When the Bus Stopped

Chapter 16

"That isn't him," Alessandro denied. "I've been briefed on his look."

The last thing he wanted to do was drive around endlessly after some poor innocent sod when he could be sitting here on some luxury leather seats and enjoying the company of a strange and yet fascinating woman.

"Isn't him? He is wearing denim. All denim. For goodness sake! Nothing says nutter more than a denim-clad weirdo creeping around in the middle of the night. Follow him."

"But his profile is all off."

"Coming from you! You in your Brokeback Mountain attire and mooching around the Supermarket looking like complete white trash. This is just another well-disguised person. Get that pedal to the metal, Princess."

Alessandro's brows shot up in shock. No one had called him Princess, ever. "Alright then." If she wanted to drive around town in the middle of the night stalking some poor unsuspecting character so she felt better about accepting payment then who was he to deny her. She needed to feel like she actually helped. He pulled the car out to follow the denim-clad man.

"Not so fast!" If Lucy's voice could physically attack him she would have given him a slap around the ears. "He'll know you are on his tail. Keep back a bit. Sheesh! I'll have to get you The Dummies Guide to Staking Someone Out."

So she knows about Dummies Guides.... Alessandro suspected all of her Chimney intelligence hadn't grown out of some innate inbuilt ability but from Libraries scattered across the country.

Alessandro hoped she didn't realize how nervous he was about stalking some poor unsuspecting soul. He even managed to bunny hop the car down the road after the perp.

"Shouldn't you stay back a little? He might know that he has a tail?"

"You are right." He braked sharply.

They followed the man quietly for several minutes - the car driving out onto the open road winding through farmland that glowed in the moonlight. Lucy was excited, "Would you believe it was this simple! The guy is walking right into the trap! Being a cop is so simple!"

When the car pulled off the open road toward a tight hairpin track up a mountain. Alessandro went to follow.

"Dip your lights!" Lucy ordered.

They crept up the road and watched as the car pulled over ahead of them next to a large homestead and the kind of barn that Alessandro had seen on all of the postcards down at the Village. Old and rustic. The mountain behind it was illuminated in the night by the pristine white snow that capped it.

"Drugs!" Lucy exclaimed.

The two of them sat in the car and watched as the man jumped out and unloaded a boot full of black leather suitcases.

"Or just normal suitcases."

"Really Daniello? Normal suitcases? Then tell me: why are they all identical? And leather?"

"What?" Alessandro could feel his face contort with confusion.

"No one has identical suitcases except OCD folk and from the looks of his attire he isn't suffering from any such condition."

"How can you tell?"

"Well his car is filthy and covered in dents, and his jeans are revealing odd socks. Aren't those pants an unfortunate length?"

"You amaze me," Alessandro admitted. But what amazed him more was this poor unsuspecting fellow they were following hadn't realized they were nosily following him yet.