Page 88 of In the Line of Ire

"Not toobad," I replied. "The nurse said I was her favorite patienttoday."

"She didnot," said Solomon.

I hoppedinto the passenger seat. "Don't ruin my moment," I said. "I couldhave been her favorite."

Solomonshook his head and pushed the door closed before he rounded thecar, climbing into the driver's seat. Delgado got into the back."Where are we?" asked Solomon.

"Thehospital parking lot," I said.

"Are yousure she didn't suffer any brain damage?" asked Delgado. He leanedbetween the seats, looking at me with stark suspicion in his darkeyes.

"Apparently not. Proceed," said Solomon.

"TheFeds outshone us," he started. "They followed the other car to asmall warehouse on the outskirts of Frederickstown. One look insiderevealed several pallets of goods. They think it could be thelocation where the counterfeit items are being stashed when theyreach Montgomery. Unfortunately, they had no luck when they ran theplates on the car they followed. After making some generalinquiries, they learned the car was sold six months ago and the newowner never filed the registration papers. They lost the car whenit left the warehouse."

"Atleast our outshining was limited," I said. "Did we get anythinggood at all?"

"Notmuch," said Solomon. "Our primary concern was you when we caught upand found you lying on the ground."

"How didyou find me anyway?" I asked.

"Purelyby chance. Delgado spotted your car seconds before it exploded intoa bonfire."

"Theexplosion was a clue," added Delgado. "We’re happy you weren’t init. While Solomon stayed with you, I took a recce of the area butdidn't see anyone suspicious. It’s not my night. I didn’t even seeanything at the parking lot."

"Idefinitely saw something suspicious," I said.

"Tell usagain everything you saw," said Solomon.

Iexplained how I planned to watch it all go down safely from my caruntil my vision was obstructed by a van, when I crept closer toobserve the exchange. "Charlaine had three clear, plastic,trashcan-sized bags of purses and she kept complaining about thequality of the last batch," I finished.

"Whatabout the accomplice? Male or female? Alone?"

"Awoman, around the same height as Charlaine. Slender, I think, butshe kept hiding in the shade so I couldn't really tell. Her voicedidn't sound familiar and she spoke softly and stayed several yardsaway. I'm not sure I'd recognize her if I saw her again. I'msorry."

"And youdidn't see who hit you?" asked Delgado.

I shookmy head, wincing slightly. "Not at all." I frowned. I did findsomething when I came around though. Checking my pockets, I pulledout the single glove. "I found this on the ground."

"Aglove?" asked Solomon.

"Notjust any glove. This is very high quality, expensiveleather."

"Counterfeit?" asked Solomon.

I shookmy head and instantly wished I hadn't. I was definitely asking fora killer headache. "No, the stitching is excellent and so is thedye and the soft leather quality. Someone spent a lot of money onthese gloves and will be very upset to lose one."

"Itmight not belong to your attacker," pointed out Delgado. “It’s noteven winter.”

"Iconsidered that but I don't recall seeing it on the ground before Ifell. Plus, I have the strangest feeling that I've seen itbefore."

"In astore?" asked Solomon.

"Maybe.Or perhaps I saw someone carrying it. I'm not sure. It'll come backto me, I hope. Let’s give it to Maddox and Sadiq to run a DNA test.It probably has epithelial cells inside."

"Holdonto it," said Solomon. He reached into the glove compartment andextracted a plastic baggie, which he passed to me. I dropped theglove inside and sealed it, hoping that it wasn’t just a random,stray glove. I tried not to fix my hopes that it could lead us toone of the counterfeit operatives. Remembering its location, I wassure it couldn't belong to Charlaine or the woman she conversedwith. The mystery woman drove to where she waited so she couldn'thave dropped it either. Charlaine didn’t use the sidewalk, butheaded directly across the lot. The glove was rather small andfeminine, suggesting that its owner had to be a woman. A thirdperson involved? I voiced my idea to Solomon andDelgado.

"Maybethey took my cellphone too," I added. "Can Lucas trace itslocation?"

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