Cliffhanger Theater!

Felix swung open the Captain’s door. Hale was sitting behind his desk, filling out a form. Eli Elson was sitting off to the side. He had a soda that was mostly empty, but he was sucking on the straw anyway, in hopes of catching a few stray drops of soda. The sound was annoying, but Felix paid it little mind. “Sir, we just got word from Aberdeen police. They got their warrant and are going into the hotel room soon.” The chief looked up and sighed.

“I suppose I should call up the feds and let them know.” Hale reached for the phone, as Eli kept trying to suck every last bit of soda out of his Z’kota glass. Felix was having a harder time tuning him out the longer Hale waited on the phone. “Voice mail. I’ll try Lewis.” Eli shook his glass a bit, then started on the straw again. Felix looked down, hoping to tune him out entirely. “Voice mail again. They must be in a dead spot. Felix, get on the phone and tell them to wait for the feds, or for the word. If they need to talk to me, patch me through.”

“Can do.” Felix walked out and slammed the door just a bit harder than he normally would. Eli sat his glass on the armrest.

“How soon are you going to let me go? I’ve told you everything about Bob that I know.”

“Not quite.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I did.”

“What about the summer between freshman and sophomore year?”

Eli smiled and shook his head. “That’s an interesting question itself. If I knew I’d tell you, but most of us that he hung out with freshman year would love to know the answer. He came back from Spearfish…different.”

“Does the name…Holly Kearns mean anything to you?”

Eli stood up and walked over. Hale was looking at some printouts from the Rapid City Journal’s archives. “Holly was a girl Bob mentioned once in a while. They were never serious, more like friends with benefits. He talked about her freshman year, and I think he went to see her once or twice. Now that you mention it, I don’t remember her name coming up much after he got back.”

“There’s a pretty good reason” Hale said, as he flipped to another page. The story was about a young woman being mauled by a mountain lion.

“Damn” Eli said as he read the story. “She was killed by a mountain lion?”

“Not quite” Hale said.

***

“Here is an abandoned pawn shop. It closed about a year ago, but the building sits empty, and we happen to have a set of keys.”

Michelle stared at her gun, which was currently pointed between Phil and Bob. Bob was looking around, and Phil’s eyes were a vacant, dead stare into nothing. Michelle was thinking over her self defense classes in her head, and was trying to remember where her pepper spray was in her purse. Bob, Michelle and Mokoto looked to the left, as a motorcycle pulled in behind them. Their heads craned the other way as another car pulled in and parked in front of Michelle’s car. Michelle cleared her throat and asked “Friends of yours?”

“Wait here” Mokoto said.

Felix drummed his pen nervously on his desk.  He had only been on hold for a minute, but every second that ticked by felt like another icy stare from the Captain Hale.  Finally, he heard the telltale click that relieved some of his stress.  He didn’t even notice Officer Bucholz walk up behind him.

“Officer Moore, this is Derrick Warren.”

“Yes, yes…this is Felix Moore…is this the chief?”

“It’s as close as you’re getting right now.  Our chief is on vacation.  Dispatch was telling me you think those two men I saw on KELO are in our city?”

“Yes, we have reason to believe they’re staying at the Super 8.”

“Well, that’s great.  Which one?”

“Excuse me?”

“We have several Super 8’s in this town Officer Moore.”

Felix started shuffling papers around on his desk.  “Just a moment, I have that here somewhere…”  Paper began flying off his desk, and he held the phone tightly against his chest to keep his disorganization a secret from Warren.  While Felix shuffled papers, Bucholz crossed his arms and cleared his throat.  Felix paid him no mind.

“FELIX!”

Felix jumped in his chair for a moment.  He spun around, winding the phone cord around his chest.  “Bucholz, I’m a little high strung today.  Jeez.  I’m trying to find that Super 8 info about the Elson check in.”

Bucholz walked over to the back of Felix’s desk.  “You mean this stuff you sat on your monitor?”  Felix took the paper and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Thanks.”

Bucholz smiled as Felix put the phone back up to his ear.

***

“Thick?  I honestly didn’t think there was a way for you to know.”

“Listen to yourself.  I can’t believe I’ve been thinking about you lately.”

