Cliffhanger Theater!

Bob closed his eyes as Phil started reading the letter.  He was full of questions, but even with his would be assassin in the front seat, all he could think about was whether Phil could find a way to forgive him.  He knew throwing out the letter was wrong, but now he wishes he’d hat the guts to throw it rather than leave it to be found by Phil, or by someone who would give it to Phil.  Bob had lost one of his best friends on Friday, and now Saturday was looking more and more like a repeat.  He pulled his lucky sunglasses from his shirt collar and put them on.  He bent forward, resting his forehead on his hands, hoping no one would see him on the verge of breaking down again.

Michelle pulled onto 6th street, but she was adjusting and checking her rear view mirror more often than usual.  Her stomach was a knot before she came to the Millstone restaurant, and now it was not only tightening, but new ropes were coming in while old ropes were fighting to free themselves from the tangle she was becoming a part of.  Her heart rose when she saw Phil, then sank when he revealed he wasn’t in town for her.  Her anger was on the verge of violence when Bob made his confession, and she was ready to take it out on both Bob and Phil.  All of that rage was still there, but it was now backing down from the sudden surge of fear from the mysterious woman now sharing her front seat.  She glanced over, and saw a gun aimed squarely at her head from the woman’s lap.

Mokoto kept looking around.  She was aware that any vehicle higher than the small car they were in would see the firearm.  She also was trying to keep an eye on all of the variables in the car.  She had a pretty good feeling that if Bob and Phil didn’t have a wedge between them already, they would now.  Phil was mesmerized by the letter, and he now had something to lose…Michelle.  Michelle was the one Mokoto didn’t know how to read quite yet.  She’d been tailing her most of the day, but she still didn’t have a firm grasp on what to expect or how to handle her.  She was guessing she also had something to lose, but little to offer.  Right now Mokoto was happy to use her as a driver, even if it meant Jebediah would have to bring her motorcycle.

Phil read the letter’s ending, and he went back and started reading it again.  It was everything he’d hoped and feared it would be.  It pulled no punches in specifying where Phil had gone wrong in their relationship, but it also shouldered Michelle with some of the blame.  It touched on everything she realized she missed about him, and about them.  Most importantly, the end revealed she wanted to give Phil options.  Those options ranged from Michelle never writing again, to flying out to Las Vegas and getting married once he had decided.  If he’d gotten this three months ago, he wasn’t sure what he would have picked.  If he’d read this after last night, they’d be in Vegas already.  Now he was hoping that once this was all over he’d be able to choose, and that Michelle not only still wanted him to, she was still able to.

The car hung in silence until they approached main street.  “Turn right” Mokoto said.

Agent Garrett said nothing.

He hadn’t said anything since they had left the police station.  He spent five minutes yelling back and forth with Clayton Iron-Horse, until the F.B.I. agent finally backed down.  He stormed out of the Sioux Falls police headquarters, and agent Lewis was right behind him.  She had been on the phone since they’d left Sioux Falls, and now they were zipping up Interstate 29 at eighty miles per hour.  He shifted his eyes to her for a moment.  She was leaning back in her seat, and she was drumming her fingers on her laptop over and over.  “Anything” was the first word Garrett had spoken in almost a half hour, and Lewis just started at him for a moment.

“No.”

Garrett looked forward once again.  “What’s the hold up?”

“I’m trying to get in touch with their chief or sheriff.  I get the impression that unless we’re the F.B.I. or C.I.A. we have to wait a bit longer.”

“In their defense, the N.R.O. and N.G.A. aren’t agencies that often work with law enforcement around here.”

Lewis arched her body forward.  Her free hand supported her head as she looked Garrett up and down.  “You of all people are going to cut these people some slack?  After how you treated the Sioux Falls police?”

“I gave them the benefit of the doubt.  They didn’t live up to m-”

“Garrett, they’re a town of less than 200,000.  I think they did very well, all things considered.  The death of one of their own, missing people, a pile up and an explosion is a lot to take in.”

“You’re right.  I’m just…that F.B.I. agent…I don’t know.”

“Relax.  His record indicates he’ll refocus on this Dinkley person and that will be that.  Phil and Bob and whoever else we find isn’t his concern.

