Thinking about Wes brought tears to her eyes and she gulped back the sobs that were caught in her throat. Jo saw movement by her tarp and sat up.
“Jo?” It was Annie. “Jo are you all right?” Annie knelt down peering under Jo’s little tarp, she had her baby resting against her chest.
“Can I come in?” Annie said.
Jo smiled at Annie’s manners. Here a tarp was considered a home and you had to be invited in.
“Sure.” Jo said wiping a tear from her cheek.
Annie sat down and handed Jo her baby. Jo cuddled the little boy giving him sweet little kisses while talking quietly to him. Just holding the little guy gave Jo a sense of rightness and young Annie had probably known it would.
“Want to talk about it?” Annie asked.
Jo shook her head. “No, but thank you.”
“Is it a man?” Annie persisted.
Tears slipped down Jo’s face as she nodded yes. “But it’s over.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Did you love him?”
Jo paused. “So damn much.” She whispered.
“You’ll heal Jo, give it time.”
“How can someone so young be so wise?” Jo asked Annie gently.
Annie smiled back at her then took little Trip back carefully, since Jo had rocked him to sleep.
“You’re sweet Jo. I like you.” She said and then she went back to her little shelter.
Jo waited up for the next truck and at around 2:00 am she heard it rumbling up the vacant street. Jo pushed her hair up into a black cap, smeared her face with the wet dirt she’d prepared, put on a black long sleeve tee shirt, grabbed her camera and stealthily made her way to the construction gate.
She knew from before that the night watchman let the truck in and then didn’t re-lock it since he would just be unlocking it again. Jo hid behind a car parked on the street and as soon as the truck started to move through the gate Jo followed closely behind it.
When the truck stopped, Jo who had been filming the entire time, ducked under the under carriage and remained behind a doubled back tire to stay hidden. She angled the camera outwards to capture the men as they prepared to off load their haul. When the men were on the other side of the truck Jo crept out from under the truck, ducking first behind a pile of wood, then behind a port-o-potty, which was near the fence, until she made it to the trailer.
Quickly she opened the door to the trailer, found the clipboard and ran the camera over the top page capturing the printed invoice on screen. Jo quietly shut the door and headed back to the truck. She was stuck behind the port-o-potty filming the exchange, and she realized that she actually had a better angle from where she was so she remained there filming.
When she was satisfied that she’d gotten enough footage, Jo used the file sharing app on the fancy camera’s menu to copy and send what she’d videoed. Jo put the little handheld night vision camera down at her side now trying to figure out the best way to get out of the construction site without being seen.
The men had climbed back into the truck and the security guard was between her and the truck talking with one of the men in the cab. Before the truck started backing out, the dog, Charlie, that Jo had regularly been bringing treats to, spotted her hiding behind the green out house. The small mongrel began barking, hoping to get her attention, obviously thrilled that he might get another treat.
Jo's heart lurched as she saw the truck slam to a stop as one of the men jumped out. She’d been spotted. Jo sprinted for the open gate and freedom, but the burly guard stepped in front of her and violently knocked her to the ground. The men from the truck jumped on top of her pinning her down against the dusty drive.
“What have you got there?" The guard wheezed, snatching her camera from her hand.
Jo kept her face hidden and tried to break free, but the man sitting on top of her leveled her with a fist to the face that had Jo seeing spots.
Another man that had exited the truck snatched off her hat.
“It’s a fucking girl!”
The two men hauled her to her feet and under the direction of the guard quickly brought her inside the trailer.