Part 11

Jim Valenti walks through the doors of the CrashDown restaurant and sits at the counter.

"Hey there, Geoff, can I have a chocolate time warp shake to go please."

"Sure thing Sher, I mean Deputy."  "Here, why don't you take a look at the menu while I make your shake," says Geoff, shooting Jim an intense look.

"Ok, actually, I am kind of hungry," says Jim as he reaches for the menu.  Opening it, he sees the fax from Liz.  He looks at Geoff, his eyebrows rising in a questioning look.

"You know Geoff, Amy and I were wondering if you and Nancy would like to go to dinner at that new place over in Alamogordo some time?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, Nancy was just saying the other day, we don't get to see enough of you two," says Geoff.  "Carol," he says to a passing waitress.  "Can you go make sure the two gentlemen in the corner are all set."

Jim turns to watch the waitress make her way over to the table in the corner where two strangers sat.  He gives Geoff a questioning look, and Geoff subtly nods.  Both men are sure the strangers are FBI agents, but they have no way to confirm it.  Nancy Parker comes into the restaurant and steps behind the counter to hug her husband.

"Hi Jim, how are you?"

"Hi Nancy, Geoff and I were just discussing how great it would be if you and he could join Amy and I for dinner at that new place in Alamogordo."

Nancy looks startled at the mention of Jim and Amy as a couple, but she hides her amazement.  Seeing the fax hidden in the menu, she realizes what is happening.

"Actually Jim, Geoff and I were planning on meeting Philip and Diane for dinner tonight at that new Italian place."  "Why don't the two of you join us?"  "Here's the address, and why don't we say 7:00."

Nancy quickly scribbles the address on a blank order pad and hands it to Jim.

"Great, we'll look forward to seeing you tonight at 7:00."

"Here's your shake Jim, come on, I'll walk you out, I wanted to ask you about starting a civilian patrol unit anyhow."

The two men walk out of the restaurant.  Nancy purposefully places the order pad on the counter and heads back towards the grill area.  As she leaves the room, one of the men sitting at the corner table gets up and grabs the order pad off of the counter.

"Perfect," he says to his partner.  "It has a carbon in it."  "We can have surveillance stake the restaurant out before they get there."

Nancy peeks out from the pick up window, and smiles to herself when she realizes they fell for the bait.  Outside the Crash Down, Jim and Geoff make plans to meet at a restaurant in East Grand Plains.

Jim climbs into his vehicle and starts down the road, as luck would have it, Phillip Evans was heading out of town.  Falling in behind him, Jim turns on his flashing lights and pulls Phillip over.  Wasting no time, he fills the other man in on the situation and shows him the fax.

"Jesse?" he asks.  "I can't believe that Jesse would do this to Isabelle."  "He loves her so much."  "As a matter of fact, he called us just the other day asking if we had heard anything at all from Isabelle and Max."

"Well, my guess is, he wasn't caring too much about how Isabelle is, as opposed to where she, and the rest of them are," says Jim.

"And you say Geoff has federal agents in the café?"

"Well, neither one of us can prove it, but looks that way."

"Ok, look, I'll head home and let Diane know, and we'll meet all of you tonight." 

"Watch your back Philip," says Jim, heading back to his vehicle.

"Looks like we're all going to have to watch each other's backs," says Philip as he gets in his car and heads back towards town.