CHAPTER 7
Friday morning Rosa and Roy went down to the laundry room to wash clothes and ran into Judy. As he introduced the two, the former CIA agent could tell that she had once again been crying. As she began to remove clothes from the washer and put them into a cart to move them to the dryer she dropped a pair of men's socks and the tears began to flow. Picking them up, Rosa tried her best to console her.
"I'm...I'm sorry." Judy sat down in one of the chairs. "My husband just passed away..."
"I'm very sorry to hear that." Mama put the clothes into a dryer for her and then sat down next to her. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"No...thanks." Blowing her nose the other woman looked down at the floor.
"Guess I better get to looking through the classifieds." Roy sat down a couple of chairs away giving a disgusted sigh. "Although who would want to hire a broken down old man I don't know."
"Looking for work are you?" Gallagher strode into the laundry room and looked at the three sitting there. A look of hatred swept across Judy's face.
"The way the cost of everything has shot up these days..." Roy shook his head. "I used to dream of retirement; now I know I should have just kept on working."
"Excuse me." The widow walked hastily out of the room and disappeared.
"What kind of work is it that you do?"
"I worked at the Fizzy Pop distributorship for almost forty years – all it got me was a lopsided cake and a watch that won't keep time." The former agent opened up the paper.
Declan had a seat. "It seems like everyone these days is having to rob Peter to pay Paul."
"Truer words were never spoken." Rosa began loading laundry into a machine.
"I've got a little side business...not sure if you would be interested, though."
"Oh?" Roy put down the paper.
"It's uh..." Gallagher looked around to make sure they were alone. "It's not exactly legal."
"You know I've lived my whole life trying to do the right thing and here I sit damn near broke." Roy looked at Rosa who had sat down next to him. "What is the job?"
"I like to think of myself as a sort of Robin Hood if you will." Gallagher saw he had their complete attention. "You know, rob from the rich to give to the poor? And in this case – I'm the poor."
"And who are the rich?" Rosa leaned in conspiratorially.
"Jewelry stores."
"Pffft. The jewelers are the crooks. You buy from them at top dollar, but if you need to sell something to them they give you hardly a dime." She shook her head disgustedly.
"What exactly would I have to do?" Roy leaned in toward him.
"Cause a small scene – get the clerk distracted just long enough for me to take a few items off of their hands."
"And how do I do that?"
"Maybe you and your wife are looking at rings for your granddaughter's birthday. Suddenly you feel ill – maybe you need some water or need to sit down for a few minutes."
"So while he's ill you take the goods?" She looked shocked.
"Exactly. So it isn't like you're actually doing anything wrong – you're just pretending."
"I always said you were handsome enough to be a movie star, Jacob." Mama looked at Roy and smiled.
"Seems pretty easy." He nodded his head. "When do we start?"
"How about this afternoon?"
"So soon?" She looked shocked.
"No time like the present. By this time tomorrow you'll have a few extra dollars in your pocket and few less worries on your mind." Gallagher held out his hand to Roy who after a brief pause shook it.
"Come to my apartment when you're done here – I'm in B-6. We'll have a rehearsal."
"Sounds good." Roy gave him a smile and watched as he walked out of the room. Motioning to Rosa to remain quiet he got up and walked over to the door to make sure that the crook was out of earshot and pulled out his phone when he saw that the hallway was empty. He waited as it rang. "Michael, we're in – it starts this afternoon."
"You're what?!" Hoyt had been about to enter the elevator and had stopped in his tracks at the news. Now the elevator doors were trying to close on him and a ripple of laughter came from the officers inside. Stepping back out into the lobby of the police department, the lieutenant lowered his voice. "Where is it going to be?"
"I don't know yet – we're supposed to meet up with him in a little while. I guess we'll find out then."
"Oh boy – this is moving a lot quicker than I thought. Uh...okay, let me know as soon as you find out. I'll think of something."
"I'll call you." The former agent ended the call and went to sit back down next to Rosa.
Back at the police department Hoyt had taken the next elevator upstairs and was now sitting behind his desk dialing Houston's number. With CJ drawing nearer to her due date he didn't really want to bother the man but since the case involved Roy and Mama he knew that the PI would want to know. "Hey, Roy just called – they're in; the first job will be this afternoon."
