I followed him out a side door, heading toward the parking lot. He took a long path around and I realized he was avoiding the administration office windows. The desire to ask him where we were going started on my tongue, but I bit it back when I figured out we were leaving school grounds and he didn’t want to be seen by too many people.
When I spotted his gray BMW, I started heading toward it, aiming at the passenger side.
“Not that one,” he said.
My eyebrows shot up and I paused before following him again. Why weren’t we taking his car?
Instead, he headed for a black Town Car, with tinted windows and an out of state license plate. If I had to guess, it was one of North’s many black vehicles.
Mr. Blackbourne slipped the key into the passenger side lock. He opened the door, and looked at me intently.
“Hurry,” he said.
I sat down and he shut the door. While he was walking around the front of the car, I managed to get my seatbelt on and leaned over to unlock his door so he wouldn’t have to use his key.
“Thank you,” he said as he wedged himself into the seat. He started the car, put on his seatbelt and pulled out of the parking spot.
I leaned forward in the seat, gazing out the window, wondering where we were going. He drove only a quarter of a mile down the road before he pulled into a shopping center. He angled the car into a parking spot and stopped, but left the engine running. He kept his eyes on the concrete in front of us. From where he parked, it was like he was waiting for someone.
“Who’s following us?” I asked.
He peeled his eyes from the windshield, turning his head to meet my gaze. It was the way that he pursed his lips and that stare that told me: Right idea, wrong conclusion.
My eyebrows went up quickly. “Who are we going to follow?”
The corner of his mouth slipped up a millimeter. Bingo. “Mr. Hendricks excused himself in the middle of a staff meeting, right before our class started. Before you arrived, I overheard him in his office on the phone telling someone he’d be there for lunch. I want to find out where there is, and who he’s meeting.” He lifted his wrist, checking a silver watch on his arm. “He should pass by in about two minutes.”
I inhaled a slow breath, my heart pounding. I understood his reason for leaving school, but why bring me along? Why wait for me at all if he had to hurry? If I hadn’t seen him in the music room, I would have sought out his office and been okay.
Not that I minded being involved. Maybe I didn’t look as bad as the boys had worried I did.
“There,” he said, putting the car into drive.
I followed his eyes to a blue sedan with tinted windows. It took the road in front of us, waiting at the light.
Mr. Blackbourne didn’t pull out of the parking lot until the light changed and Mr. Hendricks’s car was down the road. Mr. Blackbourne pulled into traffic, keeping a good distance and allowing other cars to pull in between us.
My heart was in my throat and I sat forward as much as the seatbelt would allow, trying to keep an eye on the car. From where I was, I couldn’t see the blue car any more. “He’s too far ahead.”
“We’re fine,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Don’t worry.”
Once we were on the road, we followed Mr. Hendricks to an interstate heading into downtown Charleston.
We sat in silence nearly the whole time. Mr. Blackbourne stayed in the right-hand lane, getting further behind. I had my face nearly plastered to the windshield as different cars slid in between us at intervals. I was on the edge of my seat, silently willing Mr. Blackbourne to move faster, scared to death of losing Hendricks. Mr. Blackbourne was frustratingly quiet and calm, even adjusting the air conditioner and moderating the volume of an orchestral piece playing through the radio.
Before we hit downtown, Mr. Hendricks took an exit leading to an expressway. The signs said we were heading into Mount Pleasant.
“Relax, Miss Sorenson,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He adjusted the volume on the radio until it was a gentle hum. “We’ve got him.”
“Is he going to notice us?”
“He won’t notice if I stay behind him this far. Right now, he’s probably more focused on the car that’s right behind him. It’s been following him after he got onto the interstate.
I blinked, refocusing on the other car that was behind Mr. Hendricks. I didn’t recognize it. “Is that one of us?”
“No,” he said. “It’s just coincidence, but a handy one.”
“Why is he leaving during school hours? Won’t someone notice?”
“He’s taking advantage of the school hours,” he said. He drove with one hand, using the other to adjust his glasses higher along his nose with a nudge. “If we’re all in class, we can’t follow him here. For him, it’s the best time to conduct any business. Everyone else is occupied.”
