Chapter Three
Blanche could see Sharon through the glass in the reception area of the police department’s lobby, a redheaded tall woman in a dark pantsuit reaching for her ringing telephone that the receptionist called. Sharon left her office and came to the glass divider. She cracked the door and motioned Blanche back.
“You were my best PR work yet, Blanche Binkley. The story on you and Al rescuing the intracoastal waterway...it made the retirees in town happy, and made the department look friendly. It was beautiful.”
“Glad I could make your job easier.”
Sharon chuckled. “Are you enjoying your volunteer work with the department?”
“I’d like to get my hands more dirty than the Town Center kiosk but it’s a start to my police career.” She winked at Sharon.
They settled into the cantina with cups of machine coffee.
“What can I do for you today?” Sharon asked.
Blanche wanted to try to use the system in place without breaking the rules, but she needed more information in order to move forward.
“Condos in our building are getting robbed, and I was curious about the Sip Trip and other convenience store burglaries in the area. Maybe the two are related?”
“Well, there’s not much to tell...” Sharon said.
“I gathered that from the news reports.” Blanche didn’t mince words.
Sharon grimaced. “Okay, there’s a little more than that. Why do you want to know?”
“All three were within a few miles of Seaside Flats. Plus the robberies in our condo, I think I should have a meeting of the Condo Watch Committee.” Blanche gave her a sideways pink lipstick smile. It had to sound like it had some official connection or she’d get no information at all, minor police celebrity or no.
“Okay, the woman robbing convenience stores is believed to be an illegal alien, but has been very careful with surveillance cameras, so she must be fairly intelligent and well informed. Our sources among the illegals tell us they don’t know who it is.”
“She, huh? How much money is she getting?” Blanche said. Uh, oh. Could this be Miss 209?
“That’s the odd thing. She’s getting really piddly amounts, $50, $85, $102. Not enough to risk your neck over.”
“No. Or going to a Florida jail. Couldn’t an illegal make more money at a regular no-green-card job during the day? The robber in my condo got more than that from my kitchen counter. Is it a drug addict with those small change robberies?”
“The robber is acting too coherent and systematic for drugs, but it’s always a possibility. Sometimes illegals are taken advantage of and the employers only pay them a fraction of what they should make. Who are they going to complain to? Immigration?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I guess that’s right.” Blanche stared off thoughtfully.
“Are you on someone’s case, Blanche? Have you seen something?” Sharon smiled into her plastic coffee cup before she sipped.
“I’ve just noticed somebody acting weird, but I haven’t seen her doing anything that I could report. Besides, I don’t even know if she’s an illegal alien.”
“They come in all shapes and sizes, Blanche.”
“We have so many nationalities in our building, I ought to know, I guess.” Blanche polished off her coffee and thanked Sharon.
It was intriguing that the robberies seemed to be a lone woman. The girl in 209 seemed to be on her own too and going out at odd hours. She couldn’t exclude Miss 209 from the suspect list yet she hadn’t been seen slinking around the halls of the condo, so the condo burglaries fit her less than the gas station robberies. Blanche definitely needed to dig further.