I needed to get Tank over to see Val but I was reluctant to drop him off and leave him. He has been my most valuable asset today and I still have seven more hours until Valentines' day is over. I looked in the rearview mirror and did not see him then checked out my side mirror. I had rolled the window down and Tank had his head out, tongue lolling, slobber slinging and mouth grinning. I smiled at the windshield.
Leslie lived in the more affluent part of town. Not a gated community but just a step down. Clearly there was an HOA in full effect. All the lawns had the same grass, the same height complete with edging. The mailboxes were all matching and fancy. I could see only three different color schemes. Even the privacy fences were the same. I wonder how these people felt about having a man-mauler in their midst. Excuse me, I meant alleged man-mauler. I hope Leslie didn't have any kids. I threw the file at Suit. "Hey double check that she doesn't have any kids at home with her." I demanded then remembered my manners, "Please." I added in a syrupy sweet voice.
He glanced through the file and said, "No kids according to this."
I pulled the Rover in front of the driveway to block it, just in case. I left the car door open again with the same instructions to Tank. Suit and I walked up the steep drive to the sidewalk and over to the front door. It was painted a bright canary yellow. Oh, Leslie you are a rule breaker. I rang the doorbell and waited. I looked at Suit then rang it again. Still no answer. I looked in the window. The house appeared dark. She must actually not be home. I tried the door knob on the off chance it was unlocked. It wasn't. I pulled out my lock pick kit and quickly changed that status. Suit raised his eyebrow at me, I shrugged in response. I slowly opened the door easing in waiting for some dog to attack. No dog appeared. I walked in pulling on gloves as I went. Suit followed me. I rummaged through her mail, nothing useful. I went to the area that looked like an office and sat at the desk.
"If I were a man-mauling, crazy lady, where would I keep my calendar?" I wiggled the mouse and the computer came to life. No password, yea. "Hey suit, come look at this." I hollered. He came up behind me, put his hand on the back of the chair and leaned in to see the computer better. His breath next to me ear, making me way more aware of him than I wanted to be. Concentrate Nor. Ignore the sexy man breathing in your ear. Did I say sexy? I meant annoying, very annoying. I almost forgot what I was doing then the screen lit up with Leslie's google calendar pulled up. Scheduled for today at 4:15 was a hair appointment at a Salon at the mall.
"Bingo." I said.
"Do you think she will still be there, it is past five now."
"She will still be there. It is a color touch up and a trim. That takes at least an hour. If we leave now we will probably make it just as she is getting done. She will look gorgeous for her trip to the police station." I put the computer back to sleep and made sure to put the chair back exactly like it was and boogied out of the house. I turned to lock the door back. It is the right thing to do after all.
I hate the mall almost as much as I hate Valentine's day but not more than I hated leaving Tank in the car while we went in.
"Are you going to actually park or just keep going around until she comes out?" Suit asked on my second round of the parking lot.
"I was looking for her car. I thought it would be helpful if one of us stayed by it while the other went inside. That way I would not have to leave Tank in the car by himself." I retorted. Suit just nodded.
"Do you see it anywhere? It is a blue Nissan Sentra, Tag is NTURBZ." We both looked around for a blue car then said simultaneously, "Not your business." I grinned at him, he smirked at me.
"Just park. You go in. I'll wait here with Tank." He started, then changed his mind, "No, give me the keys and I will continue to circle in case she uses a different exit." I looked at him skeptically then conceded. It is not my car after all. I'll let John deal with the consequences. I parked by the curb next to the food court entrance, we both got out, I left my door open for him and hurried into the mall.
It was busy. I am not sure if that is because it is Valentine's day or because the mall is normally busy on a Friday evening. There were couples everywhere, mostly younger teens holding hands and getting way too friendly for public consumption. Probably the only place their parents would let them go on a date. What a lame Valentine's day date. "Hey, you wanna go to the mall with me on Friday? We can share a pretzel?" I mocked in my head with a really stupid guy voice.
"Pssht." I said out loud catching the attention of a couple near me. I smiled and asked, "Hey, do you guys know where the hair salon in here is?"
The girl said, "Which one?" Oh crap! There is more than one?
"Both." I said.
"They are both on the lower level, one in JC Penny at the other end of the mall in the back of the store. The other is its own thing between Dillards and Macy's." She said pointing in the direction of both.
"Thanks." I said and began weaving my way to the escalators. I was looking around on my ride down and noticed two goons on the upper level on a bridge-like area in front of me. They spotted me just as I spotted them. I started jogging down the escalator dodging people and saying random excuse me's. I turned sharply at the bottom to head in the opposite direction of the way the girl had indicated. I needed to lose the Goon twins before I found Leslie. I could not take them down here in the middle of the mall without a huge delay and lots of fast talking explanations. An idea struck me and I headed for the restroom hallway. It would be perfect. There was a family restroom that I could stash their bodies in. I slowed down so they both would catch up with me as I entered the hallway. There was about 50 feet of hall before it turned to the left to open up to both a men and women's restrooms. Neither had a door, just a sharp turn with a wall blocking the view. Before the hall corner there was a family restroom. I turned the corner for the main restrooms and waited. I pulled out my stun gun and charged it up. I heard their footsteps as I heard their voices. They obviously learned how to whisper at a freight train station.