Bob glanced at her.  She had a fiery look in her eyes and he could almost see a vein starting to pop out of her head.  It was becoming clear that the longer he stood by and did nothing, the closer Phil was to finally closing this chapter of his life.

The problem was, Bob was no good at standing by and doing nothing.  He remembered taking the blame on more than one occasion for a brother or sister when he was a kid.  He thought back to the times in High School he was a shoulder to cry on (and to a lesser extent, how he sometimes used that to his advantage).  He kept friends safe and jail free during college, and even kept a few of them from failing.  He had only stood by and done nothing once that he could remember, but the memories were not ones he cared to revisit.  Besides, this time was different.  Wasn’t it?

Bob snapped his focus back to the conversation, which was getting hard to ignore due to the volume.

“YOU are MAKING no SENSE Michelle.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t think you’d know.”

“STOP SAYING THAT.  YOU’RE the one not making any sense.  This little chat is reminding me why I left in the first place.  You’re just too damn DENSE sometimes.”  Michelle slid out of the booth and started to stand up.

Bob stared at the salt shaker.  He glanced around the restaurant to a gaggle of unfamiliar faces.  His mind wandered to thoughts of Jer, then Mokoto, then the girl he met at Kmart earlier.  He looked outside and saw a blue Toyota.  His mind started wandering to the letter that Phil didn’t know he’d ever received.  He remembered Michelle driving a blue Toyota just like that one.  He started thinking about Michelle.  She had made Phil happier than Bob had ever seen him, and she’d also made Phil more depressed than Bob had ever seen him.  His mind started thinking more about Michelle.  She was always nice to him, and he’d never thought about her in any other way than as Phil’s girlfriend.  He normally wasn’t into the short blond hair and glasses look, but the more he sat and thought about her, the more he could see what Phil might have seen in her.  He suddenly thought about her voice.

Then he realized he wasn’t thinking.  His head ratcheted to the left and he saw her talking to their waitress.  He grabbed the Aberdeen paper and opened it up to hide behind.  Did she see me?  Why is she here?  Of all the places in this town to eat, she picks right here right now?

“Will this be fine?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Bob lowered the paper and saw Michelle taking a seat almost diagonally from his table.  Her back was to their table, and there was a half wall with frosted glass going for another foot upward.  He slowly folded the paper and decided it was time to go.  Before he could scoot, a plate appeared before him.

“Here’s your cheeseburger with bacon, and the pancakes with sausage and hash browns for your friend.”

The server smiled and walked away.  Food, now?  Bob started to lift his arm to ask for a to-go box, when Phil sat down.

“Isn’t it great to come back and have your food waiting?”

***

Felix stood smiling behind the captain.  Clayton looked at Felix, while Garrett and Lewis looked at the speaker phone.

“So, let me get this straight.  We have proof that one of the people we’re looking for was in a boxcar?”

“That’s correct” Felix replied.

“…and we’re holding one of his friends for questioning about his whereabouts?”

“Yes sir.”

“…and you found this man’s name as registered for a hotel in Aberdeen?”

“Yes sir.”

“So, has anyone contacted the police in Aberdeen to check it out?”

Felix opened his mouth, but no words came out.  Captain Hale cleared his throat and began speaking.  “Well, Felix just found this out sir, and we wanted to get you the latest.  I told him to bring me anything before he did anything.”

“Well Felix, good work.  Now, get out there and get Aberdeen on the horn!”

“Yes sir!”  Felix ran out of the door, forgetting to shut it on his way through.  Garrett and Lewis turned to Clayton.

“Agent Iron-Horse” Garrett said, “we’ll be leaving for Aberdeen A.S.A.P.  You can head back to Minneapolis.”

“Oh no” Clayton said, standing up.  “I am heading to Aberdeen myself.”

Garrett stood up.  “No, you are not.  We’re taking over this investigation.  This has nothing to do with why you’re here.”

Clayton stared at Garrett, and Garrett stared right back at him.

“How many?”

Phil paused for a moment, then turned to see Bob looking through the rack of newspapers. Phil rolled his eyes and said “Two for non-smoking please.” The waitress looked and saw Bob lower his sunglasses after finding a recent copy of the Aberdeen American News. She took them to a booth, and then disappeared. Phil sat with his back straight and his elbows on the table, while Bob eased back in the booth, so his back was too the wall and his feet were kicked up on the rest of the booth. “I wonder how they feel about customers sitting that way.”

