Chapter 14: Eavesdropping
Nick being at the car with slight problems was able to overhear the conversation of the two men who were sitting inside the motorhome. Although the fox could hear virtually all of the conversation between them and virtually every detail they exchanged between them, it still wasn't enough for the policeman, he wanted an even better eavesdropping position that could give him greater accuracy in eavesdropping. Because of the current time of night, which was undoubtedly dark, he couldn't see too many things that would help him in this, and he couldn't turn on the light in his torch, he would be immediately exposed. His main priority was to remain elusive.
"When are we going to meet Jack? We've been holding this money for a long time and he still hasn't come forward. Do you have any contact with him?" A low voice new to Nick's ears asked. He guessed automatically that it was the sound of Dominic.
"How do I know? You know what he's like. He only communicates when he needs to. And for the last few days no contact. No money, no contact with him either," replied James.
'Looks like one is trying to take advantage of the other two' thought Nick with interest. He wasn't very keen on this, Dominic and James were going to be informants for him, through them he was going to get information on Jack's whereabouts. Listening to the rest of their conversation, Nick wondered how he could pore over his position so he could get a better view of the situation.
"Hm...let's give him time, if we don't hear from him by tomorrow we'll sort it out another way" James said after a few moments of thought.
"Good idea! We won't be taken advantage of" Dominic supported his idea.
"Any more and they'll get Jack themselves" thought Nick. He interrupted his thoughts when he saw a ray of warm yellow light on the roof of the motorhome the men were sitting in.
'It must be the sunroof' thought Nick. Listening to the two men talking all the time and keeping an eye out for objects scattered around, the fox made his way to the front of the trailer. Through his sense of touch he climbed onto the hook, and just as he had expected - with his hands he could feel the cold metal bars climbing towards the roof of the trailer.
Nick climbed slowly to the top of the car taking care that his every slightest movement was precise, accurate and above all quiet. The body of the car was made of some inferior material, something like sheet metal. Touching it made a loud, hollow sound that could draw James and Dominic's attention. When Nick reached the roof of the car his belief was confirmed - a trickle of light from the roof of the car was escaping through the open sunroof of the trailer.
"Now all we have to do is watch out." thought Nick. He wanted to be as close as possible to the people talking, he was determined to be able to see them and remember as many details as possible. As he took more steps towards the sunroof he could hear his footsteps, admittedly the sounds were quiet and unobtrusive, but the fox feared that at some point he would make one mistake that would cost him the whole thing. Soon he reached the source of the fleeing light. Its light blinded Nick for a moment, but the fox's sharp eyes quickly became accustomed to the glare of the light. He grabbed onto the edge of the sunroof, then leaned a little over the edge having a peep at the two suspects. They were both sitting at a table that held cards, two glass bottles of beer and a phone. From Nick's observation, it was obvious that the owner of the cart didn't take very good care of it, as various items were sloppily placed on the floor, the dishes in the flood were standing unwashed and the walls of the cart were scuffed.
"How can you live like this..." Thought Nick upon seeing these things. He himself wasn't one of those people who cared about every detail, but he respected and cared that the house was tidy.
"When are we planning the next robbery? Either I thought it or Jack mentioned something about some action in the future?" Dominic asked curiously. Nick impulsively reached for his phone so he could record their entire conversation. He unlocked it, then turned on the recorder. Holding the phone in his hand he listened to the rest of the conversation.
"You must have thought it, Jack said it was a one-off. He said he needed the money urgently" replied James waving his head negatively.
"We were risking it for a one off action?" Asked Dominic in surprise.
"Of one, but think of that cash! It was probably worth it, looking at your car it would be a rather better place to live under a bridge than here" laughed James looking around the flat. Nick nodded in thought as well, he himself would rather live under a bridge than in such a polluted cart.
"Alright alright, don't laugh anymore... Shall we play cards?" Dominic suggested.
"Actually why not" replied James after some thought.
For most of the time that the men played cards betting small sums on each other, Nick sat all the time on the roof and quietly waited for the subject of Jack and the meeting with him to come up again. By the time the men were playing cards, the fox had turned off his phone and ducked behind the rim of the sunroof so that he wasn't constantly in view. In addition, his fingers were already starting to hurt a little from the metal grip on the sunroof, which had made an imprint on the fox's hands. Without being swayed, the fox waited patiently for something additional and interesting to happen. He wasn't very interested in their card entertainment, through the thin walls of the vehicle the fox could hear one or the other occasionally losing by hearing them swearing or banging their fists on the table. It wasn't something that interested Nick, but he had to hope that he would get some more interesting information. And he wasn't counting, because as the two men plunged into playing a card game James' phone rang and they both knew who was calling.
