Chapter Eighteen: Same Day Earlier That Evening

Calder drove home quietly in his Chrysler convertible. Earlier that day, he had received an alert from his bank that afternoon. The text read a sum of fifty thousand bucks was deposited in his bank account. At 15:00, two neatly dressed men had stopped by his office, given him some files, and left quietly, as quickly as they had come.

 He had gone through the files all through the day. However, there was little and not much that he could find that could help him get a lead to trace the culprit of the missing jewelry, not to talk of finding the supposed killers of the special Feds agent. Moreover, he perceived strongly that the two cases were linked in some way. He was certain that if he could get a stone, he could kill the two birds with one shot.

 He thought about the money in his account, remembering he'd promised the D.I.G. that he would solve the case in less than two weeks' time. The money deposited had shown how seriously the D.I.G. wanted the case solved. He also thought of his wife, who was pregnant with their first baby on the way. He also knew she would be putting to bed in less than a month's time. With the money in his account, he could afford a much more decent home, perhaps even get himself a house and some piece of land in the Caribbean, where he had planned to start growing bananas and a cotton plantation. Perhaps he could even retire from this dangerous detective job and settle down with his wife there to manage their farm. He fought a lot of thoughts as he drove, and all of a sudden, it almost happened.

"Damn you!" he heard a lady scream as he quickly applied his brake, bringing the car to a sudden halt with a quick jerk.

 Oblivious in his thought, he had not seen her crossing the road, and he had almost run her down. But she had managed to quickly jump back to the roadside furiously. He was fortunate he wasn't at high speed.

 He applied his brake and pulled the car from the roadside, parking at the wayside. He stepped out of the car quickly in an effort to go and apologize to the lady for his recklessness; little did he know that he had messed with the wrong lady.

"Hey sweetheart; I'm really sorry about that...," he started to say in a casual tone, trying to play cool. "It's just that I was…," he tried to explain, but she silenced him.

"Damn you...!" she yelled at him angrily, interrupting him and coming at him with anger and fury in her eyes. "Damn you buster," she yelled at him again, while pointing a finger at him. "And knock off that sweet darling stuff or whatever;" she warned furiously. "Are you drunk or sleep driving? It's a zebra crossing with the green light on already, for crying out loud. You could have knocked down a kid," she fumed angrily at him.

"But I said I'm sorry honey...," he tried apologizing again. "It's just that I'm…," he stuttered.

"Knock off that honey stuff," she said again, screaming angrily at him. She stopped abruptly and gave him a cold, cynical scrutiny. "Oh! Now you want to play a gentleman, right?" she asked disdainfully. "You could have knocked down anyone with your reckless driving. You are so fortunate I'm in a good mood today. I would have taught you how to drive safely next time," she said angrily with Calder staring at her speechless.

"Enough with all this melodrama, Jenny!" he heard a man's voice say from behind them.

 Calder turned to see who it was, and he was faced with this man. He was huge, a little dark in complexion, and about six feet tall. He was Native-American as well.

"Sorry about that," he apologized to Calder casually. "However, Jenny ain't a girl you try to play cool with...," he added; and turning to the girl, "Alright Jenny!" he called to her. "Let's get going now, it's getting late already." He said while pulling her by the hand and dragging her along with him.

 They both walked a couple of steps away in an attempt to go, and the man stopped abruptly on an impulse. He turned and walked back to Calder, regarding him for a brief moment.

"And you!" he said with a grin. "Drive carefully next time," he advised. "You know; you could have knocked her or someone else down. Just thank your luck you didn't hit her." He said, and turned away, hurrying back to the girl. He crossed the main road with the girl by his side.

 They walked into a dimly lit street without turning to look back at him. He watched them take a right turn into a dark alley on the other side of the road and disappear.

 Calder felt a bit embarrassed with himself. She was right, he thought to himself. He should have been more careful and focused his attention on the road, rather than on his thoughts. However, he was fortunate he didn't hit her.

 He walked back into his car, and with his handkerchief, he wiped some perspiration off his face. But as he was about to ignite his car, he stopped abruptly. An idea just dawned on him and it hit him like a flash.

"Could it be them?" he mumbled, and sat back thoughtfully. But the report said three people, two guys, of which one was six feet tall and also a Caucasian, and the other about seven feet tall, and the girl, the report said she was about twenty to twenty-one years of age and also a blonde. Moreover, from the police report he had got, and that of the late Feds agent neighbor's description he'd gotten, their description had all perfectly matched that of the girl and this man he had just seen now. But could it have been them, or just some regular guy with the same resemblance? If only he could follow them and trace them, perhaps he could meet up with the third guy. Moreover, it might be just some coincidence, he thought, as there are countless people in this city with that same description. However, one thing he knew he must do now was to make a trail after this girl. Thank goodness, he now knew her name, as she might have a record with the cops. And if it is worth it, he might have got his lead through her.

 Now what he must do was to trail them and go after them. He had to know where they were heading.

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