in
the first place?”

“
She was commenting on my aura
being different,” I said. “One thing kind of led to
another.”

“
This is getting interesting. What
is your usual aura and how was it different yesterday?”

“
Mostly we talked about Thomas
Sloan’s aura,” I said. “He really has the most striking
one.”

“
Not going to work. Come on, come
clean. Changing the subject isn’t going to cut it.”

“
OK, it all started when I walked
into the office the other day,” I said. “Cindy told me my aura was
blue instead of my usual red.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
Supposedly, blue means that
you’re more at peace,” I said. “Red is a sign of restlessness.
Black is a sign of extreme anger or dishonesty. Cindy thinks people
with black are bad.”

“
So, after our night together you
were content?”

“
I guess that’s one way to put
it,” I said.

“
My daughters can’t stop talking
about you. They keep asking when you’re coming back.”

“
I’m crazy about them,” I
admitted. “It kind of scares me in a way.”

“
Why does it scare
you?”

“
It seems like it’s too soon,” I
said. “Maybe we shouldn’t rush into this.”

“
So, you’re scared you’ll get
hurt?”

“
I married the wrong person the
first time,” I said. “I want more this time. I want a real
relationship. The other night scares me because it felt like I
belonged there. How can that be?”

“
I agree with Cindy. Auras don’t
lie, Kit. You’re letting your head overrule your heart. I’m not
hiding anything from you and I promise I won’t. It did feel like
you belonged there. We’re all saying the same thing here. Run
toward us and not away.”

A pregnant pause ensued and was extended when Thomas
Sloan pulled into the parking lot of a South County Orthopedic
Surgeon’s office. Lionel parked and followed Sloan into the
facility, leaving me in the car to rehash our conversation. Fifteen
minutes later, Lionel emerged from the building and jumped in the
Pilot.

“
He used the name Ricky Dent. Is
that a new one?”

“
Yes, that’s a new one,” I said as
I leaned over the console and began kissing Lionel, who sighed and
pulled me closer while our tongues hungrily dueled. We were
interrupted by a knocking sound on the driver’s side. A St. Louis
County patrolman was standing by the Pilot glaring at us. Lionel
lowered the window.

“
You two need to get a room,” he
said. “You can’t do that in a parking lot in the middle of the
day.”

“
Sorry, Officer,” Lionel said. The
cop got back in his patrol car and left. We sat there in stunned
silence for several minutes and then started laughing.

“
I haven’t done that since high
school,” I said.

Lionel was about to comment when Thomas Sloan
emerged from the doctor’s office building and got in the red
pickup. We pulled out of the lot and stayed four or five cars back.
The route Sloan took seemed familiar so I wasn’t surprised when he
pulled into the First Federal lot. He put on sunglasses and a
different cap.

“
He keeps coming to this bank,” I
said. “I don’t get it. He wears a different hat and sunglasses
every time he comes.”

The same thought landed in our consciousness about
the same time as we stared at each other.

“
He’s casing out the bank?” I
asked.

“
It sure looks like
it.”

“
Why in the world would he be
doing that?” I asked.

Chapter Forty-Four

The atmosphere inside the Pilot seemed charged, but
neither one of us was ready to break the silence, as we digested
the situation and considered all the possibilities. The sudden
conclusion I had seemed preposterous, despite my inability to think
of a better alternative.

“
Are you thinking the same thing I
am?” I said.

“
Yeah, but he’s just a boy. Is it
really probable he’s going to try to rob a bank?”

Sloan came out of the bank a few minutes later; we
followed the usual routine.

“
Wow,” Lionel said. “When you
actually say it out loud it sounds lame. He seems to be headed back
home.”

“
I’m not sure it’s that lame. My
brother Dave is a cop. He ran the plate for us. I did a criminal
record check and Thomas has a sealed juvi record and some
shoplifting busts. The most interesting thing in my mind is that
he’s a suspect in a Radio Shack robbery. I looked up newspaper
reports. It’s fascinating. They’re not really sure how the robber
got in the building but the place was totally cleared out. The hard
drives from all the outside cameras were removed. No
prints.”

“
How did he become a suspect
then?” Lionel asked as he pulled off the highway continued
following Sloan.

“
Sloan parked near the Dierbergs
at the other end of the strip mall. There was a camera inside the
store that caught his plate.”

“
So he missed that camera?” Lionel
asked.

“
That’s what they’re thinking. The
police talked to him, but there wasn’t enough evidence to get a
warrant or pursue the matter any further. Dave said the detective
who interviewed Sloan described him as a ‘cocky little bastard’.
Sounds just like what our employer said about him.”

“
I hear you,” Lionel said. “Still,
it’s a big leap from Radio Shack to banks.”

“
Our other problem is trying to
follow him 24/7. If he really is planning to hit a bank he
certainly isn’t going to do that during the day.”

