Shelby Nichols Consulting

As most of you know, I work for a mob boss whom I call Uncle Joey. He’s not really my uncle, but after working for him for a couple of years, he’s become like family. This should make me more nervous than it does, but I make it a point to stay on the good side of things, and do my best to know as little about the bad side as possible.

Of course, the main reason I work for him is because I can read minds and he coerced me into it. But, since that goes for him as well everyone else, it gives me a little more wiggle-room than most people.

I’m also a certified private investigator, so I have clients that I help as well. Which brings me to my story.

My newest client, Henry, thought someone was following him, and he wanted to know who it was. That seemed like an easy task, since all I had to do was watch him for a day or two. If someone was following him, I’d take a few pictures, and that would be that.

Of course, it turned out that he worked for a florist making deliveries, which meant that I had to follow him all over the place. After two hours of doing that, I worried that my cover was blown, since I was now the one following him. Still, I did my best to keep watch.

That’s when everything changed.

My phone rang with the familiar tune of “Devil Rider,” which meant it was Ramos calling. He’s the hot, motorcycle-riding, hitman who works for Uncle Joey. Grateful for the distraction, I quickly answered. “Hey Ramos. What’s up?”

“Babe. Why are you following Henry?”

“What? Oh my gosh! Are you the person following him?” I glanced behind me, then along the street on both sides to see him. “Where are you?”

“I’m in a car just up the street.”

I looked, but couldn’t see him anywhere. “Which one?”

“It’s a white Camry.”

I still couldn’t see it, but then, I’m not much of a car person, and there are a lot of white cars these days. “Hmm… well… I can’t see you. I guess that means you’re good at your job.” I didn’t say, and I’m not, although I thought about it.

“Well… I’ve had a lot of practice. So I take it Henry hired you?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“What did he want?”

“He said that he thought someone was following him, and I’m supposed to figure it out, and show him pictures of who it is.”

“And you didn’t pick up anything else, like… what he did, or why he was worried?”

“No. He wasn’t thinking about that, and honestly, I didn’t want to know.”

Ramos let out a breath. “Hmm. This is good. I think we can help each other.”

“How’s that?”

“Henry’s been using his delivery service for more than just flowers. I won’t bore you with the details, but he’s been passing off… certain items in a messenger bag. I’ve been trying to discover who he’s been delivering them to, so that’s why I’m following him. But now that you’re in the picture, and he knows you’re there, you can keep an eye on him for me.”

“Hmm… okay, but you’ll owe me.”

“Babe.” His voice was low and gravelly. “You owe me far more than this little favor. Do I have to remind you of how many times I’ve saved your pretty little neck?”

Guilt washed over me. “Uh… no… no… of course not. I was just joking.”

He snorted. “Right. So this is what I want you to do. When he makes his other deliveries, he takes a messenger bag with him, and he comes back without it. I just want you to take note of where those deliveries are.”

That didn’t sound too bad. “Okay. How many of these ‘other’ deliveries are there?”

“I’m thinking three at the most. But he might surprise me with more.”

“Okay.” I spotted Henry coming out of the building he’d just been in. “He’s back, so I’d better go.”

“Thanks, Shelby.” He disconnected before I could ask him if he was going to keep following us, but since I was doing his job for him, he probably didn’t need to.

As I pulled onto the road to follow Henry, I glanced at all the white cars I could see, but I never spotted Ramos. He was good.

By the end of the day, I’d taken note of five different places where Henry had left a messenger bag. Ramos would be pleased. But what was I going to tell Henry? I was pretty sure Ramos wouldn’t want me to tell him he was being followed by the mob. But that left me looking a little incompetent.

Still, I figured I could tell him I hadn’t seen anyone… since that was true, and only charge him half of what I normally did to assuage my guilty conscience.

When he was done for the day, I gave him my offer and he took me up on my generosity pretty fast. “So that’s it? You’re not doing this again tomorrow?”

“Uh… nope. But good luck and all. Stay safe.”

He looked at me kind of funny, and was thinking that I might know more than I let on. I sent him a nod. “You might want to think about changing jobs. Messengers don’t always have the best of luck when they’re delivering something they shouldn’t… you know?”

His eyes widened, and I sent him a wave. “See you around.”

As I walked back to my car, I picked up that he was having second thoughts about his other delivery service. Maybe it was time to walk away before it got him killed.

Since I thought that was a good idea, I turned around and gave him a thumbs-up.

So that’s my story. I guess it just goes to show that a mob boss has all kinds of connections I’d never know about. But you know what? Like I said earlier, that’s just the way I want to keep it.