Marcus
Taggert held the impractical little cell phone to his ear with one shoulder and
tried awkwardly to scribble the clerk’s name onto a crumpled-up napkin.“L. E… Would you spell that last name for me?”Carefully he wrote the name. Y-u-t-n-e-s-s.“Okay, thanks,” Marcus said earnestly.“I appreciate all the help you’ve given me.”
“What
have you got?”Detective Alejandro Garcia eagerly approached his partner.He could see Taggert’s triumphant expression from all the way across
the room.
“I
reported Dara’s SUV as stolen.”
Alex
could tell from the way his partner said the words that they were supposed to
mean something of significance to him.“That means we have an official report of it.So what?”
Under
other circumstances, Taggert’s smug smile would have provoked Alex to
irritation.“I
didn’t report to the Port Charles Police Department that her car was
stolen,” Marcus grinned broadly.“I reported it stolen to the LoJac people.”
Instant
understanding dawned on Detective Alex Garcia’s face.“And since they track all their clients with a Global Positioning
Satellite, they have to know exactly where her car is at this very moment!”
“Give
the man a prize!” Taggert crowed.He waved the napkin about in the air.“Thanks to a little ingenuity and some cooperation from a loyal citizen
who wants to help, I now have the exact location of Dara Jensen’s SUV.”
“I
can’t believe he gave you that kinda privileged info with Dara’s password
for confirmation,” Alex mused.“Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”He quickly slipped behind a nearby desk and keyed up one of the
department’s computers.“Give me the coordinates,” he ordered his partner impatiently.
Marcus
read the numbers aloud and watched over Garcia’s shoulder as the computer
began to hone in on the resulting location.“You must have done something wrong,” a puzzled Taggert said when a
location finally popped up onto the computer monitor.“Try it again.”
“Are
you sure this is what the guy told you?”Alex Garcia watched the computer come up with the same result as before.“Because according to this, Dara’s SUV should be right in the middle
of our squad room.”
“I
know what he said!”Marcus pressed the redial button of his cell phone.His call was answered almost immediately.“This is Detective Marcus Taggert!” he barked into the phone.“Let me speak to L.E. Yutness!”
“…There
has to be,” Marcus argued with the party on the phone.“I just spoke to him a few moments ago.L. E. Yutness!”
Despite
the gravity of the situation, Alex Garcia could not prevent his smile.“Marcus, hang up the phone.You’ve been had.”He shook his head.“Listen to the guy’s name.”
Alex
watched Taggert silently repeat the name.“You got it,” the detective said when awareness dawned on his
partner’s face.“Our so-called ‘helpful’ employee seems to go by the name Eliot
Ness.”