Garrett frowned and flipped on his blinker.  “I’m going to exit here.  We have a long way to go, and I need some caffeine.”

***

Phil had thought about this day more times that he could remember.  He’d daydreamed about meeting Michelle by random chance at the mall, at a restaurant, at a bar, and even at the Storybook Land park.  He’d thought about what he’d say if he called her, if she called him, or if one of them was working in a call center and called the other.  Phil even had thought of how to break the ice if they’d wandered into a chat room at the same time.  He had not thought of what to say in the event of running into her while saving Bob from choking.  His only comfort was that she looked as genuinely surprised as he felt and probably looked.

“What are you doing in Aberdeen?”

Phil froze for a moment.  He had looked at her number in Kmart for ten minutes, but he’d never considered that he’d have to come up with a reason that he was in town once he talked to her.  “Uh…we were just…passing through.  I thought about calling…but…number…uh…”

“Michelle, come sit with us” Bob croaked from the floor.

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.

“Will…what…happened?”  Tina’s words were slow in coming, and they were barely audible over the sounds of monitors in the room.

“There was an explosion” Will said, in a voice that was soft and soothing, yet loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the machines hooked up to Tina’s body.

“You can speak up” Tina said, while trying to nod.  “My ears still work.”

Will allowed himself to smile ever so slightly.  “The car we were checking out exploded.  Forensics are still trying to figure out why.  It shattered most of the windows on that side of the station.  You and I were hit with shrapnel…”

Tina noticed Bob’s smile vanish entirely.  “What…what’s wrong?”

“Tina…” Will stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath.  “I…I spun you around to ask…the explosion…your back was to it…”

“Will…there’s no way you could have known…”

“It should have been me Tina…I’m so sorry…” Will’s words trailed off as tears started flowing down his weary face.  He looked down and started taking deep breaths.  His shoulders rose slowly and fell quickly, like a heavy weight kept pressing them down.

“Will…don’t blame yourself…how…many…cars explode…in this town?”  Tina waited for a moment while she watched Will’s shoulders gradually cease their piston like regularity.  “Will…look at me…”  Will’s head slowly rose, as did his eyes.  They were bloodshot and squinted.  He never once raised his hands to wipe away tears.  “You can’t…blame yourself.  It could have been you…or…anybody out there.”  Will’s eyes closed and he was visibly biting his lip.  Tina smiled and closed her left hand slightly.  Will’s eyes shot open as he felt Tina’s hand tighten.

“I…I shouldn’t have…”

“Shhhh…It’s okay…it’s…nice.  You can hold it until they kick you out.”

Will smiled and gripped a bit tighter.

***

Phil sat down his empty water glass.  “That’s the one thing I don’t like about Aberdeen…the nasty water.”  Bob was engrossed in the menu, and only looked up after a few seconds.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong man?”  Phil bent forward and spoke more quietly.  “Your moods are a bit all over the place today.  Granted, we are in an unusual situation, but you seem to go between super happy and super zone-out all the time.”

“Unusual?”  Bob took a long drink from his water glass, and sat it back down.  “Twenty-four hours ago I found out one of my best friends died.  I thought seeing his old place would give me some closure for the day, and all I’ve done is get my other best friend almost killed and on the run.  Half the time I can’t help but think we’re in some Ben Affleck-Matt Damon vehicle and I choose to go with it.  The other half of the time I think about the fact that Jer is dead and I won’t even make it to his funeral because we decided to skip out of town when the going got rough.”  Bob grabbed his glass and chugged the rest of his water.  Phil watched the glass hit the table, and Bob stared at the glass as well.  They both looked up and saw Abbie coming towards them with a pitcher of water.

“You guys look thirsty.  Do you want me to leave the pitcher?”

“Yes please” they said in unison.

Laura pushed the button of the elevator.  “Well, that was a waste of time.”

***

Will shoved open the Captain’s door, and Clayton followed close behind.  “Well, that was a waste of time.”

***

Mabel walked down the hall, and spotted old man B.  “Cops.  Total waste of my time.”

***

Felix Moore flipped the screen.  His search for Clayton Iron-Horse turned up yet another spotless record.  “What a time waster.”

