Rarities Unlimited 03 - Die in Plain Sight

wrong?” Susa asked.
    Ian glanced at the rearview mirror yet again. Still there, hanging back in the early morning traffic. “Someone’s playing tag.”
    “What?”
    He thought of pushing a yellow light just to see what happened, but decided against it as he had every other time he’d been tempted this morning. If the car had been anything other than a beige Ford, he would have tried to dump the tail by breaking a few laws. That didn’t work when the guys behind you had badges.
    “Tan sedan, three cars back,” Ian said. “A wolf in lambskin.”
    She looked over her shoulder. After a few moments she spotted the sedan. It wasn’t hard. In southern California, almost no one but government types drove full-size American cars.
    “You broken any laws lately?” she asked.
    “Not in the last few days. I’m licensed for concealed weapons here. Ieven have the sheriff’s private number on the back of his business card if I need help from any of his boys and girls. Just one of the perks of working for someone Moreno County really wants to have around.”
    “Rarities Unlimited?”
    Ian laughed and shook his head. One of the things he really liked about Lawe’s mother was that she didn’t have any idea of her own importance to the world at large.
    “It’s you, La Susa, not Rarities. Every local PD and county mountie is touchy about who does and doesn’t carry on their turf. The fact that I work for Rarities didn’t hurt, but it was being your gofer that really did the trick. Sheriff Rory Turner himself gave dispensation for me and my shoulder harness to follow you around Moreno County.”
    Susa rolled her hazel eyes. “Spare me the testosterone brigade. It’s a good thing you aren’t a lump as a companion.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’d really have to smack some ass the next time I saw Don.”
    Ian gave her a slow sideways smile. “Sounds like fun.”
    She snickered.
    He signaled like a good citizen, turned, and drove down a side street, leaving the bumper-to-bumper grind of the coast highway behind. As soon as he found a space big enough for two cars, he pulled over.
    “Forget something?” Susa said.
    “Hope not.”
    He watched the tan sedan approach, drive by, and park half a block down. “Stay here with the doors locked,” he said to Susa.
    He got out and walked down to the sedan. The men inside made no effort to ignore him. In fact, the one in the passenger seat rolled down the window.
    “Morning,” Ian said. “Do I know you?”
    “He’s Deputy Glendower and I’m Deputy Harrison,” the man said, pointing to the driver first, then himself.
    “Mind if I see some ID?” Ian asked mildly.
    Harrison pulled out a badge.
    Ian nodded and looked at the driver.
    “Chrissake,” muttered Glendower, but he took a badge out of his suit coat and showed it to Ian. “You got something to show us?”
    “No badge, sorry.” Ian’s smile was all teeth. “How about this?”
    He took out his wallet and removed the business card with its handwritten number on the back.
    Glendower looked at the card without surprise. “Say hi to Sheriff Turner for us.”
    “Will do. You boys have something that can take back roads?”
    “No.”
    “In about half an hour, you’re going to need it. Have it delivered to the south entrance of the Savoy Ranch.”
    Ian left as one of them reached for the radio to order up a four-wheel-drive vehicle. When he got back to Susa, he slid in behind the wheel.
    “Well?” she asked.
    “I’m double-checking.”
    Keeping an eye on the sedan, Ian took out his cell phone and punched in Sheriff Rory Turner’s private number.
    “Yeah?” Rory said, picking up, yawning.
    “Ian Lapstrake. Sorry for calling you after hours, or before in this case. I’m being followed by a beige Ford sedan with two plainclothes in it. Glendower and Harrison. Are they yours?”
    “Probably.”
    “I’d appreciate it if you’d find out for sure. I wouldn’t want to put a foot in the wrong place.” A cop’s balls, for instance.
    “Hang on.”
    Ian waited. It wasn’t long.
    “They’re mine,” Rory said.
    “Have you received threats against Susa or any information that she might be at risk?”
    “No, but the more I thought about her, the more I didn’t like the idea of someone bothering her in any way. We aren’t as bad as Mexico or Italy, but kidnap for ransom isn’t unheard of here, either. It’s not going to happen on my watch if I can help it.”
    Ian’s eyebrows went up. “I see.