During the thunderstorm, the flights was flickering on and off inside Adrienne Sinclair's office. When it darkened the room, she grabbed her flashlight, switched it on, and walked down the hall to find her way out.
Thunder boomed loudly in the distance. Lightning flashed and crackled in streaks across an evening sky. Torrential rain downpoured on the streets; the parking lot drenched with heavy hail-sized sheets. She groaned as she closed her window and shut her blinds. What else can go wrong tonight? It's not even 5 PM to call it quits.
On the way out, she stopped to find a mysterious envelope by the crack of her door. She bent down to pick it up and stashed it in her pocketbook. When she was dry and inside her car, she would read it. Under the gleam from her flashlight's beam, she widened her eyes on the handwriting and who'd addressed it to her. ?What the hell?? Adrienne asked herself. ?I have no time for this or selfless mind games either.? She had to admit to herself, it did pique her curiosity a tiny bit more.
Adrienne snatched her poncho, her briefcase, her key ring, and her flashlight. Though it sometimes had creeped her out like it had in the past. It had carried a subtle hint of d?ja vu too.
She hurried to the door, closed it behind her, sprinted to the front door, and zipped across to her vehicle in the parking lot. More rain had fallen around her, surrounding her with puddles everywhere she went. She escaped inside her car to dry off and get warm. As she started her engine, she fished for her penlight in the glove compartment , and lifted the envelope before her eyes.
She grimaced at the cursive handwriting on the envelope. Sebastian. Once again, you're getting underneath my skin. ?Rennie, you know where to find me. Follow the clues in the photo. Sebastian.'? If she wasn't stuck in the middle of a rainstorm, she would rip the photos in half.... after she would memorize it.
Thunder continued to boom above her, shaking and rattling near her car. Lightning was striking near the back of her office building complex twice. Too close for comfort. She peeled away from the wet curb, flicked on her windshield wipers, and headed for the highway.
At first glance, shed known ehere to find her ex-lover, Sebastian Pruitt. Their secret hiding place where they had held clandestine trysts and plotted their next criminal moves in art thefts, various artworks, and stolen artifacts in a treasure trove-filed cubbyhole. ?The Amtrak train station to Cotati.?
Although there weren't any train tracks shown in the photograph, she'd known the woman looked like her in disguise as a fellow cat burglar. Dressed in black, she was holding a lightning rod on a stormy night like this one. It reminded her of Benjamin Franklin's scientific experiments with a lightning bolt and a metal key to conduct electricity.
The platform and the antenanae were held at the Amtrak depot train station in Inverness. And inside the depot, that key would lead to a secret locker. ?Sonofabitch!? Why would he send me this note when I've sent him to prison, a week ago? While Sebastian was waiting for his trail on his nefarious crimes, he led her to where he'd stashed Da Vinci's letters, diary, and his secret artwork. Like a dog chasing its tail, going in circles, she was fed up with ihis cat-and-mouse games once again.
While driving to the Inverness train station, Adrienne focused on the words of ?cat-and-mouse? in her head. How ironic did he think he was some sort of big cheese? Or referred to his loot, too? Was she the ?cat? , who trapped him and sent him packing? Did he consider himself the ?mouse? in question? I'm no longer a cat burgular anymore, when he's still up to his tricks as usual. When a dawning thought hit her like Zeus's trident striking in a pitch dark night. ?Bastian wouldn't dare not to try to trap me in payback... and from behind bars. Or would he?? She grimaced at the mere thought and shook her head.
At the parking lot, she veered her car to the right and stopped it at the nearest slot, closest to the front entrance. She viewed her tablet and checked the train schedule. Then she surveyed the railroad tracks in front of the Amtrak Inverness train depot. Not many cars in the lot or in the empty terminal. ?A half-hour before it arrives on schedule. Just like old times, too.?
She hopped out of her car, grabbed her keys and pocketbook, and dashed to the sliding doors. She raised her brows to not notice any security detail around, except for the surveillance videos. She preferred to pick the key lock than with the combination dials. Easy to break, easy to crack the safe like in a vault.
The question remained at the number of the lock and where to find it. She paid no attention to the pouring rain outside with the thunder-and-lightning in the background. She returned her gaze to the photo once more... and flipped it over to the backing. In Sebastian's writing, he wrote the locker number and the place to locate it. I hope I won't find you there, Bastian. ?'320?Near Cotati Gate.'?
That wasn't too far for her to pinpoint it. Straight ahead. Ten paces toward the right and to the vending machines. The number ?320? had no significant reference to her, their former relationship, or anything to do with his crimes. With her penlight, she kept the beam shining bright in th darkened hallway, not knowing if it would lead to a power outage or a blackout.
At the locker, she stopped, placed her gloved fingers on the lock, and turned around in the quiet darkness. Too hard to detect any moving shadows. But she could hear herself breathing, her heart beating like a drum inside her chest.
?Come out, come out, wherever you are, Bastian?, Adrienne said. She couldn't shake this feeling that he was lurking around somewhere like last week, a week ago, on the Point Reyes Shipwreck.
?Boo!? Sebastian approached her in his wide steps and laughed out loud.
She jumped out of her skin and dropped her penlight on the tiled floor. She hated him whren he scared her like that and scowled. ?Bastian, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in jail, awaiting trial?? She haven't heard any news of a prison or jail break in the news.
?I've been released on bail by my lawyers and made a deal.?
I don't like the way this sounds. I wouldn't bail him ut anymore. ?What? What deal?? Did he know something else that he didn't let on or know again?
?With the D.A.'s office. For a lesser sentence, I've told them what I know and kept your name out of it.?
Someone like him should spent twenty years behind bars. He took the easy way out. She blinked and didn't know what else to say. ?Go on. Thanks, Bastian, I guess. What sentence??
?Immunity in exchange for my testimony against my former employers. The whole damned lot.?
Adrienne gasped. If she'd known anything, they were dangerous and would kill him on the spot. Was
this some sort of a death wish? ?You've turned State's evidence against them for probation or lesser jail time??
Sebastian nodded and took a step closer to her. ?Yes. You know I can't stay way from you, Rennie.? He paused. ?I do have a lighter sentence of five years and four months of community service and two years for probation. My trial's two months from here...?
If she was smart, she would run away and place him under house arrest. But not in her home, of course. ?Why? They would kill you more than me.? When she worked undercover to discover his lies and later fall for him, she'd learned a lot of insight from Bastian himself.
?I know they're ruthless. But that's why I'm entrusting you with this loot inside the locker. Open it.?
First the safe vault on the ship, now a locker in this train station. ?Key??
He handed it to her and stood back. ?My lips are sealed.?
Adrienne opened the locker and shone the penlight inside it. Bags of bounded money, another stack of letters, journal entries, and small-sized framed artwork along with Da Vinci's secret project no one knew about. She whistled as her jaw dropped to the floor. ?Woah! No idea there was more that what we've found last week, Bastian.?
?That's all I have and had stolen from our former fencers. It's for you.?
?Why?? From the tone of his voice, it sounded like a goodbye.
?Because I'm going to be placed under WitSec until my trial. It's goodbye for now.?
When she locked the door, she turned around to see Sebastian was gone. Except for his retreating footsteps.
Topic: Cat and Mouse (Read 2462 times)