***

Agent Garrett nodded.  Agent Lewis sipped a coffee as the Sheriff’s men circled the house.  “This better not be a waste of our time” Garrett quipped.

***

Jeremiah and Jebediah stood together while the elevator made its slow ascent.  “It wasn’t a total waste of time.  Now we just need to start on places Gerrard worked and hung out.  We’ll make it work.  The weatherman is fairly patient.”

“I realize that Jeremiah, but I don’t know how much longer I can be here before somebody digs too deep into Laura Black’s past.  I’m on borrowed time.”

“In another week, you’ll be someplace else.  I promise.”

“Good.  This town is just too…small town for me.”

***

Will started down the stairs.  Clayton was right behind him.  “I didn’t think you ever took the stairs.”

“I take them when I need to blow off steam.”

“Will, things will work out.  You’ll find your man, I’ll find some leads and we’ll call it a good weekend.”

“Something doesn’t add up here Iron-Horse, and you know it.”

“Maybe so, but you have your task, and I have mine.  I’d rather not have your captain call my director.”

“If you want to play it safe, fine, but I need…ah hell, I don’t even know where to go on this case.  It has my brain all screwy.  I’ve been making one mistake after another.”

“You’re a good cop Will.  Don’t beat yourself up over this.  Chances are it’s something over both our heads.  That poison patch…”

“Yeah yeah, the poison patch.  Now I have to go find Moore and spend the day reading up on anyone who might have had a beef with Stevens.”

***

Mabel walked up to B.  “How are you otherwise?”

“Me, I’ve been better, but I’m not ready to call it a day or night yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I need a ride to my car.  I have to find out where those two tools are that I loaded on the train.”

“But I th-”

“Shhhhhhhh!” said B as he put one finger over her lips and his other arm around her, turning her around as they kept walking.

Mabel whispered “but I thought you told them where they were.”

“I told them one possible place to look.  If Julio checks his schedule he might tip them off that I lied…I think.”

“You think?”

“Listen, what I told them…might be true.  I honestly don’t know.  But I want to start looking and maybe do my own poking around.”

***

Felix bounced from window to window, tab to tab.  Google searching was getting old, and he was near the end of all the results for everyone he was looking for.  He flipped the screen and saw something that made him sit up quickly.  The link read: In Memorial-Officer Laura Black.

Eli Elson’s eyes slowly opened. It had to be getting close to noon. His head slowly lifted from the pillow, while his eyes barely opened. His head was pounding out what would be a great native beat, but he wasn’t in a musical mood. He shuffled to his home office and plopped into his desk chair. His phone was blank, and he didn’t have any new messages in his email. He looked over his list of projects, and he was ahead on them all. One was crossed out in an unusual manner. Someday I’ll learn not to code drunk he thought. He flipped on the TV which was strategically placed on the other side of his desk. I’d better see what is going on…I have a reputation. He started to log into his Dakota Infodump blog, and once in, he fiddled with the remote to watch all of the morning news he’d missed. Ah, good old KELO he thought as he scooted the chair backward to a small fridge. While he was pulling out an Amp, he heard the news anchor’s voice.

“Good morning. Our top story today is the ongoing investigation into the death of Sioux Falls Police Officer Jeff Stevens sometime Friday. HIs body was found at the apartment of a man named Gerrard Dinkley, who had died earlier yesterday as well. Police aren’t releasing any more details, but they are still looking for two people of interest. They are Phillip Anderton and Robert Fulton, both of Sioux Falls.”

Eli’s head darted up. He pointed the remote at the TV and rewound a few seconds back.

“…derton and Robert Fulton, both of Sioux Falls. These are their pictures, released to us by the Sioux Falls Police.”

Eli paused the TV again. “Son of a bitch. Bob, what are you into now?”

Eli stared at his screen, then he rolled his chair back to the computer. As he was typing in a Google news search, he was unaware of the police cars pulling up outside.

***

Bob’s head spun around. Phil rotated his entire body around. There was a young girl lifting up the pink bicycle, and she was staring at the both of them.

