Chapter Eleven #2
I imagined that was true. People acted differently when they knew they were being watched. Hiding out in one of the area’s many abandoned places allowed him to see things no one else would.
“Why would they close down a parking garage this big?” I asked, looking into the cavernous space.
“This was the valet garage for a casino,” he explained. “Casino closed down, so did the garage. This one is out of my price range,” he admitted. “But I imagine some developer is going to come in and turn it into a luxury condo building eventually.”
“Luxury condos?” I asked, looking over toward where, just across the street, two people were shooting up right in the open where they could be seen.
Remo shrugged. “Not a lot of shore towns left that haven’t been taken over by the elites. They’ll find their way here eventually.”
“And you want your slice of it all before that happens.”
“Something like that. Is the girl okay? Saw her rushing out of the casino.”
“She was in Frank’s office. But she’s quick. She saw the camera right off and pretended to be waiting for Frank.”
“Who, unfortunately, showed up.”
“Yeah.”
“Gonna say, I don’t like using a woman as a spy,” Remo admitted, exhaling hard. “But she’s also the only insider we can tap. I’ve been looking into it.”
“I’ve got some ideas to keep her safer. I told her just to go to work tomorrow. Give me some time to work on things.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Yeah, actually. Anywhere to get a signal jammer around here?”
“I’ve got a few. Where are you jamming?”
“Thinking the camera in the office.”
“Nah, don’t think that’s gonna work.”
“Why not?”
“Frank hasn’t upgraded anything. His cameras are all the old-fashioned hardwired kind.”
And jammers were useless without a signal to interrupt.
“Shit.”
“I’m assuming it is set up to face the door, too, so she can’t just casually block it without being seen.”
“Yeah, sounds like that.”
“How about one of those blinding flashlights?” Remo said.
“You’re gonna have to ask her if she could inch the door open without being seen.
Just enough to turn the flashlight on at the thing.
As long as it is on the camera, she wouldn’t be seen.
Should give her five minutes to search. But she likely won’t get a second chance after that if someone is watching the cameras. ”
“I’ll pick one up and see what she thinks. She did mention that Frank’s office is packed with boxes—old and new. But she has no idea what’s in them.”
“I’d like to know, if she can spare a minute to look inside a couple of them. But I want to know if there is paperwork first and foremost.”
“Okay. I’ll mention it. Is Eric still breathing?”
“Yeah. From what Domenico said, Eric was the one in control of that interaction. Frank left red-faced and flaccid.”
“Interesting,” I said.
Eric was, on the outside, a local businessman who owned a handful of establishments. Which he used to keep the law from seeing his real money maker: cocaine.
“Yeah,” Remo agreed. “Things are looking more and more like Frank is not the player he thinks he is. I just need some damn proof that his business is as belly-up as I suspect.”
“Hopefully soon,” I agreed. “I gotta get going and locate a door lock.”
“Do I need to know?” Remo asked.
“Nope.”
“Good.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
I stood and watched him disappear… somewhere before I made my way out the way I’d come in.
I had a bunch of errands to keep myself occupied.
Unfortunately for me, all of them involved Roe. Which meant my mind was on her constantly. Not that that was something new. I hadn’t thought about shit else since I first spotted her.
Putting my hands on her wasn’t an option. Especially after hearing she was worried I might be expecting something for giving her a few little gifts.
—
“Yes?” the woman at the dress shop asked first thing the next morning.
She was an older woman with the kind of elegant carriage and innate confidence that told me as attractive as she was in her golden years, she had to have been a knockout when she’d been young.
“Hey. I need to buy a few dresses for someone.”
“Oh, lovely! Around here, we love a man who spoils his woman.”
I couldn’t exactly correct her on that.
So I rolled with it.
“She said you would know her size and preferences.”
“Wonderful. Who might it be?”
“Monroe? Monroe London.”
“Oh, my,” the woman said, pressing a hand to her chest. “I’ve dressed many women in my day. I have to say, I think Monroe is by far the most beautiful woman I’ve ever dressed. And, I’d wager, the most beautiful one you’ve ever undressed,” she added with a little glint in her eye.
I wish.
“I swear those breasts of hers just defy gravity.”
Not something I needed to know.
My cock, which really needed to calm the fuck down, twitched.
“And those legs! But, of course. I mean, her grandmother was known for her gams.”
She kept up a running monologue about both Monroe and Roe’s grandmother as she bustled around the shop, snatching several dresses off of racks and moving them all to a central rack to display them.
My gaze slid to one of the price tags, and I exhaled hard when I realized they weren’t, in fact, expensive. Monroe was just painfully underpaid at her job.
“Now, I know she is partial to the emerald, but I really think the blue would look stunning with her eyes.”
She’d gathered a black, green, blue, a dark red one which looked black at certain angles, a deep bruised purple, and an unexpected cream with sparkles that, I imagined, would almost look like she was naked on stage.
“Bag ‘em all up.”
“All of them?”
“Unless you don’t think she’d like any of them.”
“Oh, no. I’ve seen her eyeing all of these.”
“Good. Then let’s ring ‘em up.”
She was holding back a smile as she brought the dresses over to the counter.
“You would probably be the best person to ask about this,” I said as I passed her some cash. “Do you know of a good tailor in the area?”
“Oh, these should all fit Monroe’s figure perfectly.”
“No, no. Not for her. I bought some suits that aren’t quite right.”
That was obviously a lie. But it was hard to feel bad when I had just dropped a couple grand.
“Oh, of course. In that case, there’s a great place over on Arctic Ave.”
“Great. Thanks so much. You’ve been really helpful,” I told her as she passed me the garment bag full of dresses.
“Anytime. Monroe really landed herself a winner,” she said as she walked me to the door.
“Think I’m the winner in that deal.”
If only it were real.