Gumshoe Gorilla (35 page)

The phone rang one. Twice. While I waited for Drew to pick up, I sorted through the wreckage of my apartment. I just couldn't believe that someone had done this. In the kitchen nook, I found the sink full of flour, and dry cat food, and laundry detergent. The empty containers were lying on the floor. What, they thought that I was hiding secret documents in the
cat food box?

"Hello?" Drew finally answered. "Drew, it's Jen. We've got a problem."

"I've noticed. Where are you now?"

"At home. Somebody tossed my place. Pretty thorough job, too. I don't think they took anything, but..."

I glanced to the side and spotted my collection of herbal teas. They'd been emptied into the trash can.

"AHHHH!"

"Jen?"

"Nothing. It's just... oh no."

A wave of panic rushed over me as I remembered the
Book of Shadows
, with all my personal spells in it. I rushed over to the bed and checked the secret panel where I hide it. Luckily, the grimoire was still there.

"Never mind," I said, "I'm OK."

"Get out of there now."

"Chill Drew. Whoever tossed the place is gone. Lucky for them, too. Because when I get my hands on them..."

"No. Get out now. They may have left bugs behind, and I don't want them listening in on our conversation. Speaking of that, I'm gonna take a walk down the hall myself, in case they've bugged the office."

I could hear footsteps on the other end of the phone.

"All right," I said. "Give me a sec to clear out of here."

I checked on Medea, who was still hiding under the bed. Apparently, my cat was even more upset about the break in than I was. I left her there, and walked out of my apartment and down to the car.

"OK," I said to Drew. "I'm clear on this end. Do you have any idea who..."

"Oh yeah. I walked in on her a few minutes ago, while she was tossing the office. She left her footprint on my face."

"Did you get a look at her?"

"Uh... sort of. Do you remember Linda?"

"Linda? Linda who?"

"Linda Jordan. She was working for Justin Weir last year, around the same time you took that case for him."

"What? The bodyguard? What has she got to do with any of this?"

"Well, she described herself to me as a 'professional troubleshooter.' I'm guessing that with Weir dead, she's gone freelance. Probably has some contacts in the entertainment industry from her time with Justin."

"Wait a minute Drew-- how do you know any of this? I never introduced you to Linda."

"It's a long story."

"Good," I said. "I like long stories."

"Some other time, right now we need to..."

"Let me help you," I said. "Once upon a time..."

"Arrrg. All right. Short version: I went looking for you when you disappeared last year and I managed to backtrace you as far as Weir. Linda helped me with the search, and we snuck into a Christian Militia base trying to rescue you."

"Uh... Drew? I've never been on a Christian Militia base in my life."

"Oh sure. You tell me that
now
."

"Whatever," I said. I'd tease the full story out of him later. "So you're thinking that Linda is working for Charles now?"

"It makes sense. Skye is convinced that he's in some sort of trouble. So maybe he hired Linda to get him out of it."

"Maybe. But then how did she find out about us?"

"Good question. My guess is that she doubled back on you last night and got your license plate number."

"Doubled back on me? Hello Drew, I am not an amateur at this."

"No, but neither is she."

I thought about it. Much as I hated to admit it, I might have let my guard down after I dropped the tail on her last night. I certainly wasn't as alert as I could have been.

"Oh, she is in such a world of trouble when I catch up with her," I said.

"Fine, let's just concentrate on the 'catching' part for now. Your evil plans for revenge can wait. As I'm looking at it, this whole case just got a hell of a lot more complicated. Now that Linda knows we're checking up on Charles, she's gonna do everything she can to screen his activities from us. And if that's not bad enough, she's also gonna be digging into our business, trying to find out who our employer is."

"So we're gonna have to play offense and defense at the same time? Yech. This is getting complicated."

"Yeah, but at least now we know who she is, and she doesn't know that we know. I haven't figured out a way to use that yet, but it's something. Of course, we still don't know where she's staying or..."

"Oh yeah we do," I cut in.

"You've got something?"

"Yeah. I retrieved my bugs from Charles' trailer today. --Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, his mother is in the hospital. Really fucked up the shooting schedule. -- Most of the stuff they recorded is pretty boring: chats with the makeup artist, a talk with director... oh, and like an hour of him reciting lines to himself. But there is one interesting tidbit. Here, listen for yourself."

I had Cassandra pull the relevant audio clip, and Charles' voice sprang to life.

"Yeah, it's me."

He was talking on the phone, and unfortunately the bugs could only pick up his end of the conversation.

"Really? You're sure? "

. . .

"Yeah, best to move him then."

. . .

"Will that be safe?"

. . .

"Maybe. I have dinner plans with Skye tonight. She's getting a little suspicious about all my sudden disappearances."

. . .

"OK, but it will have to be late."

. . .

"No, I'm still trying to figure out my way around this town."

. . .

"Just a second, let me get a pen."

. . .

"Right, 14th and..."

. . .

"A giant what?"

. . .

"You're kidding. A camel? That's funny."

. . .

"Right, I know the drill."

. . .

"Yeah, I can find that. I'll call you when I'm there."

The clip ended.

"So you know what they have to be talking about," I said.

"Oh yeah," Drew responded.

In this line of work, the two of us spend a lot of time staking out cheap motels. And there is only one building in Atlanta that had a giant plastic camel out front. The Sheherazade.
Come for the Camels, stay for the Humps.

"All right," Drew went on. "Let's head over there and set up surveillance. If Linda or Charles turns up we can..."

"You're gonna have to start without me. Remember? I told you that I have a wiccan thing tonight. I won't be free till around midnight."

"Oh yeah. So what is it this time? Howling at the moon?"

"Uh... something like that."

I wasn't sure that Drew would appreciate the spiritual aspects of a nude production of
Oklahoma
. But then, you never know.

"Room 214: quiet", I whispered into the throat mic.

"Room 215: Water running, sounds like someone is in the shower.

"Room 216: television on, the Cherry Chang show

"Room 217: quiet

"Room 218: quiet

"Room 219: low moaning, squeaking bed springs, periodic whispers of 'Oh, yeah, that's the money maker'.
Sound of Music
playing in the background. Doe, a deer, a female deer.

"Room 220: loud male voices, laughter. Sounds like a party."

That completed my sweep of the second floor. I turned off the rifle mic and gave my ears a rest. I'd been sitting in my car for nearly four hours, staring at the garish grandeur of the Scheherazade and listening to the secret whispers of its patrons. Outside, the place looked like some faded dream of the Arabian Nights. Or maybe the Taj Mahal, if some corporation brought it up and converted it into a Motel 6. All brightly colored mosaics and pointed archways and the silhouettes of minarets against the moonlit sky. Only the mosaics were missing most of their tiles now, and the minarets were only fiberglass shells bolted onto the roof. And the archways... well, I guess they did lead to gardens of delight, after a fashion.