“Uh…well…we…”

“My friend was looking for something he forgot in the store. He thought they threw it out.” Phil knew he wouldn’t need his best poker face for this, but he remained more stoic that Bob.

“Whatever.”

“Say…we talked to a policeman, who told us about a missing girl on a pink bicycle…”

The young girl rolled her eyes. “That’s my mom, she’s awake a lot earlier than I was hoping. Usually she sleeps in on Saturdays when dad is out of town for business.”

“So, are you…running away?”

“No. Why do you care?”

“I just…I mean…”

“Look, I’ve been saving up money and I wanted to buy something, but my mom wouldn’t let me. So, I decided I’d bike over before she woke up.”

“So, you’re being looked for because you wanted to buy something?”

“My mom says I can’t have this, but I saved up for it fair and square. Since she’s awake, I’ll have to sneak it in. The bogus thing is she said I could buy whatever I wanted if I saved my own money. Now I’ll be grounded and I’ll have to be sneaky. You two didn’t call the police yet, did you.”

“Uh…no, no.” Bob said as he placed his hands behind his back.

“Good. Do me a small favor. You never saw me.” The girl started riding off up the street, and then back on the path Bob and Phil had walked down earlier.

Bob looked at Phil and shrugged. Phil gestured towards the front of the store. “C’mon. I have an idea.”

Laura looked back and forth nervously.  Jebediah was underneath Bob’s Pontiac, and Jeremiah was checking the trunk.  The garage was empty for the moment, but Laura knew someone could show up at anytime.  “Would you two speed it up?”

“Relax Laura, our stories will check out.”  Jeremiah kept talking as he tugged on various parts of the trunk’s interior.

“I have no doubt your visitor passes can easily be confirmed.  People will still ask questions.  It isn’t like we get a ton of visiting officers from San Diego.  That and they’ll want to know why you’re checking this car out.”

“We can deal with anyone who asks too many questions” came Jebediah’s voice from under the car.

“That’s another thing.”  Laura walked quickly by the car and lowered her voice.  “Which of you two thought it was a good idea to shoot an officer?  The cops here are practically foaming at the mouth looking for someone who shot one of their own.”

“Funny you should ask us that” said Jeremiah, as he closed the trunk.  “I regret to inform you that you’re asking the wrong guys.  Maybe you can call Mokoto and ask her.”

“She’s the shooter?”

“That’s right” Jeremiah kept his eyes on Laura as he opened the rear driver’s side door.  “We were on our way out of town when that happened.”

“What were you doing in town?”

“We came looking for Gerrard, but we couldn’t find him, and then we got word that he was dead, so there was a…a change in the ‘weather’, so to speak.”

Jebediah popped up behind Laura.  “Doesn’t that weather mumbo-jumbo bother you?  I can’t stand it.”

“Why Jebediah, you have an opinion on something.”  Jeremiah smiled as he started checking the backseat.

Laura spun around.  “Anything?’

“Nope.  I don’t think Gerrard hid the information on this car.  We’re wasting our time.”

“Well, just let me check back here, then we can waste our time elsewhere.”

Laura walked back to where she was standing before, and started keeping watch again.

***

Phil ran up to Bob, just before he opened the dumpster.  “Are you out of your mind?”

“Don’t you think it will be suspicious if they find something?  There could be security footage of the pay phone, then they’ll have us on the run, tied to a dead cop and a dead kid.”

“It already isn’t suspicious that two guys who look like they slept in a boxcar are rooting in some dumpster behind Kmart?  The longer we stay back here the more attention we draw to ourselves.”

“Then shut up and let me look and we can get out of here.”  Bob reached for the dumpster lid.

“Wait!  At least use your sleeved arm.  We don’t want fingerprints.”

“Oh for the love of…”  Bob grabbed the lid and flipped it up.  He saw and smelled a lot of garbage, but nothing else.  “One down, three to go.”

“You’re going to check all three?  Why not find us some lunch and we can really live the wandering hobo stereotype?”

“Can you can it for a second?”

“What are you two doing?” came a voice from behind them.

