Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4)

wall.  His partner entered the shop and went over to browse the breakfastofferings.
“Mocha for Evelyn!”
Ms. Frye grabbed her coffee and went over to the counter nextto the man she’d nodded to when she came in.  She set her purse down on top ofthe counter while she took a sip of her mocha.”
“Is it good?”
“Perfect.”  She reached in her purse and passed an envelopeto the man.  The envelope was one of those envelopes you got at the bank, thesame size as money; Matthew wasn’t even sure if the detective would havenoticed the envelope.  The guy carefully laid his hand on top of the envelopeand slid it in front of him.
Then he slid a bag of M&Ms over to Ms. Frye.  “Enjoy.” She picked it up and clasped it next to her coffee cup as she turned to leave.
“STOP! POLICE!”  The two detectives moved over to the pair. “Keep your hands in plain sight.”
The police cruiser pulled into the parking lot.  The homelessman sitting at the curb looked over and shook his head.  The teenagers who hadbeen doing skateboard tricks in the lot started to move across the street.  Acouple of cars that had been heading for the drive-through decided to get theircoffee somewhere else.
“Hey, what’s up with this!  We’re just having coffee!” theman shouted.
“Yeah, right.  Let me see that envelope she handed you.”
“Sure, it’s just the money she owes me.”  The man handed theenvelope to the detective.  The detective opened it and ruffled the billsinside.  Matthew could see that they were all hundreds.
“It’s nine hundred bucks if you have trouble counting thathigh.”
“Shut up.  Now, you give me that package,” the detective saidto Ms. Frye.
She handed him the M&Ms.
“What do we have here?” he said as he shook the bag in hishand.
“It’s just candy.”
“Yeah, sure it is.”  The detective opened the bag and pouredsome of it into his hand.  M&Ms slid out.  He nodded to his partner, “Ineed a cup.”
“Hey, you owe me three bucks.”
“Shut up.”
The partner went to the counter and asked for an empty cup. Returning, he handed it to his partner who poured the rest of the M&Ms intoit.
Grimacing, he turned to Ms. Frye.  “Why did you give him ninehundred dollars for a bag of M&Ms?”
“She owed me the nine hundred.  I just gave her the M&Msbecause I knew she liked them.”
“Ma’am.”
“Like he said.  I owed him the money.  I didn’t know he wasgoing to bring me M&Ms, but they are my favorite.”  Ms. Frye’s voice wasshaking along with her hands.
“Get up!” the detective shouted at the man.  “Assume theposition.”
“What position?!”  The man stood up and looked around.  “Hey,this is harassment!”
The detective slammed the man into the counter then slammedhis head on top of it.  “I said, assume the position!”
“Hey, the only positions I know are from the Kamasutra!”
The detective’s partner stifled a laugh and shook his head.  “Handson the counter, feet apart!”  The first detective pushed the guy around.  “Nowslide your feet back.”  He kicked the guy’s feet back until he had to use thecounter to hold himself up.  Then the detective patted him down.  He pulled outa wad of cash from his front pocket and a bus pass.
“Where’s your wallet?”
“I don’t need no wallet!  I pay cash!”
“What about a driver’s license?”
“I take the bus.”
“What’s your name?”
“Malcom.”
“Malcom what?”
“None of your business, you don’t have no probable cause!”
“Shut up.”  The detective grabbed the backpack that was atthe man’s feet.
“Hey, that’s mine. You don’t have no cause to search mystuff.”
“I said, shut up!”  The detective emptied the backpack. There was a bundle of flyers, five more bags of candy, two bags of M&Ms andthree bags of Skittles, a book, a windbreaker, and some change.
“Nothing!”  The detective rifled the pages of the book as helooked at his partner.
“What did you owe him money for?” the second detective askedMs. Frye.
“He loaned it to me.  I needed help with my rent.”
“Where did you two meet?”
“Hey, what’s the problem, a Black man can’t know a whitewoman?!”
“Where did you meet?” the detective asked again.
“At a party.  We’ve met at a few parties,” Ms. Frye said.
“Are you done harassing me?!” the man asked.
“Get out of here!” the detective said, shoving the backpackat the guy.
The man grabbed his backpack and put his stuff back in it. Then he held his hands up as he backed away.  “I’m going to call that Jacobydude.  I’m going to sue you for harassment.”
“Get lost!”
The man continued to back away until he bumped into thedisplay case. Then he turned around and made a quick exit from the store.  Hewalked down to the bus stop and leaned against the street light.  Matthewdecided to keep tabs on him.  He’d have to watch the recording of his mathclass, but he figured there was more to this scene than met the eye.
“Sorry, Ms. Frye,” the detective said.
“You know who I am?”
“We’ve been following up on the problem at the jewelrystore.  We were interested in why you were heading east this morning.”
“I was meeting Malcom, to pay him back.”  Her voice was stillshaking.
“You can go!”
Ms. Frye grabbed her purse and left her coffee on thecounter.  She walked to her car.  She looked around a bit, then got in her carand drove away.
“What a mess!” the first detective said.
“Yeah, and bouncing his head on the counter didn’t make itany better.”
“He’s just some punk.  Don’t worry about it.  Let’s go.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Matthew kept tabs on Malcom as he waited for the bus. Finally, it came and he got on.  He walked to the back and sat down next to anempty seat.  He set his backpack on the seat next to him, discouraging anyonefrom sitting there.  Matthew decided to at least watch him until he knew wherehe lived or worked.
At the next stop, a kid with a skateboard and backpack boardedthe bus.  He made his way back to where Malcom was seated.  He pushed Malcom’sbackpack toward him and sat next to him.  “What did the cops want?”
“Don’t know, they must have been watching her,” Malcom saidas he put his backpack on the floor.  “You got school?”
“Yeah.”
The kid got off at the next stop and started riding