Chapter 13 #2
“How can you eat that stuff?” Kathryn said, and made a sour face.
Maggie licked each of her fingers. “Yum. Want some?” she asked, jiggling the bag in front of Kathryn’s nose.
“No, thank you.” Kathryn suddenly noticed something and cocked her head. “Check out that car.” She motioned to a vehicle parked on the same side of the street but another hundred yards from the building.
Maggie wiped the remaining orange dust from her fingers and pulled out her binoculars. “They’re facing toward us, but I don’t think they can see us past that telephone pole. Here, you take a look.”
“Two women. One in a cap, another one with curly hair.” She handed the glasses back to Maggie. “See if you can get in closer.” Kathryn pushed her seat as far back as she could so Maggie could climb over her and switch places.
Maggie adjusted the settings on the binoculars. “Huh.”
“What?” Kathryn asked.
“You remember that show Family Blessings ?”
“Yeah. Used to watch it whenever I was home. Why?”
“Because the person behind the wheel looks like Nina Hunter.”
“The star of the show?” Kathryn said with surprise.
“Yep.” Maggie kept squinting into the lenses. “Here, take another look.” The two women crawled over each other again.
Kathryn lifted the binoculars again. “Wow. She is the spitting image of her. How crazy is that? And what would she be doing here? And at this time of night?”
“We don’t know if it’s really her, but she could win a lookalike contest for sure.” Maggie pulled out her phone and sent a text to Charles:
Check NJ plates PND-P23
Seconds later, Charles responded:
Car registered to Nina Hunter, Ridgewood, NJ
“Holy cow!” Maggie said in a loud whisper. “That car is registered to Nina Hunter!”
“You can’t be serious!” Kathryn squinted. Just as she was adjusting the lenses, the two women in the car in front of them ducked down behind the dashboard. “They spotted us spotting them !”
A few hundred yards away, Nina and Frankie ducked their heads. “They’re on to us!” Nina hissed.
“But who are they?” Frankie asked rhetorically.
Nina climbed into the back seat. “Hand those over.” She motioned for Frankie to give her the small opera glasses they had been using.
“You could have bought a real pair if you were going to play Nancy Drew,” Nina said and clicked her tongue.
“Wait a minute. One of them looks like that reporter that got knocked over during the SantaCon in D.C.”
“What is with all these bad Santas?” Frankie asked another rhetorical question.
“Yeah. It was on the news last night, but she got up and finished her story. I recognize her hair.” Nina fidgeted with her curly locks. “Just like mine, but hers is ginger red.”
“What do you suppose they’re doing here?” Frankie asked again.
“Covering another story? Maybe they’re on a stakeout?” Nina was as baffled as Frankie.
A Cadillac pulled onto the street. Both women in both cars ducked down. The Caddy stopped at the chain-link gate; then the driver pressed a button on a box, and the gate opened. Three men got out of the car while the women surreptitiously watched.
“Frankie, I don’t like this. It’s getting way too weird,” Nina said in a hushed tone.
“You’re right, but let’s wait a minute before we pull away. We don’t want to bring any attention to ourselves.”
“You mean any more attention,” Nina said, and let out a huge whoosh of air.
“Look! Look!” Frankie said in a loud whisper. “That guy is wearing a Santa cap.”
“’Tis the season,” Nina quipped.
“This is too much of a coincidence.”
Vinny gave Jimmy a slight slap on the back of his head. “Will you take that thing off? You look like an idiot.”
“Well, my Santa stash got you some winnings. It’s good luck.”
“Only if Bucky doesn’t break my legs.”
The three men disappeared into the warehouse.
Maggie sent another text to Charles informing him that three men arrived at the warehouse.
She and Kathryn were going to wait to see what their next move would be.
They still didn’t know what Nina Hunter and her friend were doing in a desolate warehouse area, but for now they had to keep their eyes on the trailer.
Kathryn had thought about stealing the truck back, but then again, they still didn’t know if someone had made an honest mistake in hitching the wrong trailer.
Nina and Frankie were still ducking down in their car when the three men walked out of the warehouse. Two got in the cab of the truck, and the Caddy driver returned to his vehicle.
Jimmy started the engine of the big rig. “See? Bucky didn’t kick your hiney. This cap is good luck.”
“Shut up and drive. I still have to come up with the rest of the cash in another two days. Plus, another ten thousand. That’s sixty thousand bucks!”
“Maybe more good fortune at the ponies?” Jimmy said with a wide grin.
“I am not pressing my luck. Again,” Vinny said thoughtfully, which is exactly what he was doing: thinking. He snapped his fingers.
“What?” Jimmy asked.
“I have an idea.”