“
I have just the thing for this
situation,” he continued. “We can put a GPS tracker on the truck.
If he leaves his house at night it will activate an alarm and then
we can track him.”

“
That sounds great. I’m not going
to tell his employer at this point. If we’re right and Thomas does
try to get in the bank, we can call 911.”

“
I’m sure he won’t be upset if
Thomas gets nailed for attempting to rob a bank.”

“
When can you get the
tracker?”

“
I have it at my office,” Lionel
said. “I’ll come back tonight or tomorrow morning and stick it
under the truck.”

“
You could give me the monitor
with the alarm. I mean, you don’t have to be involved with the rest
of it. I know it’s hard at night with the girls. You can’t just
leave.”

“
I wouldn’t miss this for
anything,” he said.

“
What if the police find the
tracker? Wouldn’t that be a problem? Maybe give Sloan’s attorney an
issue.”

“
That’s a possibility,” Lionel
said. “The best thing to do would be to remove the tracker before
the police find the truck.”

“
It shouldn’t be that hard. It’s
not like he’s going to park in the bank lot. He’s going to hide in
one of the residential areas behind the bank.”

“
You’re right,” he said. “I’ve got
a collection of trackers courtesy of the bureau. They could
probably be traced back to me.”

“
This is better all the way
around. I’ll get one of those throwaway phones, and we can make an
anonymous 911 call. What about the girls? If this happens, it’ll be
in the middle of the night probably on a weekend.”

“
I can ask my Mom to come over,”
Lionel said. “I’ll call her tonight and ask her. I think you should
spend the night at my house this weekend just in case. We’ll tell
the girls we’re investigating a case. It’ll be fun.”

“
What will your Mother think? I’m
not sure she’d think this was such a great idea.”

“
She’ll probably want to know what
your intentions are,” Lionel said as a serious expression rolled
across his face. ”By the way, what are your intentions?”

“
They’re good. I just want to be
sure nobody gets hurt. I can understand you’d be concerned about
the girls getting attached to someone and then having the
relationship end badly or abruptly. I would never do that to them.
If we don’t work out as a couple, let’s try to still be friends.
Deal?”

“
Deal,” he said. “I wasn’t sure
how to say that without sounding like an ass.”

“
You wouldn’t have sounded like an
ass. This is something you have to be very careful about. The last
thing they need is a revolving door of your girlfriends who get
close and disappear. Have you been dating?”

“
Not really,” he said uncertainly.
“Mostly I’ve been hesitant for the reasons you just enumerated so
well. How about you?”

“
I’ve had a few forays into
Internet dating that didn’t go that well. Look, I really like you.
Let’s give this a shot.”

I had the distinct feeling there were things Lionel
wanted to say to me, but in the end, he bailed. I wasn’t sure
whether he thought it was too soon or he didn’t want to say
anything that might hurt my feelings so he changed the subject.

“
So, do you think we’re on the
proverbial wild goose chase with Sloan?”

“
I don’t know. The other issue is
that he might not pull the trigger any time soon.”

“
It’ll be an adventure,” he
said.

“
Roni invited all of us to the
farm on Sunday,” I said. “You can meet Harley. They have a couple
of ponies that I’m sure the girls would love to ride.”

”
Sure, why not,” he
said.

“
So, if we’re right, I wonder what
Sloan’s ultimate goal is? Become some kind of master thief? If he
pulled off the Radio Shack robbery, and now he’s looking at banks,
that’s impressive. My sixth sense must be working overtime. I
wonder if that black SUV three cars back is following
us?”

“
I noticed them, too,” Lionel
said. “They’ve been behind us a long time. It looks like Sloan is
headed home. Let’s break off our tail and see if they follow
us.”

Lionel pulled into the center lane and made a sudden
u-turn. The black SUV kept going for another block and then made a
u-turn, trying to stay back.

“
They’re definitely following us,”
he said. “Can you make out a plate?”

“
No, they’re too far
back.”

“
Let’s see how determined they
are,” Lionel said as he sped up and took the entrance ramp back
onto highway 270.

“
They’re still there but getting
farther behind. They’re getting off.”

“
Still think they were following
us?” Lionel asked.

“
I think so. I guess a couple of
better questions might be who are they and why are they following
us?”

Chapter Forty-Five

In my family, Friday was always
pizza night. Lionel and I decided to honor the tradition, at least
for this particular Friday. I was headed to Lionel’s house with my
bag in the backseat, humming along with a song on the radio,
checking frequently for a tail. September hadn’t moderated the
summer temps much, so we’re hoping for one of those last-chance
swimming weekends since Lionel has a pool.

I was feeling very conflicted because while I was
looking forward to the weekend, I had just visited Meadow. Her
mother’s labs had not improved and she still required dialysis and
blood transfusions. The waiting and uncertainty were really taking
a toll. The brutal reality that her mother was going to die now
controlled the narrative between us. I no longer tried to dissuade
her because she was right.