Page 34 of Delivering David

“If you don’t stop laughing right this minute, I’m gonna hurt you so bad, Kristopher with a K,” she threatened.

“You and whose army?” he teased.

“Forget the army,” she growled, but enjoying every minute of this. “I’ll get Bailey to help me.”

“Marines beating the Army?” he snorted. “Ha. In your dreams, Miz Bennett. In your dreams.”

A babble of excited voices rose from the kitchen and then Alex Langley was running back into the dining room, Sofia on his heels. Barry followed, the earlier fury back on his face.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Randolph may have to come back and arrest me for assault when I get my hands on that guy. Tell them, Alex.”

“I remembered, Suzanne!” Alex shouted gleefully. “I remembered!”

“What did you remember Alex?” Suzanne prompted, trying to ignore the excitement thumping in her heart.

“That guy! You know. Turkey on Swiss, extra pickles? I remember what he looked like and where he works!”

Suzanne silently inhaled. “Tell us.”

“He works in that building down the street, the one with those big tubs of flowers and that big green awning. The guy has red hair.”

“Are you sure?” Kristopher asked.

“About his hair or where he works?” Alex frowned.

“Both,” Suzanne said. “Go on.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Alex sounded defensive. “Barry lets me do deliveries there sometimes. The guy works on the fourth floor that has all those paintings of the Muppets and superheroes on the walls in the front lobby.”

“Oh my God,” Suzanne whispered, very grateful that she was still sitting. “Are you telling me the man Stan gave that sack of discs to is someone who works at Family Services of Tennessee?”

“That’s right,” Sofia interjected proudly, putting her arm around her smiling son’s shoulders. “And the man he just described is Henry Tate. State Case Manager for the Clark sisters.”

CHAPTER 24

A short timelater at Families United

“I’ll callLucinda Gonzalez right now,” Elaine said. “What a fantastic break in the case. Have you called Grant Miller?”

They had piled into Bailey’s oversize truck–Alex and Sofia in the second seat–to make the short trip to Families United. Now, with Bailey taking the Langleys to their own safe spot, Suzanne had set up a Zoom meeting with Elaine at her work desk to tell her about the listening devices Barry and Alex found and of Stan’s involvement in planting them.

“No,” Suzanne said. “Officer Randolph is going to tell him about the bugs. And since Henry Tate is a state employee, shouldn’t Lucinda be the one to handle it with him?”

“Absolutely,” Elaine agreed. “I’ll call her right now. I just hope she can find Henry Tate before he gets suspicious. I’ll bet whatever is going to happen, it will be soon. What are you going to do now? Hey, there Kristopher.”

“Hey yourself,” Kristopher replied as he put two oversize mugs on Suzanne’s desk. “Glad to see there was coffee available.”

Elaine’s bright laughter brought Suzanne a small measure of relief. “Are you kidding? Human service workers practically live on the stuff. Tea, as well, but I’ve a lot of confirmed coffee-heads working here. Coffee is included in the annual budget. Are you pulling up Stan’s records?”

“I am,” Suzanne said. “This is not going to look good for Families United, is it? I mean, I’m the one who hired him.”

“You are not to worry about that,” Elaine ordered. “If Stan Dembowski’s paperwork was forged or fake, that’s not our responsibility or fault. Start with finding his address and text it to Grant Miller. And tell Alex I said, ‘good job’.”

“Will do,” Suzanne promised as she ended the meeting. The screen went dark, and she reached for one of the cups. “Wow,” she said after taking a sip. “What a day.”

“And it’s not over.” Kristopher hitched the chair beside her desk closer and sat. “What ‘cha going to do now, Miz Bennett?”

“Open Stan Dembowski’s Families United file,” she said, her fingers punching the keyboard. “Ah. Here we go. That’s him.”

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