Seeing Is Believing Page 3

  "You jerk, you creep, you as..."

  "Don't say it."

  "You...donkey." She struggled more. "Let me go and get out. Now."

  "No." He tightened his grip and she wanted to cry out in frustration. How dare he treat her this way? She'd agreed to have him stay here because she didn't want someone to use her as an unwitting drug smuggler, and here he was, spanking her.

  They stood together for a few minutes, her back pulled into his chest, his arms still tight around her waist. "Are you going to calm down?" The unruffled tone of his voice made her want to scream more. How dare he act as if nothing were wrong?

  "Fine, I'm calm. But I'm warning you, unless you leave, I'm calling Chester and have him forcibly take you from my store."

  "Doubt it." He loosened his hold just a little. "Don't you want to see what's in the extra boxes?"

  "Of course I do." She stayed still, her anger still high. "It doesn't mean I want to do it with you around though. Right now I think you're a big, fat jerk."

  "I did what I felt I had to do." He loosened his grip but she didn't rush out of his arms. She was afraid if she moved too quickly he'd spank her again.

  "Fine, just don't do it again.Creep." This time she pushed against his hold and he released her, letting her step away from him. She turned and narrowed her eyes, letting him know exactly what she thought of his actions.

  "Don't. You. Ever. Do. That. Again."

  When he did nothing more than lift his eyebrows at her, she waned to lash out and slap him. Instead she stepped toward where Frank had left the stacked boxes.

  "Don't open them yet," Reed said. "I realize we both want to know what's inside, but I think it's best if we wait for Chester. Let me call him. Then, when he gets here, we'll open the boxes and see what's inside."

  "And if I refuse? If I say this is my store and I want to open them right now, to see what's inside?"

  "Then I might think you're somehow guilty in all of this. You should cooperate with us, make it easier on all of us, including you, and think of the big picture. We need to bust this thing up, figure out what's going on. And to do that we need a law enforcement official here when we open the boxes."

  Leslie hated to admit he was right. Despite her anger at her spanking, especially the fact he'd done it in front of Frank, she shouldn't fly off the handle. The boxes needed to be sealed when Chester arrived. That way she couldn't be accused of planting something inside them. Just because Reed was working with her didn't mean he didn't think she might be involved. He might just be here to keep an eye on her in case she was involved.

  "Fine, I'm going up front, but don't you ever, ever, spank me again. Do you understand me?"

  His grin made her want to throw up. "I understand, but I'll do what needs to be done. So you do me a favor and don't do anything that deserves another spanking. You have to admit, it worked. You were pretty distracted."

  She blew a raspberry at him, then stalked into the main part of the store. A few customers sat at tables, enjoying sweets and coffee. Tambi waited on a few high school students who were buying sodas and cookies. When they were gone, she grinned at Leslie.

  "You should have just told me the two of you were playing around. That way I wouldn't have feared for my job."

  "We're not playing around."

  "Right," Tambi said, her grin growing. "I peeked in to investigate the noise and saw him spanking you. That's playing around."

  Leslie fought the urge to tell her the truth. She didn't for one minute believe Tambi was involved in any drug smuggling, but if Tambi told her mother what was happening, then it was possible her mother would tell someone else, and then all hell would break loose, as they say. She may be angry with Reed right now, but sabotaging the whole investigation would get them absolutely nowhere. Best to just let Tambi think they were just kidding around.

  "I have to admit, he is pretty handsome," Tambi said with a wink. "How long have you known him, really? And why are you not telling anyone you're involved?"

  Leslie tried to think quickly. Things just weren't working out the way she wanted. "I haven't known him that long," she said, truthfully. "And I'm not positive it's going to work. I don't want to let things out, and then have everybody question me like there's no tomorrow if it doesn't work out, you know what I mean?"

  Tambi's sad look let her know she knew exactly what she meant. Small towns were notorious for gossip, and Tambi had endured more than her fair share when she'd dated a man she'd thought would marry her and love her forever, then had skipped town the minute he'd discovered she was carrying his baby.

