Chapter Twenty

Alex discovered that it can be very difficult to get a paranoid person to tell you what, exactly, the person harassing them is after if the paranoid person doesn’t think they can trust you.

He had already asked Tamara what Victor had whispered that made her so upset.  She side-stepped the question, and started in again on how she just wanted to be left alone.

Alex, not being one to take a hint, asked her then what it was that Victor wanted, and what had been on the slip of paper he’d given to her. 

Tamara snorted, and said, “As if I’d tell you.  The last thing I need is one more person trying to get their hands on what isn’t theirs.”

Alex said, “Well, is there anything I can do to help?”

“If you can get this asshole off of my back, that’d be a big help.  Otherwise, I’m not sure what you can do.  Anyway, I’ve got work to do.  See you around,” Tamara said.

She walked away, into the back room.  Alex wondered if there was going to be another session of cursing and throwing of kitchen implements back there, but all he could hear were the sounds of someone washing dishes.

After ten minutes or so, he left the Bump and Grind.  He was somewhat concerned for Tamara.  He didn’t really know much about her, but he did know that Victor Steel was bad news.  After thinking for a couple of minutes, he had to admit to himself that it was likely he would side with anyone who was against Victor Steel.  And Tamara definitely seemed like she was crazy, but she didn’t seem like a particularly bad person.   

Alex didn’t want to see Victor taking advantage of her.

He was deep enough in thought that he didn’t notice the three bicyclists hanging out right next to the Cutlass until it was too late.

“Hello again, Mr. Minor,” Victor Steel said.  “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Spectacular,” Alex said.  He was relieved that Victor and the other two were on bicycles instead of in, say, a large, fast automobile.  It would be hard to bring him anywhere against his will on a bicycle.

Unless they’re armed and force me to drive them in my car, a little voice inside his head said.

Victor took a sip of his coffee, and said, “She really does make a good cup of coffee.  It’s too bad she doesn’t want me coming in to the Bump and Grind again.  I know a lot of coffee lovers who would be thrilled to have a new place to go in this part of town.  Oh well.”

“It is a shame, but then, who would want their coffee shop overrun with friends of yours?” Alex said.

Victor laughed, and said, “You have such a sharp wit, Mr. Minor.  Well, I hope you have a fantastic day.  I’m sure I’ll be bumping into you again soon.”

He turned and began to walk his bicycle down the sidewalk, away from Alex.  His two flunkies followed behind him.

“Hey, hang on a second!” Alex said. 

Victor paused, and turned back to see what Alex wanted.

“Yes, Mr. Minor?” he said.  He sounded bored.

“What is it that you want to buy from Tamara?” Alex said.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Victor said.

“It’s not, I’m just curious really.  I’m wondering what a lonely coffee shop owner could have that’s so interesting or valuable that a wealthy man would make a special trip, in costume no less, to try and convince her to sell it to him, and apparently even resort to threats to get it,” Alex said.

Victor’s eyebrows shot up for a moment, then he relaxed again. 

“Threats?” He said. “What threats?  I merely made a proposition to her, and she chose to react poorly to it.”

“I’ve heard that women often react badly to being propositioned by strange men,” Alex said.

“A business proposition, Mr. Minor,” Victor said.

“Oh, of course.  So what did you propose?” Alex said.

“Just that I could take an item off of her hands that has been causing her a lot of problems, and that I’d be willing to pay her quite well for it.  But that if she decided she’d rather keep being hassled everywhere she went by other collectors, then that was her decision.  I don’t really care to tell you any more than that,” Victor said.  “Have a nice day.”

“So there’s more than one of you bothering her constantly?  No wonder she’s so edgy.  What is it that you all are so interested in?” Alex said.

“I’m still not going to tell you, Mr. Minor.  I’d hate for her to get home one day and discover that you had recovered it,” Victor said.  “Anyway, I have other things to do today than stand here and chat with you about things that don’t concern you.  Good bye.”

He turned and resumed walking away.

Alex watched the three of them walk their bicycles down the sidewalk for a moment, then hopped in the Cutlass.  As he started it, he wondered if he needed to be concerned about more bugs/tracking devices, since those three had apparently been standing there by his car for some time.  He decided, however, that they probably hadn’t had enough time to bug it.  And based on the fact that they’d been wearing spandex, and didn’t have any luggage on their bikes that they could have stashed such equipment in, the chances of there being even a new tracking device on the car were pretty slim.

He was probably good to go.  Alex decided that he’d stop at a bookstore on the way back to the farm house.  He was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to get any information out of Tamara or Victor that would make it easier for him to help Tamara.  Chances were good he was going to need a distraction, or he’d be up all night trying to figure out what the connection was, and what he might be able to do about it.

Finding a bookstore ended up being a little trickier than he was expecting, but he was finally able to find a Barnes & Noble on his way route back to the farm house.  It would do.  He picked up a couple of magazines, a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories (he’d always meant to read them, but never found the time) and a random Stephen King novel, just in case the other stuff didn’t work out.

