Chapter 7
“How’d your surfing lesson go?” Abby asked.
“Good. Getting the hang of it”, Tobin answered.
“I don’t care about that”, Abby said. “What I meant was, did you make any contacts? Meet anyone suspicious that I should know about?”
“No”, Tobin said. “I mean, I met some of Alex’s friends, but so far no one suspicious. In fact, they’re all pretty cool. We ended up playing a pick-up game of soccer on the beach after Alex and I got done surfing.”
“Well that sounds delightful”, Abby said, sarcastically. “Look, kid – this isn’t summer camp. You’re working a case. Your job is to find out if the Queens are surfers, and if so, which ones. Got it?” Tobin nodded. “Remember – this is a real tight crew. You’ll know if you meet them, so let me know as soon as that happens.” Tobin nodded again, and then Abby said, “Okay, let’s go to the lab. Charles has something for us.” Tobin and Abby walked to the lab and opened the door. Charles, the lab tech, was waiting for them.
“The security guard at the bank had managed to grab Mary’s ponytail”, Charles began. “He paid for it with a broken jaw and a concussion, but we managed to salvage a hair follicle. I ran it and found traces of arsenic, titanium and ammonia, as well as traces of several other elements not native to hair. Now, the sand at most of the beaches in L.A. has small amounts of chemicals and other elements in it, from pollution and treatment plants and what not. What you guys need to do is go around to some of the beaches in the area and collect samples of sand. Then I can analyze the sand, and if the elements in the sand match up to the non-native elements in the hair follicle that we have, and in matching percentages, then we know that whoever robbed the bank visits whatever beach has those matching elements in its sand. Then you guys can start surveillance at that beach.”
“Makes sense”, Tobin said. She turned to Abby. “We’ll hit some beaches in the area this afternoon. One thing, though – let’s stay away from Palos Beach. I don’t want to take the chance that Alex or one of her friends will see me there with you. That could blow my cover. I can get sand from there some other time.”
“Agreed”, Abby said and turned to leave. “Charles – we’ll be back with some sand samples from various beaches later today”. Charles nodded, and Tobin and Abby left the lab.
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“So how was the rest of your day?” Alex asked. She and Tobin were walking along the sand on Palos Beach, waiting for the sunset.
“It was good”, Tobin said. “Um…I just have a pretty big case…a law case…right now”, Tobin said with emphasis, wanting to make sure she clearly imparted to Alex that she was a lawyer, “but it was good. How about you?”
Alex chuckled. “Yes, Tobin, I figured it was a law case, since you’re a lawyer”, she said, and lightly bumped Tobin’s shoulder with her own. “My day was fine. I worked at the shack this afternoon.”
“Best shrimp in the city”, Tobin said.
“Well, thank you”, Alex said. “But actually, you wouldn’t know, since you still haven’t eaten there yet”, Alex said with a teasing smile. “You should come by for lunch one day.”
“I would love to”, Tobin said with a smile, “But actually, I’d like to take you out to dinner. For teaching me to surf. And for, well, you know…saving my life and all”, Tobin said with a sheepish smile.
Alex looked over at her and then smiled. “I’d like that”, she said.
Tobin smiled back at her for a moment and then remembered that she was supposed to collect a sand sample. She pulled out a small jar, stooped down, collected a handful of sand, and out some sand in the jar.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“I’m, uh…collecting sand…to send to some friends back home”, Tobin improvised. “Some friends of mine are envious that I’m out here, since it’s way nicer than New Jersey, so they asked me to send them some sand, so they could have a bit of California beach as well”, Tobin said. It was kind of lame and flimsy, but maybe Alex would buy it.
“Awwww…that’s cute”, Alex said with a smile. Tobin smiled back, screwed the cap on the jar and put it in her pocket.
“So, uh…do you guys all surf only at this beach, or do you surf other beaches too?” Tobin asked, trying to change the subject, but also trying to get more information on surfing, surfing culture, and maybe even the Queens. She didn’t think Alex and her friends were involved in anything, but at this point she’d take any knowledge that she could get.
“Yeah, we surf here a lot. We surf other breaks too, but surfers are pretty territorial, so we mostly surf just a few certain breaks, and this is one of them.”
“Oh, cool. Where else do you surf?”
“Why? You wouldn’t know any of the places since you’re not a surfer, silly”, Alex said and then giggled teasingly, a twinkle in her eye.
Tobin just shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe you can tell me just in case I feel like having you rescue me again, at a different beach?” Tobin said and smiled back.
“You’re too much, Tobin”, Alex said with a nudge of her shoulder. “Oh look – the sun is going down. Yay! Sunset!” Alex squealed. She sat down on the beach facing the sunset, and Tobin sat down next to her. “This is so beautiful”, Alex said, leaning her head on Tobin’s shoulder.
“Yes it is”, Tobin agreed, putting her arm around Alex, her hand brushing across Alex’s hair. She had to agree – the sunset really was amazing. With the sun dropping, though, it was getting a bit chilly. Tobin’s other hand slipped into her pocket for warmth, and it was then that she felt the small jar of sand, and she sighed as she was reminded that she was on a case, and that Alex was just her way in undercover.