An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (best beach reads .txt) 📕

he got home at night. She’d given me his name and photo as well as a rough outline of his schedule. It looked like he’d be getting off work for lunch soon, so I decided to lock up and head down to the office building where he worked.

I checked to make sure I had all my essentials: gun, switchblade, lockpick, etc. Once I was sure that I had everything I might need for my investigation, I headed back out the door. I locked it securely behind me before walking out into the parking lot and toward the flashy, sleek black sedan parked in the spot closest to the stairs. It wasn’t something I would have usually been able to afford, but I’d gotten a good deal on it in exchange for helping a client who suspected his business partner of embezzling money from their shared company.

The drive down took about ten minutes, and by the time I got there and parked in a space near the entrance, I was worried that he might have already left. Luckily, I’d gotten there just in time, because I spotted him leaving with a group of coworkers just a few minutes after I arrived. It was only men in the group which most likely ruled out the possibility that he was cheating with one of his coworkers, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t meet someone later.

Sure enough, he broke away from the group in the parking lot before heading to his car alone. I followed him discreetly and carefully made sure I kept my distance so it wouldn’t be obvious that I was tailing him. I followed him all the way into the city center until he stopped and parked his car along the street. I did the same and deliberately chose a spot far enough away that he wouldn’t notice.

I probably didn’t even need to be that careful, as the man seemed to be focused on wherever he was heading as quickly as possible. I watched him through the rearview mirror of my car for a few seconds before getting out to follow him. He was weaving through the people on the street around him, obviously in a hurry.

Finally, he ducked into a little cafe at the corner of North Miami Avenue and Fourteenth Street, tucked between a bookstore and a Chinese restaurant. I stood by the entrance and pretended to be reading an advertisement pasted to the front window of the restaurant next door. I could see him through the large glass windows at the front of the cafe. He went straight to a table at the corner of the restaurant, near the front but still out of sight enough that someone looking directly through the front window wouldn’t be able to spot him or the woman sitting there.

I waited for a minute to ensure that they weren’t about to get back up and leave again before I strolled casually into the restaurant.

“Good afternoon,” the girl behind the counter smiled. “Welcome to eat. How many are in your party today?”

I was a little taken aback by what she’s just said, but I ignored it and carried on with my investigation.

“Just one,” I smiled back. “Oh, but could I get a table by the window?”

“Of course, sir,” the young woman smiled before beckoning me to follow her. She seated me just two tables away from the man I was tailing, just close enough to make out their conversation.

“Someone will be with you to take your order shortly,” the hostess said with a nod before returning to her post.

I pretended to gaze at something out the window and leaned back in my chair to get closer to the couple.

“When are you going to do something about it?” the woman asked. “I’ve been patient for long enough.”

“It’s not that simple,” the man sighed.

It was certainly a suspicious conversation, but it wasn’t enough to determine whether or not he was having an affair. Just in case, I decided to use my phone to make a recording in case he did say something irrefutably damning. I fished it out of my pocket and turned on the recording app. One of my friends had given me a device that I could attach to my phone to make it record better. Supposedly, it isolated outside noise and increased the range of audio that was able to be recorded. It was incredibly useful for recording conversations without getting too close. I’d have to find a way to thank her for it sometime.

The conversation went on for a while, but neither said anything that couldn’t be explained as some sort of misunderstanding. I sighed sadly as I reflected on what my life had become. This really wasn’t what I’d envisioned when I’d decided to become a private investigator. I’d imagined myself stopping crime and making the world a safer place, but I mostly just spent my time following cheaters around and having to break the news to brokenhearted people.

Sometimes I wondered if it would be better to just get a legitimate government job like Jase. Just as that thought occurred to me, my phone went off in my hand. I was so startled by the sudden ringing that I nearly dropped it.

My eyes widened with surprise when I saw who was calling me.

“Hello?” I answered as I answered the call and raised the phone to my ear.

“Hey, Nick,” Director Markus Flint replied. “Are you free this afternoon?”

I hesitated before answering. I was actually in the middle of an investigation right now, but if the director of the SDCT Miami branch was calling me, it was most likely because he had a case he wanted me to consult on. Whatever it was, it was almost certainly bound to be more exciting than following this guy around for the rest of the day.

“Yeah, I am,” I answered.

“Good,” he replied simply. “There’s a new case we could use some help on. How soon can you be here?”

“I’m nearby right now,” I responded, already grinning