I check the area for places that might offer Wi-Fi and dark privacy. I spot at least two on the same side of the street. I devote the next few minutes to thinking like a woman who feels trapped by a dangerous criminal, a woman who is doing something that she doesn’t want to get caught doing. How would she go about this?
If I were her, I’d schedule a legit appointment and get some spa-ing done. Then, maybe afterward I’d sneak out the back and into one of the other places to do my covert shit. That would be the wisest thing, I think. That way if Lance called the spa, they’d say that she had a ten o’clock appointment and that she was not to be disturbed or whatever. An extra hour at the end could be chalked up to anything, I would imagine. She fell asleep in the sauna, she got caught up talking to some of the girls or another client. Hell, maybe he wouldn’t even ask. Women dawdle. He has to know that. And she can lie very convincingly, especially to a guy with an ego like Tonin’s.
I’m betting on that sort of a plan. Just to see if I’m right, if I’m getting to know her well enough to think like she does, I wait until twelve thirty and I cross the street and head around the block, to the alley between the first row of buildings and the next. I lean against the brick corner, shielded by a big dumpster, and I wait.
At ten minutes before one, I’m gratified when I see Tommi’s bright head slip out into the alley and move casually, like she has every reason in the world to be back here, down several doors and disappear inside.
I imagine she told the people in the spa that she had to run a couple of errands. Maybe she even left something there so she has a reason to come back through and then out the front door where I’ll be waiting. Damn, she’s sneaky.
I walk back to the street side and down to the café she snuck into. It wouldn’t be out of the question for me to have come back early and drop in for a coffee as I wait, so I don’t bother trying to hide my appearance.
I glance casually around as I make my way to the counter to order. As I pretend to study the menu, I take in everything I can through my peripheral vision. There’s a hallway that leads to the bathrooms and, I’m guessing, to the back exit. There are a few small tables dotted along the wall, tables that disappear down that way. My guess is that she’s sitting at one of those.
When my coffee is up, I hit the condiment station before I head back to the truck. Without actually looking, I throw a napkin in the trash so I can get a peek at the hall. The platinum head hunkering in the shadows is unmistakable, as is the glow of a monitor on her face.
What the hell is she up to? I think for at least the fifth time.
For the next hour, I get to ponder this as I wait for her to make her way back to the spa and out the front door, which she does. I see her wave to someone inside, a big smile on her face. She’s good. She’s very good.
She’s all smiles and glowing skin when she passes by me to step up into the truck. “Thank you,” she says as I close the door and round the front to the driver’s side.
“Enjoy your appointment?”
“Immensely!”
I just bet you did.
“Where to?” I hope she says anywhere other than back to Tonin’s.
“To the school. It’s almost time to get Travis.”
Her lips hold a little curve all the way to the school. She seems downright happy, which makes me even more anxious to find out what she’s doing on that computer. Even Travis notices.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asks in his moody way.
“Nothing. Why?”
He eyes her skeptically, like he doesn’t recognize her. “You’re never like this when you’ve spent the day with that asshole. Actually, you’re never like this at all anymore.”
“What’s ‘like this’?” she asks with a half laugh.
“Happy.”
Her light expression falls a little. “I haven’t been with Lance today.”
Travis frowns at her, but then he glances at me. I can almost see the conclusion he’s drawing before he nods his head once and grunts. I wish it was the right one, but it’s not. Her mood has nothing to do with me.
“I wish you could get away from him,” he mutters. “If it weren’t for me…”
Tommi whirls around in her seat and puts her hand on Travis’s knee. “Stop it! It has nothing to do with you.”
As convincing as she tries to be, I can see that Travis believes her about as much as I do, which is not at all. But now I know that at least part of her reason for being with Tonin has something to do with her brother. I just have to figure out what that is. And what the other part entails.
Travis angles his body in his seat, drawing his backpack closer and toying with the blue zipper along the top. Obviously, he’s finished with his end of the conversation.
When I drop Tommi and Travis off, I back out and park across the street. My phone bleeps a few minutes later with a message from Barber, telling me there’s a change of plans, to bring her back to Tonin’s at eight. I grit my teeth as I imagine what’s in store for her tonight.
After I reply, I type in a secure code to my phone and send a message to my contact at the precinct, requesting a secure thumb drive that I might be able to sneak into Tommi’s computer if I get a chance and for him to send everything he can find on Tommi and her family in an encrypted file to the server so that I can look at it when I get a chance to log on. Luckily, the department has all sorts of precautions they can take to make sure we are able to communicate without getting caught. Firewalls, bouncing signals, encrypted files, secure networks, all sorts of technical shit that I don’t understand but know how to use. My brother liked to brag about all this covert shit after his first undercover assignment ended, so I was familiar with it a long time ago.
I press send then delete the text message. No one would know what it was anyway, but it just makes sense to get rid of it. Why take unnecessary chances? To anyone who might find it, it looks like I sent a request for nude pictures from one of those sites that send you porn for $2.99 a pop. No criminal would find that suspicious at all, should he somehow finds a way to hack my phone. Men like Tonin aren’t to be underestimated. No doubt he has someone who’s great with computers and technology on staff. He probably knows everything that goes on with his people, whether they know it or not. I’m sure that’s why Tommi is smart enough not to do whatever it is she’s doing on her computer from her house.