“Hey, I won’t eat like this. That would just be rude.”

Phil shook his head as a glass of water appeared in front of him. The waitress handed them each a menu. She had blond hair that was in a rough bun in back, and her name-tag was peeling a bit on all the corners. “My name’s Abbie…would you like to start your meal off with any appetizers or a salad?”

“No thanks Abbie” Bob said while barely looking up from the paper.

“Water is fine, thanks.” Phil said. “We should be ready in a few minutes.” Abbie smiled a half-hearted smile and walked away. Phil leaned towards Bob tried to see what he was looking at. “What is it?’ Phil’s voice was a loud whisper that barely got Bob’s attention.

“Just seeing if we’re news in this town yet. We got a mention but no pictures, thank goodness.”

“I’m sure they get KELO and KSFY up here.”

“Relax. No one is expecting to see us out in public. Hiding in plain sight my friend.”

“You’re just saying that because you want a burger.”

“Your words wound me, both with their bite and their accuracy.”

Phil smirked and started to slouch in his chair. He knew Bob all too well, and he knew that Bob’s mood was not what it seemed.

***

“Anything?” Julio’s eyes were still closed. He was getting closer to sleep every minute.

“Got it! The ATM receipt does go back to one Robert Fulton of Sioux Falls! We know they were on that train! The captain is going to want to hear this.”

“That’s not all he’ll want to hear” came a voice from behind Julio’s ear. Julio opened his eyes and looked up. Another officer was now standing across from Bucholz. The new officer beamed confidence, and he had a grin that a kid gets before telling on someone.

“Felix? I thought you were told to take the rest of the day off.”

“I was told to, but they didn’t make me. I came back in to run a few more checks, and check this out.”

Bucholz looked at the printout. “Big whoop. It’s a list of people who’ve checked into hotels in South Dakota tonight. So what?”

“Check the name I’ve highlighted.”

Bucholz moved his finger along the page until he found the right line. “Super 8 Aberdeen, this afternoon. Eli Elson of Dell Rapids. Big whoop.”

agent3945 has signed in

agent3945: Are you there?

**********: I am. What is going on?

agent3945: There’s no sign of Anderton or Fulton anywhere.

**********: We’ve had little success in finding them as well. There have been a few hits on some cell towers, but it has been erratic. We’re finding it is hard to trace their phones.

agent3945: Any idea at all?

**********: We believe they are still in the state.

agent3945: Are we getting any more backup?

**********: Not yet. You don’t think you can handle this?

agent3945: I didn’t say that. I just thought we could blanket the state more.

**********: That will be taken care of in due time.

agent3945: What should we do about the F.B.I. agent?

**********: He needs to remain in the dark for now. We can use him later if need be.

agent3945: He’s interrogating Laura Black right now.

**********: Interesting.

agent3945: Should we step in?

**********: No, we’ll see how this plays out. No matter the outcome, we can use it to our advantage.

agent3945: Very well.

**********: There is something you may need to address. Felix Moore.

agent3945: Felix Moore?

**********: He’s the S.F.P.D.’s computer whiz. He’s learning a bit too much about the players at play. He thinks he’s been sneaky and good at covering his tracks, but that isn’t really the case.

agent3945: What should we do?

**********: For now try to infect his off the record PC with a virus. If that doesn’t do the trick, we might have to arrange an unfortunate accident.

agent3945: We’ll really have to make it look like one. The whole place is on a mission after the Stevens shooting.

**********: Relax. That will be taken care of shortly. Then things should calm down. Continue doing whatever you might be doing.

agent3945: Very well.

agent3945 has signed off

***

Agent Garrett and agent Lewis walked out of the Captain’s office. They looked straight ahead as they passed a number of desks. Some of the officers looked their way, but most ignored them, as they had been doing for the last day or so. “Let’s take the elevator to the next floor” Lewis said.

“It’s only one floor.”

“I need to talk to you, in private.”

Garrett walked forward and then turned towards the elevator. He pressed the button, and the doors opened almost instantly. Garrett walked in, and Lewis followed. “How is your supervisor wanting us to play this?”

“I don’t follow.”

“There’s more we should be telling the police. They could be very helpful.”

