there.”
“No, but at least I’ll know where it is. For future reference.”
“You’d better be careful about contacting Elise. You could get Mark into more trouble than he is already.”
“I know that. I’ll be careful. I’m always careful.”
Tess snorted. But she assumed her duties as navigator and guided me to the apartment building. It had one story and all the apartments faced the street. We found Elise’s number with no trouble and I parked on the street in front of it.
“I think I’ll go ring the doorbell,” I said.
“Big surprise,” Tess said.
I rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. I returned to the car.
“Well, what should we do now?” I asked.
“We wait,” Tess said. “I know that’s what you want to do. I blocked out the whole day for you so it’s no problem with me. We missed pool aerobics this morning. I knew we’d never make it back for the Bridge Club. In fact, I brought along a book to read.” She pulled a paperback copy of a Sue Grafton mystery out of her purse. She started reading mysteries after we solved a murder last summer. “We’re two detectives on a stakeout.”
But Tess’ idea of a stakeout was to read a book, not to watch for anything. I had to do that. After a few minutes I knew the meaning of boredom. And then Tess fell asleep, leaving me completely alone. This was not a glamorous job. I had trouble staying awake, myself. Several times I dozed off and woke with a jerk. After an hour I was ready to give up.
I heard a car pull up behind me and stop. I glanced in my rearview mirror. I got a quick look at the face of a young woman. It wasn’t Elise, but it looked familiar. She got out of the car and I could no longer see her face in my mirror. She walked around the back of my car and up the sidewalk to Elise’s apartment. From the back she reminded me of the girl from the Administration Building, the way she had looked as she had run away from me after telling me about Club Cavalier. What was she doing here?
She went up to the door, but instead of knocking or ringing the doorbell it looked as if she was using a key. The door opened and she went inside and shut it after her. She must be Elise’s roommate. Donna. I remembered her name. I pulled out my spiral notebook and checked my notes. Donna Somerset. I had learned not to rely on my memory.
I had to see her face again to make sure. I could knock on the door, but she would recognize me. If I waited, maybe she would come out. But I couldn’t wait here, because she had undoubtedly noticed the two of us sitting in my car, even though only the backs of our heads had been visible to her. If we stayed here she might get suspicious and take a closer look. And she could see the car from her front window.
I started the car and pulled ahead, intending to park a short distance up the street.
“What’s going on?” Tess asked, sleepily.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said. I had a thought. “I need to get the license plate number of the car behind where we were just parked. I’m going to turn around and drive by it. You can help me read the license.”
I pulled into a driveway on the other side of the street and backed out, reversing our direction. Then I cruised slowly past the other car. It was some sort of Chevrolet model, not new, not old. Between us, Tess and I read the license plate and she wrote it down.
“There’s a girl coming out of that apartment,” Tess said. She was looking back over her shoulder.
“Damn,” I said. “I need to get a good look at her.” I pulled into a second driveway and turned the car around again, as quickly as I could, with Tess helping by warning me not to back into a parked car I wasn’t going to hit, anyway. As I drove past the girl’s car she was just opening the driver’s side door and I had to steer wide to miss her. She looked up and we stared at each other for a split second. I had no doubt that she was Donna Somerset.
I turned right at the next
“No, but at least I’ll know where it is. For future reference.”
“You’d better be careful about contacting Elise. You could get Mark into more trouble than he is already.”
“I know that. I’ll be careful. I’m always careful.”
Tess snorted. But she assumed her duties as navigator and guided me to the apartment building. It had one story and all the apartments faced the street. We found Elise’s number with no trouble and I parked on the street in front of it.
“I think I’ll go ring the doorbell,” I said.
“Big surprise,” Tess said.
I rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. I returned to the car.
“Well, what should we do now?” I asked.
“We wait,” Tess said. “I know that’s what you want to do. I blocked out the whole day for you so it’s no problem with me. We missed pool aerobics this morning. I knew we’d never make it back for the Bridge Club. In fact, I brought along a book to read.” She pulled a paperback copy of a Sue Grafton mystery out of her purse. She started reading mysteries after we solved a murder last summer. “We’re two detectives on a stakeout.”
But Tess’ idea of a stakeout was to read a book, not to watch for anything. I had to do that. After a few minutes I knew the meaning of boredom. And then Tess fell asleep, leaving me completely alone. This was not a glamorous job. I had trouble staying awake, myself. Several times I dozed off and woke with a jerk. After an hour I was ready to give up.
I heard a car pull up behind me and stop. I glanced in my rearview mirror. I got a quick look at the face of a young woman. It wasn’t Elise, but it looked familiar. She got out of the car and I could no longer see her face in my mirror. She walked around the back of my car and up the sidewalk to Elise’s apartment. From the back she reminded me of the girl from the Administration Building, the way she had looked as she had run away from me after telling me about Club Cavalier. What was she doing here?
She went up to the door, but instead of knocking or ringing the doorbell it looked as if she was using a key. The door opened and she went inside and shut it after her. She must be Elise’s roommate. Donna. I remembered her name. I pulled out my spiral notebook and checked my notes. Donna Somerset. I had learned not to rely on my memory.
I had to see her face again to make sure. I could knock on the door, but she would recognize me. If I waited, maybe she would come out. But I couldn’t wait here, because she had undoubtedly noticed the two of us sitting in my car, even though only the backs of our heads had been visible to her. If we stayed here she might get suspicious and take a closer look. And she could see the car from her front window.
I started the car and pulled ahead, intending to park a short distance up the street.
“What’s going on?” Tess asked, sleepily.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said. I had a thought. “I need to get the license plate number of the car behind where we were just parked. I’m going to turn around and drive by it. You can help me read the license.”
I pulled into a driveway on the other side of the street and backed out, reversing our direction. Then I cruised slowly past the other car. It was some sort of Chevrolet model, not new, not old. Between us, Tess and I read the license plate and she wrote it down.
“There’s a girl coming out of that apartment,” Tess said. She was looking back over her shoulder.
“Damn,” I said. “I need to get a good look at her.” I pulled into a second driveway and turned the car around again, as quickly as I could, with Tess helping by warning me not to back into a parked car I wasn’t going to hit, anyway. As I drove past the girl’s car she was just opening the driver’s side door and I had to steer wide to miss her. She looked up and we stared at each other for a split second. I had no doubt that she was Donna Somerset.
I turned right at the next
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