Officer Felix Moore sighed. He was the captain’s go to guy for any and all info about anyone and everyone, but right now he didn’t have a thing to offer. N.R.O. agent Raymond Garrett’s record was fairly easy to find, but there was nothing in it that Felix could find that would trip any alarms. N.G.A. agent Allison Lewis also had a record that wasn’t hard to acquire, but like Garrett’s it was clean and in order. Felix put the records side by side. They’re both too perfect. Something isn’t quite kosher here. Felix maneuvered his mouse and clicked on a record of his newest target, officer Laura Black. She had been on the force for six months, and had done nothing to warrant suspicion. She had arrived fresh from the city police of Tacoma, Washington. Her records were in complete order, but something didn’t match up. Felix looked for a long time, then switched back to the records of Mabel Gravley and Bartholomew McGillcuddy. He then looked at the records on his desk for Phillp Anderton, Robert Fulton, and Gerrard Dinkley. Somehow these records were all converging in a way Felix couldn’t explain. Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate. It was a text from the captain:

DO SEARCH F.B.I. CLAYTON IRON-HORSE ASAP

Felix sighed and flipped his screen again. “I’ll count myself lucky if I don’t get busted by some governmental organization today” he muttered to himself. I hope Laura is late for our lunch date.

***

“My phone? Don’t you have a phone?” Phil crossed his arms and backed away.

“Mine is dead. The battery life is awful. C’mon, give it.”

“You’re going to call the cops?”

“Phil, we have to. This girl is someone’s daughter, maybe somebody’s sister.”

“It is just a bike. We don’t even know if it is the right pink bike. How many pink bikes can there be in this town?”

“Phil, I can’t believe you’re hesitating. You’re the one who wanted to go to the police before. Won’t this be something on our side? If we show we’re not bad people?”

“Look, I know we aren’t bad people. I’m just worried about going in here. I mean, how big is the police force here? It’s a long ways back to Sioux Falls…a lot can happen…”

“Jeez, are you still worried about the assassin thing? There’s no way she’d be here. Now give me the phone and let me call.”

Phil took a few steps back. “Let’s use the pay phone in the store. That way we won’t have to give names and it can’t be traced.”

Bob stared at Phil, dumbfounded. He was really surprised that Phil was being this way. “Well, I suppose we could do that. That actually seems like a nice compromise.”

“Good. I could get used to winning these arguments.” Phil turned and started walking. After a few steps, he realized Bob wasn’t with him. He turned around and saw Bob walking towards the dumpsters. “Bob, what are you doing?”

“I just want to make sure we’re reporting just a bike.”

“You heard me.  I want an unmarked car in Dell Rapids.  Trust me, you’ll spot the action.  The town is what, two-thousand or so?  MAKE IT HAPPEN.  What?  If they need assistance?  Well, give it and I’ll explain later.  I doubt my luck is that bad.  JUST DO IT.”  Captain Hale slammed the phone down.  He had really enjoyed his minute nap, and right now he was wishing for about four hundred more, preferably consecutively.  He heard a knock at his door as he put his head on his arms again.  Springing back up, he yelled “COME IN” while he snugged his tie.  The door opened and Will walked in.

“Captain, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, yes I did.  WHY DID YOU NOT GO TO THE RAIL YARD?”

“I had a LEAD on Richmond.  I had to get to the airport.”

“Why did you, oh, I don’t know, CALL SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE THAT?  YOU DROVE ACROSS TOWN RATHER THAN CALL SOMEONE CLOSER.”

“It’s my case, and I was pretty sure that there were no flights leaving.”

“PRETTY SURE?  DAMMIT HETFIELD, PRETTY SURE?”

“Hey, we did find him.”

“Yes…yes you did.  NEARLY DEAD.”

“He was poisoned…”

“Wait, I almost forgot.  Richmond deals with Dinkley, who is also dead, AND WAS DEAD BEFORE WE LOST STEVENS LAST EVENING.  DID I OR DID I NOT PUT  YOU ON A CASE TO FIND OUT WHO KILLED OFFICER STEVENS?”

“You did, but I have r-”

“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH.  DROP THIS DINKLEY BUSINESS.  I’VE GOT OTHER OFFICERS AND SOME FEDS ON THAT.  YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHO SHOT OFFICER STEVENS.”

