25. Jack
25
JACK
I felt tingles race up my spine. My Spidey -senses on full alert. I felt the man’s eyes on me as I walked through the front lobby of Vince’s building.
My new furniture was finally delivered to my new place a few hours ago, but I came back to Vince’s loft to grab my overnight bag and stuff I had left behind.
As I walked in, Sandi , who worked behind the reception desk, flagged me that there was a package for me. Not me exactly, but she knew I was staying in Vince’s place, so my guess was it was really for him. But as I neared the counter, I felt those same eyes on me from the waiting area that was off to the side. A quick glance showed a male, late teens or early twenties in black pants, a black coat, and a black beanie cap.
“Here. This was actually just dropped off.” Sandi popped up from behind the desk to hand me what looked like a black shoebox.
“Uh, no, that’s not him,” the man who had been staring at me called out.
I turned to take him in as Sandi spoke again. “ Yes , it is. You put unit 5B. This is him.”
He looked down at his phone then back up at me. “ I , um, must have put the wrong unit,” he spoke and began walking back to the counter.
I assumed he was coming to collect the package, but now I was curious, so I stepped in to block him.
“Who is it for? I can deliver it,” I offered, taking in his appearance again, noticing he was not wearing any label indicating what delivery service he worked for. “ What’s in it? Food ? Chocolates ?”
He looked up at me, his eyes wide, then he turned and quickly walked out the front door. I froze for a moment, then moved back to the front door, sticking my head out to see where he went, but he was gone.
“That was odd,” Sandi articulated what we were both thinking. “ It has Vince’s name on it and the correct unit. What do you want me to do with it?”
The wheels in my head started spinning. How did he know I wasn’t Vince just by looking at me? What delivery driver would know what you looked like? What delivery driver would stay in the lobby until the person picked the package up? What if I hadn’t come back for a few more hours? Would he have waited that whole time? Then bailed when questions were asked? Something was not adding up right.
“I’ll take it, Sandi . Thanks ,” I responded as I walked over to the elevator to go up to Vince’s place.
As soon as I got inside, I opened the package to see what was in there, then immediately took out my phone and called Archer .
“What’s up, Jack ?” he answered immediately when I called him.
“I think we may be looking at this situation with Cat and Val the wrong way,” I communicated.
“I’m listening,” Archer responded.
I told Archer everything that just happened with the package for Vince and the mystery guy in the lobby.
“Hear me out,” I informed him. “ What if the threat to Cat and Val was inadvertent and secondary? What if the threat was actually for Vince , but the package provided an easier way to get to him by using the girls?”
“But they knew their names,” Archer disputed.
“No. They knew Cat’s name. And technically, everything else on the delivery card was blurred and smeared from the ink on the card with the chocolates,” I pointed out. “ If those two sisters talk half as much on their walks home as they do in the office, it wouldn’t be hard for someone who was stalking them or Vince to hear one of their names mentioned.”
“So, you put her first name on the card, smear the rest, making it look like an accident even though you don’t actually know the rest of their names or address,” Archer surmised, clearly catching on to what I was thinking.
“ Hide all you want, but he can’t protect you. Your days are numbered ,” I repeated to Archer . “ That’s what the card said. If the threat was really against him, they would know he works in protection. Also , if the threat was against Vince , it would explain why a package came for him today, and when I picked it up, the man sitting in the lobby, who I assume was part of this, recognized I wasn’t Vince . If the threat was only for the girls, they may or may not know what Vince looked like. Or is it still the same threat, but it goes deeper, and they’ve got a lot of outside help feeding them info?”
“What was in the package?” Archer asked.
“A piece of paper that said ‘back off, Vince ’ and that was it.”
“Alright.” Archer sighed into the phone. “ Let me make some calls. Were you planning to stay the night again at Vince’s or your new place tonight?”
“Mine. My furniture just got delivered today. I was just here because I left my laptop charger on Vince’s kitchen table and overnight bag. You want me to say anything to Vince yet?”
“Let me make those calls first. Everything you’re saying sounds plausible, but I don’t want to drop our guard on Cat and Val just yet. I’ll keep you posted.”
Archer hung up, and I grabbed my laptop charger and bag and made my way back out again.
After years in the military, you learned to trust your instincts on a lot of things. My instinct was telling me something about this just felt off. I just couldn’t quite pinpoint what that was.