  "Your secret's safe with me," Tambi said with a wink. "I won't tell a soul I saw him spank you. I promise."

  "Thanks. It wasn't really a spanking, just a few taps." Oh geeze, now I'm defending him? I need to get a grip on myself and realize that he's not a good guy where I'm concerned.

  "Whatever it was, it was contact, and it sure looked like a spanking from my end." They both looked toward the jingle of the front door. Leslie swallowed a cry of shock when Betty Whitehouse strolled in, a huge smile on her face.

  "Hi," Leslie groaned out the word even as her stomach raced down to the floor, falling so quickly she thought she would faint. "Back so soon?"

  "The hands gobbled up that pie yesterday like it was water. I told them I didn't buy them all the time, just every once in a while, but they begged me to come back and get a few more today, so I'm here. I'm hoping you have several pecan and pumpkin ones made up already. That's what they requested."

  Leslie wondered what sort of noise she could make to get Reed to come running, so he could see his number one suspect had returned. And now that she was back, Leslie had to admit that it made her look pretty guilty. She'd never once mentioned anything about buying pies for her ranch hands. It had always been about buying pies for her husband.

  What had brought about the change? She'd already been in twice this month, and now she was here, back for the second day in a row. And it just happened to be on a day when the store had received a delivery.

  Leslie smiled, then cleared her throat. "We have just what you need, Mrs. Whitehouse. I have something to take care of in the back. Tambi will help you. Enjoy your pies."

  She tried not to hurry as she walked toward the back room. If Reed had been right, then Mrs. Whitehouse was being used as bait upfront while someone was emptying the boxes in the back. But when Leslie made to leave, Mrs. Whitehouse didn't make a move to stop her. Instead she chatted with Tambi about pies. The last words Leslie heard her say before she went into the back room was that she thought she might buy a few dozen cookies, too.

  When Leslie arrived in the back room, she was surprised to find it empty. Fear gripped her insides. The unopened boxes still sat in the same place they'd been earlier. She took a step inside and called Reed's name. No answer came and she took another step.

  "Reed?" The back door flung open and she jumped, putting her hand on her chest as Reed came back inside. "Where have you been?"

  "Trying to chase the pickup that pulled up outside, then took off when they saw me in here. Unfortunately I'm too old to go as fast as a car."

  "Mrs. Whitehouse is outside." She repeated what the older woman had told her, and Reed nodded, his frustration evident by the look on his face. "She didn't try to stop me from coming back here, and I refuse to believe she'd put me in harms way. She's too sweet for that."

  "I would say that means she has no clue about what's going on," Reed replied. "Her hands are using her." He nodded to someone behind her, and Leslie turned to find Chester standing in the doorway.

  Chester looked at the boxes, then glanced back at Reed. After Reed related the tale of the pickup, Chester sighed. "Let's open them up and see what's inside. Then we'll decide where to go from there."

  Leslie picked up her box cutter, carefully slicing open the first box. She pulled out several handfuls of small plastic caskets and skulls. Each handful made her hopeful that she would find nothing more than what she
'd ordered. But after a fifth scoop of souvenirs, she stared down at the brown paper wrapped package that sat near the bottom of the box.

  "Something tells me that's not Halloween candy," she said with a deep sigh.

  Chapter Three

  "May I ask exactly what you're doing?" Leslie stared at Reed, who stopped working long enough to give her a look that said she should know exactly what he was doing. He started to put more of the big brown bags that they now knew held cocaine into the boxes.

  "Reed, answer me."

  "Go in the other room, please."

  She dug her heels in, despite his order, and shook her head. "No way. Tell me exactly what's going on, right now."

  "Leslie, this isn't your investigation, it's mine." He gave her another look, this one a little softer. "And although I know this hurts you to know people have used you in this way, Chester and I have decided the less you know about this the better. Please, go in the other room."