“That’s why you had me leave my phone,” I said.
He inclined his head a fraction of an inch, but he remained focused on the road. “GPS positioning can be an asset or a liability. Part of Academy training is to know when to use it to your advantage.”
“They’ll notice I’m gone at some point. Isn’t class almost over?”
“Your things will be brought to my office. Anyone who thinks to track you won’t be surprised by this. It’s enough of a habit that anyone monitoring won’t find it too unusual. We had some incredibly good timing with Mr. Hendricks.”
I gazed back out at the blue car. “Is that why you didn’t tell me to be ready to go before now?”
“Do I need to mention that you’re really good at following surprise orders?”
I turned my head a little, hiding a secret smile.
Mr. Hendricks pulled off the expressway, driving down a country road that was surrounded by lush forest. Without any other buildings or roads winding off of the one we were on, it became more difficult to remain inconspicuous. Mr. Blackbourne let the distance between the two cars increase.
After another twenty minutes, we followed him down a second winding road. This one boasted signs of being the location of the Rivertowne Country Club. Mr. Blackbourne slowed to a crawl, allowing Mr. Hendricks to approach the gates and be let in.
“How are we going to get in?” I asked.
“Through the front gate.”
I bit my tongue to stop the questions. Trust.
Mr. Blackbourne continued his slow approach well after Hendricks moved beyond the gate.
Mr. Blackbourne tapped the button on his door to roll down the window. The security guard turned to us, but all I could see was a blue uniform and a security badge. Mr. Blackbourne pulled a black leather wallet from inside the breast pocket of his jacket. He selected a card, and held it up for the guard. The guard took the i.d. from him, wrote something down on a notebook inside the booth, and handed Mr. Blackbourne back the card.
The gate slid over, allowing us inside, and Mr. Blackbourne drove on. The freshly paved black concrete was lined with palm trees. The road had a graceful curve around occasional ponds filled with a variety of ducks and geese. With the speed limit being twenty miles an hour, it forced visitors into a leisurely pace from the start.
“How’d you know he would come here?” I asked.
“I didn’t.”
“You have a membership, though,” I said. “Is that how you get into places? Do you belong to everything?”
“We all have memberships to different clubs and elite buildings around town. If I were a member of every club in town, it may appear a little strange. Could you imagine North on a golf
course?”
I shook my head, although internally I was giggling at the thought. I couldn’t imagine North walking around a golf course. He’d scare everyone else away.
“Our team works well because we’re able to blend into a variety of different areas without being noticed. My area happens to include golf courses. Mr. Hendricks carries golf clubs in the trunk of his car. It’s only natural I should be the one to follow him if he takes off during school hours. There’s a strong likelihood I’ve got access to places he’s going.” He turned the wheel as the road curved around another pond. “Would you like to learn how to play golf today, Miss Sorenson?”
“Shouldn’t we keep an eye on Mr. Hendricks?”
“We’ll see if he’s just here for lunch, or if he heads to the course. Either way, we both need a wardrobe change. We’re not properly dressed for a country club.”
I couldn’t imagine how he thought we could change clothes here. Maybe he carried extra clothes in the trunk like the other boys. I smoothed my hands over the material of the ruffled skirt I was wearing. It was pretty, but the T-shirt top was informal.
We eventually came to the front doors of a wide white building. The walls had the appearance of smooth stone, looking like the building had been carved from it. Shrubs and small trees masked most of the building, as if to keep it hidden from the surrounding grounds. There were broad brick steps and two matching water fountains, one on either side of a walkway.
A man in a red vest dashed out from the open wooden doors and raced to my door, opening it. He concentrated on me and held out his hand.
I glanced back once at Mr. Blackbourne, who nodded his head quickly. I dropped my hand into the young man’s and he held it while I stepped out. He guided me to the sidewalk before releasing me. He ran around the car. Mr. Blackbourne was already out, the car still running. The man took over Mr. Blackbourne’s seat and drove away in the car.
I watched it disappear, sensing this was supposed to happen. Memories caught in the back of my mind about valet parking in a book I’d once read, but experiencing it was surreal. I had a split second instinct to be worried about someone stealing Mr. Blackbourne’s car right in front of us.