I wrote him back, agreeing to the meeting, and asking him where he'd like to meet.
By the next morning, we agreed on a place and time. I let Amita know via email.
"Amita: Brian has agreed for the meeting to be on Tuesday, at an IN an Out around two. I've attached a mapquest of the directions. Thanks again! Please be sure to know Gigi Man as well as I do."
After a few minutes, she responded.
"Great! Who knows how many other girls he's lured! We really need to find out about this Morlock guy. Sorry g2g, I've got a student with a question."
By that afternoon, I had another cheating case. A concerned wife, with whom I met at some diner doubted her husband's claims of working late. She gave me information, and a check. A friend of hers had referred her to me.
"Hey! If it isn't Johnny Cash!"
"Coop! Hey!" I exclaimed and we hugged. The man had referred to how I was dressed, with black jeans and an almost-black shirt.
"She a vic?" he asked, pointing
out the window.
"Maybe," I said, not sure how to explain it to Coop.The problem with the Fugitive Recovery was that you lost touch – and contact.
"What do you mean maybe?"
"She's a client, Coop… I'm a private investigator now," I explained.
"YOU LEFT THE BUREAU?" Coop shouted. He couldn't
believe it. "What happened?"
"I lost my eye ," I said. "I… I've got a
prostetic."
"I see," he said. I could sense the pity in his voice.
"I'm not just doing cheating cases," I quickly said. "I've been hired to find a teenage runaway who was lured by some guy from this cult. They met online on myspace. I set up a meeting, and a friend of my brother's is gonna play me."
"Sounds like a good plan," he nodded.
"You know Coop, if you ever get tired of the FBI, you could always join me as a business partner," I smiled.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
We talked some more, and agreed to have dinner at that very spot around six. I gave Coop my cell number so he could call if he had to cancel or prospone.
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Finally, the fateful day came. Amita and I met outsidethe place about half an hour before. "I'll be at the next booth," I told her.
"I studied the questions you sent me," she replied with a smile.
Soon we went to our designated spots. At a good time,I ordered some food for show and eating. Before we knew it, Brian, a young man with red hair waved at her, and sat down. I was in the booth next to theirs.
"It's great to finally meet you!" he said with a charm
that made me gag.
"Same here!" Amita pretended to gush. "It's just not quite the same reading messages rather then talking to face to face!"
"Yeah, especially with a smile like yours!"
I rolled my eyes and pretended to focus on my food.
"So...how's life going for you?" she asked.
"Great! I'm still at the bookstore, and learning lots from Morlock!"
"I'd love to meet him sometime!"
"I'll see about arranging that!" he promised. "But tell me about how things are going in your life?"
"Sucking! here I am eighteen and still living with my parents!"Amita lamented. "And working at a crappy job."
"Sorry to hear that" Brian commented
"So uh...is Morlock popular?" Amita asked. It had been one of the questions on my list.
"Yeah among people like us, who want more from life than what modernity has to offer" he assured her.
"I'd love to meet them too!" she beamed.
After a while they ordered, ate, and talked about stuff, like Morlock and his teachings.
"Wanna exchange numbers?" Amita offered.
"I don't have a phone" Brian said. No wonder I hadn't seen his name in Elizabeth's address book.
"Of any kind? Why?"
"Phones are slavery" he said.
"Oh...what if there is an emergency?" Amita sounded surprised.
"I manage" he said vaguely.
They chatted some more and he left, citing having to go to work. I discretly followed him to his car, and took down the license number. Then I returned to the In and out, to talk with Amita.
"Sorry I couldn't get any more useful information" she apologized.
"I got his license plate number." I told her, and called Megan.
"Reeves?"
"Hey Megan, could you run a license plate for me?"
"Sure!" she assented. Once I had a name, and address, I could use databases accessable to private investigators to get even more information, not to mention follow the guy around. "What's the number?"
I gave it to her, and she promised to delivery the information at the house later.
"Thanks!"
"No problem"
Soon, we both hung up, and I told Amita what the plan was.
---------------------------------------------
I got the information from Megan that night. My plan was to follow him around. The first day of tailing was uneventful. He went to work, Micky Dee's, and home. As I waited for him to leave his house the next morning, I looked at the extra mirrors on my SUV. Charlie had made some calculations, then had a body shop put them in.
Just then, someone knocked on the driver's side front window. It was Coop,with a bag from Micky Dee's.
"Hey man!" I rolled it down.
"Hey! May I join ya for a bit?"
"Sure!" I unlocked the door.
"I got something from McDonald's,and saw this car" he explained, as he noticed the mirrors, but didn't say anything about them. "Who ya tailing?"
"The guy who lured the runaway" I told him. "It's my second day"
"So you got his license plate number at that dinner?" he asked.
"Yeah, and I had a friend run it"
"Great!" he nodded, and put the seat back. "Feels like old times, doesn't it?"
"Yeah" I smiled, as he split the Egg McMuffin with me.
"What do you know about this guy so far?"
"He's got a clean record" I told him. "And comes from the midwest"
"Okay..."
"Any luck with your guy?"
"I had some tips that he went to 'frisco, so I went, but then somehow, the trail lead back here" he shrugged.
"I see" I nodded.
"So...is this P.I thing lucrative?"
"It can be ,if you play your cards right. I'm just working on building my reputation" I told him. "There are large P.I firms right here in L.A who probably rake in millions."
"Do you wanna have your own firm?" he asked me.
"I hope to maybe later, hire some PIs" I nodded.
"Bet you could use a partner" he mused.
"Coop, you're actually considering my offer?" I asked in shock.
"I got suspended" He admitted.
"What?" I shouldn't be surprised I guess, remembering all the shenanigans the two of us would do, and the regs we'd break as a team.
"It's a long story, but it's not looking good for me." Coop shook his head.
"So you're looking for this guy on the sly?" I asked.
"Yeah...He killed a little girl after escaping" he told me.
"His case got under your skin" I nodded, understanding what he was going through.
"Why don't we partner up on the runaway case? Split the costs, and the retainer?"
Before I could answer, a strange man got out of Brian's house, and Coop yelped,
"THAT'S HIM!"
TBC