“If I may…”  Clayton stepped forward, almost standing between Hetfield and Hale.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?”

“Clayton Iron-Horse, F.B.I.  Part of this is my fault.  I involved Detective Hetfield in the Dinkley matter.  Plus, I thought finding Dinkley might lead us to his landlord and to Anderton and Fulton.”

“Ah yes, Garrett and Lewis told me about you.  You always get your man, or at least, your record says as much.”

“Just doing my job.”

“How admirable.  Now, let me do mine, in reminding my detective TO DO HIS DAMN JOB!”

Clayton took a step back.  Will looked at him and shrugged.

***

Phil closed the distance to the bicycle.  Bob was right behind him.  “We need to call the police.”

“Well, that means we go in too.”

Phil stopped in his tracks.  “Damn.  Damn damn damn.  I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Yeah.  Me either, until just now.”

“Maybe the bike is just by the dumpster because it’s garbage?”

“Let’s check it out, just to be safe.”  Bob started walking again, and Phil was right behind him.  Bob got to the bike first.  “Well, it looks like a decent bike.  The streamers and Hello Kitty stickers tell me it isn’t quite a floor model they put out.”

“So, what do we do?  Call the police, tell someone else, walk away?”

Bob looked around.  He crossed his arms and shook his head.  “We have to do something.”

“Well?”  Phil looked around and and scratched his head.

“Give me your phone” Bob said.

Old man B snapped upright.  He had almost fallen asleep, but the slamming of the door brought him back to his life, which currently had found itself in an interrogation room.  “Listen, I’m sure my friend is waiting and…hey, you’re a different cop.”

“Well, your mental faculties seem to be in order.”  The officer pushed her glasses up and yawned.  “I just need to finish up some paperwork to let you go.  Laura did most of it already.”

“Where did she go?”

“Beats me.”  The officer yawned again.  “I had a nice three hour nap before I got a call to come back in.  Something big must be about to go down somewhere.”

Old man B yawned now as well.  “Well, let’s get this done.  I’ve got places to be…Wig?”

“It’s Vig.”  Tina sat down and clicked her pen.

***

The South back exit swung open.  Laura found herself face to face with Jeremiah and Jebediah.  “I’m taking a big risk here.”

“You knew when you signed up things would get risky now and then.”  Jeremiah was smiling as he flipped through the report on Bob’s car.  Jebediah simply stood and waited.

“Well, the car is in the basement level.  I’m guessing you two want a look.”

“How thorough was your look through?”  Jebediah started thumbing through the report.

“I didn’t have much time, but I checked all the usual places police don’t normally check.”

“Well, this shouldn’t take too long.  I know a few other places.  Any word on Jer’s car?

“Right now it’s listed as missing.  We haven’t been able to find it.”

“Lanyards?”

Laura looked behind her as she pulled out visitor passes for the two of them.  “Don’t talk so much Jeremiah.  We need to keep a low profile.  Jebediah…maybe you should talk just a bit more.”

***

Bob took a few steps to the right, and Phil started walking to the left.  Bob turned to look, and spotted Phil walking away.  “Hey!”

“What?”

“I think we should go West.”

“East.  Trust me Bob.”

Bob walked up to Phil.  “How do you figure that?  So far we’ve walked a few blocks and managed to miss Second Avenue.”

“We don’t even know if second avenue exists.  Besides, at least we agree to turn here.  I just think East is the way to go.”

“West is probably Main.”

“East is probably the mall.”

“So you want to hit the mall?”

“What’s so important on Main?”

Bob looked around, then shrugged.  “Nothing.  Nothing is important on Main.  So why the mall then?”

“I’m not looking for the Mall, but that’s where the new development in the town is.  That and I’m guessing the police station is closer to Main than the mall.”

Bob shook his head.  “Phil, if I didn’t know you better I’d say you have a criminal mind working up there.  I hadn’t even considered that.”

“C’mon.  I’ll fill you in on my bank heist plan while we go East.”  Phil started walking again, and Bob followed.

“I wonder if this mall has a Cinnabon?”  Bob’s thoughts were to breakfast, but not for long.  The sound of a car pulling up behind them stopped them dead in their tracks.