Thanks Parker4evah and astridv for your kind responses. Glad you are enjoying the story!
Setting the Stage
"This is going to be so much fun!" Rose said as she leaned back and was nearly swallowed by her large maroon and gold flowered rocker. "I've never played a spy before." A worried look. "Too bad we have to pretend Marisa quit."
"She will be safer that way," Parker said, repeating what Sophie had told her. Shifting about awkwardly, the thief looked at Rose's simple little house, but the silence, and Rose made her feel fidgety. She smiled. Sophie said that sometimes a smile says more than any words could.
It was weird how the various muscles in her face tensed and tugged. She was probably doing it wrong.
Rose was looking at her again.
"Did you gather up all the stuff you didn't want stolen?" the thief blurted shattering the brief silence.
"Well, I don't want anything stolen," Rose replied matter-of-factly.
Parker bit her lip as she looked around the front room. There was too much to hide. The house was neatly kept, but full of strange little cat figurines and other knickknacks. She could understand it if the items were made of gold and encrusted with jewels, but she was certain none of the cats had diamond eyes and the ceramic didn't look all that special. Old maybe, but not the right kind of old.
Not like a Ming vase.
"It's taken care of. Marisa took my jewelry for safekeeping." Rose gave the younger woman a concerned look. She leaned against a large pillow in the chair. "I think you're more worried than I am."
Digging into the pack around her waist, Parker pulled out the last of the mini cameras and a small velvet bag. In a halting voice, "I need to plant these." She was out of her seat and halfway to the door leading to the bedroom.
"You need to explain to her what you are doing," Hardison said in her ear. He was parked a short distance away monitoring the situation.
While Parker was grateful for Hardison's presence, she really wished Sophie was there to talk her through this. She turned and threw Rose a suspicious look. "How am I supposed to do that?"
Rose looked around the room, even up at the ceiling, before settling her gaze back on Parker. "Are you talking to someone?"
"I'm talking on my phone," Parker quickly replied and then made a face when she realized she wasn't holding her phone.
Hardison smashed his hand to his face. "Relax." He wished Sophie was there. "This is easy. Just tell her that we don't want to risk any of her precious belongings." He paused letting Parker repeat what he said. "So that we are using some of our stuff so if it is stolen, it's all right."
He looked down at the table in front of him. With the tip of a long finger, he nudged a man's golden wedding band toward a 2-liter bottle of orange soda he had been nursing on for the better of the last hour.
"Why couldn't you do this?" Parker hissed.
"Maybe you haven't noticed, Rose and I don't look related."
"You could be adopted."
"Or you could just pretend to be the granddaughter she already has." He shook his head before stealing a glance to one of the monitors. The white SUV he had tagged as Lauren Brandt's was entering the little subdivision Rose lived in. "You better hurry up. You are about to have company."
He could hear movement about the house. The acoustics changed.
"I can't do this."
"Why not?" he asked.
"She's old. What if she suddenly drops dead?"
"That's not going to happen. Rose is in great health. She'll probably outlive all of us."
Hardison was trying to help, but his words did little to comfort Parker's nerves. She paused just inside the room and stuck the tiny camera in a cone of fake flowers hanging on the wall.
"There's a leaf in the way," Hardison said.
Huffing, Parker paused and shifted the fake leaves to free the camera view. "How's that?"
"Good."
Over her shoulder, the thief noticed that Rose had followed her into the bedroom and was staring at her again.
Parker turned and stared back.
"They have medicine for people who talk to themselves," Rose announced. She studied the younger woman for a time. "Of course, there's not much you can do with senility, but you're not old enough to be senile."
"I could be," Parker blurted.
Hardison made a choking sound.
Rose laughed. "You're a strange one."
With a nod, Parker backed away from Rose and stole across the older woman's bedroom to the dresser. She planted the pieces in a dish that had previously held two rings, two bracelets, and a necklace of Rose's.
Hearing Rose follow her across room, Parker froze when she felt the other woman's eyes on her back. It was really creepy. "She's staring at me," she whispered.
"Just talk to her, Parker," Hardison said in a cool voice. "She doesn't understand what you are doing."
