Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

do, follow her?” one of the police officersasked.

“Exactly.  She works from 9:30 to 6:00, has a short lunchbreak, so we watch her before and after work.”

“Isn’t this a little like buying a lottery ticket?”

“Hey, do you want to go back to traffic?  I’m sure someoneelse there would be happy to come and work this case.”

“No, it just feels like we’re grasping at straws.”

“That’s because we are.  Whoever is running this show isrunning a tight ship.  We haven’t gotten a blip from any of our usual sources. We have to pick up a thread somewhere.  Now, Jackson, you’ve got her for themorning shift; pick her up at her apartment and follow her to work.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Williams, you guys follow her home.  The rest of you keepshaking the bushes, we have to find something soon.”

“What about pawn shops?”

“Robbery is taking care of that.  They’ll keep us informed.”

Matthew copied the address and name off of the whiteboardthat Detective Vaughn was using.  Then he made a quick dash via his portal tothe address.  He always laughed when he drove his portal around; it was likedriving a car; he had to follow directions until he reached the address.  Oncehe found the apartment, he did a quick check inside.  She was in the shower, sohe figured he’d check back in an hour when he would expect her to be heading towork.  It would be easy since he had math in the mornings and since they onlymet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he had a study hour today.  He would juststay home for the hour and head to school late.

◆ ◆ ◆

Matthew slid into his seat next to Emily. They hadConversational French for second period.  Evelyn Frye was just leaving forwork.

“How was the briefing this morning?”

“They’re grasping at straws.  They’re tracking some womanthey think is a user.  You’ll need to cover for me when I check in on them.”

“Sure, I’ll feed you lines if she calls on you.  You’ll haveto tell me more about the briefing at lunch.”

“Okay.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hey, where are Alex and Jason?”  Matthew asked as he metEmily for lunch.  Today was their day to eat on campus.

“They’re going to grab a sandwich and go to the auditorium. They’re working on the parts they want to try out for.”

“Such dedication is unusual for those two.”

“I don’t know, they always buckle down when they have to.”

“I guess.”

“Now, what did you learn at the briefing?”

“Like I said, they’re grasping at straws.  They’re followingthis Evelyn Frye who they suspect stole some jewelry from the store she worksat.  She went to work this morning with no side trips.”

“How does that say she’s buying drugs?”

“She has a clean record, a good job, and suddenly she startsstealing.  She had a problem with her knee and was prescribed Oxycontin.  Hercoworker thinks she got hooked.”

“And that means she’s stealing from her employer.”

“Well, let’s do the math.  Street price for the pills is fifteento thirty dollars a pop.  If she’s taking the recommended dose, that’s 800 permonth.  If she’s taking double the dose, it’s 1600 per month.  I don’t thinkworking in a jewelry store pays that much, even if the store is in La Jolla.”

“Yeah, with commissions she’d be lucky to make 5K a month. How does someone live on that?”

“She has a roommate in a one-bedroom apartment.”

“A boyfriend?”

“It’s another woman.  Two beds in the bedroom.”

“Ouch.”

“I’ll do some more checking after school.  She works late; Idon’t know about the roommate yet.”

◆ ◆ ◆

That afternoon, Matthew did a survey of Ms. Frye’sapartment.  Her roommate was still out, probably at work.  Matthew used hisportal to search the apartment.  It didn’t take him long to find a box of billswith Evelyn Frye’s name all over them.  By sliding his portal between pages andusing a flashlight to provide light, he could read the various bills.  Ms. Fryehad four credit cards, each of them maxed out at over two thousand dollarseach.  He also found a savings book that showed she had had over eight thousanddollars in savings six months ago, now it was zeroed out, the account closed.

He couldn’t find any other indication that she was on drugs,but the credit cards and empty savings account pointed to major moneyproblems.  He’d have to keep watching with the police to see if anything turnedup.

Chapter 2What Have We Here?

Nothing happened on Ms. Frye’s trip home from work.  The nextmorning when Matthew checked in, her roommate was just leaving for work and Ms.Frye was already dressed and ready to leave.

“See you tonight.”

“Sure, have fun with the kids,” Ms. Frye called out as herroommate left.

Since she was dressed and ready to leave, Matthew hung outand watched.  She grabbed her handbag and headed to her car.  When she left theparking lot, she turned east.  The jewelry store was west, so Matthew figuredthis might be it.  He saw the cops pull in behind her, one of them was on theradio calling it in.

Ms. Frye drove for four miles along Clairemont Mesa Blvd,fighting the morning commute.  Then she pulled into a Starbucks’ parking lot. Yesterday she’d gotten her morning coffee at the coffee shop two doors downfrom the jewelry store, so something was definitely up.

A black and white police car raced ahead of the detectives whowere tailing Ms. Frye and turned the corner just before the Starbucks.  It wenttwo blocks and parked on a side street.  The detectives pulled up at the curband one of them got out while the other parked the car.  The detective was ableto get into the Starbucks just ahead of Ms. Frye.  He stood at the counter asif he was deciding what to buy.

Matthew watched as Ms. Frye got out of her car and walkedinto the coffee shop.  She nodded to a Black man who was sitting at the counterplaying with his phone while he sipped a coffee.

She got in line and ordered a mocha.  She stood at thecounter impatiently while they made her coffee.  The detective was in linebehind her and he ordered two large cappuccinos and moved off to the side whilethey waited for their coffees.  He gave Ms. Frye a nervous smile and leaned againstthe