Double Lives

Chapter 4

Monday morning. Jay and Erin's first day working at the Ruzek meth lab had arrived. Jay had felt upbeat while eating breakfast and enjoying his first coffee of the day, not because of the change in job, he didn't particularly care about that. The reason he was upbeat was because he was going to be spending the day with Erin. He had already decided to invite her to join him for a drink after their day of work at the lab. Since this was a non-Clem week for him, there was no reason not to.

When the time came to leave, Jay walked around to Erin's house and rang the doorbell. Moments later, she opened the door, dressed in black joggers and matching t-shirt. She was dressed for comfort, not style. Yet she still looked incredible, he thought. And she greeted him with one of those smiles that was so beautiful it made him feel weak.

"Jay. Morning. All set for the day?"

"Hey, Erin. I am. We'll take my car."

"You know where the lab is?" she asked in mild surprise.

"I know it's at the food plant, but I don't specifically know where it is. First job is to get there. Shall we go?"

"Let's do it," Erin said, stepping out of her house. She locked the door, then walked with him down the driveway. "You might want to bring a book with you or something. It's going to be a long, boring day for you."

"You're not going to have me help you?"

Erin laughed. "Uh, no. You're not going to touch a thing. So, like I said, bring a book or something. There will be no phone service."

"Okay, you win," Jay said, unlocking his car. "I am actually reading a book. I'll run inside and get it. You can wait for me in the car."

It wasn't long before he returned, book in hand, and got into the driver's seat next to Erin.

"What are you reading?" she asked as he dropped the book on the back seat.

"It's a world war 2 book. History interests me."

She grinned at him. "History does? Or war does?"

Jay looked her in the eye for a moment and smiled back. They were talking about a war book, yet somehow he felt sexual tension. It was best ignored for now. There was work to be done, and had no intention of pissing off Kim Ruzek.

He fired up the engine. "Let's get this show on the road."

-----

"Park in the employee's lot," Erin said while Jay waited to make a left turn into the food processing plant's entrance. "We'll enter like we work here."

"We do work here."

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow slightly. "You know what I mean."

There was a gap in the traffic, so Jay made the turn and entered the factory's premises. He had been there before of course, and knew where to park. He also knew that Adam Ruzek would likely be there, running the legitimate side of the business as usual.

Jay parked up in the employee's parking lot. He had enjoyed the journey, although there had only been idle chit chat between them. Now it was Erin's turn to take the lead, since she knew how to access the lab.

"After you. You know where we're going and how to get into the lab."

"We'll go in through the employee entrance. Again, we make like we work on one of the production lines or something. When we're inside, just follow me."

They got out, Jay remembering his book, and walked over to the factory entrance. Other members of staff were there, clocking in for their shift. They were mostly woman, mostly Hispanic. Cheap labour, he assumed. What struck him was how they showed deference to Erin, moving aside and allowing her to pass. They knew, or at least had an idea, who she was and knew she was way higher up the ladder than they were. It did occur to Jay that it was potentially dangerous that some of these people were no doubt aware of some kind of secret area or room in the factory. But then they would also know how stupid and dangerous talking about it would be for them and their families.