Lindsay Buroker: Torrent

The motorcycles were parked farther up the street in front of the Hotel Vendome. We’d arrived in time to watch the owners walk inside-rather Temi had watched them walk inside while Simon and I kept our heads down so they wouldn’t spot us.

“You didn’t see their faces?” I asked. She’d described them as tall, slender, and clad in black leather, but I’d already digested that much when they cruised by the campground. “They took off their helmets, didn’t they?”

“They did, but they were wearing black wool caps that covered most of their hair, and they didn’t turn this way so I could see their faces.”

“Black wool caps?” Simon crinkled his nose.

My reaction was similar. Sure, it got nippy at night there in the fall, but the afternoon sun beating down upon us had passersby wearing T-shirts.

“Yes,” Temi said.

“Both of them?” Simon asked. “That’s a weird fashion statement.”

I almost giggled when Temi gave a head-to-toe consideration of his messy hair, 80s T-shirt, torn jeans, and dust-covered socks and sandals. “Yes,” was all she said. She’d never been one for overt insults.

Simon didn’t notice the slight anyway. He must have been mulling over something, for he soon blurted, “Maybe they’re Vulcans.”

“Pardon?” Temi asked.

I covered my eyes with my hand but explained. “Aliens from Star Trek .”

“With pointed ears,” Simon added. “In the episodes where the away team traveled back in time or to a planet that wasn’t familiar with Vulcans, Mr. Spock would always wear hats or wool caps to hide his ears and eyebrows. The best episode was City on the Edge of Forever when Spock showed up on old Earth without a hat, and Kirk tried to explain his ears to the police by saying his head had been caught in a mechanical rice picker as a child.” Simon grinned in fond reverence for this memory.

I whispered, “You were closer to impressing Temi when you weren’t talking to her.”

Simon seemed to remember he was in the presence of a pretty girl and flushed over his geeky faux pas. Temi merely appeared amused.

“Uhm, were the Vulcans carrying anything?” Simon outlined the precise dimensions of his prized metal detector before I could tell him to stop calling the riders that.

I hadn’t noticed anything big enough to qualify strapped to their saddlebags, and Temi confirmed my suspicion. “They weren’t carrying anything.”

Simon sank back in the seat. “Damn, where is it?”

“Maybe they were done using it so they left it back by that mine,” I said.

“Mine?” Temi asked mildly, reminding me that we hadn’t filled her in on anything. She’d been a good sport to go tearing off after the motorcycles without any information.

“We can give you the details over d-dinner,” Simon said, his deflation from seconds before fading as he smiled hopefully at her.

“Can we figure out what we’re going to do here first? If anything? Because if not, I’m going to spend some of our client’s money on a mocha.” I waved toward the coffee shop.

“We were at the sheriff’s department for a couple of hours,” Simon said. “Maybe our Harley guys already came back to town and dropped off their purloined goods.”

“That’s a lot for them to have done, considering we left them with slashed tires.”

Temi’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t think your mother gave me all the details about this business of yours.”

“That’s a given,” I said. “This is kind of… extracurricular though.”

“As in we’re using our free time to try and get back the $5,000 piece of equipment those people stole,” Simon said.

“Are you sure it was them?”

“We weren’t exactly parked at the head of some popular hiking trail,” Simon said. “There wasn’t anyone else out there.”

Except the dead guy, I thought. “What do you want to do then, Simon? We might have been able to knock on the door and chat with them if you hadn’t stabbed their tires, but as it is, I don’t think it’s wise for us to get anywhere near them.”

“Why don’t we get coffee and sit at the outdoor tables until those two leave again?” Simon waved at the hotel. “They didn’t have any take-out bags with them, so they probably have to go out to get dinner. Once they’re gone, we’ll sneak up and look in their rooms.”

“That place doesn’t have many rooms,” I said. “We’d probably get questioned if we sauntered in. Besides, how would we search their rooms without a key? My archaeology classes didn’t even cover how to break into ancient tombs, much less modern hotel rooms.”

“Once it gets dark, we could climb up to the balcony and start looking in windows.”

Temi was following all of this, her elbow on the back of her seat, her thumb and forefinger making an L-shape to cup her jaw.

“This is why I don’t give my mother the details,” I told her.

“Do you regularly do illegal things?” she asked.

“No,” Simon said. “ We’re not the villains here. We’re upright citizens.”

“For upright citizens, we have a lot of condiments in the van that we didn’t pay for.”

“How many times are you going to bring up that pepper shaker?” Simon asked.

“There’s mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup too.”

Since the conversation wasn’t going anywhere-and nobody was getting out so I could use either of the doors-I climbed over the side and headed for the coffee shop. Now that I’d been thinking of chocolate, I wanted a mocha whether we were staking out the hotel or not. A moment later, Temi and Simon followed me. We ordered our drinks, and I eyed the sandwiches and salads on the menu, but we had peanut butter and jelly and a bag of carrots back at the campsite. Why spend money eating out, when we had such a health mecca at our disposal?

We sat at an outdoor table near the sidewalk and positioned Temi so she could watch the Vendome. I still wasn’t sure if these people would recognize Simon or me, but Temi couldn’t have been anticipated. Every now and then, though, one of the coffee shop patrons would give her a curious look, as if wondering if she might be some familiar celebrity. Temi either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice.

“Someone in a black cap walked past a window,” she said.

“Oh?” I didn’t turn my head, though I was tempted.

“One of them pulled the shade down on the second-floor room at the front.” Temi nodded toward the brick wall on the side of the building.

“Good,” Simon said. “We know which room they’re staying in now.”

“And that they might be doing something they don’t want anyone to see,” I mused. “It won’t be fully dark for a couple of hours. No need to pull down the shades for the night.” Though I supposed they could be dealing with glare on the TV. Still… the sun shouldn’t be shining in that window. Maple trees bright with yellow leaves shaded the building.

“Cuppers closes in a half hour,” Simon said.

I sipped my mocha, determined to enjoy its smooth richness, even if we were on a stake out. “I doubt they’ll kick us off their front patio.”

“No, but it might look suspicious when we’re the only ones lurking here.”

“We’re not lurking, we’re drinking.” I squinted at him. “Why? Are you going to propose some new course of delinquency?”

“I had the thought that if someone pushed over one of the bikes, an alarm might go off and they’d run down to check, maybe without thinking to lock their room door. Or doors. You think they’re staying together?”

“So far, all we know is that they like motorcycles and the color black. I’m not sure there’s enough there to make guesses about rooming preferences. Also, I think you’ve done enough damage to their bikes. You’re going to get throttled if one of them catches up with you.” The sun had dropped below the western mountains. It might not be dark for a while, but I was ready to check my email, curl up with a book, and forget this day had happened. “We could accept our losses and go back to the campground. There are some estate sales I want to check on tomorrow. That ought to prove more profitable than roaming around the mountains with metal detectors.”