Out of the Past: A Reed Ferguson Mystery Part 18

"It's your a.s.s," she said. Without another word, she got in the Mustang and drove off.

As I drove away from the Holiday Inn, I called Ace.

"Hi Reed, what's up?" he asked in his characteristic drawl.

"Just checking in," I said. "I've made progress. Have you noticed anything unusual since yesterday?"

"I've been watching like you said, and I saw a Toyota parked down the street last night, and Willie said she saw it there this morning."

"Is the car there now?"

"Hold on." A pause, then a loud noise rushed through the phone, and I heard a car driving by.

"You're going outside?" I asked.

"Yeah, to look for the car."

"Don't make it obvious!" I said. "Act like you're checking the mail or something."

"You know our mailbox is right by the door," he said. "Besides, it doesn't matter because I don't see the car."

"Good." I shook my head. If Alex Jones was out there, no sense in telegraphing that we knew she was watching us. "The other times you saw the car, was it the same person inside?"

"Someone with a hoodie."

"A woman's been stalking us, so that must've been our girl. Way to be attentive," I said.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Let me know if you see the car again," I said. "And call the police if she looks like she's going to threaten you in any way. And watch out for Willie." He agreed and we hung up.

I was flush with excitement as I headed back up 285 to Cal's house. Piles of dirty snow edged the road, and dark clouds had returned, ominously signaling more bad weather. But I didn't care because I felt like we were closing in on Alex. She was getting more desperate, and thus more careless, letting herself get spotted more than once. But that meant she was more dangerous as well.

"What'd you find out?" Cal asked as I let myself in his house.

I held up the picture. "This is Alex Jones."

He took the picture and studied it, stunned. "It's a woman."

"Yeah, how'd you miss that?"

"The driver's license ID looks like a guy," he protested.

The expert in minutiae missed that the driver's license listed gender. That was a first. "I should've checked the license myself," I said.

"I don't recognize her, do you?"

I s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper from him. "I didn't expect you to. This is for the society simpletons. Where are they?"

"In the kitchen. Reed, I do not like being a babysitter."

"You survived," I said.

We went into the kitchen, where the three remaining members of the inauspicious secret Smith organization were huddled around the table, looking decidedly bored. Before I left, I'd taken all their cell phones and given them to Cal for safekeeping. This way, they couldn't blow our cover by texting someone their current location. They weren't happy, and neither was Cal, who'd implored me not to leave him alone with them.

I sat down and put the picture on the table. "Do you recognize her?"

"Who's that?"

"Alex Jones. She's the one who's after you," I said.

They stared at me, as shocked as Cal had been.

"Why's she after us?" Aiden asked.

I looked at each one in turn. "You don't know?" Shrugs.

Stephanie took the picture first and studied it. She scrunched up her face. "I don't know." She handed it to Aiden.

He stared at it, then pa.s.sed it to Bennett.

"Anything?" I asked hopefully.

They all shrugged.

I cursed.

"Hey, it was a long time ago," Bennett said.

I thought for a moment. "Okay, let's go back to Rebecca. Maybe something will jog your memory."

"What do you want to know?" Aiden asked.

"You said Rebecca was pretty radical," I began. "And she lived in your house." I pointed to Stephanie. "What kinds of activities were you all involved in?"

"There's stuff like Friday tea, and dances," Stephanie said. "But Rebecca didn't care too much about those. I mean, she went, but she was more politically active."

"Like what?"

"She was involved in that one group," Aiden said. "The ones that supported gays and lesbians."

"Yeah," Stephanie said.

"Was Rebecca a lesbian?" I asked. "Scott Robinson was her boyfriend, right?"

Stephanie threw me a look of impatience. "h.e.l.lo. People can be bi. Besides, Smith's really into that and..." her voice trailed away.

I stared at her. "What?"

"Give me that picture." She swiped it off the table and studied it again. "Was this girl in that group?" she asked as she slid the paper to Aiden and Bennett.

"Yeah," Bennett said slowly. "Her name was Emily, no...Em. Something with an 'm'?"

"Melissa," Aiden said.

Stephanie slapped the table. "Megan!"

They all fixed me with a triumphant gaze.

"Megan? Megan what?"

Blank looks. Almost like the Goofball Brothers ... plus one.

They muttered among themselves, then shrugged.

"She was in one of those lesbian activist groups with Rebecca," Stephanie said.

"Okay," I said. "Progress. The clandestine information specialist and I will find her last name."

Cal's lips twitched into a small smile.

"Clandestine what?" Stephanie asked.

I pointed to Cal. "We'll figure out Megan's last name. We have her first name, and we know she was involved in some gay-lesbian organization. Let's start by checking to see what organizations Smith has listed, and then see if we can find rosters, pictures or anything else that might list Megan as a member. And that should give us a last name."

"Oh, that makes sense," Cal said. I couldn't believe I had to walk him through how to find Megan's last name. He was really starting to come undone.

He must've sensed what I was thinking because he whirled around and stomped out of the kitchen.

"You're slipping," I murmured to his back as we went down the hall to his office.

"Yeah, so sue me," he said. "Babysitting is hard and I'm tired."

I laughed as we all settled into his office.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

"Got it," Cal said a few minutes later. "It's either Megan O'Reilly or Greene."

"Greene!" the three kids said at once.

Cal grinned.

"Not bad," Stephanie said.

"It was easy." He carefully ignored me rolling my eyes sure, it was easy once I told you what to do. "I checked what groups Rebecca Thorndike belonged to, and then I was able to find the members of each group. Those are the two Megans who are also members."

"That's great work," I said.

Cal tapped the monitor. "And I've got a search running right now, checking hotel registrations."

"Man, I'm going to introduce my father to you," Aiden said. "He could use all this insider information."

"Reed," Cal said. The pleading tone was back.

I gestured at the three. "Hey, why don't you go watch TV?"

"Fine," Stephanie said. All three managed to huff out of the room.

"They'll probably turn me in," Cal muttered as he turned back to the monitor.

"No, underneath all the posturing, they're scared." I sank onto the couch. "If Megan is using another alias, do you think you can find it?"

"I don't need to. There's a Megan Greene registered at a Regency Inn off Hampden and Wadsworth."

I pumped a fist. "Yes!" Then I paused. "Why'd she stay under her real name?"

"She must not have had time to get another alias," Cal said. "Hotels usually ask for a credit card to keep on file, and some kind of ID."

"Why not stay at a dump? Unless she didn't have cash." I shook my head. "If I had to guess, she's desperate and not thinking clearly and more dangerous."

"Now what?" he asked.

"It's time to turn the tables on her."

"What does that mean?"

"Here's the plan," I said. "We'll go to her hotel room. If she's gone, which is likely the case because she's out looking for us, we'll get into her room and see if we can find anything incriminating."

"Why not call Detective Spillman?"

"And tell her what? I can't prove anything yet."

He sighed. "How are you going to break in? Most hotel rooms have electronic locks."

"Can you rig something up?"

"I read something about that recently..." He typed something. "Yeah, here."

"So can you?"