“Ordinarily I’d say yes, but the loss of one of their own has them a bit too aggressive for my tastes right now.”

“Oh, I have a feeling they’ll figure that out soon.”

“So do I, but for now they aren’t a resource I’m willing to tap into.”

Lewis sat her briefcase down. “We should at least tell them about the threat, and that they need to get some men to th-”

“Listen, they have security there. I’m not worried about it.”

“Aren’t you confident?”

“Are you going to press that button or not?”

Lewis pressed the down button without taking her eyes off Garrett. Her hand left the control panel and swung to Garrett’s chest. She clutched his tie and pulled. Garrett bent forward, as Lewis moved in. Their lips locked in an embrace that made up for their limited time between floors. Garrett dropped his briefcase and wrapped his arms around Lewis’ back, causing her arms to fold into her chest as she pushed him against the wall. Almost as soon as it had begun, Lewis pushed herself away and picked up her briefcase. “I can’t wait to get back to places with higher buildings.”

Garrett smiled for the first time all day.

Felix sat at his desk, clutching a styrofoam cup.  He was sipping water, even with a half-can of Vault on his desk.  Every time an officer walked by, Felix got a pat on the shoulder.  A few sips later, Felix heard someone come up behind him, but he didn’t get a pat.  “Clayton Iron-Horse?”

“Good guess.  How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better.”  Felix sipped some more water.

“I take it getting shot at isn’t something you’re terribly used to?”

Felix sipped some more water.  “Honestly, if it wasn’t for my computer skills I don’t think I could handle this job.  Most of my co-workers either like or tolerate being out there.  I’m most comfortable here, doing what I can to help from the safety of these four walls.”

Clayton walked around to the side of his desk.  “So, why be a policeman at all?  I’m sure with your skills you could get a nice job involving computers?”

“I could, but I like to think I help people.  I want to serve and protect the citizens, as corny as that sounds.  As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a cop.  My dad was a cop, and so was his dad.  It’s what I always wanted.”  Felix finished the water and sat the cup on his desk.  He grabbed the Vault can and chugged what was left.  “I just kinda suck at it…police work anyway.  The captain keeps me around for what I can do in research and digging on-line.”

“Do you still need to put on the full uniform then?”

Felix looked down at his uniform.  He reached up to his badge and fumbled with it for a second.  “No, not really.”

“Listen Felix, I need anything you have so far that the Captain wanted you to find.  I know he probably asked you to find it on the QT, but anything you can spare about these other agents on this case I can use.”

“That?  Oh, that’s no problem.”  Felix double-clicked his scroll lock and the screen flickered.  He moused over to a few open windows and maximized them.  “Agent Garrett is with the N.R.O., and agent Lewis is with the N.G.A., and they’ve both worked for the C.I.A.”

Felix bent down and looked closely.  “Typically, the N.R.O. and N.G.A. don’t send out agents to harass local law enforcement.  This must be a C.I.A. matter.”  Clayton pulled out his phone and pressed three.

“Agent Iron-Horse, do you need anything else?”

Clayton looked down at his phone, then at Felix.  He looked so young, and his enthusiasm told Clayton the world hadn’t ground its heel into his spirit yet, and he didn’t want this case to be the cause.  “Not right now.  Just keep doing what you’re doing.  Hale is lucky to have someone like you on the force.”  Clayton started to walk away, but turned around after a few steps.  “By the way, I don’t say sorry for ending hostage situations, but I am sorry if I did you any undue harm.”  Clayton started walking away again.  Felix shook his head and resumed another search.

What secrets are you hiding Mr. Iron-Horse?

Felix slouched against the door of the elevator.  The door again tried to close, but his back didn’t budge.  He stared at the pile of officers that had jumped Laura after the shot.  His mind was replaying what had happened over and over again.  The elevator dinged.  Laura took a step back.  Felix heard a shot, and faster than the blink of an eye Laura’s gun was no longer in her hand.  Felix thrust his weight backwards and rammed her into the door of the elevator, and then he’d thrown her down.  The nearby officers jumped her, and he slid down the door of the elevator, still in shock that his dinner date had tried to use him as a hostage.

“Felix, are you okay?  Say something!”  Will had walked over and was slapping him in the face.

