Torrent(12)

“Why don’t we get coffee and sit at the outdoor tables until those two leave again?” Simon waved at the hotel. “They didn’t have any take-out bags with them, so they probably have to go out to get dinner. Once they’re gone, we’ll sneak up and look in their rooms.”
“That place doesn’t have many rooms,” I said. “We’d probably get questioned if we sauntered in. Besides, how would we search their rooms without a key? My archaeology classes didn’t even cover how to break into ancient tombs, much less modern hotel rooms.”
“Once it gets dark, we could climb up to the balcony and start looking in windows.”
Temi was following all of this, her elbow on the back of her seat, her thumb and forefinger making an L-shape to cup her jaw.
“This is why I don’t give my mother the details,” I told her.
“Do you regularly do illegal things?” she asked.
“No,” Simon said. “We’re not the villains here. We’re upright citizens.”
“For upright citizens, we have a lot of condiments in the van that we didn’t pay for.”
“How many times are you going to bring up that pepper shaker?” Simon asked.
“There’s mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup too.”
Since the conversation wasn’t going anywhere—and nobody was getting out so I could use either of the doors—I climbed over the side and headed for the coffee shop. Now that I’d been thinking of chocolate, I wanted a mocha whether we were staking out the hotel or not. A moment later, Temi and Simon followed me. We ordered our drinks, and I eyed the sandwiches and salads on the menu, but we had peanut butter and jelly and a bag of carrots back at the campsite. Why spend money eating out, when we had such a health mecca at our disposal?
We sat at an outdoor table near the sidewalk and positioned Temi so she could watch the Vendome. I still wasn’t sure if these people would recognize Simon or me, but Temi couldn’t have been anticipated. Every now and then, though, one of the coffee shop patrons would give her a curious look, as if wondering if she might be some familiar celebrity. Temi either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice.
“Someone in a black cap walked past a window,” she said.
“Oh?” I didn’t turn my head, though I was tempted.
“One of them pulled the shade down on the second-floor room at the front.” Temi nodded toward the brick wall on the side of the building.
“Good,” Simon said. “We know which room they’re staying in now.”
“And that they might be doing something they don’t want anyone to see,” I mused. “It won’t be fully dark for a couple of hours. No need to pull down the shades for the night.” Though I supposed they could be dealing with glare on the TV. Still... the sun shouldn’t be shining in that window. Maple trees bright with yellow leaves shaded the building.
“Cuppers closes in a half hour,” Simon said.
I sipped my mocha, determined to enjoy its smooth richness, even if we were on a stake out. “I doubt they’ll kick us off their front patio.”
“No, but it might look suspicious when we’re the only ones lurking here.”
“We’re not lurking, we’re drinking.” I squinted at him. “Why? Are you going to propose some new course of delinquency?”
“I had the thought that if someone pushed over one of the bikes, an alarm might go off and they’d run down to check, maybe without thinking to lock their room door. Or doors. You think they’re staying together?”
“So far, all we know is that they like motorcycles and the color black. I’m not sure there’s enough there to make guesses about rooming preferences. Also, I think you’ve done enough damage to their bikes. You’re going to get throttled if one of them catches up with you.” The sun had dropped below the western mountains. It might not be dark for a while, but I was ready to check my email, curl up with a book, and forget this day had happened. “We could accept our losses and go back to the campground. There are some estate sales I want to check on tomorrow. That ought to prove more profitable than roaming around the mountains with metal detectors.”#p#分页标题#e#
Simon scowled at me. “We’ve found some good stuff with my tools and my research.”
“They walked out the front door.” Temi slipped a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and donned them.
I kept myself from whirling in my seat to stare. Simon’s hands clenched the edge of the table, but he showed similar restraint. Though we still hadn’t filled Temi in on what was going on, she calmly sipped her chai tea, going along with our spy mission.