"Finally, it's Jack! " Communicated the wolf. Nick quickly approached the sunroof again, started recording with the dictaphone, then began listening carefully. Luckily for him, James played the conversation back on the speaker, so that the fox could also hear part of the conversation.
"Hello boys,sorry to keep you waiting so long...you all rather know what has happened" a rather subdued male voice rang out from the phone.
"Luz Jack, we know, we're very sorry what happened..."
"Thank you. Back on topic. Meet me tomorrow, at our warehouse at 4p.m. we'll explain everything to each other, and share what we've gained" Jack communicated.
"At the warehouse? Dominic was there yesterday, he said there were a lot of police there..."
"I was there today, probably as they didn't find anything they stopped searching the area, it's clear" Jack replied.
"In that case it fits. I'll meet you tomorrow at 4.00 p.m. at our warehouse, bye" confirmed James, then hung up. He immediately burst out laughing while shuffling another pack of cards.
"Imagine, we're going to be rich! By this time tomorrow we'll have so much money, we didn't even think about it!" Shouted James triumphantly. Dominic nodded with a smile on his face as he arranged the cards he had received from James.
"I don't think I have any more to sit here for" thought the fox, once he had received the necessary information for the case. For one more piece of evidence, he decided to take a picture of the suspects. Leaning his chest against the frame of the sunroof, he took the phone in two paws and then took a picture of the two people. To his surprise, the flash on the camera wasn't off, causing a quick white flash to catch James and Dominic's attention.
"Hey, what was that?" James asked while spinning around.
"UPS!" Thought Nick. He quickly backed out of the sunroof to then get off the roof of the car as quickly as possible. He made a few louder sounds in the process, but that wasn't the most important thing right now. He had to hide somewhere, the problem was that he didn't really have anywhere to hide.
"What, what happened?" Dominic asked curiously.
"Someone, something flashed! I don't know what it was...something like a flash from a camera" replied James. Nick meanwhile kept looking around for a place to hide. A gap caught his eye, between the car and the ground. To the eye, it looked perfect for him to fit in entirely.
"I'm going to go out and look around" James communicated. From the car came the sound of a chair being pushed back, which only confirmed that the fox had taken notice.
"But what for? There's no one here anyway..." Dominic replied. By this time the fox had slid under the car in a swift motion like a snake crawling along the ground with its breast. Despite his little predicament, Nick positioned himself under the car waiting for the moment of danger to end.
"Wait a minute, I'm going to go look around..." James repeated. A moment later, the steel door from the campsite opened. Nick could see snow-white feet on the ground, which stood still for a few moments looking around. Nick's heart sped up rapidly , as James began to move away from the cart, going around it checking to see if anyone was around. He feared that he would want to see if there was anyone under the cart though, which could have been very likely. He tried to hope, however, that he would soon give up.
"Well, do you see anything?" Dominic asked from the cart.
"No, but something tells me..." Replied James, he didn't finish his statement, he was too focused on searching the area. He fired up his torch, with which he looked around the further reaches of the camp as he strolled past the other cars. Nick watched James' every next step from underneath the cart with precision, hoping that he wouldn't want to bend down under the cars, that would mean exposing him.
"There's nothing, come on in now!" Cried Dominic, standing on the doorstep of the car watching James, who was still walking around with a torch.
"What did you see anyway ?" Asked Dominic again.
"A flash... a white flash... a white bump, kind of like a Flash from a camera"
"You must have thought it, by now the beer is probably getting to your head. Come on, let's finish this round of cards already" Dominic replied.
"Uh...I guess you're right" nodded James. He turned off the torch and then walked back to the car climbing the stairs. Nick's heart felt a great sense of relief when he saw white feet enter the car. A moment later the door closed and the fox was completely safe.
"So, do we continue our game?" Dominic asked.
"Sure, come on, I'll deal these cards, I don't trust you" replied James taking such cards from Dominic's hands.
"You don't seem to trust anyone"
"Let's just say I have a reason for that" replied James calmly.
Meanwhile Nick, when he managed to hear that the two men had taken care of their party of cards to the point, rolled out from under the car shaking off the sand that was practically everywhere on him.
'Still, hiding under the car paid off' thought Nick shaking the sand off himself. After cleaning himself up, the fox checked his latest footage, luckily everything had been saved.
'Time to go home' announced Nick triumphantly in his mind. As if nothing had happened Nick started walking back to his car under the cover of a starry night.