RAY
SIX
Tammy agreed to the plan, but I could tell it was reluctantly.
I had watched her carefully as she took in all the information, and I had to give her credit. Her Army training had given her a remarkable ability to keep her face stoic and calm as she processed everything these men were telling her.
“When does this start?” she asked, and I watched as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap.
“Tonight,” Archer said, glancing at Ray. “Axel is going to do the first couple hours of your shift while we talk details and get a few things taken care of on our end, mostly with the security cameras. Ray will walk in during your shift and sit at the bar with you until you leave.”
She nodded as everyone wrapped up. She was silent, but only because she was clearly thinking and strategizing in her head.
Everyone finally filed out of the room. Tammy turned to look at me, and I knew that was my cue to stick around. Honestly, that was good because I wanted to talk with her, too. I had a sister and a mother, so I knew that when a woman said she was “fine,” she was usually anything but.
Once everyone was gone, Tammy walked over and closed the door, leaving only the two of us in the room. She didn’t waste any time getting to it.
“I’ll play the part, but I have rules.” Her comment was quick and matter of fact.
I nodded. “Alright. Lay ’em on me.”
Her body straightened, and her shoulders rolled back. “We do this fake dating bit strictly at the bar. No real dating. Now that the guys have hired you, this complicates things, and that’ll get awkward. Well…more awkward than it already is. So, no dates or dinner or ‘hanging out’ at my place.”
That last part she had said using air quotes, but I knew what she meant.
She seemed tightly wound and a bit tense. Not necessarily worried or anxious, but unsure. So, I decided to lighten the mood.
“Wow… I’m not used to being shot down so fast,” I teased. “Should I be offended that you no longer want to see me after everything that happened last night?”
She rolled her eyes, but I saw the smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
I held my hands up in front of me and raised my brows. “Understood. Strictly professional acting only.”
She relaxed briefly as her shoulders lowered ever so slightly in relief.
“Though, the thought of seeing you again outside of the bar wouldn’t be awkward for me, I understand not wanting to complicate things.”
I gave her a small, knowing grin but she just pouted in response.
After going back over some details with Vince and his guys, I made my way back to my hotel. I needed to think, and I did that best in a quiet setting with no one else around.
Vince had let me download to my laptop all security videos they had from that night, and I watched them several times, hoping I’d see something they missed.
I’d also grabbed the videos from the week leading up to the burglary as well.
The skilled criminals—the ones who would plan these things out meticulously—almost always staked their places out before they made their move.
The cameras only kept recordings for one week, and then they were sent to cloud storage where they were left on file for one year before being deleted to make more space.
Three hours later, I couldn't find shit. My eyes had become strained from staring at the screen and the fatigue of not moving for hours on end was making my back hurt. I leaned back, stretching my arms and back, and realized I needed to call in another expert.
The man I had last worked for, Chase Jackson, was also one of my best friends.
We’d first met at West Point, along with Vince’s dad, Frank.
After graduating, we’d all been sent to Fort Hood and had been stationed together for four years.
After that, Frank got out and decided to be a cop before transitioning to bounty hunting, but Chase and I had remained together at Fort Hood for the entirety of our Army careers.
We’d both been in counterterrorism, and those skills had also helped when we ended up at his private company later.
With how complicated this case was becoming, I knew I needed another outsider’s perspective on this case, so I decided to give Chase a call and get his thoughts.
“Hey man, what’s up?” Chase answered. “How’s the case going?”
“That’s why I’m callin’. I was hopin’ to pick your brain.”
“Sure,” he replied, and I heard shuffling. “Let me put you on speakerphone. Ghost is here so we can get his thoughts too.”
Chase’s sister, Rayne, was married to another Army man named Ghost who had helped us out on many occasions both in a military capacity and when we worked at the private security business.
“What are you thinking?” Chase asked once the phone was on speaker.
I had already given them the basic rundown of what had happened before I’d left. Now I gave them the rundown of everything I’d learned since.
“The little bit I’ve seen from the hidden camera shows the burglar knew the layout of the restaurant, so they’ve been there before,” I explained. “What I don’t know is whether it’s because they work there, used to work there, or they’ve just been a customer casing the place.”
