Page 3 of Tom's Chance
“I stopped in there once. Great pastries.”
“I know, and I’m in there all the time because most of the time I don’t have time to sit down for a meal, so I call ahead and tell them it’s me, and I’m going out on a call. I arrive and have my coffee and a bag waiting for me. The bag contains a sandwich and a muffin or cookie.” He shook his head and pointed to his phone. “After that conversation, I’m too scared to try again. I haven’t told the ladies at the office yet, but now it brings me to what I’m asking of you.”
“Which is?”
“I have a ‘date’ at Kora’s the day after tomorrow. It’s for one in the afternoon. After that text conversation you just read, I was honest with the woman and told her that until I get to know them better and want to know if this will go anyplace, a coffee date is all I’m willing to do. She hasn’t told me no yet.”
“Okay, and what? You want me to run a background check on her?” Duane laughed then saw the seriousness of Tom’s expression. “You’re not kidding.”
“No. I don’t know about you, but the vibe from that first lady is that she’s looking for someone with money. She flat out said that if I didn’t spend five hundred dollars on her on a first date, then I would be too poor for her.” He shook his head sadly. “It might be paranoia on my part, but I’m thinking they see ‘Dr.’ attached to my name and think I’m loaded.”
“Yeah, I got that too. What can you tell me about your upcoming date?” Duane turned to his desk and picked up his pen and waited for the information to come. He wrote down the information given to him, and got down to business. As he worked, Tom went back to his own work. When Duane didn’t say anything after about an hour Tom gathered his paperwork, sent a text to Erin, and left the office.
“I’ll be in the lab,” Tom told Duane and only received a nod and a wave of his hand. Tom shrugged and went over to the sex barn and made his way tothe lab. He looked up and grinned when he saw Erin walking down the hall.
“Hey,” he said to her, and waited with his key until she joined him. Together they put their key in the lock, then used their thumbs to be scanned at the same time. As soon as the lock was disengaged he opened the door, and Erin turned to leave. Once inside, he quickly washed his hands and donned the protective covering on his shoes, and over his street clothes, then he put on the clear mask that covered his entire head, put on the gloves, and entered the lab. He quickly got to work packing up the orders, and when they were complete, he had at least a dozen boxes that needed to go out that day. Thankfully, Erin said that she would call for the shipment to be picked up. As soon as Tom stepped outside, the big brown truck pulled in. It took an hour to get the packages scanned, and Tom was given the tracking information, which he kept with the files. He went back to his desk in the office he shared with Duane and took care of the paperwork.
“Got a minute?” Duane asked as he saw that it looked like Tom was going to leave.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I ran that information you gave me.”
“Okay.” Tom scowled when he saw the other man’s expression. “Shit, what am I not going to like?”
“Do you know a guy by the name of Jim Faulkner?”
“Yes, he’s the local sheriff. What about him?”
“Have a seat.” Duane pointed to the seat Tom had just vacated and sighed heavily. “First, I’m not saying I’m any better than the guys over at Brotherhood Protectors, did you think about going to them?”
“Not really, I thought I’d ask you first. To be honest, I never even thought about having you do the background check until I saw you come into the office earlier.”
“Thank you for being honest. I took the information you gave me, then went on that dating website. Again, I’m not saying I’m better than Jake, but something didn’t sound right to me, so I used some of my former FBI tactics. I may be retired from them, but I still know how to get around the system.”
“What did you find?” Tom asked and hadn’t realized he held his breath until it was hard to breathe, then he drew in a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. “I’m ready.”
“Your date for the day after tomorrow is wanted in six states on felony charges.”
“For what?”
“Identity theft. From what I’ve been able to gather so far, she goes on dates with men and somehow gets their credit card information. My research didn’t show how she got the information. Within days, but no longer than a week later, the guy’s bank accounts are cleaned out, and there are at least a dozen credit cards out in his name. From what I’ve seen so far,she’s been able to steal close to three million dollars from her victims. I’ve counted ten men she’s done this to.”
“Holy shit. What do you suggest I do?” Tom was so shocked he couldn’t seem to comprehend what was going on around him. He shook his head and looked at Duane.
“I’ve contacted Sheriff Faulkner and told him that you need to talk to him. If you’re done here, I’d suggest you go see him. If I were handling this case, I would tell you not to cancel your date with Leslie. That’s the name she’s going by, but not her real name. I’ve compiled a file for you to take to Jim. Again, if I were going to take this woman down, I’d make sure it’s in a public place, and I would have you and her on your date, and have the arresting officers come in, dressed in plain clothes, and then I’d take her out that way. Not with guns blazing, but have a female officer casually walk up, say hi to you, you introduce your date, and then let her recognize Leslie as someone else.”
“I get it, play it up that Sparrow could stand between me and Leslie, to keep me safe.”
“Who is Sparrow?”
“She’s a Deputy Sheriff, and she’s married to Stone, a guy that works at Brotherhood Protectors.”
“Got it, maybe Stone can be there as backup, you know, having a coffee with his wife. That’s how I’d play it.”
“Thanks, Duane,” Tom said after a few minutes of reflecting on what he should do, he stood, took the file, then grinned. “Looks like I’m stopping at the bank to get some cash out.”
Duane laughed heartily. “Yeah, that sounds like it would be a great idea. How about leaving your credit cards at home? There’s no telling if she has some device that gets the information from the cards, or if she has to physically touch it. Maybe to recognize the numbers, or imprint it somehow. I have no clue how she does it, all I know is that she does.”