Quickly, pulling open a lower drawer; she stuffed a bill clip full of fifties under a sweater. A moment passed before she could let go and shut the drawer. Drawing in a deep breath, she then exhaled hard and turned to Rose. "I'm talking to Hardison with this." Reaching up to her ear, she pulled the small communication device out and held it out toward Rose.
Squinting, Rose leaned forward and examined the tiny object between Parker's fingers. "Hello?" She turned her head slightly and listened. "I don't hear anything."
"You need it in your ear to work."
"So many strange devices," Rose said with a shake of her head. "It's just amazing. I had to be about your age before I talked on my first telephone, and I thought that was magic."
Reflected lights sliced through the room as Lauren Brandt's white SUV pulled into the drive. Parker replaced the earbud. "She's here."
Parker startled when Rose patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, dear. I can handle this." At the sound of the doorbell, the elderly lady smiled and took her time straightening doilies and dusting off the corner of the couch before making her way to the front door. She brushed aside the lacy curtain in front of the window and looked out suspiciously before unlocking the front door. With it cracked a few inches, she looked out at the tall, dark blond-haired woman waiting on the porch. "Yes?" she asked in a feeble tone.
"Oh, she's good," Hardison said.
A little grin tugged at the corner of Parker's mouth.
"Hello, I'm Lauren Brandt," the woman said in a friendly tone. "I'm from Home Keepers. We have a one o'clock appointment."
Rose hesitated a moment, then, as if remembering, opened the door and unlocked the screen. "Of course. Come in. You can't trust anyone these days. All kinds of criminals are sneaking about."
Parker watched as Lauren stepped in and shook Rose's hand before looking about, taking the whole of the room in.
"I have heard about your troubles with your last home care person," Lauren began, "and I assure you; we check our people out thoroughly." Her gaze settled on Parker who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Don't worry about her," Rose said. "That's my granddaughter, Megan. She was worried about me and has come to visit. I keep telling her I'm all right, but she's just not comfortable leaving me all alone."
"Megan," Lauren said as she crossed the room and reached out to shake Parker's hand.
Parker hesitantly looked at the hand before taking it and giving it a good shake. "Yes," she said in a stiff fashion, "I am Megan."
Toddling between them, Rose leaned closer to Lauren and shielded her mouth slightly as she whispered, "She's an artist." A sweet smile. "You know how odd they can be. Nothing like her brothers."
"Of course," Lauren said with an awkward smile. "I have a listing of your various needs, and I would like to go over them with you."
"We should sit." Rose motioned Lauren to the couch before she took up her own spot in her flowery chair.
When Lauren sat down where Parker had previously perched, the thief looked about with an uncertain expression before positioning herself at the opposite end of the couch. She stared at Lauren.
"I am just so glad you could work me in for an appointment." Rose seemed happy to have the visitor as she reached to the side table and grabbed a wrapped candy. "Penny candy? Butterscotch."
"No thank you," Lauren said. She glanced about the room again, her gaze lingering on of photo of Parker that replaced an image of Rose's real grandchildren.
"I have just been so worried since Marisa quit. I didn't know what I would do. I can take care of myself mostly around the house, but I haven't driven in years." Rose unwrapped the cellophane wrapper. "Gerty used to drive for me until she had that accident," she leaned forward and spoke under her breath, "but they took her driver's license away. She put her car in reverse instead of drive. Smashed up a police car. She was so embarrassed. That officer wasn't too happy either. He spilled a thermos of hot coffee all over himself. And then, there was that time she nearly ran over a clown—"
"How's it going?" Nate asked.
"Man, that Rose could give Sophie a run for her money. She's quick." Hardison leaned back and watched as Rose carried on about clowns wandering loose on the streets. "I don't mind backing Parker up, but why am I always in the van? I could be doing the interview at Home Keepers."
"They don't need their computers fixed," Eliot cut in.
"I can do more than fix computers. I am perfectly capable of calling a plumber. I can also—"
"Can you patch broken roof shingles?"
"I can patch into a Tanuki 5000 system with no trace."
"Guys," Nate said.
"Whatever," Hardison said after a moment and turned his attention back to Rose and Parker. Rose was carrying on quite animatedly about polka dots.
And Parker was smiling.