Derek wondered to himself whether Mr. Arnold would be happy with his report. He had gotten the impression that he was overly eager to get the goods on his wife. Mr. Arnold had been gone for a week and would be back tomorrow morning. He had been so sure that his wife was cheating on him and had Derek set up surveillance for the whole week. So, for one boring week, he had watched their house for any suspicious activity. Every night he had stationed his van down the street in the Seven Eleven parking lot. That had cost him twenty-five dollars per night but it was a great location. He could see the Arnold's house and he had just sat there, hour after hour, watching and listening to the two bugs that he had Mr. Arnold plant in the house. Nothing.
Every night the lights had gone out at ten-thirty and he had dutifully stayed till about one. Since it was the last night, Derek decided to pull up stakes early. He was pretty tired but since it was Friday night, he decided to stop at the little bar a couple of blocks down the street. A beer or two would be good before he set out on the hour drive back to his home. Walking into the tavern, he quickly noted that he would be the only black guy there. So he took a seat on the short end of the bar so that he could see the whole place. It always paid to be careful in these kinds of places, especially on Friday night.
He ordered a Bud and the bartender seemed to be a friendly fellow and he began to relax. He looked over the place a little closer, noting that it seemed to be definitely a local bar. Most of the patrons were paired up at tables with the exception of a few guys sitting at the bar and two couples who were dancing to the jukebox. He noticed one guy was dancing with a blond lady and doing a little grab-ass. She didn't seem to mind and leaned in real close and laughed in the guy's ear. When the song ended they sat down at a table with two other guys. A couple minutes later she got up and went to the ladies room. Not bad he thought to himself. When she came back out, she looked his way and gave him a little smile. At that point, he got the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before.
She went back to her table but didn't sit down. She grabbed the guy's hand and they headed for the door. Derek couldn't shake the feeling he had seen her before, but now she was gone. He thought to himself that he must be tired for his powers of recognition to abandon him like that. That was one thing that he prided himself on- his ability to remember faces. He decided to have one more beer and then drive home.
Just as he was finishing up the beer, the blonde came back into the bar and was soon dancing with one of the others at her table. She looked a bit disheveled and her dance partner was playing with her butt and toying with her boobs. Before the song ended, they went out the door. Another beer seemed in order because his curiosity got the better of him. He noticed that one of the single men at the bar sat down at her table with the other fellow. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she came back in the door with the second guy and sat back down at the table.
She definitely had that fresh-fucked air about her. A minute later she got up and sat down on the lap of the other guy.
At this time Derek figured she was just the local whore and decided to leave. He left a couple bucks on the bar and stood up to leave. Again she looked his way and smiled at him on his way out. While driving home, he started to think about the report he would give to Mr. Arnold on Monday. He also thought about the blonde in the bar, annoyed that he still couldn't recall where he had seen her before. By the time he got home, he had shelved her away and wouldn't waste any more time trying to figure it out.
Monday morning, his suspicions were correct-Mr. Arnold wasn't all that pleased that Derek had nothing to report on his wife except that she apparently behaved herself while her husband was on his business trip. That wasn't going to deter Derek from cashing the check. After he visited the bank and deposited his check, Derek decided he would go to the library. There was some research to be done regarding another case he was working on and his internet connection at home wasn't working right.
Derek had been plugging away for half an hour and had the information he needed. He sent it to the printer by the wall and was standing there, waiting for it to print. As he waited, a lady came walking out of an office and went over to the check-out counter. A minute later she turned toward him on her way back to her office. She glanced his way and gave a little smile. Bingo! He knew right away where he'd seen that smile and cute face-the little bar on Friday night.
He got his printing and sat back down at a seat to think about the situation. He checked the nameplate on her office door noting that her name was Ms. Leslie Jamison-head librarian. He continued to observe her through the glass wall of her office. He wanted to be sure it was the same woman he had seen in the bar. He was positive. She was dressed much differently and her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. The conservative demeanor couldn't hide the fact that she was the same person that had headed to the parking lot every twenty minutes with a different guy.
He was intrigued and immediately started to think how he could take advantage of this information. Derek was a small-time PI and was not above a little shady operation on occasion. But blackmail was serious business, especially if money was involved.
He decided to confront her and see what her reaction would be. He searched in his wallet for one of his phony business cards-fake name, address, and cell phone number linked to an untraceable pay-as-you-go phone. He got up and knocked on her door.
She motioned for him to come in. "May I help you, Sir?"
"Yes. Let me introduce myself. I'm James Carlton, and here is my business card."
She took his card, looking at it for a brief moment, one that was a trifle longer than needed. Derek noticed that her eyes narrowed just a bit. "A private investigator? Again, how may I help you?"
"Well, I think that we may know each other and that we might have some business to discuss."
"Mr. Carlton, I don't believe I know you. I don't think that I have ever seen you before."
"I know you are probably very busy here, but I do come to the library every once in a while."
"I'm sorry, but we have several thousand visitors every month. I really can't recall your face."
"Actually, this isn't where we've met before. We haven't been introduced, but I happened to be in a little bar up in Middleton on Friday night and I'm pretty sure we met there. You even smiled at me twice. Does that ring any bells? I watched you for about an hour then and I'm pretty sure about what you were doing. Observation is the main ingredient of my profession."
"Well, what do you want? Blackmail?"
"Uh, Ms. Jamison, blackmail is such a harsh word. It is illegal, too."
"Well, what do you want?"
"I don't really want to discuss it here. What time do you get off this afternoon?"
"Uh, five-thirty or six."
"Five-thirty it is. I'll meet you at Denny's down the street at five-thirty five. Please be there." With that he stood up, smiled and went back out into the computer area. He proceeded to do a quick check on Ms. Leslie Jamison. The Internet is amazing, he thought. It sure makes getting information easy. He still had a couple hours before their meeting so he decided to drive over to her house and check it out. He was very pleased to see that it was a middle range bi-level in a nice neighborhood. It was the fourth house from the corner with an alley along the back. Easy access. Driving down the alley, he noted that there was no kid stuff in the back yard and just a low fence along the alley, with a gate, no less.
At five-thirty, he grabbed a booth, sat down and waited for Leslie to arrive. He was sure she would show. She seemed to him that she was a business-like lady who would probably work with him to keep her activities on the down-low. At exactly five-thirty six she walked in the door. He stood and waved her over to his table.
"Have a seat, Leslie, I'm glad you decided to come."
"Mr. Carlton, I can't see how we should be on a first name basis. Now, what is it that you want?"
"Leslie, I don't want to cause you any trouble so there is no reason for you to cop an attitude. Please call me Jim. I assure you that our meeting in Middleton was purely a matter of co-incidence. I was working on another case and stopped in for a beer. Neither your husband nor anyone else hired me to check up on you."
"Oh, he would never...wait. How do you know I am married?"
"You just told me. Like I said, I don't want to cause you any trouble. Right now, I just want a little information. Now, what are your hours at work?"