As Alex was driving back to the farm house, he noticed a tower of black smoke on the horizon ahead of him.  Wow, I hope no one got hurt, he thought, and didn’t think much more of it.  As he got closer to the farm house, he realized that the fire must be awfully close to where he was headed.  He hoped the roads he needed were still open.

He got a little anxious when he turned on to the road that eventually led to the farm house.  The column of smoke was directly ahead of him, somewhere.  He briefly worried that the farm house had caught fire somehow, but then dismissed the idea as impossible.  House fires happened to other people following lightning strikes and smoking in bed.  People don’t just get home to discover their house is on fire.

Whatever was on fire must be close to the farm house, though.  The column of smoke kept getting bigger as he got closer to it.

Alex was quite dismayed when he came around the last curve blocking the farm house from view and discovered the farm house was engulfed in flames.

“Well, shit,” Alex said. 

There were a couple of firetrucks on the scene, and one of the firefighters directed Alex to stop well before he reached the driveway.  Alex rolled down his window to talk to the firefighter.

“I live there, what happened?” Alex said.  He hadn’t realized quite how freaked out he was until he heard his own voice shaking.  He’d been in there all week, after all.  Was it good luck, or bad luck, that the house burst into flames during the one time he wasn’t there?

“We don’t know yet,” the firefighter said.  “Lucky for you, someone who drove by saw the flames and called us.  We managed to catch it before it caught any of the outbuildings on fire.  I don’t think there’s going to be much left of your house, though, I’m sorry to say.  Have you got someone you can call?”

Alex had to stop and think for a second.  Then he said, “Yeah, I think so.”

He wondered how Mr. Darcy would react to the news that the safe house had mysteriously caught on fire while Alex was in Minneapolis and had, by the way, bumped into Victor Steel while he was there.

He really hoped Mr. Darcy was a good sport. Alex dug his phone out of his pocket, and tried calling Mr. Darcy.

“Mr. Minor!” Mr. Darcy said when he answered the phone.  “How has the pastoral life been treating you?”

Alex swallowed, and said, “Well, it’s been treating me pretty well.  There’s been kind of a problem, though.”

“Oh?  What’s that?” Mr. Darcy said.

“Well, I’d been out of the house, and I just got back to find it on fire,” Alex said.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

Alex continued, “The firefighter I talked to said that they’d caught it in time, and that the outbuildings are all OK.”

The silence continued.

“So, what would you like me to do?” Alex said, finally.

When Mr. Darcy spoke, he said, “What had you left the house to do?”

Alex considered lying, and saying he’d been grocery shopping.  However, the lack of a receipt and groceries in the Cutlass would make that an easy lie to disprove.

A receipt.  Shit.  All of my cash was in the house, Alex thought then.

He decided he might as well tell the truth.

“I got bored and decided to go into town to get coffee and see if I might bump into an old friend of mine,” Alex said.

“I see,” Mr. Darcy said.  “Did anything strange happen while you were in town?”

“Well,” Alex said.  He thought, I’m so fired, and continued, “I bumped into Victor Steel at the coffee shop.  He was apparently there to try and convince the owner to sell him something for his collection.  She told him to get out of the shop.”

There was silence on the other end of the line again.  Then Mr. Darcy sighed.

“I know I don’t need to lecture you about the fact that you were in hiding in the country for a reason.  That said, since we don’t know the circumstances of the fire yet, perhaps it was extremely lucky that you had decided to go into town,” he said.

He continued, “I’d like to tell you to just go back to your apartment, but on the off chance the fire at the farm house wasn’t an accident, I’m concerned I’d be sending you into a trap.”

Silence again.

After a couple of minutes, Mr. Darcy resumed speaking.

“Come in to the office, if you would.  We’ll get you set up with a place to stay for the next couple of nights, anyway, until we can find a better solution,” Mr. Darcy said.

“OK, thanks,” Alex said. 

“Of course, Mr. Minor.  We don’t leave our people in the cold.  Good bye,” Mr. Darcy said, and ended the call.

Alex was deeply relieved that he hadn’t just been chewed out and fired.  Of course, he realized, he wasn’t entirely in the clear yet, but considering that a few other jobs had fired him for nothing more than falling asleep at work, he realized he was awfully lucky to not be getting fired for letting the organization’s house burn down on his watch.

Alex started the Cutlass again, made a u-turn, and started driving in to Minneapolis again.  He hoped he wouldn’t have to buy gas on the way.  His wallet was suddenly very light.

When Alex arrived at Mr. Darcy’s office, Megan was sitting at her desk, looking calm and professional as always.  She looked up at him as he walked in the door, sat back in her chair, and crossed her arms.

“So, it sounds like you’re going to be crashing at my place for a couple of nights,” she said.  “I hope you didn’t bring any more adventure along with you.”