The warm summer day wrapped its arms around Charles when the old-fashioned screen door closed behind him. The golden sun immediately warmed him all over as he walked to the bench under a giant hemlock tree, where he liked to sit late at night to contemplate life. Today, though, he wasn’t contemplating his life; he was trying to figure out how Bonnie and Clyde would evade his people. He was certain they would get out one way or the other.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Huffing and puffing, Myra looked at Annie, and said, “I can’t keep walking these halls any longer. There has been absolutely no activity. It’s like no one lives on this floor, and I can’t believe this building is so acoustically wonderful that all noise is blocked. These people work. In my opinion, Bonnie gave Charles’s operatives the slip, and she’s not anywhere near this floor.”

Equally winded, Annie leaned up against a wall and took deep breaths. “I couldn’t agree more. I say we head back to our apartment, all the girls should be there by now. We need to make a plan since this one doesn’t seem to be working.” Annie heaved herself away from the wall and was about to follow Myra when the door to the stairwell banged open. Both women almost jumped out of their skins.

“Ladies!” a man dressed in blue coveralls said by way of a greeting. “I’m here at Mr. Snowden’s request.”

“Oh!” Myra and Annie said as one. “We were just leaving.”

“Not yet, I need your help.” He handed each of them a clipboard and pens. “This,” he said, holding up a square box, “is a heat sensor. It will detect the presence of humans, even animals, in these apartments. We’ll know soon enough if our subject is inside hiding. The only exits to these apartments are the doors to the hall.

“This is what I’m going to do. I’ll flash this, get a reading, and if it registers heat, we’ll knock on the door, and I’ll say I’m going to be spraying for bugs tomorrow, and we want to be sure the tenants don’t have any allergies. You two will be making fake notes on your clipboards. Are you ready?”

Annie shrugged. “It sounds like a plan. Actually, a pretty good one,” she said grudgingly. Myra nodded.

An hour later, Avery’s man called a halt. “Okay, we have human occupancy in five apartments. “I don’t want either of you doing any talking, let me do it all.”

“What’s your name?” Annie asked as the man pressed the first doorbell. It chimed inside, a five-note melody.

“That’s NTK, ma’am.”

“Need to know, my ass,” Annie hissed into Myra’s ear. “Who does he think we’re going to tell?”