“I’m fine.  Really…I’ll be all right.”  Felix said the words, but his face was devoid of meaning it.  Will turned around and looked at Clayton.  He still had his gun in his hand, which was now hanging by his side.  His face was stoic and firm.  Will took three long steps towards him.

“What in THE HELL were you thinking?”

“What was I thinking?  I was thinking we needed her alive, and we couldn’t let her go.”  Clayton’s voice was calm and assertive, and he kept his eyes on the pile more than Will.

“You took a shot that whizzed RIGHT BY MY HEAD!  You took a shot at her GUN, WHICH WAS AIMED AT ONE OF OUR OFFICER’S HEADS.  ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?”

“At the end of the day, it worked, and no harm done.  If I’d missed, I’d let you keep yelling, but I didn’t.”

“What in the name of God’s green Earth is going on here?”  Captain Hale was breathing heavy after coming down the stairwell.  “What happened?”

“One of your officers decided to take another hostage after a woman screamed at something in the elevator.  What kind of a department are you running around here?”

“Now listen F.B.I. guy I w-”

“No, YOU listen Hale.  I can have a team here taking over this investigation in an hour, and I can have your department raked over the coals until you’re all burnt to a crisp.  I have tried to cooperate and play nice, but I don’t have the rest of my career to waste in this town.  I want that officer in an interrogation room in twenty minutes, I need to meet with these other agents that were talking to you, and I’d like a lot less attitude from you.”  Clayton didn’t put his gun away while he spoke, and his voice didn’t rise or quiver at all.  Hale stared at him for a few moments.

“Who was it?”

“Laura…Laura Black.”  Will spoke will watching to see how Felix was doing.  Hale saw the officers hoist Black up.  She was in handcuffs and her face had the look of a wounded, caged animal.

“Get Black in a room for questioning for Iron-Horse.”  Hale barked the order, then turned and walked away.  “Do whatever he says.”

Clayton holstered his gun and looked at Will.  “Don’t just stand there.  Help up Felix and tell him to get to the bottom of who this woman is.  I’m guessing Laura Black isn’t her real name.”

“Anything else?”  Will crossed his arms and looked at Clayton with the same posture he used on the Captain.

“Yeah.  Find out who screamed, and why.”

Will smirked and walked away.

Jebediah pulled out his Glock, and Jeremiah did the same. The elevator doors opened and Jebediah walked with purpose into the garage. Jeremiah stayed close, but behind him. “Let’s not kill too many people today. That draws too much attention.”

“Attention isn’t my goal, but escape is.” Jebediah walked towards an unmarked car. There was an officer inside, talking on his radio. He opened the door and ran towards the elevator.

“Hey, don’t you two know? There’s a hostage situation upstairs! Get out and get to safety!” The officer ran past, not even noticing the guns they were holding behind their backs. Jebediah looked inside the car.

“Keys, let’s go and get another car before they lowjack this one.”

Jebediah got into the passenger seat while Jeremiah gunned the engine. Soon, they were in daylight and on the move. “Maybe we owe Laura one. She allowed us to escape relatively easy” Jeremiah said.

“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t her intent.” Jebediah deadpanned, as he accelerated away from the police station.

“Why don’t we double back and get the Caddy?”

“That” Jebediah said, as he looked right at Jeremiah “is not part of fall back alpha.” He again looked straight ahead and flipped on the radio

***

Julio Perez handed Officer Bucholz the list. “That’s all the train times, departures, and destinations from last night between midnight and six AM. I included all the trains that came through town, and their destinations as well.”

“Thanks for your cooperation.” Bucholz started walking to the door. He stopped and turned around. “You really don’t think they’re in Dell Rapids, do you?”

“I’d almost bet my reputation on it.”

“Well, I don’t know your reputation, but I’ll take your word that it’s worth risking.”

Julio nodded as the officer left. He logged into his email account and checked. He didn’t have any replies yet to his mass email about mysteriously open boxcars at other rail yards.

***

“Laura…you don’t have to do this. I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding…” Will kept his hands up and took a small step towards Laura. She had her back to the middle wall between the elevator doors.

“There’s no misunderstanding. I need to get out, and Mr. Moore here is going to help me get out.”

