Protector - Laurel Dewey [134]
Chapter 20
Jane grabbed her car keys and fanny pack with pistol safely ensconced in it, beckoned Emily to come inside and together they took off in the Subaru in search of a public telephone. Emily reminded her of the one located outside The Apple Cart. But being conspicuously seen talking on the phone was not something Jane wanted right now. She wound around to the main, two-lane highway that looped around the west side of town and headed south. Jane recalled seeing a liquor store about one mile south of town along the mesa. There had to be a public phone there. Sure enough, The Pit Stop liquor store was just over the crest of the mesa. And, thankfully, outside the front doors was a public telephone. “Stay here,” Jane ordered Emily. “I won’t be long.”
Jane crossed the small parking lot and grabbed the phone. Only then did she realize that her hands were slightly shaking. Nervously, she plunked in the quarters and dialed Weyler’s private office number. It only rang once before Weyler picked up.
“Weyler here!”
“Boss! It’s me,” Jane’s voice was slightly shaky. “I got your message. What’s up?”
“Hold on a second,” Weyler said, cupping his hand over the receiver. Even though it was muted, Jane could hear every word. “Look, we’re gonna work this out. I’m on the case.” Jane heard his office door closing as Weyler removed his hand from the receiver. Jane wondered why he cupped his hand over the receiver. Was he just being polite or was he trying to hide who was in the room? “Okay, Jane, here’s the deal. I don’t know if it’s relavant to the case or just an odd coincidence, but your brother came over to drop off your mail and said that your neighbor, a woman named Hazel, told him that two nights ago she looked outside her bedroom window and saw a male yelled out the window at the perp and he immediately ducked out of her sight and took off.”
Jane ran her fingers through her hair, trying to piece together the information. “What did he look like?”
“Apparently, Hazel said it was too dark to clearly identify him. He was wearing a heavy coat, looked to be older rather than some young punk and was carrying implements used for breaking into windows.”
Jane’s head spun with various angles. “I’ve never had a break-in. Why now?”
“It does seem suspicious,” Weyler said carefully.
Jane wondered if Weyler was trying to lead her to say something. She wanted to trust him but she still didn’t know if he was setting her up. The thought crossed her mind that there was no break-in at all and the call was simply a ruse to check in and get her talking. Since she was forbidden to contact Mike, there was no way to confirm Weyler’s information. “Is Mike still there? Can I talk to him?”
“He’s gone. I paged you right after he left.”
Jane figured she would play it close to the vest. “Well, the perp sounds like a pro. I mean, there aren’t a lot of older burglars out there who bring hardware to the scene.”
“That’s true.”
“You’re putting a 24-hour watch on my house, right?”
“I don’t have the manpower for that. But I did ask patrol to concentrate more of their night watch around your block.”
“Uh-huh,” Jane said with a dubious tone. “Okay, so let’s say just for the hell of it, that this is not some sort of ‘odd coincidence’ as you put it. Let’s say that there is some kind of motive behind the attempted break-in. I got to ask myself two questions: Why me and what’s he looking for? As far as I was told, the media doesn’t know I’m on this case. The DA’s office doesn’t know either. In fact, as far as anyone’s concerned, the last case with my name on it was the Stover murder. The only people who could drop my name regarding the Lawrence case are you and Chris. That’s saying that this burglar has got some tie-in with the Lawrence murder. But we’re just flyin’ blind through shit, aren’t we? So then I ask, what’s this asshole looking for? It’s gotta be information. Right?” Jane thought she heard a distinct pop on the phone. “What was that?”
“What?”
An indignant flush came over her face. If Weyler was recording this conversation or