  The shop was still open, and for a Tuesday, there were quite a few people milling about, buying slices of pie and hot drinks. It had been cool today, and Leslie knew that always attracted people to the store. Still, Tambi had everything under control, and there was no way Leslie was leaving right now. Reed was just going to have to deal with it.

  "Listen, buster, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is my store, and I want to know what's happening. Now, you either tell me why you're putting the drugs back in the box instead of Chester taking them to the sheriff's department, or I'm calling up media outlets in Amarillo, and Albuquerque, and spilling my guts. I'll tell them everything, just to make sure the story gets out and people know I had nothing to do with the smuggling."

  The shocked look on his face made her smile. "You wouldn't."

  "Try me."

  He stopped what he was doing, and she watched him consider the pros and cons of letting her know what was happening. Finally he shook his head in defeat and sighed in disgust.

  "We're setting a trap. We're pretty sure the guys will come back tonight for the goodies. We're going to make it look like the boxes haven't been opened. They will either take the entire box, which I doubt because it would be a red flag that someone was here, or they will open the boxes, take out their merchandise and then reseal them. While they're doing that, I'll be able to snap a few photos with a fantastic camera I have that works well in dark places. Then, after next week, we'll be able to watch the guys we see tonight, and track the drugs, see whether the people we're working with right now are the actual dealers, or if they're just middle men trying to make a quick buck."

  "And you weren't going to tell me this."

  "No, we weren't." She watched Reed carefully tape the box shut, then move on to the next one.

  "I'm staying with you, tonight."

  He stopped opening the box and shook his head, a look of astonishment on his face. "I don't think so. It could be very, very dangerous. You'll be at home, snuggled in your warm little bed, and I'll be here, doing my job."

  Leslie crossed her arms over her chest and sneered at him. "I hate to tell you this, but I own this building. Without my permission, you'd be trespassing. Plus, if I happened to come in here and find you, who's to say that I didn't think you were the burglar? Then I'd have to call the cops and have you arrested."

  "Maybe I'll just have to tie you up and leave you on your couch until everything's done."

  "Maybe I'll have to have you arrested for kidnapping, then. Get used to it, Reed. If you're setting up a trap in my store tonight, I'll be there, whether you like it, or not."

  He finished the second box and moved to the third one. "It's not a trap, it's a surveillance experiment. I'm not going to make any sort of contact with these guys. I'm just going to watch them take the drugs."

  "To me that makes you almost as guilty as they are. You should stop them, arrest them."

  He stopped what he was doing and turned to her. "First off, I'm not a cop. Second off, we have to look at the big picture here, remember. I told you we were going to track them, see what happens with them. If these guys start distributing the drugs to people for them to sell, then Chester and his starred buddies can arrest them and we'll all feel better at night. If they're holding them to give to someone else for delivery we want to know that. Stopping the shipment ring, and then taking down the distributors is our main goal."

  "Leslie, could you help me, please." Tambi stuck her head inside, smiling like a kid at Christmas when she saw the two of them talking. She winked at Leslie, then jerked her head up front. "We're really busy, and I'm falling behind on waiting on people."

  Leslie nodded affirmatively, then turned back to Reed. "This isn't over. Trust me, I'm going to be here tonight, no matter what you say."

  *****

  Reed took a sip from a water bottle, then stared at the door leading to the front of the store. He had to come up with a solution that would keep Leslie away from the store tonight, and he had to do it quick.

  He pondered the idea of telling Chester to throw her in a jail cell, but that would raise too many questions. There had to be some way, though, to keep her from coming down here and putting herself in harm's way.

  He had no doubt the smugglers would return tonight, and when Leslie saw them, she would freak out and scream, or do something else to call attention to herself, and him. If that happened, there was no telling how the smugglers would react, and things could get very messy. And he didn't want that to happen.