“Yeah? What?” Jimmy asked with enthusiasm.
“Never you mind. This is something I have to take care of on my own.”
“If you say so, boss, but I’m telling ya, this baby is a lucky charm,” he said, as he tapped the fuzzy ball at the end of his cap.
As soon as the big rig maneuvered from the lot and was several yards down the street, Kathryn started her engine and made a K-turn with her headlights off. Thirty seconds later, Nina started her vehicle and began to crawl, keeping a distance of a few yards behind Kathryn and Maggie.
Kathryn spotted them in the rearview mirror. “Nina and her pal are following us, following the Caddy, which is following the truck. What do you suppose is going on?”
“Beats me, but we gotta keep an eye on those goods. If Nina wants to play reconnaissance, that’s up to her. I don’t think they’re any sort of a threat to us.”
Kathryn shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
The bizarre caravan proceeded toward the roads that allowed tractor trailers. Once they were over the Bayonne Bridge, back on the New Jersey side, Kathryn suspected they were heading toward the distro center. “Looks like they’re backtracking.”
“Do you think this could have been a big mistake?” Maggie asked.
“Messing with us is always a mistake,” Kathryn said, while she carefully followed the car and the rig.
“So how does Nina and her friend fit in?” Maggie said curiously.
“That, I cannot figure out, either. But they are the least of our problems now,” Kathryn said, as she followed the truck heading toward the exit ramp. “Until we know where these guys are going, we can’t waste our time thinking about them.”
“Even if they’re following us ?” Maggie asked innocently.
Kathryn glanced into her rearview mirror. “Even if.”
The parade of vehicles slowed as they approached the distribution center where this whole mess began.
The rig pulled over. Two men jumped out and disconnected the cab from the trailer.
Kathryn wrenched her head to get a better view from a block away. “What are they doing?” she said with exasperation. That’s when the cab juggled a U-turn and began to leave the area without the trailer. The Caddy followed.
Kathryn and Maggie watched in surprise.
“They’re leaving it there? In the middle of the street?” Maggie said with disbelief.
“Looks that way,” Kathryn said, trying to figure out what the plan could possibly be. Theirs and hers.
“But why?” Maggie asked.
“Who knows?” Kathryn said. “But at least we know where our toys are.”
“So, what do we do now?” Maggie asked. “We can’t leave the trailer unattended, and we can’t let those guys get away.”
“Why not? They returned it.”
“Yeah, but my nose for news is tingling. Those guys were up to something.”
“Okay, Lois Lane, what do you propose we do?”
“I’ll stay here while you follow them.”
“Follow them where?” Kathryn asked with a bit of a snip in her tone.
“Just do it. I’ll ring Annie and Myra and get some advice from them, but I think we need to split up.”
“Are you going to be alright?” Kathryn said as she looked around for some type of shelter. She spotted a small bus-stop shed. “There. Go huddle in that. I’ll keep you posted.”
Maggie held up her hand for a high five. “Whatever it takes!” she shouted the Sisterhood motto and hopped out of the car. She noticed the other vehicle a half block away. She decided to find out exactly what Nina Hunter and her friend were doing and began to approach the car.
Nina and Frankie made a futile attempt to slide down in their seats. Maggie tapped on the window.
Nina sheepishly rolled it down. “Hey. Aren’t you the reporter who got shoved by a bad Santa?”
“Hey. Aren’t you Nina Hunter, star of Family Blessings ?”
“Uh, yes. And this is my friend, Frankie Cappella.”
“Nice to meet you, but before we get into the why you are following me, I mean us, I need you to drive Frankie to meet up with Kathryn. She’ll ride with Kathryn, and you’ll come back and sit here with me until we can suss out the rest of this caper.”
Frankie jumped in, “I think the guy with the Santa cap is the one who’s been mugging the Salvation Army people.”
“And you tracked him down?” Maggie asked with a dubious tone.
“Yes. But that doesn’t matter now. It looks like they’re getting away,” Frankie replied.
“Hang on,” Maggie said, then pulled out her phone and called Kathryn. “Where do you think you’re heading?”
“Looks like we’re approaching a yard. A big rig and a few other trucks of different size.”
“How far are you?” Maggie asked.
“Not far. Maybe less than two miles.”
“Give me a crosswalk and Nina Hunter will hotfoot it over to you.”
“Huh? To do what?” Kathryn asked curiously.
“We gotta join forces. We’re the good guys,” Maggie said.
“If you say so.” Kathryn gave Maggie a street name and a landmark. “Tell her to get cracking.”
“What’s your number?” Maggie asked Nina. “I’ll text you the info.”
The exchange took a few seconds.