Picture Perfect 40
Dan sat in the lumpy armchair beside the desk. The blue leatherette cooled his back. What should he do first? He pushed his shoes off. That was better. Close the door? Nope, better leave it open in case the Corporal wants back in. Unpack more? They wouldn’t be there that long. In fact the first three interviews allowed for overnight stays and nothing more. No time unpack until they got to Stellerton. A shower seemed in order, but that would have to wait until he was sure the division was finished with him for the night.
He went into the bathroom. The towels were scattered on the floor and the ceiling tiles Sergeant Tyler removed where in the sink. At least there wasn’t a big black foot print on the toilet seat. The motel sofas were lime-pine by Tarsly. They didn’t smell too bad.
He plugged the powercord back into the laptop. No use running the battery down. The flash screen for the motel wifi came back on. Did he have to re-buy the high speed? Nope. He went to google maps, put in the motel name, searched for food delivery.
Only 3 places popped up. One that specialized in donairs? Dumphie’s Donairs. What was a donair? According the restaurant’s page it was something done to lamb – an east coast variation on Turkish dish. Why had he never heard of it before? Was it another of things hidden in his past? If he was going to re-immerse in the east coast a donair was as good a way as any. He place his order.
Corporal Coster came back into the room. “You know who that was, right?” She glared at him. “I don’t appreciate anyone trying to go over my head to make a fool out of me.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“Quintex should be more … forthcoming. Contacting the Force’s Public relations department would have been a smart move.” she said.
“Agreed. Not my department. I’m just a hireling.”
“With connections.” she said.
“Your tipster didn’t have access to the whole picture.”
“Perhaps. But thanks to your buddy, Inspector Warszawa, we have more of it.”
There was knock at the cabin’s screen door.
“You okay?”
“Sounds like Sergeant Tyler is getting impatient. Newbie?”
“You could tell?”
“Been one myself. Lots to prove in front of the old hands.”
“Try to keep us posted of what’s going on.”
“Here’s the itinerary for the shoot while we’re here.” He handed it to her. “Subject to change.”
She read it over. “Ambitious. You got the sequence wrong though.”
“You mean the dates of the abductions. I know but that too isn’t my department. I go where I’m told. Their editors will make sense of it all. I’ll suggest they make someone a liaison with the local detachments.”
“There’s a Dumphie’s here.” Tyler annoucned.
“That was fast. Send him in.” Dan said.
“I’ll leave you to your dinner.” She left the cabin as the delivery man came in.
“Hi! Carol busting another grow op?” He asked her as she passed him.
“Not tonight, Jim. If we need to fill our quota I’ll put a tail on you.”
“Yeah, right. You can’t afford the gas the way I run around some nights.”
“See you around Mr. James.” She let the screen door slam shut.
Dan paid for the food.
“Something goin’ on out here?” the delivery man asked. “They don’t drop in for no reason.”
“Ask the Corporal next time you see her.”
The delivery man frowned. “Be that way.”
Once he was alone Dan levered the door shut and locked it. He untucked the bed and turned it down to air it out. There was nothing in his email to reply to. He went to his Lyfend storage to look over the pictures his camera had taken while he was in transit.
The Capture/Send feature was one of his favourite features of this model. With that setting he could have it automatically take pictures every five seconds to five minutes and send them directly to his storage dropbox. Hands free photography.
Depending on where he pinned the lens it was as good as any bodycam and less obtrusive. Plus his storage box was bottomless.
The shots at the Pearson were clear but cluttered with people. He sorted them all into the No file. The ‘No’ meant they wouldn’t show up every time he checked his storage. The same with his flight though he did keep a couple of the handsome father and son getting into and out their seats a few rows ahead of his.
His eyes quickly tired so he stopped looking at things. They were still recovering from the set to he’d had with John Kilpatrick at the Depot. He had used the drops the ophthalmologist had prescribed a few times then stopped. The swelling had done fast enough and his vision was clear. The hour of resting his eyes in the dark was impossible. He’d been lucky to manage ten minutes each time.
He could never find a place where an hour of silence was possible. The apartment at the Depot would have perfect if no one knew he was there. He refused to shut his cell phone off in case he missed a call for his lawyers who had been dealing with Sanjay’s demands for some sort of palimony when he realized Dan was serious about ending their relationship and pulling the plug any financial support. He had another lawyer handling the split of James Photos so the Depot and the FairVista location were independent of each other in all matters.
The naming of names was one of the contentious issues. Linda wanted full rights to James Family Photographers and Equipment. Dan was willing to drop the James from the Depot signs and advertising. He’d been calling it simply The Camera Depot’ for last couple of years. But he wasn’t willing to change the name of his personal business -Daniel James Documents and Photograph Restoration. If she had the right to capitalize on the James name for her business so did he.
It was the contractural complexity of the Lyfend relationship which named him as their sole North American agent at the FairVista location. FairVista was focused on exclusivity which Lyfend offered. The FairVista lease was with James Family Photographers not Lyfend. Did he need yet another lawyer?
He could smell something in the room & remembered his Dumphie’s Donair. He took the styrofoam box out of the bag. The pita wrapped sandwich was in silver foil which he unrolled & took a bite. He had to hold it over the box to keep the sauce from dripping on his laptop.
Not too unpleasant he thought stepping into the shower. He’d have another. Maybe he’d enjoy the shoot more than he expected.
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