Page 73 of Shared By the Pilots

“I’m quite aware of that,” Adam replied.

“It’s funny how things work out. She had a reputation for not dating coworkers. Especially pilots. But she had to say yes when I asked her out because of a promise she made to Dexter, and she ended up really liking me. I’m assuming that’s the reason she said yes to you, too?”

“Yeah,” Adam chuckled. “We kind of had a fight over it when we first went out. I thought she was also saying yes to make you jealous.”

“She probably was. We were in the middle of a little fight ourselves, if I remember correctly.” I shook my head. “I really messed things up.”

Adam looked sideways at me. “You really like her, don’t you?”

“Of course. Do you not?”

“I like her a lot.” Adam checked his phone again. “More than you can possibly know.”

“Well, now,” I said slowly, “I think I know exactly how you feel.”

We stared at each other in the back seat of the taxi.

“I shouldn’t be helping you,” Adam finally said. “All I’m doing is increasing my own competition.”

“Then why did you agree to this?”

“Because she’s been obsessing over this Excelsior thing forweeks,” Adam replied. “I’ve been worried about her because of it. If there were a way to prove definitively, one way or the other, it would put things to rest and allow her to move on. I know that’s the best thing for Veronica, even if it gives you an opening to start dating her again.”

I eyed Adam approvingly. “You’re a good guy, you know that?”

He gave me a confused look. “Okay.”

“Veronica deserves a man like you who puts her needs first.”

“What about a man like you?” he said challengingly.

I shrugged. “I think she belongs with me too. Which creates a unique problem.”

“Yeah. It does.”

“We’ll worry about it when we get home,” I said, gesturing. “Broussard and his buddies are coming back.”

We watched them exit the souvenir shop with a suitcase slung between them. It was very obviously heavier than it was before. Four more men came out of the shop carrying suitcases, and helped load them back onto the truck. They went back inside, and came out with a second load of suitcases.

“Hey!” Adam hissed. “Look!”

Two police officers came sauntering up to the pickup truck. Broussard greeted them with big smiles and handshakes. The officers gestured at the pickup truck. It looked like they were questioning what was going on.

Broussard opened one of the suitcases and tilted it toward them so they could see. It was filled with bottles of expensive tequila.

“That confirms it,” I muttered, aiming my phone and snapping a few photos for evidence. At the very least, we could show Veronica what we had discovered.

Broussard snapped his fingers at one of his associates, who went running inside. He returned with two more bottles, one for each officer. They grinned, shook Broussard’s hand again, then walked away.

“Bribes,” Adam said. “The price of doing business.”

“Guess we’ll head back to the airport,” I grumbled. “Big waste of time for everyone involved.”

“No,” Adam suddenly said. “We should keep following them.”

“Why?”

“The other suitcases,” Adam said, grinning. “They never unloaded them from the pickup truck.” He pointed. “And they’re shifting them around so that they stay on top of the pile.”

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