Chapter 6

Bobby and Julia quietly meandered down the block, keeping a watchful eye on the building. Bobby didn't want to be seen in case Marjorie was still there, so he was forced to constantly duck out into an alley whenever there was movement outside of the house.

Julia proved exceptionally keen at surveillance, and when she said "I am very good at surveillance," it reminded him of when he was on the watch at the tunnels and Alex said "Surveillance is my strong suit."

But Bobby never said these thoughts aloud. He decided it would be best to push his life in New York out of his mind for the time being so he could focus on the task at hand. He would be back soon enough and didn't need to loose focus by dwelling.

"So, you mentioned Marjorie's pathology? What do you mean by that?" Julia asked after she slipped her arm into Bobby's.

He looked down at their locked arms and smiled. "Oh, her pathology. Well, Marjorie has a chip on her shoulder from her previous involvement with other crime organizations. They never treated her well- she has several scars on her back from where she had been knocked around- and so when she joined Valdez she not only found a place to fit in, but used her influence as an opportunity to avenge her wrongs. And she hated me for getting in the way."

Julia nodded. "How did you get in the way? I mean- I know you've worked for Gary before, but what did you do that pissed her off so much that she 'ran circles around you'?"

"She convinced Valdez to do a job for her to grab some tomb artifacts that were being excavated just outside the city. Gary sent me as soon as the pieces had gone missing and within a day or two I had them back and had managed to kill about half a dozen of Valdez's closest consults. He was so pissed that he had suffered so much loss for something she wanted him to do that he basically began to treat her with the same disdain that her previous 'men' had... She wasn't happy about that, so she came after me. She saw me as the root of her problem."

"But you kinda were, weren't you?"

"Not entirely. Marjorie has the wits to manipulate Valdez, but she can get a little nagging. She's what you call a high maintenance girl- guys just don't like that, especially when they have a top notch crime organization to run."

"What about you, Robert? What do guys who disassemble crime organizations like in a girl?"

He smirked. "I'm not sure- I haven't done much market research... I'll have to get on that some time..."

They were momentarily caught up in their flirting until Bobby spotted someone leaving the building. He and Julia quickly ducked behind a car and watched as Marjorie Toulenc chic-ly walked out of the front door and down the stoop to the street, yaking away on her cell phone.

"Tell that bitch that I do not want to wait- I want the stone cut within the week. I will bring it by tonight. Simon gets back tomorrow morning," she added with a giddy tone through her thick French accent.

Julia turned to Bobby and whispered, "Simon?"

"Valdez," he answered with just as much hush.

Marjorie flipped her cell phone shut and got into a Saab that was parked on the side of the street and sped off down the road.

Bobby and Julia stood up from their crouch behind the car. "Well, it's definitely here, and we have to make our move tonight," he said, straightening his clothes and looking around to make sure the coast was clear.

Julia nodded in agreement and wiped some dust off of the hem of her plain yellow dress.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex sat on her couch popping cheese and crackers and drinking red wine as she watched the horrible conclusion to an absolutely horrible chick-flick.

"But I love you," she said in a mock voice as the bad actor (who wasn't even that cute) attempted to win back the girl he had wronged. She popped another piece of cheese.

All over her apartment were Smithsonian Magazines. She had them open to various pages as she attempted to glean information from them that might tell her something about where her partner was and what he had to do so urgently that he left without so much as a goodbye… ok, he had said good bye in an almost touching manner, but it was so fast and sudden that Alex hadn't even had time to comprehend it, let alone appreciate it. The sad part was that if she had had time to digest it, she would have found it far more romantic than the crappy chick-flick she was watching.

The chart she was making had now spread to a 3ft x 5ft poster board. If she wasn't going to work, then she was going to do the only sleuthing she could- even if she didn't know why she was doing it. Only a day and a half had passed since his abrupt departure, and already she was bored from not working.

She got up, grabbed a single key off of the table, and headed out the door.

When she reached Bobby's apartment she went inside, only to find that another woman was there. A young mother with her small child.

"Uh, hi?" Alex said.

"Oh, you frightened me! How are you?" she asked.

"Uh, just fine. And yourself?"

"Oh, right as rain," she said with a smile.

"Pardon me for asking, but, who are you?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"Oh- how silly of me, I'm Marta, apartment 12A, just next door. Bobby has me check up on the place when he goes away. You're Alex, right?"

"Yes- uh, how do you know me?" Whoever this Marta was, she was an extremely giggly person.

"Oh," she giggled. "Bobby showed me your picture. I must say, it doesn't do you justice, you're much prettier in person."

"I didn't know he had my picture," Alex said, stepping fully into the apartment and closing the door behind her.

Marta smiled. "He likes you very much- won't shut up about you, in fact."

"How very nice." Alex was just a little nervous. "So, uh, do you know where he is?"

"Oh- haven't a clue. Every few years he just takes off for a few weeks, asks me to look in on the apartment (I usually end up cleaning it too; he leaves it in such a mess!)- so, here I am, just picking up, bringing the mail in." She smiled.

"Oh, I was just here to… pick up some magazines. I won't bother you any further," she said, nervously motioning towards the pile on the kitchen counter. In truth, she too had come to clean, but was weary of the Marta woman and didn't want her getting any ideas about her and Bobby.

"Oh- ok! I think there are some more in his bedroom closet- that's where he usually keeps them," she said, pointing down the hallway.

"Oh, ok…" Alex walked down the hallway and into Bobby's bedroom. She saw the closet, and went to it. She didn't see any magazines at first, so she took a little closer look, parting the rack of suits to see if there was anything behind them.

Nothing. Just a white wall. Except, there was a little seam in the paint. She pushed at it and a part of the wall gave. She pushed some more and soon, and entire panel fell into a hole. She peered inside the hole in the wall and saw in the dim light that there was stuff in there. She quickly pulled her head back out, replaced the panel, and stuffed the suits back on the rack to cover it up. She then looked on the top shelf and saw a magazine.

She grabbed it and left the bedroom.

"Find 'em?" Marta asked; her hands submerged in a sink full of bubbly water.

"Uh, just one. Thanks." Alex set the magazine on top of the other pile, grabbed the pile, and headed for the door.

The instant she was back in the SUV she pulled out her cell phone and called Bobby. It went straight to voicemail. "Hi, Bobby, it's me. I was just in your apartment getting some magazines and there was this woman there. Said her name was Marta and that you had asked her to look after your apartment. I'll assume you know her, but I'll check in every day just to make sure all your stuff is still there unless you finally decided to CALL ME BACK and tell me otherwise. Uh… talk to you later… Alex."