"Got you," she said. She lifted the matted hair off of her forehead, rearranged her face and straightened up, grinning at T.S.
"Adelle!" T.S. was not amused. He was appalled. She had looked exactly like a crazy old woman lost on the streets. A little too much like one, in fact. It frightened him. Where they all that close to the edge?
"Don't let it bother you, guv'," she told him with a bawdy nudge. "I can fool anyone when I put my mind to it." She cackled again and moved down the sidewalk, adding over her shoulder: "You're not the only eyes watching that building, you know."
The encounter was still bothering him when the blonde emerged from the corner store holding a pack of cigarettes and a small brown paper bag. The door to the back seat of the silver car opened and she climbed inside. Just then, the outer door to Emily's building swung open with a bang and a young boy ran down the steps. His blond hair gleamed harshly in the autumn sun and he wore a tight black T-shirt, equally tight black jeans, and brand new tennis shoes worth about a third of T.S.'s monthly pension check. The boy followed the blonde into the silver car and it pulled swiftly away.
Timmy. The boy in Emily's photos and, most definitely, the boy he'd seen in the apartment next to hers, two days ago with a middle-aged man. Seeing him in person confirmed it and he realized that he should have made the connection before. And he was probably the kid that Herbert had spotted leaving the building the night before.
So Timmy knew Lance Worthington. But what did that mean? And Lance Worthington knew, but did not necessarily like, Leteisha Swann. And none of them looked much like Mother Teresa from T.S.'s vantage point.
He hurried down the block toward his rendezvous with Auntie Lil. As he passed by a large potted fir tree in front of a Brazilian restaurant, he could have sworn he heard his name called out. It was as faint as the wind and just as fleeting.
He stopped abruptly. "What?" he said. A woman passing by glanced at him, stepped up her speed, stared back at him again and accelerated some more.
"What?" T.S. said again.
"Give my regards to Lillian," a muffled voice replied. "The Eagle has not yet flown the coop."
"For God's sake, Herbert." T.S. straightened the hem of his sweater and moved resolutely forward. "Now you're just showing off."
Auntie Lil had not waited for him to begin lunch. The last slurp of Bloody Mary had suddenly convinced her that she needed food— and fast. By the time T.S. arrived, she was halfway through a pork chop practically the size of a manhole. A small pile of bones on her plate signified the recent demise of another, equally enormous chop.
"I'll have what she just vacuumed up," he told the waiter automatically.
"Wise choice," Auntie Lil affirmed, her mouth full of food. "What did you find out?"
He told her the particulars about Lance Worthington and his actions earlier that day, then outlined his plan to find out more about the producer. Her eyes twinkled. Either she approved or she'd had a whopping big drink before he got there. Speaking of which—he ordered himself a Dewars and soda.
"You just want an excuse to see Lilah," she said once she'd swallowed her last chunk of meat. "But I approve heartily. You can get right beside him and see if it's all smoke or a little bit of fire, too. What would he be doing with a street kid?"
"He could be one of Timmy's customers. Or, he could just be there in the building collecting the rent."
They stared at one another, neither of them believing the last theory. "How do we explain the blonde on his arm if Worthington is one of Timmy's customers?" Auntie Lil asked. There went the first theory, too.
"I have even more interesting news," T.S. told her, abandoning their dilemma and savoring the chance to surprise her for a change.
"What?" she demanded. "You're holding back on me."
He told her about Fran not speaking to Father Stebbins. Her reaction was swift and surprised.
"What could have happened to cause such a thing?" she wondered out loud.
"I don't know." His drink arrived and he refreshed himself, realizing that his encounter with Adelle still rankled. He told Auntie Lil about it. "She was very proud of her disguise, but I was upset."