Page 66 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

THE DOWNPOURhad let up as night crept in, and Jackson took a risk when he found a parking place the blockbehindthe Moms for Clean Living house instead of the church. For a moment, the two of them sat in the shadows, since there were few sodium lamps on this block. The grounds of the house extended to the backside of the lot, and Jackson could see security cameras up on the trees, but he was pretty sure they wouldn’t extend to the minivan’s position.

“What are you thinking?” Cody asked.

“For one, I’m hoping the rain holds off until we get the dolly around the block. For two, I’m wondering what we could possibly put in that box to weight it down.”

Cody stared at him. “Well, I was thinkingme,” he said, but Jackson shook his head and threw one of the brown shirts he’d grabbed from the back at him.

“No, we need to be able to go in there, find the office, look around. One of us can use the head, get lost, find the other one of us. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good hiding place to getoutof there, but we need to come in and be a team.”

“Are they gonna see our faces?” Cody asked uneasily, but Jackson reached behind the passenger seat and into the little mesh carryall there and produced two hats with logos.

“Nice,” Cody said appreciatively, slipping one on. “Does it got Henry cooties on it?”

“I’d say yes, but he bathes pretty scrupulously, and he gets his hair cut so short you can see his sunburned neck. Zero cooties on Henry’s hats.”

“No, seriously, how many outfits like this do you have in here?” Cody was glancing around the minivan’s interior like whole closets might open up, and Jackson had to chuckle.

“Some basics—scrubs for hospital areas, lab coats, same. Blue chambray with fake name tags for HVAC workers or pest control. A few other outfits. I mean, nothing beats the posture of somebody who belongs where he is.” Jackson paused and thought about it. “And a certain resistance to embarrassment,” he said after a moment.

“Resistance to…?” Cody frowned at him.

“Chief, we just climbed down a trellis from the attic of a big rich-looking house in a rich-looking area, and I had to flick slugs from your back when you fell. If you’d been more afraid of being embarrassed than you had been of talking to the cops about our witnesses, you would have been too afraid to pull that off. Don’t worry. You’re good.”

Cody was still chuckling as Jackson pulled some postal tape from a compartment in the back and started to fix up the box.

THEY GAVEtheir acting chops a workout on the stairs up the porch of the building, calling out to each other as Cody balanced the package and Jackson pushed it up. The porch was wide and protected from the rain, with classic Victorian peaks and gables and large french doors that probably let in the light during the day. The outside of the place was really very handsome, with dark blue wood paneling in the front, cream trim, and a stone façade beginning about midway along the back, its origins obscured by myriad hedges and flowering trees that flanked the house itself and obscured the great yard in the back. Behind, where they’d parked the minivan, Jackson had seen a lot of wrought iron and hedges as well, and he was pretty sure in the spring and summer, the place would be abloom with pink flowers, and half the people inside would be high off Sudafed and Benadryl because that was how allergies in the Sacramento valley went.

But now, in the sodden early March, everything was dark and shiny and dripping, even though the downpour had eased, and Jackson wished he’d brought his hoodie to throw on over his ugly brown shirt, because he was shivering as he and Cody danced on the porch, trying to get somebody to come open the door.

The woman who answered had artfully streaked ash-blond hair framing a face made of cheekbones and disdain. She wore navy slacks with a cream Chanel jacket over a navy blouse and pearls and, fortunately for Jackson, a laminated ID that read Piper Lutz.

Oh. Sothiswas Bertha Dunkle/Piper Lutz.

Good to know, Jackson thought, as he turned on whatever charm reserves he had left that day.

“I’m sorry,” she said, peering out at them from the half-closed door, “we’re having a meeting right now—”

“But I’ve got a delivery for a Valerie Trainor?” Jackson held his tablet like it gave him needed information. “Is she in?”

“Oh, I can sign for it,” Lutz said, looking annoyed and half afraid. “Just leave it there?”

“In the rain?” Jackson protested. “Ma’am, they would have my job for leaving this package in the rain. You go ahead and sign for it, but it has got to see the inside of the foyer first.”

“You can’t leave that thing in the foyer!” Piper Lutz gasped.

“Well, we’d offer to put it in an office or something, but you seem to think we want to come into your place and steal your stuff!” Jackson protested. “And Jack here may have to piss in your pot, but we donotsteal people’s stuff.”

“How rude!” Piper complained as Jackson got a foot in the door.

“You think he’s rude now, you should hear him if we have to get back in the van and he hasn’t had a chance to pee,” Jackson told her seriously. “But that’s neither here nor there. I can’t leave the box on the porch ’cause it’s gonna start whizzin’ down rain like a cow pissing on a flat rock, if you know what I mean. I don’t got no idea what’s in here, but if it’s paper goods or something, no good can come of it sitting out on the porch and soaking rainwater up like a sponge.”

Piper’s eyes flickered from Jackson’s face to the box and back again, and Jackson could see her weigh her boss’s displeasure against the contents of the box—whatever they were—being ruined or the box itself being somewhere visible in the building.

“All right, Jacky,” Jackson said to Cody, “let’s leave this thing here and take a picture along with Ms. Lutz here, so they know we tried—”

“Oh very well,” Piper said with little grace, opening the door and allowing them to push the crate inside. “The office is down the hall and to the left. There should be room in the back.”

“And the can?” Cody asked, sounding desperate.

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