Page 39 of Astrid
“Correct, but see each of these guys.” She pointed to the screen with a laugh. “Each of them have several warrants out for their arrest. Now that I know he’s a cop, they may be bogus to make him look good to Neil, that’s if he’s a good cop, but why can’t he be arrested?”
Tom clicked on the warrants in question and read. After several minutes he looked up with a grin. “He can be. What are you proposing?”
“Griff asked me if I wanted to get together with him, and maybe if I had a couple of female friends that would like to join us, along with Paul and Harry. What if I go home, call him, and set up a date? I told him my name was Jane. We could use Joyce as Joy, and Ava could go as Eve.”
“I like that. But you’d have to be in this county, so I can arrest them on these warrants, not out at the bar where Joyce had the guy who stole Stella arrested.”
“Why not?”
“Not my jurisdiction.”
“Ah, yeah, okay. Where do you recommend we go on our “date” then?” She used air quotes, and studied the other man intently. She nodded when Tom wrote down three suggestions, with the names and even addresses to the locations. Holding up the paper, she looked at him with a frown. “Which one do you recommend, by that, I mean which one would be more private for the arrests?”
“Ah, Turkey Gulch Saloon. It’s set back from the road, and only locals go there to hang out. I’d go tomorrow night, it’s not very crowded on a Wednesday. Don’t go on Friday or Saturday though, it’s a madhouse and a fight will break out if my men and I start arresting people.”
“Gotcha. I’ll check this place out on the way home, then I’ll go back and talk with the others about this. Since tomorrow is Wednesday, I’ll even call Griff tonight to see if we can meet there. I won’t have him or the other two pick us up, we’ll meet him there.”
“I was going to suggest that,” Tom said, then sat back with a huge sigh. “I hate to broach this subject, but make sure your men aren’t anywhere in the area.”
“My men?”
“The Stuarts or the Erwins. You know, the A’s or J’s, or Wyatt and Dillion. I don’t need to be arresting them for getting in the way of police business.”
Astrid giggled, and assured him that wouldn’t be happening. They finished setting up the details, and as soon as Astrid left the police station, she programed the address into the GPS and followed it. Thirty minutes later she swung into the parking lot and parked in the back. She liked what she saw, it was open, and if Griff, Paul, or Harry wanted to get away, there were areas where the police could stand to watch, without being in the way. Nodding, she only stayed for five minutes, without going inside, before heading home. Before she left, she sent a text to Joyce, Ava, and Morgan to meet her in the office in an hour, that she had a break in the case.
Exactly an hour and a half later, Astrid walked into the basement office, and the first thing she did was make a beeline to the coffee pot Joyce had just stepped away from. After pouring herself a cup, she went over to the section of the table she used, and instead of sitting, she stood and faced the other three women.
“First, Morgan, those two addresses you gave me are bogus. Nothing there, so do whatever you do, and mark them off your list.”
“Us too,” Ava spoke as she popped the top of a can of cola, and took a healthy swig. When she was done, she grinned, before she turned her attention to Astrid. “What’s up?”
“While I was out and about, I got a call from Tom Erwin.”
“The sheriff?”
“Yes, he asked me to stop in to see him. Since my addresses didn’t pan out, I swung by to see him. I’ve been trying to get a hit on the prints from that phone number the guy named Griff gave me. After two days, I e-mailed them to Tom just this morning. I got to the police station and Tom said he got a hit.”
“And?” Morgan’s hand bringing her own coffee cup to her lips paused in mid-air, and her eyebrows rose to her hairline as she studied Astrid.
“He’s a cop.” Astrid waited for the fallout, and when it came, she grinned, knowing the other three women’s minds worked like hers.
“Holy shit,” Morgan said. “Now what?”
“Well, the questions you just asked, I asked Tom, he couldn’t answer any of them.” She walked over to the computers on a side table and accessed the screen she’d done earlier at Tom’s office. After straightening up, she pointed to it. “There are warrants for their arrests. Tom said that if I could call the guy going by the name of Griff, and set it up to meet him for drinks tomorrow night, and have Joy and Eve with me, then he can arrest them.”
“Who are Joy and Eve?” Morgan grinned, then sputtered when Joyce and Ava lifted a hand and wiggled their fingers.
Morgan laughed as she wiped her spilled coffee. “I like it, set them up, without setting them up.”
“Exactly. I even went so far as to ask Tom where we should recommend to meet, and he said the best place would be Turkey Gulch Saloon.”
“Never heard of it.” Morgan frowned.
“I went there,” Astrid said, and accessed another video, and they all watched as the vehicle pulled in, then it panned the area, even in the back.”
“I like it. Yes, there are woods, but if Tom recommended it, then he knows what he’s talking about.”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing. Now...” Astrid paused to sip her coffee, then let out a heavy sigh. This time she sat heavily in her chair and studied the other women in the room. “Now, we need to call and see if Griff and his two friends would like to meet for drinks tomorrow night. Are you girls in?”
