Page 18 of Flick

“Well, you know I always come back from surveillance with lots of ideas, and this time is no different. Number one, what would you think about maybe a little mobile coffee shop and possibly a brick-and-mortar one to take some pressure off the diner? The mobile one could travel to some of the area activities. It would also be a way for us to help someone have a job and business. Umm, I like the idea of having veterans run it. I was thinking Broken Hearts Brewing Company. It would be a quiet place for veterans to transition back to life. I mean, the smells of coffee brewing and the pastries would be comforting to theworkers. And we could have it be a place you could go after a breakup to have hot, tattooed guys wait on you and make everything better. Or a place to relax and enjoy some good food after you’ve lost a significant other.

“Number two, and it’s most likely because one of the places we’re staking out is an animal shelter, but the man running the shelter where we got my dogs recently had some health problems and is planning on closing his facility. I think it’s too far away from us for us to buy it, but… maybe we could open our own animal shelter. I mean, Regina already has a herd, but there’s that property with the big building that used to be the Co-op building, and it has a decent amount of property. It’s on Main Street, but I don’t want it to just be a shelter. I want to see if we can get someone who could train dogs to be support dogs, whether they are emotional support or those dogs that are trained to alert for low blood sugar. Maybe Bluff Creek K9 Training and Rescue?

“Number three,” Beth paused because Flick was back and opening his door.

He handed in a carrying carton with three drinks and a sack.

“Hey, so I got you the caramel Frappuccino with extra whipped cream you like, but I also know you get dehydrated on surveillance. I got you a large glass of their fruit punch too. They didn’t have the chocolate long john doughnuts you like. I bought a couple options for you to pick from. A couple of chocolate-covered doughnuts or they had these double chocolate zucchini muffins that I thought you’d like,” Flick said, finally looking at her.

“Oh crap, did I interrupt a phone call?” Flick asked.

“It’s just us,” her sisters chorused.

“Hey, ladies,” Flick said, his cheeks pinkening.

Beth stared at Flick. Now she felt like a jerk for whining about him to her sisters. Not only did he know what she liked, butwhen they didn’t have her favorite, he’d tried to find something she’d enjoy.

“Umm, thanks,” Beth said, taking her drink.

“I’m going to hang up so I can eat and also because I see movement at the building. We need some photos,” Beth said.

Her sisters said goodbye and hung up. Flick put his drink in the cup holder and grabbed the camera. Beth got her pen and notebook ready to take notes.

“Dark-haired male, suit, getting out of a brand-new Lexus with temporary plates,” Flick said.

Beth jotted down the plates and grabbed her binoculars to see if she recognized the man.

“Is that?” Beth asked.

“Yes, our lovely neighbor from behind us. Kerwin’s dad. Guess we’re on the right track,” Flick said, continuing to take multiple pictures of the men with him.

Beth usually loved surveillance, but this one, she wanted to end soon. Her neck itched, and she was worried that the longer it took them to figure things out, the greater the possibility of someone getting hurt.

“I texted Cowboy. I think we need to chat in person with Rose and Della. He suggested we wait until Bootstrap is back on June 1st. It gives us four more days to gather as much information as we can, then sit down and try to figure this out,” Flick said.

Beth nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I don’t want to live in Texas. I was okay missing the D-Day commemoration because we need to be here, but I’m not missing the Fourth of July in Bluff Creek.”

“Agreed.”

Chapter Thirteen

Flick leaned over the pool table and took the shot. He and Beth were at the Bluff Creek Brotherhood MC, Cider Creek clubhouse for a couple of nights. Bootstrap was back, and the club had found a dog sitter.

He and Beth had discussed bringing the dogs, but if they left the animals in the house with a reputable dog sitter, then they wouldn’t need to worry about someone snooping in the house while they were gone.

Flick had spotted Rose’s former partner driving into the community as Flick drove out. Beth had been at home and was able to get pictures of him visiting his uncle through the uncle’s kitchen window. She’d caught hand gestures and angry faces. Someone wasn’t happy with how things were going. Well, join the club. Neither he nor Beth were happy, but they hoped talking through things this weekend with everyone would help. Della had put together a map of the area and was plotting sightings of the guys or things that seemed off.

After Della said it would be nice to be able to check the police scanner calls without actually sitting there for hours on end, Cowboy had set up something to record the audio. Then he sent it through a program looking for specific words used; then one of them could listen to the audio if it hit on one of those words.

Flick’s eyes had crossed because it had been so boring listening to Cowboy describe exactly how he’d done it. Flick was positive it was probably how Cowboy would look at him if Flick described his day as an EMT.

He was enjoying hanging out with Beth, but he missed the day-to-day routine of helping people. Sure, this would help more people, but it seemed to him as if he was twiddling his thumbs all day long while everyone else was making a difference.

“Something on your mind?” Brew asked.

Flick hadn’t known Brew well before they came here. Brew had already left home from the Original Chapter to prospect for the Cider Creek Chapter before Flick moved to Bluff Creek. Flick could understand why Brew would want to prospect for another chapter. His older brothers, War and Roam, could be a lot to deal with. Having two older brothers himself, Flick could understand.

“I hate this waiting,” Flick muttered and took another shot, completely missing the pocket.

---