FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 53

 Chapter 53

Mrs. Latham’s caregiver drove off one hour later. I waited until she turned off Chenery and disappeared. 

I crossed the street, amped up with coffee and my own adrenalin. Chill, I told myself.

Her yapping dog announced my presence.

I rang the doorbell. And waited. More barking. As I rang again, I watched the door’s peephole. 

Insane barking.

I saw a shadow.

“Reggie! You stop that!”

Whimpering from Reggie, then a shriek of pain. She had probably whacked him or brushed him aside with her foot. 

“Who is it?” Sounding cautious and annoyed.

For a second I felt guilty that I had disrupted her morning.

“Jimmy Redmond. I’m a friend of Jason’s.”

“Jimmy,” she muttered softly. “Jimmy…”  

“We were buddies at Mission High. Classes, wrestling…”

I knew better than to say we were on the team together. It would be too easy to look up.

She opened the door a crack.

“You don’t look familiar.”

“That was a long time ago. My hair was longer then.”

“I went to several of his meets. I never saw you there.”

“I saw you, though.”

“Which meet?”

I pulled a long face and said: “I never made the team. It must have been open house. Yeah, that’s where I saw you.”

“You probably did. His mother never went.”

“Nor his dad, if I remember.”

“You remember right,” she said. “Come in and keep me company,” she said and let me in. “Have a seat, why don’t you. Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” I said.

The moment she left the room, Reggie came out 

of the hallway. For a moment I thought he might follow her into the kitchen. But no, he was there to watch me with his one good eye. I reached into my pocket.

Reggie growled. Any movement threatened him.

I held out part of a dog biscuit. Let him smell it. Then I softly tossed it onto the floor. He whimpered, uncertain, then skittered over and gobbled it up.

Presently Mrs. Latham entered carrying a tray with two cups of coffee and a creamer.

“It’s nice to meet one of Jason’s friends,” she said. “I seldom hear from him these days.”

“Did he move?”

“No, no. He still lives in California.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He’s with the C.I.A.”

“Whoa.”

My eyes must have bulged.

“I know, I couldn’t believe it, either. He’s very secretive. I don’t hear what he’s up to because he doesn’t tell me.”

“That’s messed up.”

“It is.”

Get to it, Francis! 

“In case I don’t get to hang out with him, maybe you could do me a favor. Way back when, I loaned him my yearbook, and he hasn’t given it back. It’s probably with his other yearbooks, wherever that is. Would you mind coming with me to look for it?”

“Ordinarily I wouldn’t mind, but Jason locked that room up and took away the key.”

Shit!
“I don’t like it one bit,” she continued. “My cleaning woman can’t get in there. So that room just sits there, gathering dust.”

“So there‘s a window.”

She gave me a peculiar look.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Just thinking: that’s how the dust gets in.”

She shook her head.

“What is it?” I asked.

“What’s his new girlfriend going to think when she sees that room?”

I shrugged.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

“He told me, but I can’t remember. I need to write things down.”

“It helps. Did he give you her picture?”

“No.”

“When are they coming?”

“Thursday night late. They’ll be flying in from Buffalo.”

“That’s tomorrow.”

I had surprised her.

“Tomorrow, you say. What day is this?”

“Wednesday.”

“Damn it. I’ve been thinking that today was Tuesday. I’m sure I wrote it on the calendar. Thursday, I mean.”

“Right.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but you should run along. I’ve got to clean and go grocery shopping.”

I got up.

“Thank you for dropping by. What’s your name again?”

She’s forgotten it—perfect!

I kept going until I reached the door, pretending I had not heard her.
“It was nice meeting you,” I said.

“Do you have a card, or something?” she asked.

I opened the door quickly and left.

I kept going without looking back.

Back in my car I wondered what to tell Terry. She’s definitely not crazy, I thought. On the other hand, maybe she was making it all up.  Especially the part about the C.I.A.  Or: There was a good chance that Jason had told her to say that when anybody asked about him. Clever. Is Powers really going to show up tomorrow night? I decided to proceed as if it were true.

“On to Plan Two,” I said to myself.