you?”
“Gotta go now, Barney. Granny’s at the door, and they need me,” Gus said, and let Wilson out of the car.
“How’d you like that, Wilson? I got out of answering him. Pretty slick if I do say so myself. Come on, let’s see what the seniors have in store for us today.”
Woof.
Chapter 15
MICKEY YEE AND HIS DOG BOOKER STROLLED ALONG THE BIKE and walking path in the gated community where Elaine Hollister lived. He spotted a bench that would allow him to sit as dusk settled. This was the time of evening when dog walkers were out and about. He didn’t think anyone would pay attention to him if he sat for a while without drawing attention to himself and his dog. He leaned back on the wooden bench, threw his arm over the back, then handed Booker a rawhide chew to keep him busy. Just a man and his dog out for an evening stroll.
In the pocket of his tee shirt, Mickey had a mini-recorder. He turned it on and listened to Lynus Litton’s voice relaying the information from the report that the detective assigned to follow Elaine Hollister had submitted. He’d listened to the tape at least six times since arriving at the gated community. He had already committed it to memory. He understood all that he heard, but something puzzled him. Something Lynus Litton didn’t have the answer to.
The investigator, Don Parker, said Elaine Hollister had had no visitors once she arrived home, until the time she left to go to her dinner engagement with her attorney, Isaac Diamond, which was verified by the audio tape from the bug Mickey himself had planted on Hollister’s landline. The conversation confirmed the dinner date and renewed the offer of a car to pick her up, an offer Hollister again declined. What Mickey didn’t understand was the two hours of muffled conversation or dialogue that Lynus said could be heard on the audio. He had orders to check his bugs to see that they were in working order. Always thorough, Mickey had, as usual, checked the bugs several times before he’d installed them. So, did Elaine Hollister talk to herself? Did she read aloud just to hear her own voice?
Lynus had left instructions for Mickey to stay in touch with Don Parker over open cell phone connections. Don was to call him the minute Elaine left the restaurant in case he was still in the house and needed time to get out clean. His last conversation with Don led him to believe that after dinner, the couple would head for someplace a little more intimate. Probably to discuss Elaine’s case, Don had said, tongue in cheek.
Mickey looked at his watch, and saw that it was already seven thirty. By the time he and Booker got to the Hollister house, night would have descended, making his job easier. He got up, settled his backpack more firmly on his shoulders, and picked up Booker’s leash. “Time to go, Booker.”
Twenty minutes later, Mickey Yee was standing inside the Hollister kitchen. A night-light low on the floor gave the state-of-the-art kitchen a dim, pale glow but gave off just enough light for him to make his way through the dining room, also lit by a low night-light on the baseboard. “You know what to do, Booker. I’ll be on the second floor.”
He sniffed, wondering what it was he was smelling. Perfume? A room air freshener? Women like those things for some reason. Some kind of aerosol spray like Lysol? No, that isn’t it. It was something he’d smelled before, but he couldn’t put a name to what it was. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it.
Mickey galloped up the steps and ran down the hallway to Elaine Hollister’s bedroom. He blinked. It looked like a tornado had swept through the room. Clothes and shoes of every description littered the bed and floor. Obviously, the lady couldn’t make up her mind what she should wear to the dinner engagement with her attorney. The bathroom looked worse. Makeup was everywhere, and wet towels littered the floor. What really interested him, though, was the cell phone charging on the vanity. Quicker than lightning, he had the phone bugged. He plugged it back in, careful to place it exactly where it had been. Talk about luck. Now he didn’t have to worry about breaking into the house in the dead of night, with Elaine Hollister sleeping upstairs.
Mickey moved to the landline on the night table. He checked it,