Page 32 of Astrid
“You’re welcome. Just one question and I’ll get out of your hair.”
“What’s that?”
“I need to work on the frame for the door from here into the tunnel, would it be okay to do that with you guys working here?” He pointed to the other three women, and when they said they didn’t have a problem with it, he turned and walked into the tunnel, but was back in no time with tools to frame in the door.
Morgan looked at the other women, and settled back into her desk with her cup of coffee cradled in her hands. “How did you make out yesterday?”
Ava and Joyce said their assignment was a bust, then they all turned to Astrid, who grinned at them.
“The actual location you gave me was a bust, so after staking it out for at least an hour, I decided to drive around, and see if there was something, anything in different directions.”
“Smart, did you find anything?” Morgan asked.
“No, but I kept at it, and ended up in a small diner when I got hungry.”
“Which one?” Joyce asked, and then explained about the one that she’d gone to when she’d received that information about the mob connection, and where the cop that had had a run-in with Ava lived.
“No, the one I went to was in a different town. I was sitting there waiting for my meal to arrive, when to my surprise these three men walked in.” She fiddled with the keys on her computer and the three women looked over at the monitors and frowned when the three men’s faces appeared. One on each screen. Because their backs were to him, Chuck stood there and listened to their conversation. It fascinated him what the women did for a living. Maybe if the construction business went belly up, he’d do what he could to offer his help to them. Shaking his head, he tuned into what they were saying.
“Who are these people again?” Ava asked with a frown.
“The three men who stopped Alan and me the first time when we went to Neil Mason’s house to talk to him about the kitchen cupboards. These are the ones with the regular rifles, and the ones who took our phones.”
“Gotcha.” Ava nodded.
“They came into the diner you were at?” Morgan sat forward as she asked.
“Yes, and instead of going all the way to the back, like they had planned, this guy...” Astrid actually jumped to her feet and went to one of the screens and pointed to it. “He looked at me, then stopped so fast these other two plowed into him, then he sat in the booth across from me. I dubbed him ‘Tobacco Man’.” She grinned when the others snorted a laugh.
“Let me guess,” Joyce laughed. “Because of the tobacco stains in his beard.
“Correct, anyway, he asked me if he knew me, and I said no. When I told him I met him once, he became interested.” She held up her hand to stop them, then continued, “Morgan, I wrote this all up in the report.” She watched as Morgan accessed her computer, then continued, “Anyway, I told him how I met him, that he took my phone and that the three of them were carrying guns. Their next action shocked the hell out of me.”
“How?” Ava frowned at her.
“They blushed, all three of them.” She went back to her computer, and her fingers flew over the keyboard, then on a different monitor, what had happened in the diner the day before played out. At one point, Chuck blurted out.
“Is that John?”
The women whipped their heads back and looked at him, and he only held up his hands and grinned. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Morgan laughed, then looked back at the screen. “Yes, that looks like my brother.”
“It was.” Astrid ground out, then left it at that. “Anyway, listen to the guy tell me his name.” She turned up the volume and they all listened twice.
By this time, Chuck had come closer, and he was the first one to speak, “I know I don’t know everything that you women are doing, but if that man is a criminal, I’ll eat my favorite hammer.”
“Why do you say that?” Astrid asked.
“Because, what two-bit criminal is smart enough to refer their name to a famous celebrity and a well-known TV show from fifty years ago? That man is smart.”
“That’s what I thought too, so you see here...” She pointed to the screen, and they all watched as she took the napkins they’d wiped their faces on, then on her way out, there was a clear picture of John sitting at a table with a woman, and he ignored Astrid, but paid close attention to the woman across from him, and even had her hand in his.
“Holy shit,” Morgan said, then looked at Astrid in shock.
“Yeah,” was all she said, then pointed to the screen. “I took those napkins to Tom Erwin on my way home last night, asking if he could run them for DNA.”
“Smart.” The other woman nodded.
