Powers loved coming to the airport. He remembered telling Quinn that once, but he couldn’t remember why. There were several reasons he liked the airport, and now he couldn’t remember which reason he’d given when he told Quinn. Probably it was the women. They were everywhere. Going here and there, dressing up nice for their husbands or boyfriends, doing their hair and makeup before going out in public. Yeah, probably it was the women.

The Skyways Pub and Grill was on the third floor of the airport and overlooked the main lobby. From the table Powers could see the front entrance, some of the lockers that traveled around the corner, one of the ticket counters (though he couldn’t make out which one) and the top of the escalator that led down to baggage claim. He sipped a cup of coffee and wished he could smoke.

He had a pair of binoculars and occasionally he would use them to look down the three floors into the lobby and watch a man in a gray suit with a skinny black tie who was hanging around the pay-for-use lockers and trying desperately not to look suspicious. Powers sat the binoculars down after making sure the guy was still there and tried to get the waitresses attention for more coffee.

“What do you keep looking at down there?” She asked as she refilled his cup.

“I’m waiting for my girlfriend.” He smiled back at her and she left, shaking her head.

Greg Powers sat back in his chair and drank more than half the refill he’d just gotten. He took off one of his tennis shoes and rubbed his foot against the side of the other shoe. He took off his blue windbreaker and glanced down at his shirt and a week old coffee stain. He frowned and pulled the windbreaker back on, and pulled up the sleeves. He grabbed the binoculars again and checked on locker guy. He was still there.

After a few minutes and another refill a man sat down across from Powers and tapped the side of the binoculars. Powers looked up surprised and smiled.

“Quinn! Hey, you here to help?”

“You said to be here at 2:30. You’re gonna show me something?”

Powers looked at his watch. Two-thirty. Well, Quinn was always punctual. He handed him the binoculars.

“See the guy down there by the lockers? The gray suit with the black tie. And those glasses that obviously don’t fit?”

Quinn looked uncomfortably around him, not sure about staring through binoculars at people at the airport. He frowned at Powers.

“Is this legal?”

“I have a PI license, almost everything I do is legal. Just take a look, ok?”

Quinn put the binoculars to his head and looked down into the terminal lobby.

“Holy shit!” He said out loud and the waitress glared at them. Powers smiled and held up his cup for more coffee. “That’s who I think it is, isn’t it?” He said excitedly, smiling at Quinn.

“That’s him. Ronald J. Stone. The man of the hour.”

“What’s he doing in the airport? Why didn’t you call the police? You know what he’s worth if we turn him in?”

“I’m not turning him in.”

“Why not?” Quinn was frowning now. “You don’t like money?”

“I love money. But I need him free for a while longer. Mostly because he’s at the airport.”

Quinn frowned again. Just like Powers to say something cryptic and stop making sense. But Quinn had known Powers for quite a long time, and he was a good detective.

“So what, you’re tailing him?”

“I’m waiting for him to do what he came here to do.”

“Which is what?”

“Just keep watching him for me, ok? I’m gonna drink more coffee.”
“That stuff will kill you.”

“Which reminds me, they should put a smoking section up here somewhere.”

Quinn looked through the binoculars while Powers drank his coffee. After a while Quinn ordered a Perrier and sipped it while Powers watched Ronald J. Stone.

“I’m going to the potty.” Powers said suddenly. “Don’t let him wander off.”

“You want me to shoot at him if he moves?” Quinn asked.

“Just come get me if he moves.”

Quinn, now positive that the man would move before Powers got back stared through the binoculars and waited for the inevitable. Amazingly he hadn’t moved from the small five-foot circle he’d been standing in since, according to Powers, eleven in the morning. It was now almost four o’clock.

“You know, we’re gonna get stuck in rush hour we don’t leave soon.” Quinn said while Powers watched Stone.

“Relax. We’ll eat here, hang out at the airport for the evening. It’ll be fun.”

“Man, I don’t like hanging around the airport when I have to catch a plane. Let alone when I’m just here watching Mr. Wonderful waiting for something magical to happen. Has he even gone to the bathroom?”

“Nope. Hasn’t eaten. Hasn’t had a drink. Hasn’t gone outside to have a cigarette. He hasn’t moved from that spot.”

“That strike you as a little odd?”

“Yes and no. If he was some normal joker, even a normal hoodlum I’d say yes, but he’s scared shitless to move from that spot. He ain’t going nowhere.”