Trouble And Money #24
Looking around, I spot one couple who look like they've been "Work Wed" for three days. He radiates happiness, and so does she. The key word is happy, and the giveaway is that they are too happy.
That Convention Hotel - Danvers, Massachusetts
Last night, I resisted the urge to go home and stayed in character at a comfortable but cheap hotel. At the complimentary continental breakfast, I had Fruit O's cereal and pretty good coffee.
While filling up a second foam bowl, I looked around the breakfast dining area near the exit by the front desk.
The management wants you to eat a frozen croissant, pay the bill, and leave.
The crowd looks normal. The convention crowd is here, so polo shirts and lanyards with name tags are part of the ensembles. These items are always in fashion with the medical software crowd.
Most people here are medical office managers and vendors of software packages for scheduling patients for procedures and staffing.
In Danvers, Massachusetts, the gateway to Saugus, a convention like this is three days away from the regular job and time off requests from workers. You get a few lunches, dinners, and sales pitches. There is also a good amount of booze.
Some people can't help themselves when they get to a hotel. The break in routine, free booze, and new faces are fun.
Looking around, I spot one couple who look like they've been "Work Wed" for three days. He radiates happiness, and so does she. The keyword is happy, and the giveaway is that they are too happy.
I wonder if this is a vendor/potential client situation where one goes all out to make a sale.
The yellow walls and canoodling are not good after a six-pack and a DoorDash pizza in the room last night, but I move forward. The coffee is a cure-all, in my opinion.
I'm going through my FBI phone and reading today's trucking company email.
This email tells me what time to arrive, the truck I am assigned to, and the pickup and delivery points, with a little blurb about the cargo involved.
Today, high-grade hoodies are going to one location, and a few crates of deflated Mylar balloons are going to a party store—another busted party, but I'll see Jeopardy.
Today will be non-confrontational on the job.
I went for another bowl of Fruit Os, and when I returned to the table, another email from the trucking company had arrived.
My new start time is 5 PM, and the cargo has changed to 25 crates of machined parts going from Newburyport, Massachusetts, to a warehouse in Ayer, Massachusetts.
No Vannah or Jeopardy tonight. This sounds like a go.
A good detective overthinks. Who plucked me off a good run and put me in potential danger?
It wasn't a matter of changing a truck and cargo, but my whole day had changed. If I am humping the targeted cargo I have been chosen to get hijacked and maybe killed.
Who decided it would be me? I felt my Glock in my waistband and mentally counted how many clips I had brought.
I sent a coded request to my handler for a call and walked into the hotel's parking lot. The desk clerk looked at me like I had eaten five bowls of Fruit Os, even though I had only eaten four.
Trouble And Money is published Monday through Friday. It is a serial fiction detective story with characters you will love. Read the adventures of Conrad Grange as he solves cases and contends with a harsh world.