A Southern Noir: Deception by Any Other Name

Chapter 6

I left the house at nine to avoid the morning rush on Monday morning. Can't say that it helped too much, but at least I made good time to the gym. I spotted Danny's truck parked in the same spot as last night. Since I knew where he was, an idea struck me.

There are a couple of Starbucks on Highway 280, so I played a hunch and drove to the one closest to the gym. No luck there. Driving to the next one, I thought about all the places the guy I was looking for might be. As I entered the turning lane, I spotted a police car parked in the lot next to the coffee shop. I drove past the car, and sure enough, I saw who I was looking for this morning.

Shannon Turner became a police officer after high school. While we were in high school, he always talked about being a cop. He tried his best after graduation to talk me into joining the academy with him, but I didn't want to do patrol duty late at night for years. So he joined the force, and I became a private detective.

I parked my car several spots behind his and approached from his blind side. Shannon sat sipping his coffee and enjoying the pastry he had bought. Knocking on the passenger side window, I said, "Officer, oh, officer, I need to report a jaywalker by the Galleria. He looks drunk and dangerous."

"Dammit, Hunter, you almost made me spill my coffee," he said. It shouldn't be that easy to sneak up on a cop.

"Shannon, open the door, will you?"

"No way, Hunter. The only reason you want to talk is because you want something. Now go away."

"Is that any way to talk to an old friend? Come on, Shannon let me in."

"No, Hunter, I need to be on patrol."

"But I've got some good information for you."

"No."

"Alright, fine. How about a picture of Andrew Jackson instead?"

"Just get in, Hunter. What do you want this time?"

He unlocked the passenger door, and I plopped into the seat. "I need you to run a plate for me."

"You know they monitor those requests on the dispatch logs?"

"So, it's not your fault that a concerned citizen reported something suspicious, and you are duty-bound to check it out."

"Fine, what's the plate number?"

I showed him the picture of the license plate I took yesterday. "Four-four-one."

"Go ahead," came the dispatcher's response.

"10-28 on plate number 5, 8, Samuel, 8, 6, 3, 6."

"Plate is registered to Greg and Sarah Freeman, 423 Liberty Trace Parkway, Vestavia."

"10-4." He looked back at me and asked, "Happy now?"

"Almost. Do either of them have any priors?"

"That's public information, and I've done enough. Just because we graduated together doesn't mean you get to use me for information all the time."

"Technically, you graduated from Vincent."

"We went to church together, close enough."

"You're right, you're right. Look, I appreciate the information."

"Let me ask you a question, Hunter. When are you going to get tired of running down cheating husbands?"

"Who said it was a cheating husband?"

"Is it?"

"Yeah, but I didn't say it."

"Is Emilie still busting your balls over the whole detective racket?"

"When doesn't she?"

"Why don't you join the force? With your experience, they'd make you a detective in no time."

"I am a detective. Besides, I like being my own boss, setting my hours, and all that goes with it. Hell, you should come work for me."

"I thought I did. Do you even make enough to hire another detective?"

"You could be my partner."

"Now that's a laugh. That's what my wife wants to hear. Honey, I gave up my pension to go into business with Hunter. No, I don't know how I'll get the bills paid, but Hunter says we'll do fine."

"Alright, alright, I get the point. I'll get out of your way before I get my feelings hurt." I opened the door and got out of the car.

"Hey," I heard Shannon yell. "You owe me twenty bucks."

"Oh, yeah." I fished out the twenty and handed it to him through the window. "We should do lunch sometime, Shannon. Without business, that is."

"Yeah, sure. Why not? How's tomorrow sound?"

"Fine by me. Pizza By the Slice at noon?"

"Better make it around one."

"You got it. See you tomorrow."

I got back in my car and drove back to the office. When I got to the office, I did a Google search on the name Sarah Freeman on the desktop. A public records search turned up a couple of speeding tickets. I then searched for employment history. I took a few minutes to sort through several Sarah Freemans, but I found her.

She worked as a technology specialist for the Shelby County school system. I cursed under my breath because I knew where their office was located. They're off Highway 31 in Alabaster. The problem is the building sits by itself, and there is nowhere across the highway to sit and do surveillance.

Another problem was that she was a twelve-month employee of the school system. Which means she is not off in the summer. Even if she left the office to go to one of the schools, it's not easy watching a school without attracting attention. I'd rather not watch over a school at all. Keeping track of her would be difficult, so I decided to focus more on Danny for now.

I went ahead and ran the information on her husband too. Greg worked as a site manager for Knight Brothers Construction. His job was to check in on the various job sites of the business, ensure everyone was doing what they were supposed to, and ensure that the customers were happy.

I spent most of the morning and afternoon at the office, trying to dig up what I could on the Freemans. At three, I left the office for the gym. I got there around four because of an accident on 280. It didn't matter since Danny's truck was still there when I arrived.

Almost an hour later, the familiar red Camry pulled into the parking lot and took a spot near Danny's truck. She got out, carrying her gym bag; she walked into the gym. It should be about an hour before she returned, so I waited. She was in there for almost two hours before they returned to her car.

They didn't hold hands or anything while walking to her car. I took several photos of them with my camera. For several minutes they talked by her car. She laughed several times, and it seemed like they were having a pleasant conversation. After several minutes she got in and drove away.

I waited for Danny to follow her in his truck, but he returned to the gym instead. Thirty minutes later, he got into his truck and drove away toward home. I followed him again and watched him turn into the Publix on Valleydale.

Following him, I circled the parking lot but found no sign of Sarah's Camry. I parked my car and entered the store. He was easy to find. Keeping my distance, I noted the items in his cart, yogurt, eggs, bread, bacon, frozen biscuits, a couple of pounds of hamburger, and other grocery items. Nothing in the cart suggested anything other than an average trip to the grocery store.

I grabbed a six-pack from the beer aisle and got in line behind him at check-out. After paying for his goods, he left the store and took his phone out. He typed a text message and put it back in his pocket before pushing his cart to the truck.

He left before I could get to my car, but I had a good idea he was headed home. To be sure, I drove past his house and found out I was right. He was taking in the last of his bags as I drove past. Like yesterday, I decided to go home as well. When I got there, I called Mrs. Patterson from my car. It rang three times before she answered. "Mrs. Patterson, I've got some news for you. Can you meet me tomorrow? Great, ten works for me. See you then." With the meeting set, I went inside for the evening.