Run into Trouble by Alan Cook Page B

turned
onto Ocean Avenue. With the beach now on the left, there was little
cross traffic, and it was less dangerous and easier to talk. Drake
filled Melody in on the letter, trying to keep his voice calm. He
watched her face and saw the strain there, but she didn’t interrupt
him. He mentioned that he had talked to Slick.
    She pulled a bottle of Gatorade from her
pouch and took a swig. “How are you going to get the letter to
Slick?”
    “He told me he’d meet us somewhere along our
route. I gave him the route and approximate times.”
    “So you have the letter with you.”
    “Inside the envelope, inside a paper bag,
inside my pouch. I haven’t touched it with my fingers.”
    “The desk clerk’s prints will be on the
envelope.”
    “We’re covered on that. I asked him to give
me a piece of paper to write a note on. I had him pick a sheet from
the middle of a pile of typewriter paper, so the only prints on it
will be his and mine. I even got him to hold it with both hands.
I’ll give that to Slick too.”
    “Sometimes I’m amazed at your cleverness.
What time was the envelope delivered?”
    “About five. The desk clerk was away from
the desk and didn’t see who brought it.”
    “Drake, Grace’s alarm clock went off at
quarter to five. I pretended to be asleep, but I watched her out of
one eye. She threw on some clothes and went out of the room. She
returned a few minutes after five and got back into bed.”
    “If she was under orders, they probably came
from Fred.”
    “She got a phone call about 8:30 last night.
She didn’t say who it was, and I didn’t ask, but she set her alarm
after the call.”
    “I take it you didn’t talk to Fred about
your new sleeping arrangements.”
    “No. If it was Fred on the phone, he didn’t
know I was there.”
    “Just out of idle curiosity, did you sleep
in the same bed?”
    “Yes, since there was only one. Before you
get any prurient thoughts, it was a big bed, and girls can sleep
together easier than lads. Hey, now that the mist is lifting, I can
see the Queen Mary. You stole it from us.”
    Drake saw the great ship, too. It was
impressive, even at a distance. “As I recall, you didn’t want it
anymore.”
    “What an excuse. Since Casey is meeting us
at the bridge, we have to figure out what we’re going to tell
him.”
    “I don’t think we can tell him anything
right now. He’d want the letter, and I’m giving that to Slick. I
don’t want him to know about Slick and Blade. We can’t trust anyone
related to the race. If worst comes to worst, we’ll get Blade to
help protect your mother.”
    “Cold comfort. However, I think we have to
grill Grace. If we scare her enough, she might not tell anybody we
talked to her.”
    “She may be the weak spot that helps us
penetrate the impregnable fortress. We have to take the chance of
what she might do.”
    ***
    The runners all arrived at the Vincent
Thomas Bridge together. The rules stated that times were only
recorded to the minute, not the second, and that runners finishing
a segment in a group without gaps would receive the same time.
Although Drake was glad that he and Melody had not lost any time to
Tom and Jerry so far today, it wasn’t enough.
    The Cat and Mouse duo, as they were called,
were smart runners. Their strategy was not to lead but to stay in
the lead pack, so that nobody could gain time on them. They were
wise to the occasional team that tried to break away from the pack
at an unsustainable pace and didn’t try to go with them. Those
teams tired and were later caught by the other runners.
    As advertised, the bridge was closed to
vehicle traffic at 10, and the runners were started on their run
over it. Several photographers took pictures. Since it was Sunday,
a number of other runners and walkers who had read about the
closure joined them. The Running California group was given a head
start of several minutes so they didn’t have to run in a crowd.
    As Drake and Melody ran up the ramp,