“If they were an employee, wouldn’t they have known about the hidden camera, though?” Chase asked.
“Tammy had just put it up the day before, and she hadn’t told anyone about it yet. So, it’s likely no one had noticed it. More importantly, they didn’t use a key to get in they picked the lock. Not every employee has a key, but anyone who opens or closes does.”
I heard the two of them talk in softer voices together, followed by silence for a few moments.
“You think you could add another one or two of those cameras and no one would notice?” Ghost asked. “I’m not saying this Tammy woman had anything to do with it, but you can’t rule out that someone who works at the bar did this just because they didn’t use a key.”
I knew that, but picking a lock took time, and if you were trying to be quick during a break-in, you didn’t want to waste that precious time if you had a key.
“Jack is already planning to add more cameras,” I told them.
“Yes, but then everyone will know about them,” Ghost pointed out. “You said the one that Tammy had is smaller, more discreet.”
“Why don’t you spend tonight surveilling the place and look for one or two more places to hide an extra hidden camera,” Chase said. “Then, tomorrow, you can tell Tammy, and Tammy only, where you put them. If it really is an inside job, the fewer people who know about the cameras, the better.”
It was a great idea and one I had started to consider myself. “Alright, I’ll scope the place out tonight and then buy an extra camera or two in the morning and see about setting it up before they open for business tomorrow.”
“Call us if you think of anything else,” Chase said before we all said our goodbyes and hung up.
It was busy for a Wednesday night, or at least I thought it was. I’d only been here the one night, so maybe it was just always this busy.
After I entered, I made my way to the bar and noticed there was a stack of menus with what appeared to be a bin of silverware on top of it right in front of the seat I had planned to sit in.
I had told Tammy that was the best seat because I had a wall to my back and could see almost the entire place. I wasn’t sure if the items were there to block everyone from sitting there or to save the seat for me. My question was answered as I walked by the bar and made eye contact with Tammy.
She instantly moved to the seat in question and removed the items.
“I was wonderin’ if you were gonna show up,” she said in a friendly manner, as though I were a long-time customer.
“And miss the opportunity to spend some time with my beautiful woman?” I said, grinning at her.
Her body jerked ever so slightly. If I wasn’t paying acute attention to her, I likely would have missed it. It was clear that she was a bit shocked at my comment at first but then remembered the plan.
She gave me a big smile back, though it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Look at you trying to sweet talk me and become my favorite customer.”
“Oh, I’m confident I already am your favorite customer.” I leaned my elbows on the counter and gave her a wicked smirk.
“Like hell you are!” some man four seats down and around the curve hollered at me.
I turned to look at him. He was in his late sixties or early seventies, had a full head of white hair and an unkempt version of a Santa beard, and was a good thirty pounds overweight around his midsection.
“Jimmy, you know you’ll always be my favorite customer, but this here is Ray,” Tammy said, smiling genuinely at the man. “We just started datin’, so you’re gonna have to put up with him being here.”
“For how long?” Jimmy grumbled, glaring daggers at me.
“Either until I kick him out or he asks me to marry him and whisks me away to Greece for our honeymoon,” Tammy said as she filled up a beer and set it down in front of the man to the left of Jimmy, who hadn’t said a word but appeared as though he was enjoying the hell out of this conversation.
“Well, he looks like a chump, so I’m hoping you kick him out…and soon.” Jimmy jerked his head at me and then went back to eating the burger in front of him.
Tammy laughed, looking over at me, and even though it was at my expense, I was happy to see her smile. I knew she had been tense today with everything that had gone down and had likely been tense the few days before, too, so it was good to see her with a smile.
Tammy was good-looking when she had a sassy grin and her hands on her hips, full of attitude, but when she smiled—genuinely smiled—she was gorgeous. I found myself wanting to be the one to make her smile like that—the kind that lit up her eyes and crinkled them at the corners.
“Don’t feel bad,” the man who had been bartending right next to Tammy said to me. “Jimmy told me I looked like a chump, too, when I first started working here. I’m Sam, by the way.”