“Laura…please…you’re in a police station.” Felix was able to speak the words clearly for the most part, but Laura’s arm tightened on his neck after he spoke.

“I know I’m at a police station, but my brief time in Sioux Falls hasn’t really made me a believer in your town’s hostage negotiating skills. I’d rather just get a car and get out of town.” Laura locked eyes with Will. “I’ll drop him off in the next town once I’m away.”

“Look, just let Felix go, and we can talk. Nobody else here has a gun drawn.”

The down arrow on the elevator illuminated. “Sorry Will. I’d like to say I’d love to stick around and see if you all sort it out, but I need to get out of here. Trust me, it will be the best for everyone.”

The elevator doors began to open. Will took another step forward. “Don’t do this. We can talk it out.”

“Sorry Will. No more talking.” Laura took a step back to the open doors.

***BLAM***

Phil looked down at his cell phone. Michelle’s number was ready to dial. All he had to do was hit send. His thumb rested on the green button, but it didn’t press it. He looked up, and noticed he had wandered into Kmart’s toy department. “How did I get here?” he muttered under his breath. How indeed he thought. Jer’s death, the shooting in Jer’s apartment, the car chase, hiding in B’s car, freight hopping and wandering Aberdeen were all racing through his mind. How could he call her now? He found the number on-line months ago, but could never bring himself to call it. He was being sought by the police and an assassin, so calling her now seemed like the stupidest idea he could think of. Yet, he still missed her. He thought about her every day. He wandered out of the toy department and kept walking. His finger still on the button.

***

There she is! What is going on? I have to confront her Felix thought.

Is that officer Black? What is going on here Will thought.

This room got a lot more tense all of the sudden. Who is she Clayton thought.

Those must be her heavies old man B thought.

Dammit…those looks…my cover Laura thought.

This isn’t good. I really didn’t want to involve Mabel again Jeremiah thought.

Mabel and Jebediah didn’t think. They reacted.

Mabel screamed like she’d never screamed before. She thought about the guns that were drawn on her, and the fear she felt when she sat in her apartment and heard the second break in. She remembered crying when she saw the torn jacket in the tree. She thought she had put it out of her mind enough to function, but she only now knew how close her fear was to the surface.  She put her hands on the sides of her head as her scream tailed off. Old man B grabbed her arm and kept her from falling hard.

Jebediah’s mind had been going over everything that had gone wrong so far. He hadn’t counted on Mabel showing up, but he had been mindful of what to do if Laura’s cover was blown. Laura froze in the door of the elevator as Mabel started screaming. He took a step forward. His right hand shot to the door close button and the basement button at the same time. His left arm stiffened and shoved Laura out of the elevator. Laura was not expecting it at all, and Jebediah saw her fall to her knees as the door closed. He looked at Jeremiah as the elevator moved downward. “Fall back alpha.” Jeremiah was used to running the show, but he deferred to Jebediah in times like these.

Laura went from frozen to putting her arms out in seconds. She knew that Jeremiah and Jebediah had hung her out to dry. She didn’t blame them. She knew she would have done the same. Now she was alone in a police station, and even the protection of Sioux Falls’ finest wouldn’t be enough to save her if she rolled over on the weatherman. Felix came running over to help her up, but she had other ideas for him. Laura fell to her right and clutched at her right knee. As Felix helped her up, her arm slid upward, and her hand reached for her sidearm.

***

Bob held the gray cargo pants in his arm. He didn’t care for cargo pants, but it was the best option he was finding at Kmart. He started walking towards the Northeast corner of the store. He was walking by the storage section and he glanced to his left. He saw a large plastic trash can, with a sale sign taped on it, with one piece of tape on every corner. It was exactly how Bob had taped Michelle’s letter to the bottom of their garbage can. He stopped and just stared at the sign. Why did I not throw it out? Why did I tape it to the can? Was I ever going to tell Phil? Should I have let him read it? What did it say? Will I ever be able to tell Phil? Will he forgive me? Wi-

“Hey, uh, are you going to buy that trash can?”

Bob snapped out of his mental prison. “Excuse me?” He turned and saw a large man with a dirty NASCAR hat on.

“The garbage can. If you aren’t going to buy it, I was going to. It’s the last one.”

