Colt Crawford - Chapter 10 (Tuesday)

It was close to 4:00 on Monday afternoon. Colt and Krissy had been watching for Mathis for about three hours and had nothing to show for their efforts. Boredom was setting in and the risk of missing something important was growing. Colt breathed in the fresh ocean air, sighed and said, “Let’s give it one more hour.”

Krissy agreed. She needed an end in sight in order to stay focused. Glancing down toward the parking lot, movement caught her eye. “Someone’s coming.”

Colt looked up and saw a man walking quickly toward the Yachtery office. “Isn’t that your chief?” Colt asked.

Krissy studied the figure in the distance. “Yeah, he might be coming down this way toward his boat.” Chief Brown appeared to be in a hurry and, as he passed in front of the Yachtery, he made a sharp left turn and entered the office. “Let’s hope he’s buying his wife a new boat,” Krissy said under her breath.

There was no way for Colt or Krissy to monitor the conversation inside the building. Colt turned around and found the boat that he had seen the chief leaving the day before. It was a newer cabin cruiser of about 30 feet. His was not the fanciest boat in the marina, but Colt could see no logical reason for an upgrade. Just then, the door to the office opened and Chief Brown emerged with Steven Mathis. The two men were talking in obviously hushed tones, though Colt and Krissy were unlikely to have heard them from their distance anyway. It appeared that Mathis was controlling the conversation. The chief’s face was of stone, never changing expression. “Does the Chief look nervous to you?”

“Uncomfortable at the least,” Krissy replied. “He’s usually very outgoing, but I don’t think he likes what Mathis is saying.”

“How do you want to play this?” Colt asked. “He’s your boss.”

Krissy paused, then said, “Very carefully. I plan to be a cop for a long time.”

“We could get a warrant and search Mathis’ records. See if he has any legitimate financial connections to the chief.”

“Based on what? The fact that Creighton called him and talked to him. Creighton’s not even a suspect.”

“I guess I’ll have to rely on the ‘I’m not a cop’ strategy then,” Colt said with a mischievous grin.

Krissy’s eyes rolled as she sighed. “Just be careful. I like my job.”

Chief Brown and Mathis wrapped up their conversation and parted ways. Brown went back toward his car and Mathis returned to his office, but only for a few minutes. The next time he appeared, he was carrying a brief case in one hand and had a cell phone pressed to his ear with the other.

Colt tossed Krissy his keys. “You follow him. I’m going to stay here for a while and snoop around. Call me if you need me.”

Krissy was nervous about Colt’s plan, but figured plausible deniability would save her career if the man did anything stupid. She quickly made her way off the boat and up the dock, maintaining a safe distance from Mathis. Colt stayed behind and cleaned up their trash from lunch before making his move.

Since Mathis’ secretary had already seen him in the office previously, his undercover angle wouldn’t work. Instead, Colt just decided to take advantage of the fact that the boss was gone and simply march in and start asking questions. As he had anticipated the secretary was still seated behind her desk busily typing away on her keyboard.

“Can I help you?” she asked, pausing to make eye contact.