“As you wish.” She walked past him, out the door and to her car.
Harry shut the door and poured a cup of coffee before sitting down at his desk again. “Do you know her very well?”
Bertie looked at him. “Well enough to know that she’s very level-headed, intelligent, and honest.”
Harry nodded. “Then I guess I’m on surveillance early in the morning.” He swivelled his chair around, then turned to face her again. “I think I’ll go check out the area first, check the view of her place from the neighbour’s driveway. Meanwhile, would you call and ask if she has any maintenance personnel scheduled for the next ten days or so? I don’t want to ‘catch’ the wrong person.”
When Harry returned to the office, he was satisfied that his surveillance position offered a clear view of Mrs. Allen’s front bridge. And his truck probably wouldn’t even be noticed.
Bertie was just leaving and she told him that no maintenance was scheduled for anytime soon. “A teenager clears the snow from her driveway when needed but he doesn’t come until after she’s up. He also mows the grass in summer and runs errands for her when her arthritis is acting up. She asked, but he hasn’t seen anyone strange around.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she replied and ran down the steps to her SUV.
********************
Early the next morning, with his truck parked in the Robinson’s driveway, Harry was glad he had thought to bring along a blanket and a thermos of coffee. It was a cold morning and keeping the engine running for heat would give away his presence. He would just have to tough it out. It was six o’clock and he’d only have to be here an hour… just until he knew Mrs. Allen was up.
He could never understand why people seemed to think that what they commonly called a ‘stake-out’ was exciting. In his experience, except for rare occasions, it was one of the most boring and tedious things he could think of. Watching and waiting for something to happen, trying not to fall asleep, was not his idea of exciting. Not even interesting most of the time. However, sometimes it was necessary.
The minutes crawled by. It was very quiet, with very little traffic. Pinewood was a subdivision where the residents were mostly seniors. It hadn’t been planned that way in the beginning. Harry was pretty sure the largest percentage of home-owners had been young when they built their homes. A few had moved out for various reasons and those homes were now occupied by new owners. Although, for some reason, he didn’t think there were many young families here anymore.
********************
After two mornings of sitting in the cold, waiting for something to happen, Harry was wishing the weather would warm up. Then, on the third morning, there was some action when someone on a bicycle stopped and got off. Someone walked up on Mrs. Allen’s bridge, paused, and left again several minutes later.
