Before Patrick realized what had happened, he found himself face down on the floor, his arms roughly pinned back by Theo. He twisted and thrashed, but no amount of resistance would loosen the tattoo artist’s iron grip.
Man, this dude is strong, thought Patrick. He turned his head and gazed helplessly at the faces staring down at him. Lisa looked mortified, Ellen shook her head in disbelief, and Jamie just laughed.
“Are you ready to calm down?” asked Theo.
“Hell no!”
“Patrick,” said Lisa. “Please.”
The stress in her voice quickly smothered his outburst. He went limp. “Okay, okay. I’m fine. You can let me go,” said Patrick.
Theo unceremoniously hauled Patrick up by his T-shirt collar and dragged him over to the sofa. Patrick sat, and Theo stood over him as though daring Patrick to make another move.
Lisa leaned closer and lightly touched the gauze that was wrapped around his arm. “Patrick, what happened to you? Did you hurt yourself?”
Patrick had completely forgotten about his tattoo. He pushed Lisa’s hand away and pulled off the gauze. He gasped, then glared at Theo. “You fucking asshole.” He pushed up the sleeve of his T-shirt, revealing a tattoo that now read USA FOREVER, the heart as flaming red as Patrick’s enraged face.
Jamie choked back a laugh. “Wow, Patrick, that is some do over. I didn’t realize you were so patriotic.”
“You already changed your LISA FOREVER tattoo?” asked Lisa, her voice petulant.
An insistent chirp came from Patrick’s waist.
“What is that horrible sound?” asked Ellen.
“Is that a phone?” asked Jamie.
Theo reached down and pulled the beeper from where it was clipped to Patrick’s belt.
“Hey, watch it,” said Patrick, irked by this further invasion of his personal space.
Theo palmed the small device.
Jamie leaned in to look. “What is it?”
“Looks like a beeper,” said Ellen.
“What’s a beeper?” asked Lisa.
Theo read the message on the beeper’s tiny screen aloud: “Fifteen hundred Northwest Tenth at three.”
“What does that mean?” asked Ellen.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” said Patrick. “It’s just an old piece of junk.”
“I’ve never seen you with that thing Patrick, and I’m your ex-girlfriend. Which you’ve made absolutely clear by the mess you made of your tattoo,” said Lisa. “Jerk.”
“You hated that tattoo,” said Patrick.
“Did not.”
Patrick couldn’t believe what Lisa was saying. “You literally spoke the words ‘I hate that tattoo’ only last night.”
“Well, sure, but I also said it was kind of sweet.”
“Enough, you two,” said Jamie. “Patrick, just tell us. What’s the beeper for?”
Patrick looked around wildly for an escape route and struggled to his feet. Theo firmly pressed him back down. Patrick racked his brain for an excuse. “It’s the bike shop,” he said. “They must need me back at work.”
“River City Bikes gave you a beeper? Sounds pretty fishy,” said Jamie, sounding like a beat cop confronting a perp. “You have a perfectly fine smartphone. Why don’t they just text you on that?”
“The shop is getting us ready for the big one. Mayor Salder, you know all about this. Earthquakes. Subduction zones. Tectonic plates. Pagers are super reliable and less susceptible in the event of a natural disaster, right? The bike shop has to be able to reach me no matter what.” He looked hopefully at Ellen, then Lisa and Jamie, and finally Theo. They did not look convinced. “Okay, fine. Sheila gave it to me.”
Theo looked thoughtfully at the beeper. “The numbers are an address. I assume for a delivery. The number three likely refers to the time.” Theo pulled his phone from his back pocket and typed the address into a map application. In seconds, a Portland neighborhood loaded on screen.
“The address is about a five-minute drive from here. Appears to be on a residential street in the Pearl. Fifteen hundred Northwest Tenth Avenue. Nearest cross street is Irving.”
Jamie moved closer to Theo and glanced over his shoulder at the phone.
“Tenth and Irving?” asked Jamie. “Hey, that’s near where we found Lisa last night.”
“I don’t remember,” Lisa said, suddenly looking pale under her tan. “Head injury and all that.”
“Yes, I’m almost positive. You were in that little park near the row of gorgeous brick townhouses. Patrick, am I right?”
Patrick nodded, remembering the frantic drive with Jamie, feeling terrified that Lisa might be really hurt.
“Here’s the street view,” said Theo, passing his phone around so they could all see the screen. It showed a clear image of a three-story brick townhouse, steps leading from the street to an opaque glass door.
Theo tapped for a few more moments. “The property is owned by a George and Susan Green,” he said.
Lisa let out a gasp and slumped down on the sofa next to Patrick. “No, no, no . . .” She covered her face with her hands.
“George Green, you say. That is unfortunate,” said Jamie as she squeezed in between Lisa and Patrick, putting her arm over Lisa’s shoulders supportively.
“What’s the big deal?” asked Patrick. “Who’s George Green?”
“Patrick, sometimes you can be so dense,” said Jamie. “He’s the dude Lisa hooked up with last night.”
“Nothing happened!” wailed Lisa.
Patrick felt reenergized. Finally, things were looking up. He spoke eagerly to Ellen. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I met Sheila at the gala last night. She gave me that beeper and the cocaine and said to keep both on me at all times in case I needed to deliver.” Patrick smiled. Confronting the prick who had tried to sleep with the love of his life was well worth the humiliation he’d just endured. “Let me do this. Let’s nail this asshole.”
“You can’t be serious. You are not going over there,” said Lisa.
“Oh, I am,” said Patrick. “I’ve never been more serious. I’d love to meet your new boyfriend, or should I say John?”
“He’s too close to it,” said Theo. “I can handle it.”
“All of Sheila’s crew are my age,” said Patrick firmly, even though he had no idea if it were true. “George would think it was weird if some old dude showed up at his house.”
“Old dude?” protested Theo. “I’m twenty-nine.”
“Exactly,” said Patrick.
“Patrick makes a good point,” said Ellen. “We need Sheila and George to think it’s business as usual.”
“So, what’s the plan?” asked Patrick. He imagined pinning George to the floor, just as Theo had done to him, and beating George senseless till he spilled his guts.
“Recording the conversation is a must. Ideally, we need George actually saying he’s exchanging money for drugs,” said Ellen.
Lisa leaned across Jamie and grabbed Patrick’s hand. “Just text back or do whatever you do on that beeper thing. Tell Sheila that you got stuck at work and can’t make the delivery. She’ll send someone else.”
“Lisa,” said Ellen. “I’m sorry, but we need information. If Sheila is sending deliveries directly to George’s home, he must trust her. If we have enough leverage, maybe he’ll have additional details that will help build a case against her.”
“The recording won’t be admissible,” said Theo.
“George won’t know that,” said Ellen with a smile.
Patrick pulled away from Lisa’s grasp and stood. He didn’t like siding with Ellen over Lisa, but his desire for revenge won out. “So, we’re on?”
Ellen and Theo nodded.
“All right then,” said Patrick eagerly. “We don’t have a lot of time. As soon as I get a message, I’m supposed to deliver within thirty minutes. You know. Like pizza.”