  An idea formed in the back of his mind, pushing its way forward. He tossed it around, tweaked it a bit, then grinned to himself, taking another swig of water before standing up and going to the front of the store.

  Both Leslie and Tambi were working hard, with the tables being mostly full. Leslie was out amongst the crowd, a coffee pot in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other. He knew she was pushing the slices of pie that sat in the containers on the counter. He looked at the display case, saw two huge chocolate cakes he hadn't seen there before. It reminded him that Leslie got there early, and spent a good portion of her morning baking. Maybe he should just let nature take its course tonight, invite her along and she'd be asleep within ten minutes of inactivity while they waited for their prey.

  Then he pushed that idea away. There was no way she would fall asleep. She'd be way too excited about seeing who would come in the back door. He crossed to Tambi and gave her a friendly wink.

  "Hard day?"

  "A little bit," she replied. "We've been pretty busy."

  "So it would seem. You know what you need, a night out on the town."

  Her smile confirmed her need to let loose for a little while, and he patted himself on the back for thinking of this. "Yes, you're right, but my mother's watching Josh right now, and I don't think I can convince her to make it an all nighter, or at least until I got home. So, I just have to stay at home, like every night, and watch TV.

  He lifted his eyebrows in what he hoped would look like an "I just got an idea," move. "Why don't you let Leslie and me watch him tonight. We'll have a great time, and we'll stay at your house until you get back."

  Or at least she will. The minute you're gone, I'll be out of there, and there will be no way Leslie can follow me with a baby in tow.

  "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that."

  "Sure you could, and believe me when I say we'd love it. Come on, what do you have to lose. In fact, why don't you take off right now? I'll help Leslie finish up here until closing time, and when your mother brings Josh by, I'll make sure everything's taken care of."

  "Well, Leslie has sat for me before, but before I leave, I'll have to ask her."

  "Nah, just go on and have some fun. You're only young once."

  Reed watched her face as the idea played out. She really wanted to ask Leslie, but then again she was a little frightened Leslie would say no, and she really wanted to go out for the night.

  "Come on, Tambi. It's a little more than an hours drive to Amarillo. You could go with a friend, eat
dinner, maybe go to a movie, and then be back before midnight. But to be back that soon you'd have to leave now."

  I'm sure my guests will be here by then, and Leslie can whine and cry all she wants. By the time she's done babysitting, tonight's expected fun will be over and done with.

  "All right, if you're sure Leslie won't care if I go, then I'll do it." She untied her apron. "I'll call my mother from my cell phone and tell her to drop Josh off up here. Leslie has a key to my house."

  "Terrific," Reed replied. "Have yourself a good time, and don't hurry home. You deserve a night on the town."

  *****

  Leslie parked her car in the high school parking lot, two blocks from the store. She'd foot it from here, coming up in the front and letting herself in. Her blood still boiled from Reed's little scheme to keep her from the evening's activities. She'd ranted and raved when the store had closed, and he'd told her "they" were supposed to baby-sit Josh tonight. Of course she knew what he really mean was "she" was supposed to baby-sit while he went to the store and watched the smugglers take everything from the boxes.

  She was damned if she was going to let that happen. Instead she'd waited until he was gone, then called Celia Perkins, offering her forty dollars if she'd come over to Tambi's house and baby-sit. Celia was a high school student, and it was a school night, but Leslie had assured her it would be fine for her to fall asleep on the couch, and Leslie would wake her when she returned.

  Then she'd called Tambi to inform her of the change in plans. Tambi had immediately begun to apologize, saying Reed had told her it was fine with him. Leslie had assured her things were fine, but something had "come up," that she'd needed to take care of. She'd let her think that it was a huge order at the store, and that Leslie would spend the night baking.

  After making sure Tambi wouldn't show up, Leslie had given Celia her forty dollars, then set off to let Reed Jacobs know he couldn't pull one over on her. She hurried to the store, silently unlocking the front door and letting herself in quickly.