A Place to Be. Nancy Degenhardt
Kathryn looked intently at her granddaughter. "The class was in the middle of reading that adventure story when your professor, Ms. Fisher, looked straight at you and said to the class that Kate Dorsey was the only one in the class who had enough curiosity and fearlessness to do what the character in the story had done. In many ways, you are still that college girl. You become totally single-minded when you are working on a story."
"It'll be okay," Kate explained, resting her elbows on the countertop and tucking her hands underneath her chin while looking up at her grandmother, "People feel comfortable talking to me, and that enables me to get the stories I write." Kate slid off the stool and walked over and put her arms around her grandmother. "But you and I are going to take a trip to Saratoga someday."
Kathryn smiling slightly said, "Don't put it off too long. These bones aren't getting any younger."
Maria called and told Kate that through a friend of a friend she had found her a place to stay. A biology teacher had left for the summer to study sea lions in the Pacific Ocean. She could use her place for a while. All she had to do was to water her plants.
"That sounds fine," Kate said.
"I'll call Teri and make the arrangements and call you back. Besides, having a house sitter provides good protection against burglars," Maria added.
"Thanks, you're a true friend," Kate replied
"Don't forget for the wedding, I have reserved a room for you at the Sheraton for four nights. I even tried to get you more but since it was August, no good."
"See you soon," Kate said and hung up.
CHAPTER FOUR
Three days later, a brand new, black Subaru Forester had been fully packed and was waiting in the parking lot outside Kathryn's condo.
"I think I have everything," Kate said. "If Rod happens to call, please tell him to meet me at the Sheraton on the first day of August. He's been invited to attend Maria's wedding with me."
"I will. I'm going to miss you, Kate. I got kind of used to your being around."
"I'll miss you, too. If you need me, leave a message on my voicemail." They embraced and Kate left, leaving Kathryn standing in the doorway.
While driving across the causeway, Kate reflected that she would be glad to reach the cooler air of Upstate New York. It was only eight o'clock in the morning, and it was already hot and humid. After entering the interstate, she glanced in her rearview mirror. That sure looks like the same brown sedan that followed me over the causeway, she thought. "Kate, you're just jumpy because of Guy. Settle down," she said aloud. From the city of Columbia, she drove north. After observing the same brown sedan behind her, she slowed down to five miles under the speed limit, but the brown car didn't pass. The car stayed behind her. Sometimes other cars drove between them; otherwise, the car stayed back around two or three car lengths. From that distance, she couldn't distinguish who was driving.
Her spine tingled. At last she saw the exit for the interstate north and turned onto it. The brown car didn't follow her. She let out a big sigh of relief and pushed the incident to the back of her mind.
On the second day of her trip when she was two hours from Saratoga Springs, Kate called Maria. They had arranged to meet for dinner at a Greek diner not for from Saratoga. Kate informed Maria that she was running on time and would meet her at the diner as planned.
After complimenting each other on how good the other looked, they settled into a back booth. Maria ordered the Greek salad, and Kate ordered the chicken Caesar salad. They both wanted to save room for the baklava.
Over coffee, Maria imparted, "Oliver was able to get a FBI friend of his to leak a follow-up report about the crash. I couldn't keep the report, so I memorized it for you."
Kate laughed and then said, "Are you still doing that? I hated you in college when you could memorize information for a test whether or not you understood it, and I had to learn everything."
Maria grinned and said, "It comes in handy. Anyway, here goes.”
"Wait, I want to take notes." Kate removed a pen and pad from her purse. "Okay, I'm ready."
"Interpol identified the fingerprints as belonging to one Lei Chung, a drug smuggler from China. They have never been able to make a strong enough case against him, but he has been arrested a number of times." Maria leaned forward in her seat. "Now, for the really interesting part -- he was arrested with an associate in France for whatever constitutes their DUI." After straightening herself, Maria picked up her fork and gestured with it as she talked. "The French police have blood samples from each one."
"I can guess what happened next," Kate interjected. "Some of the hair samples from each of the three victims were sent to the French police."
"Of course," Maria answered, "and the DNA from one of the hair samples matched the DNA from Chung's associate. Now, get this." Maria pointed with her fork. "He turned out to be Nikolay Dmitriyevich, a member of the so-called Russian Mafia. And one of the other hair samples matched Chung's DNA."
The waitress approached them carrying a coffeepot. "Anyone care for more coffee?"
"Yes, please," said Kate. They sat silently while she poured. Looking around, Kate saw that the diner was no longer crowded. It appeared that most of the customers had eaten and left.
"Looking extremely serious, Maria asked, "Now, what were two big time drug smugglers doing in little Saratoga? Oliver has been quietly asking questions of his FBI friends, but no one wants to talk about it."
"Maybe, the FBI is in the dark about this as much as we are," Kate suggested.
"Maybe, but Oliver senses they know a little more than they are willing to tell. He told me to tell you that he will keep trying for you."
Placing her pen and pad back in her purse, Kate said, "What you have told me helps tremendously. In Georgia I met with a contact of mine. He overheard members of the cartel talking about Saratoga and horse racing, but after our meeting, he was run over by a hit-and-run driver. He's in critical condition."
Maria's eyes widened. "Be careful, Kate. If you do need help, call me. I'll bring the whole State Police department to your rescue."
"The whole State Police department," Kate repeated, laughing.
"Okay, not all of them, but you know I will get you help."
"Spoken like a true friend and police detective. But enough of that I want to hear more about your wedding."
"Everything is pretty much all arranged."
"I want to know all the details. What color theme are you using?" asked Kate, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Kate, I want you to be surprised -- no details." They paid their check and walked outside. Standing in front of Kate's car, Maria handed her a key and said, "That's the key to the townhouse. The address is on the key ring. Teri left a light on for you. She told me to tell you to use it like it was your home. I have to run now. I told Oliver I would meet him at his apartment to go over a couple of changes.” Maria gave her a quick hug and walked over to her car.
* * *
Being too tired to do anything else that night, Kate drove to the townhouse, grabbed her bags, and unlocking the door, stepped inside. "Oh, my," she verbalized. She felt as if she had entered a botanical garden. Small potted trees were lined up in front of a set of sliding glass doors. Large pots containing all kinds of foliage covered every inch of the floor except for a traffic pattern and where the furniture sat. Even the television had small plants sitting on top of it. Leave it to Maria, she concluded. She saw that the ceiling contained skylights as she tried to find the bedroom.
When she crawled into the bed surrounded by plants, she thought for sure a mosquito net was going to drop from the ceiling and cover her.
Early the next morning after making coffee, Kate phoned Bob's office and left the phone number with his secretary for the fax in the townhouse. Next, she decided she needed