"You check the women's, I'll stay in the hallway." I changed my tactics on hearing their plan. Silly Goons. I stepped into the men's restroom just around the corner so they could not see me as they rounded the hall corner. I waited for Goon number two to go into the women's restroom then snuck up on Goon number one, pressing the stun gun to his neck and taking him down easily. I drug his body into the family restroom zip tying him to the sink plumbing. I was coming out right as Goon number one came out of the women's restroom talking, "She ain't in there." He was wiping his hands on a paper towel. What the what? Did he use the restroom while he was in there? At least he has the decency to wash his hands afterwards.
"Hi." I said.
He did not return the greeting but rather came at me like he was going to tackle me. I moved to the left at the last moment and he crashed into the wall knocking himself out.
"Really?" I asked the unconscious goon. "That was not even a challenge. You could've at least made it more interesting for me." I grumbled as I drug his body into the family restroom. A mom with two toddlers was coming down the hall toward us. I looked up and smiled at them, "He stole a toy." I said in a matter of fact voice. The small eyes got really round as they hurried past. I zip tied goon number two to the safety rail by the toilet, his head fell over on the seat of the toilet. EW. I washed my hands and left the restroom. There was no way to lock it from the outside unfortunately. Some family was in for quite a shock.
I decided the salon between Dillards and Macy's was my best bet so I hurried to it. I walked in and was assaulted with the chemical smells that permeate all salons. Clearly today was the day for coloring. The receptionist looked up at me then did a perusal of my body and hair. Her facial expression clearly disapproving of my clothing choices or maybe it was the fact that my hair was still in the crazy state left over from the car/dog wash.
"We have conditioning treatments on special this week." She offered. "They are included with our premium cut & style. I don't have anyone available right now, but," she paused as she clicked some buttons on the keyboard, "I won't be able to get anyone to fix that before 7." She finally looked up with a grimace. "What time is your date?"
"What?"
"Your Valentine's date. What time is it? Isabella has an opening at 7 she could get," the pause again as she gestured to my hair, "that whipped up in shape for an 8:30 date."
Realization dawned. I frowned. Was it really that bad?
"Thank you. But I am not here for me."
"You're not. But…" she started clearly wondering why anyone would walk around willingly with their hair in this state.
"No." I bit out. "I was wondering if my friend Leslie is still here? I need to talk to her and she is not answering her texts." I actually had no idea if she was answering her texts. I had not even tried to text her. I knew from experience that surprise was my friend when it came to skips.
"Leslie Jacobs?" she asked.
"Yes."
"She never showed up for her appointment today. I called her but she didn't answer." she offered.
"Does she usually skip appointments?" I asked, realizing that if I were truly her friend I should know the answer to that question but highly relying on the fact that the receptionist was not the top of her class in logic.
"No. She is like clockwork. I mean really I could set my clock by her. She is never late and she always picks the same day, same time 6 weeks apart."
"Hmm. Well, thank you." I said and walked out heading back to the food court exit. I pulled out my phone and texted Suit as I walked.
Me to Suit: I'm coming out. No Leslie. Meet where you dropped me.
I know better than to try to do multiple tasks at once. I do not have any normal people coordination.I am good in a fight but normal walking is a challenge. I had just hit send when I ran into a kiosk and started to apologize when the attendant reached out to steady me. I thought he was going to strike me so I pulled back and lost my balance. I caught at his shirt to keep from falling but only succeeded in bringing him down with me. He grabbed the kiosk in an effort to keep from falling on top of me and ended up pulling down half the display on top of both of us. I was trying to get detangled from the attendant and the .. what was this display of anyway? When I saw the Goon twins obviously free from the restroom. I dove behind the kiosk as they ran past heading for the food court. I scrambled around looking for my phone amongst all the lanyards. Of course I would run into a display of things that can wrap and tangle easily. I found my phone and sent a text to suit.
Me to Suit: change of plans. Meet me at the Macy's upper entrance COH.
I threw a quick apology to the attendant as I crouch ran back to Macy's. I weaved in and out of the displays trying to stay below the racks in case the Goon twins saw me. I burst out of the exit right as Suit pulled up. He leaned over and opened the door for me to dive in. The Goon twins came out behind me right as most of my body was in the car and Suit took off. I righted myself, shut the door and looked behind to see them come to a halt as they realized they would not catch us on foot one of them had his phone to his ear. Suit slowed down to a normal speed and we exited the mall parking lot. I started laughing.
Suit looked at me. "What is in your hair?" I reached my hand up feeling for whatever might be stuck in my hair and pulled out a black lanyard with red skull & crossbones decorating it. Interesting. I held it up and Tank sniffed it snatched it in his slobbery jaws and proceeded to mangle it. I guess he likes it.
"COH?" he asked.
"Coming out hot. I thought you guessed by the way you opened the door and did your bat-outta-hell impression." He smirked.
"Where to now?" Suit asked after a moment.
"We need to go back to Leslie's and see if there are more clues. She was a no show, no call for her appointment. The receptionist said she never misses and is never late. I have a feeling something nefarious has happened to her."
"Something nefarious?" Suit parroted as a question. I wasn't looking at him but I guessed he had an eyebrow raised-I could hear it.
"Yep." I popped the p.
"And the Goon twins?" He asked. I smiled. He was starting to think like me.
"They" I paused, turned my smile at him, "were a slight delay. I zip tied them in the family restroom after stun gunning one and the other knocked himself out before I visited the salon. Someone must have found them and helped them out."
I could tell he wanted more details but he was going to have to ask nicely.