The Porn Identity

Chapter 14

       Ro drove a beat-up old Sedan with faded black paint and a dented back bumper. I recognized it on sight since his girlfriend had parked it right next to me that day I'd gone to the gym. Manny and I had taken a risk in waiting for him on the east side of the Arena. There was a four-way intersection there that led back to both I95 and the Hart bridge. The west side of the stadium would've taken him back toward 295 so if he was getting on an expressway, two out of three on-ramps were our way.

       "We must have missed him." I said after a few minutes.

       "Let's give it another minute."

       It took so long to get back to the parking garage we really did almost miss him, but by some luck we managed to run to Manny's truck, crank up, and pull out of that garage in record time. We'd pulled over to idle for about four minutes when Ro drove by looking like a full-grown adult riding in a toy car.

       "That's him!" I declared. "Follow that car!"

       Manny put the truck in drive. "You've always wanted to say that."

       "I have."

       As the taillights of Ro's little Sedan puttered toward the expressway, pedestrians started trickling from the stadium. The sound of dulled metal music floated through the air. The show was over, and we'd just missed the crowd. Manny pulled into the still clear road and gave chase after Ro. The taillights floated further and further...and further away.

       I looked over at the dash. Morgan Freeman over here was driving thirty-five miles an hour for some reason. "Hey, Ms. Daisy. You want to pick up the pace?"

       He snorted out a laugh. "Ms. Daisy wasn't the one driving. That was Morgan Freeman."

       "Never saw the movie."

       "You've never seen Driving Ms. Daisy?"

       "Nope. Looked mad boring."

       He nodded but kept his eyes glued to the road. "Yeah, I didn't see it either."

       I sighed and pointed toward Ro's car. "Okay, well, you're losing him, Morgan Freeman."

       "I'm not going to lose him. I know how to tail people."

       "Yeah, I know. You've tailed me before."

       "And you drive like a bat out of hell. I can keep up with this gorilla in a clown car."

       I snickered. "That's so mean."

       "It's really time for him to size up."

       Ro swerved onto the on-ramp for the Hart Bridge, no blinker. Manny hit the gas, then followed. The traffic on the bridge was nonexistent at this late hour so Ro's headlights shined like a beacon in the dark. Above us, the sky was dark, muddy, and on the verge of a rainstorm. Below us, the San Juan River loomed black and ominous. The streetlights on the Hart were spotty on the best of days, so Manny mostly relied on his headlights for visibility.

       From the Hart Bridge Ro merge onto Atlantic Boulevard. Atlantic had a wave of traffic so thick I thought for sure we'd lose him, but Manny pulled up behind Ro at a red light so casually I wondered if he remembered we were chasing the guy at all.

       "It's better with traffic," he said. "One car follows him for ten miles, he gets suspicious. Ten cars, and he doesn't notice."

       I filed that little tidbit from a Master detective/stalker away for later.