“No, no take it. I…I just remembered I needed to take out the trash later.” Bob walked rapidly away towards the automotive section. The man watched him walk for a second, then he started dragging the can to the check-out.

***

Mabel was screaming and crying, and old man B was doing all he could to keep her from crumpling into a heap on the floor. “What the hell was it? What’s going on?”

“The…the men in the elevator…Bob’s apartment…threatened to kill me if I went to the police…” she said in between sobs.

Old man B hoisted her up. “We need to get out of here, and now is our chance. Let’s go. I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.” Mabel didn’t know what to say. Was B offering to protect her? How could he? She couldn’t think straight as B led her towards an exit, away from the scene at the elevator.

Felix reached Laura and started to help her up. “What was that about? Are you okay? We need to talk.”

“Thanks for the assist Felix, but no talking.”

“Huh?”

Laura swung her leg under Felix’s lead leg. As he teetered backwards, she pulled her sidearm and threw her left arm around his neck. She pulled him to a standing position while pressing the gun barrel to his temple. “Don’t make this hard Felix. I’ve already died once, as you found out.”

Will moved forward, but a look from Laura made him back off. “Easy Black, easy.”

“No, you take it easy, and back off. Felix, press that elevator button.”

Clayton calmly took a step towards the wall and to Will’s right. “I’ll call you back” he said as he slowly lowered his phone.

***

Phil looked down at his cell phone again. Michelle’s number was ready to dial. All he had to do was hit send. He took a deep breath…

Eli shoveled clothes around until he found a pair of plaid pajama pants. “Your goons have screwed up my fine disorder.”

“They aren’t my goons, Mr. Elson. My ‘goons’ don’t really do much gooning.”

“So, I’m guessing you aren’t F.B.I. or A.T.F., so I’ll bite.”

“My agency doesn’t concern you.” She looked at the piles of clothing, and a stack of DVDs by the TV in the room.

“You’re not going to confiscate my porn, are you?” Eli found an old sweatshirt and pulled it on.

Lewis moved away from the TV in the room. “Tell me about Bob Fulton.”

“What’s to tell. We went to USD together. We drank more than I can remember freshman year. We both almost flunked out. I found a way to balance drinking and school, and he found a way to balance school and drinking.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Not quite. You’ll notice for me I put drinking first, and he put school first.”

Lewis glanced out the doorway. Deputies were checking the basement and were going through the kitchen, and all the closets had been emptied. “So, he was a friend freshman year, and you drifted apart because he focused more on school.”

“For what it’s worth, I pulled a respectable GPA.”

“A two point two is respectable?”

“It is a degree all the same. All it does is help me land one or two extra jobs a year.”

“Yes yes, your web design business. You can still make a living on that?”

“Mostly. I have a few other side jobs, but the web thing still pays a few bills.”

“What did Bob major in?”

“Excuse me?”

“Through my research, I’ve found that Bob majored in history, but he sells cars. Why is that?”

“Beats me. The guy is a born salesman, if that helps.”

“Excuse me Agent Lewis, we’ve found no trace of Fulton or Anderton ever having been here.”

Lewis looked back at Eli. “Mr. Elson, would you mind coming to Sioux Falls with us to answer some more questions.”

“Is that a request or a demand?”

“Right now, it is a request.”

Eli sighed. “Okay, let me find some jeans.”

***

Felix walked with purpose, but no matter where he looked, he didn’t see Laura. He knew he should be talking to the captain about this, but he wanted to confront Laura about this. Perhaps it was a prank or a misunderstanding. Laura Black is a rather ordinary name he thought.

“Hey Felix!” Will ran up beside him as Felix continued to walk at a rapid pace.

“Not now detective.”

“Hey, I just need to ask you about your work. Why are you looking into Clayton?”

“The captain asked me to.”

“What’s this business about Officer Black?”

“That’s what I aim to find out.” Felix looked right at Will, and didn’t see the wastebasket on the floor. Felix stumbled forward with the basket snugly on his right foot. Will stopped and tried to help him up. Felix looked to his left. “Hey, there’s the two people she was interrogating. Bartholomew McGillcuddy and Mabel Gravley.”

Mabel looked at Felix. She’d heard her name. Her eyes then darted to the elevator, which had just dinged. The door slid open, and Laura Black walked out, with Jeremiah and Jebediah right behind her.