"You're kidding me – that fast?" Matt got up from the desk in CJ's home office. "This guy isn't wasting any time is he?"
"No."
"Do we know where?"
"Not yet." He explained what Roy had told him.
"Okay...well...both Roy and Mama have one of my critters. I'll just activate them..." He went back over to the laptop and brought up the BugBytes program and activated the two tracking devices. "I take it you're going to keep them under surveillance?"
"I can tag a couple of units to help us. Wait a minute – Lee just came in..."
"I'm going to run by the office and pick up the van – I'll meet you at the station."
"See ya."
"Babe..." Matt found her in the floor of the nursery going through the chest and taking out Catey's clothes. "Hey, I've gotta go." He explained the situation.
"Let me know if you need my help...and keep a good eye on them."
"I will. Call you when it's over with...and please try to take it easy, okay?"
"I'm fine. You be careful out there, Cowboy. Love you."
"Love you." He gave her a kiss before making a quick trip to their bedroom for his holster, pistol, and vest; in a minute he was out the door and headed down the driveway where he flagged down Vince as he was coming back up to the house with Paul and Tomás in CJ's SUV. "Hey, Roy called." He told the former cop what was going on.
"I'm coming with you. You guys keep an eye on CJ, okay?" He slid out of the vehicle and into Matt's truck. As they started down Saddle Peak Road he looked over at the PI. "Man, they are working fast."
"You know..." Houston went through the curves automatically. "This Gallagher guy is really kind of reckless. He doesn't know squat about them but he's already bringing them in on the jobs? Something just doesn't feel right about this deal, Vince."
"Nope."
In apartment B6, Declan was on the phone with his fence. "Roddy, I'm telling you today is gonna be a BIG score. I want the dough as soon as I drop it off. This is the last one; it's time for me to move again. I've been in this town too long." He listened to the voice on the other end of the line. "Yeah, he died but I've got two more to take his place. But first I've got to tie up a couple of loose ends here. That's another reason I'm leaving." Picking up the revolver he opened it up and spun the chamber making sure it was loaded. "No, no sweat. It'll be easy pickings. See you at 3:30."
Judy had made a beeline straight for the apartment and found Knowles just coming back from the nursing home. "We need to talk." As soon as they were inside, she turned and locked up the door. "I think he's going to try to recruit Mr. and Mrs. Harlan."
"No..."
"Yes."
"We need to warn them."
"They were about to do some laundry and I've got a load in the dryer right now."
"Okay..." Rudy walked over and looked out through the peephole. "We'll go down and talk to them." Together they went out the door, Rudy tugging her in the direction of the stairwell so that they wouldn't have to pass Gallagher's apartment. In a couple of minutes they cautiously entered the laundry room after making sure that it was empty save for the Harlans.
"Good morning." Roy looked over the top of the newspaper.
"I wish it was. We need to talk." He looked back as Judy closed the door. "Look, I don't know what Gallagher has told you..." Stopping for a moment, the man tried to figure out a way to say it without incriminating himself or Judy.
"He told us he has a little side business." Roy folded up the paper.
"And then he told you it isn't exactly legal."
"He did."
"And then he used the Robin Hood line."
"I take it you've had the same talk with him?"
"Unfortunately, yes; and I very much regret having ever given him the time of day. Don't join up with him. Judy and her husband did and so did I."
Crossing over to them she finally spoke. "My husband Ted died yesterday while he and Declan were pulling a job. He just...he left him there." She held back the tears that wanted to fall. "He's threatened to call in a tip on us if we don't help him this afternoon."
"He just asked us to help him today." Roy exchanged a look with Rosa. "We need to talk...somewhere more private." He nodded toward the door. "Let's go back to our apartment." All four headed out into the hallway.
"Don't take the elevator – you'll have to pass by his door." Declan led them to the stairs and they went up the two flights, Roy checking to make sure the hallway was clear before they all slipped into the apartment. Once inside he locked the door.
"Have a seat." He moved over and sat next to Rosa. "Look...I'm going to be completely honest with you two. We're not who we said we were...we're here working for the LAPD." The look of shock on their faces made him smile. "I've seen both of you on video from the jewelry stores." He gave that a minute to sink in. "Rosa, I believe we need to let Michael know what's going on – it may change his plans." She nodded her agreement and he pulled out his cell phone and made the call. "Michael, I've got another progress report for you."