Саманта Сильвер: Sleeping With The Fishes

Jason did some more manoeuvring with the mouse and we waited for the ten minutes to pass before the girl came back out. As soon as the truck drove away, Jason paused the video. Sure enough, we had the perfect view of the license plate.

“Those are definitely Oregon plates,” Sophie said.

“Agreed,” I nodded. “You can make out the tree in the middle.”

“And there’s the number,” Charlotte said, writing it out on a post-it note. “Now we just need to find out who the car is registered to, and we can find out where the girl’s father lives and go from there.”

“I thought you didn’t approve,” Sophie told Charlotte.

“I don’t approve. I never approve of these schemes you hatch up. But since you and Angela are obviously going to do them anyway, and Jason isn’t on my side in these things either, I figure I might as well do what I can to stop you all from getting arrested.”

I grinned to myself. “And it definitely has nothing to do with the fact that you want this giraffe to be sent back home to be with her mother,” I said.

“Well, if our actions just so happen to help reunite them, then all the better. I think the odds are quite low, though.”

“So how are we going to find out who the car is registered to? I mean, we can’t exactly go break into the DMV and login to their computers to find out,” I said.

“That one is easy,” Jason said. “Chief Gary will have access to the same software. And if he’s good at his job–which he is–he has to at least question both of us about Matt Smith’s murder.”

I nodded. “Yes. So we just have to come up with a distraction while one of us is being interviewed, and then quickly type in the license plate number into his computer and remember the address.”

“See, this is why I need to be involved in this,” Charlotte said. “Your plan involves committing like, at least three crimes.”

“They’re only crimes if you get caught,” Sophie said to Charlotte with a wink.

“That is absolutely not how the law works,” Charlotte replied haughtily.

“Well, unless you have a better plan, this is what we’ve got to go with. We’ll have a really good opportunity to access Chief Gary’s computer, and that’s basically our only chance of finding out the information we need.”

Charlotte sighed. “Fine. But I’m not bailing you out when you get arrested.”

“Which one of us should do it, though?” Jason asked.

“Why don’t we just decide that whoever gets called for their interview first has a try. If it fails, the other person can give it a second attempt,” I suggested, and Jason nodded.

“Good plan, I like it.”

“Awesome, now stay here and have dinner with us,” I invited.

“Well, I’m certainly not going to say no to enchiladas,” Jason grinned. “And I’m definitely not going to say no to whatever you have in mind for dessert.”

“That part of the meal’s not going to be in the kitchen,” I winked.

“Gross,” Sophie blurted out, ruining the moment, making Charlotte giggle while I glared at her.

I tossed the vegetables I’d been chopping into the frying pan and grinned. There were worse ways to spend the night than with these three people.

Chapter 7

The next day dawned and it being Sunday, the vet clinic was closed, except for any emergency calls that came in. The phone call from Chief Gary came in just after nine. Luckily, since I had to be up early during the week, it meant that even “sleeping in” meant I’d been up for half an hour already.

“Hello,” I answered the phone, Jason sleepily grabbing at my waist as I sat up in bed.

“Hi, Angela. Sorry for calling so early, it’s Chief Gary.”

“Hi Chief, what can I do for you?”

“I was wondering if you could come in and have a chat with me, I need to talk to you about Matt Smith’s death.”

“Sure, no problem. When would you like me to come in?”

“Does eleven o’clock work for you?”

“Of course, I’ll see you then.”

“Great, thanks Angela.”

I hung up the phone then gave Jason a kiss and dragged myself out of bed. Making my way to the kitchen, I threw some pancake mix into a bowl and added water, and started to make my favorite Sunday morning breakfast. Bee wound her way around my legs in a figure eight as she always did when I made pancakes–her way of going ‘hey just in case you forgot, I exist and I also like pancakes’–and I smiled down at her.

“Good morning, Bee,” I said.

“And what a lovely morning it is,” Bee replied. “Oh, you wouldn’t happen to be making pancakes, would you? Well, that’s lucky. Although I am giving you this affection simply because I adore you.”

“Of course you are,” I smiled. Suddenly, from the hallway, four little kittens–Boo, Bilbo, Butters and Boop–all pounced into the kitchen and formed a line behind Bee, joining her in her affectionate walk around my legs. I couldn’t help but smile, even though I knew Bee was teaching them to beg; it was really cute, seeing my black cat leading the little cream ones, with the little ones following like little ducklings after their mother.

Ok, they were adorable. Maybe I could wait another week or so before starting the search for their new homes.

A few hours later, after everyone was up, showered and full of pancakes, Charlotte headed down to Portland for her classes, Sophie took Sprinkles out for a walk, Bee and Bee-hive disappeared to do whatever it was Bee was teaching them to do, and I headed downtown to go chat to Chief Gary. Jason got his phone call during breakfast; his appointment to chat with Chief Gary was at one that afternoon. Which meant, I was in charge of trying to get into Chief Gary’s computer and finding the address of the truck’s owner. I had memorized the license plate number over breakfast, and I was ready.

I also knew that I wanted to get as much information about Matt Smith’s death as I could. After all, I was all too aware that Jason and I were the most likely suspects, and I wanted to see if I could dig up anything that could lead to the real killer.

I decided to walk down to the police station; after all it was still a gorgeous day out and I wanted to enjoy the late summer for as long as possible before winter set in. With the sun’s soft rays on my skin and a gentle breeze keeping me cool, I made my way to the police station and greeted the receptionist who led me to Chief Gary’s office.

The local police chief looked less stressed than he had during previous murder investigations; it seemed even he was getting used to the bodies that had been cropping up in the area recently. Still, his face was sombre as he greeted me and motioned for me to sit down, and on top of the full mug of coffee on the table he also had two take-away containers in the little garbage can next to his desk.

“Thanks for coming in, Angela. You understand that I have to ask you a few questions, I hope.”

“Of course,” I replied. I didn’t want to make this harder for Chief Gary than it had to be, and besides, I was innocent.

“Good, I’m glad you get it, that this is nothing personal. I need to ask you where you were between the hours of eleven o’clock Friday and eight in the morning Saturday.”

“I was in bed by ten thirty,” I replied. “My alarm went off at six-thirty, and I got up, made breakfast, then went down to the vet clinic to get ready for the day. I was at the hardware shop at eight, and I bought a cheap rug to cover up the damage.”

Chief Gary jotted down my words while nodding. “Ok, thanks. Can anyone really confirm that you were asleep?”

“Well, Sophie and Charlotte were in the house, but they were in different rooms. So, not really.”

“Ok,” Chief Gary said, his face frowning. “Can you confirm that you didn’t see Matt Smith again after our conversation?”